Old Rosarians remember Mylapore

A few of those who studied in Class IV in 1955-56 at Rosary ­Matriculation School, San Thomé, recently got together at the campus for a walk down memory lane. Most remembered the school, but some recalled the area and it is the recollections of the latter that we feature below.

It was special meeting with a few men present, for this was the last batch at Rosary which had boys in school.

The get-together was initiated by an alumna, former Madras High Court Justice Prabha Sridevan, a resident of Luz.

Surprised by the changes in the school, she said, “At that time, Rosary and St. Raphael’s were in one compound and we had to enter the school via the gate on Kutchery Road. As soon as we entered the campus, we were welcomed by a grotto of Mother Mary which is no longer there now.”

The chapel, she says, brought back very pleasant memories. “When we were young, we never really bothered about the history of the chapel. I only remember going in before exams to say a little prayer. This time all of us took a few moments to read a little about the history of the chapel engraved there.”

Justice Sridevan talks about how the boys were asked to leave in the middle of the academic year and how that led to Vidya Mandir being born.

“N. Ravi’s mother, Shanta, R. Narayanaswamy’s mother, Malathi, C.R.L. Narasimhan’s mother, Ranganayaki and several other mothers of the boys who were asked to leave were members of the Mylapore Ladies’ Club. A school was opened for the boys of the area and that eventually became Vidya Mandir.”

She clearly remembers her residence in Luz Church Road at that time. She says, “The road was so beautiful, scenic and peaceful. I remember the time when Nageswara Rao Park was still a pond and was called Aranthan Kuttai. Navasakthi Vinayakar Temple was a very small roadside temple then.”

C.R.L. Narasimhan, who retired from The Hindu as Associate Editor, remembered being dropped off at school in his family’s Dodge car in 1955. “But before that, in the late 1940s, a horse-drawn carriage would drop us off,” he added. He also remembers Abhiramapuram, the area behind Nageswara Rao Park till Ranga Road edge, being a ‘Vettala Thottam’ – of betel vines. “In the 1950s, it was taken over by the City Improvement Trust,” he recalls.

The owner of Nest Play School at CIT Colony, Mylapore, Uma Narayanan remembers handcart hawkers of boiled groundnuts and raw-mango parked outside their school gate. “There was also an ice-cream shop outside the gate on Kutchery Road – a small shop, only 80 sq. ft., that used to sell ice-creams for 1/2 anna or 6 paise and 1 anna or 12 paise with cashews on the top. All of us used to go there straight after school to have ice-creams!” recalls Uma Narayanan.

– (Courtesy: Mylapore Times.)

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