A Kaleidoscope World

This is the third edition of a book I wrote about my recollections of South Point School when the school itself was a baby. I passed out of the school in 1959, which was a long time ago. However, memories of the school linger still and vividly so in my mind. It was a fairy tale experience for us. Mr Satikanta Guha, the founder of the school, was a most unusual educationist for the times when he started the school. Most of the students couldn’t quite distinguish the school from a toy they had been gifted to merrily play with. We had very unusual teachers. The most remembered among them was Utpal Dutt, the famous stage and later screen actor. He taught us grammar simultaneously with Shakespeare’s plays. He made us act too and, on the playground, he was a wicket keeper for whatever cricket team we had those days. Quite apart from him, we were taught by N. Viswanathan, Uma Sehanobis (who later founded the Patha Bhavan School) and many other precious teachers who have defied to some extent the rules of mortality. We didn’t know exactly when we were studying and when we were playing and this was a perfect example of the proverb “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, except that we had Jills for classmates too. In spite of all the play we were involved in, Mr. Satikanta Guha ensured that a student secured the sixth position in the Madhyamik Examination (then called the School Final Examination) in 1959. Rank holding never ceased since then and, as many are aware, the school found a place in the Guiness Book of Records (1984-92). More recently, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, an alumnus of the school, was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. South Point School has risen very high, but it had cute beginnings and this book tries to revive that fascinating past, from 1954 to 1959. I wish to thank the present school authorities, especially Mr. Krishna Damani and Ms. Dalbir Kaur Chadda, for giving me access to the photographs of the old school from their library archives. These photographs as well as stories missed out by earlier editions have been included in the present version of the book.

The book should soon be available on line. Currently, it can be ordered at Ideal Book Stall in Gariahat. Phone Number: 033 2464 2961. It should be easily available in the College Street area as well.