V. AT
THE HIGH
SCHOOL
I have already said that I was learning at the high
school when I was married. We three brothers were
learning at the same school. The eldest brother was in a
much higher class, and the brother who was married at the
same time as I was, only one class ahead of me. Marriage
resulted in both of us wasting a year. Indeed the result
was oven worse for my brother, for he gave up studies
altogether. Heaven knows how many youths are in the same
plight as he. Only in our present Hindu society do
studies and marriage go thus hand in hand.
My studies were continued. I was not regarded as a
dunce at the high school. I always enjoyed the affection
of my teachers. Certificates of progress and character
used to be sent to the parents every year. I never had a
bad certificate. In fact I even won prizes after I passed
out of the second standard. In the fifth and sixth I
obtained scholarships and rupees four and ten
respectively, an achievement for which I have to thank
good luck more than my merit. For the scholarships were
not open to all, but reserved for the best boys amongst
those coming from the Sorath Division of Kathiawad. And
in those days there could not have been many boys from
Sorath in a class of forty to fifty.
My own recollection is that I had not any high regard
for my ability. I used to be astonished whenever I won
prizes and scholarships. But I very jealously guarded my
character. The least little blemish drew tears from my
eyes. When I merited, or seemed to the teacher to merit,
a rebuke, it was unbearable for me. I remember having
once received corporal punishment. I did not so much mind
the punishment, as the fact that it was considered my
desert. I wept piteously. That was when I was in the
first or second standard. There was another such incident
during the time when I was in the seventh standard.
Dorabji Edulji Gimi was the headmaster then. He was
popular among boys, as he was a disciplinarian, a man of
method and a good teacher. He had made gymnastics and
cricket compulsory for boys of the upper standards. I
disliked both. I never took part in any exercise, cricket
or football, before they were made compulsory. My shyness
was one of the reasons for this aloofness, which I now
see was wrong. I then had the false notion that
gymnastics had nothing to do with education. Today I know
that physical training should have as much place in the
curriculum as mental training.
I may mention, however, that I was none the worse for
abstaining from exercise. That was because I had read in
books about the benefits of long walks in the open air,
and having liked the advice, I had formed a habit of
taking walks, which has still remained with me. These
walks gave me a fairly hardy constitution.
The reason of my dislike for gymnastics was my keen
desire to serve as nurse to my father. As soon as the
school closed, I would hurry home and begin serving him.
Compulsory exercise came directly in the way of this
service. I requested Mr. Gimi to exempt me from
gymnastics so that I might be free to serve my father.
But he would not listen to me. Now it so happened that
one Saturday, when we had school in the morning, I had to
go from home to the school for gymnastics at 4 o'clock in
the afternoon. I had no watch, and the clouds deceived
me. Before I reached the school the boys had all left.
The next day Mr. Gimi, examining the roll, found me
marked absent. Being asked the reason for absence, I told
him what had happened. He refused to believe me and
ordered me to pay a fine of one or two annas (I cannot
now recall how much).
I was convicted of lying ! That deeply pained me. How
was I to prove my innocence? There was no way. I cried in
deep anguish. I saw that a man of truth must also be a
man of care. This was the first and last instance of my
carelessness in school. I have a faint recollection that
I finally succeeded in getting the fine remitted. The
exemption from exercise was of course obtained, as my
father wrote himself to the headmaster saying that he
wanted me at home after school.
But though I was none the worse for having neglected
exercise, I am still paying the penalty of another
neglect, I do not know whence I got the notion that good
handwriting was not a necessary part of education, but I
retained it until I went to England. When later,
especially in South Africa, I saw the beautiful
handwriting of lawyers and young men born and educated in
South Africa, I was ashamed of myself and repented of my
neglect. I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as
a sign of an imperfect education. I tried later to
improve mine, but it was too late. I could never repair
the neglect of my youth. Let every young man and woman be
warned by my example, and understand that good
handwriting is a necessary part of education. I am now of
opinion that children should first be taught the art of
drawing before learning how to write. Let the child learn
his letters by observation as he does different objects,
such as flowers, birds, etc., and let him learn
handwriting only after he has learnt to draw objects. He
will then write a beautifully formed hand.
Two more reminiscences of my school days are worth
recording. I had lost one year because of my marriage,
and the teacher wanted me to make good the loss by
skipping a class a privilege usually allowed to
industrious boys. I therefore had only six months in the
third standard and was prompted to he forth after the
examinations which are followed by the summer vacation.
English became the medium of instruction in most subjects
from the fourth standard. I found myself completely at
sea. Geometry was a new subject in which I was not
particularly strong, and the English medium made it still
more difficult for me. The teacher taught the subject
very well, but I could not follow him. Often I would lose
heart and think of going back to the third standard,
feeling that the packing of two years' studies into a
single year was too ambitious. But this would discredit
not only me, but also the teacher; because, counting on
my industry, he had recommended my promotion. So the fear
of the double discredit kept me at my post. When however,
with much effort I reached the thirteenth proposition of
Euclid, the utter simplicity of the subject was suddenly
revealed to me. A subject which only required a pure and
simple use of one's reasoning powers could not be
difficult. Ever since that time geometry has been both
easy and interesting for me.
Samskrit, however, proved a harder task. In geometry
there was nothing to memorize, whereas in Samskrit, I
thought, everything had to be learnt by heart. This
subject also was commenced from the fourth standard. As
soon as I entered the sixth I became disheartened. The
teacher was a hard taskmaster, anxious, as I thought, to
force the boys. There was a sort of rivalry going on
between the Samskrit and the Persian teachers. The
Persian teacher was lenient. The boys used to talk among
themselves that Persian was very easy and the Persian
teacher very good and considerate to the students. The
'easiness' tempted me and one day I sat in the Persian
class. The Samskrit teacher was grieved. He called me to
his side and said: 'How can you forget that you are the
son of a Vaishnava father? Won't you learn the language
of your own religion? If you have any difficulty, why not
come to me? I want to teach you students Samskrit to the
best of my ability. As you proceed further, you will find
in it things of absorbing interest. You should not lose
heart. Come and sit again in the Samskrit class.'
This kindness put me to shame. I could not disregard
my teacher's affection. Today I cannot but think with
gratitude of Krishnashankar Pandya. For if I had not
acquired the little Samskrit that I had learnt then, I
should have found it difficult to take any interest in
our sacred books. In fact I deeply regret that I was not
able to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the
language, because I have since realized that every Hindu
boy and girl should possess sound Samskrit learning.
It is now my opinion that in all Indian curricula of
higher education there should be a place for Hindi,
Samskrit, Persian, Arabic and English, besides of course
the vernacular. This big list need not frighten anyone.
If our education were more systematic, and the boys free
from the burden of having to learn their subjects through
a foreign medium, I am sure learning all these languages
would not be an irksome task. but a perfect pleasure. A
scientific knowledge of one language makes a knowledge of
other languages comparatively easy.
In reality, Hindi, Gujarati and Samskrit may be
regarded as one language, and Persian and Arabic also as
one. Though Persian belongs to the Aryan, and Arabic to
the Semitic family of languages, there is a close
relationship between Persian and Arabic, because both
claim their full growth through the rise of Islam. Urdu I
have not regarded as a distinct language, because it has
adopted the Hindi grammar and its vocabulary is mainly
Persian and Arabic, and he who would learn good Urdu must
learn Persian and Arabic, as one who would learn good
Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali, or Marathi must learn Samskrit.
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