4 friends...
We were 4 friends in Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, back in the 70s. Seems a really, really long time ago. We were close pals, and shared everything - good, bad, happy, sad. We got upset with each other, and frantically made up as well. We were up to all kinds of mischief, of course, within our system.
I must tell you here that when we joined Isabella Thoburn, we were told that we were honour-bound not to break the school rules and do anything wrong. That was something we did take seriously, because, it immediately made us feel very responsible and grown-up. We had all of a sudden become 'Young Ladies'. Woops - but in our dorms and rooms, in our playing fields, and tree groves, we were children - happily playing, frantically grabbing each day, trying to fit in 36 hours into 24...
We depended on each other emotionally, as one is bound to do living in a hostel, far away from home. There was no easy connectivity, either by telephone (remember those trunk call days??), nor postal mail.The most important man in our lives was the postman. Of course, it has always been a source of great astonishment to me how the postman knew each one of us, though he never really saw us. He was a very special man, the postman to Chand Bagh (as our college was also known). Besides our letters, we would wait EAGERLY for our pocket money and tuck - don't know which one we waited for more!! i still remember asking Daddy for 'dough' as we called money then (back in the old days!!) and weeks went by without the Money order coming in. Finally when I was frantic and mailed them a rather weepy letter, I got the brilliant reply that my poor Dad thought 'dough' meant doughnuts (something I'm insane about) and was wondering why Mummy was taking so much time about it!!!!!! They used to send me tuck in these big tins and it would all finish in a day--maximum 2 days!!!
Cannot think of Isabella Thoburn without Miss.Anand, and Miss.Paul very, very, very specially...and of course the others -
for better or for worse. How very understanding Miss.Anand and Miss Paul were...heavens!
Miss.Shipstone, of course was on the unreachable, unattainable pinnacle - tiny as she was, her stature ensured that she towered over us...in my Junior year, I was at the hyper anti-establishment-radical stage of my life (still retain some of those traits), having been heavily influenced by and having fully accepted the hippie philosophy (from having been in Florida Southern). So, when I rebelled against something, Miss Shipstone called me to her office, sat me down, looked at me and, 'Elizabeth', she went, 'you cannot question the status quo. You have to appeal to their better judgment. If you question them, they will close all doors, right or wrong, but if you appeal to them, they might listen to you through a window and then open the door'.
Oooohhhhhhhh there are tons and tons of memories.......
How much, how much fun we had. I wouldn't know where to begin. Even now, as soon as any of calls each other, the only thing we remember is our pranks and the fun we had, and regardless of our 'venerable' ages, we end up hooting and laughing on the phone!!
After all these years, the love is still there, and still intact!!