My School,my village by K.S. Kang

My School, my Village

                                                                                    Author: K.S. Kang

I am calling my school as my village as I had spent nearly more than two decades of my life in the campus of residential school to which my father was transferred to work as Physics teacher just a few months before my birth. This place was a place of historical significance Chittorgarh in an equally historically significant state of Rajasthan. I was only a few months old when I came to Chittorgarh along with my parents and sister five years elder to me in a two room accommodation near Railway Station. But I do not recollect any thing about my life of one year spent at this place. Soon this school where my father got the job of teaching Physics was shifted to its permanent site situated on the western bank of River Berach, My earliest memories of my life are of the hostel situated in the campus of this school named Hamir House as my father was its House Master. Here I must tell that the school where my father was teaching was fully residential school whose six hostels at that time were named after the illustrious and brave rulers of Mewar like Pratap, Jaimal, Badal, Kumbha , Sangha and of course Hamir. This campus where I had spent nearly more than two decades of my life was one of the most modern village with every modern amenity like water, electricity, bakery, poultry, mess, dispensary, primary school for children, conveyance facility initially in the form of army three ton vehicle and then a fifty seater bus and even guest house of its own. It was indeed one of the most modern village with parks, playground and neatly laid metalled roads around the campus.

From the main entrance of the building the road branched into two directions- South and North. Road passed before the Academic block on the Western sie and a park named Cadet Vatika on the East and then turned westward and after passing before the Tennis Court situated on the northern side the road again turned towards South and passing before Luv, Kush, Pratap Houses and a couple of quarters it turned west and passing through Jaimal House and School Farm both situated on its Southern side the road turned North and passing before Badal, Hamir, Kumbha and Sangha Houses it reached the rear part of Cadets’ Mess housing Floor Mill and Bakery. It continued Northward to pass before service officer quarters of Adm. Officer, Vice Principal and Principal. Principal’s quarter was tri junction. One road moved westward moving towards Bal Niketan on one hand and Staff Quarters on the other hand. Road again branched off to South and North directions. In the North it went to General Employees accommodations and on the Northern side it moved along the railway line before staff quarters and then it turned again eastward and passing before staff blocks it again turned south to join the road at Principal’s residence. From this tri junction mentioned above at Principal’s residence one road moved East and passing before School Guest House on its Southern side and Dispensary on its North ended at School auditorium and after making a semi-circle round of it joined the road that took to the main entrance of the campus. There were three bi lanes too one of which originated from Adm Officer’s residence and passing before the Mess on its South joined the road that came from the main entrance of the building. One road originated between Luv and Kush Houses and passing before Mess but this time on its Northern side joined the road coming from Badal House between the Kumbha and Sangha Houses and one road was n the back side of the Academic block running before the quarters of Administrative Staff.

Just after six months of joining my father became House Master of Hamir House. So I nearly spent first decade of my life in this accommodation of three rooms. I was a toddler here I learnt walking, talking and every other activity of life here. The lay out of House Master’s accommodation consisted of three rooms, a dining space, kitchen, compound, Wash rooms and a vegetable garden at the rear. Hamir House faced East and as you ascended the stairs and turned Southward came the main entrance of the House opening into the drawing room. Adjoining it was another room and dining hall and then another room. While the drawing room faced Southward the next two rooms opened into the dining hall facing westward. The door of the dining hall opened into an open courtyard. At its northern end was kitchen and towards South was Toilet. And after the toilet was vegetable garden. After staying in this house for a decade my father was shifted to a smaller accommodation situated at the northern end of the campus. It was an accommodation on the first floor. After ascending the staircase after turning westward came the main entrance of the quarter. Though this accommodation was also of three rooms but it was smaller in size though there was an added benefit of open roof. This accommodation also had one drawing room, two bedrooms, a dining space, kitchen and a bath and toilet but they were much smaller in size. This was my first experience of leading life on the first floor. After staying in this accommodation for about an year after my father’s persistent efforts we were allotted bigger accommodation adjoining Principal’s residence. This accommodation was also on the first floor and it too had same accommodation but the rooms were larger in size. This accommodation faced northward and after ascending the stairs the main entrance was in the South direction. After it came a verandah and then two rooms. One opened in East in the verandah while the other opened in South. After these two rooms there was dining space and then the third room opening on the open roof that was the additional benefit of this quarter. It was here that I went on outing to Udaiur, Ranakpur, and Mt. Abu. Here I went to attend NCC 10 day’s camp at Khrew in Jammu and Kashmir in 1978. I have spent most of my schooling years here from 7^th  to 12^th standard.

After staying in this office for six years in 1980 my father was made House Master of Pratap House which was the building that faced West. It had the same accommodation as in Hamir House only the direction of layout was different. After ascending the stairs and turning north came the drawing room followed by dining space another room. Both the rooms opened into the dining space towards the East. It was followed by open courtyard. At its one end there was Kitchen and at the other end toilet. After the courtyard there was a kitchen garden. My father remained House Master of Pratap House for two years up to 1982. After that my father was promoted to become the Senior Master of the school. He was the second person to get this coveted appointment in the school. Luckily we were given the same accommodation that was adjoining to Principal’s residence. So this was our second stint in this quarter, that was E-5 for a period of two years after which my father retired on superannuation in 1984.                  

Games and Sports in my Life Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Games and Sports in My Life

                            Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

I enjoyed an intimate relationship with games and sports, despite my weak constitution- particularly lungs- due to my school which was a predominantly residential school with a military based training. So it had all the facilities, grounds and equipment for almost all the modern games like Tennis, Football, Hockey, Cricket, athletics, badminton, table-tennis, basketball, and even baseball and volleyball. So in my school days I learnt playing almost every game except volleyball. As a person at a sumptuous banquet is unable to eat anything properly so I also changed games according to occasion and season,. When there was any major contest in Hockey going on in the world like World Cup, I and my friends used to come out in the ground with hockey sticks; and whenever there were any cricket series going on in the country against England, West Indies or Australia I used to play Cricket regularly but this tendency made me Jack of all games and master of none. The main handicap that put hurdles in the path of my becoming a good player was my weak lungs and poor stamina, as I suffered from Pneumonia in my childhood that later developed into chronic ailment of bronchial asthma. I started learning and playing tennis seriously after passing my eighth standard. I was fortunate that my father had also learnt playing tennis after he had joined this school. So he had a wooden racquet of Symonds that I used to start my game of tennis. However, I made the full use of playing facilities in the campus and learnt playing Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis, Badminton, basketball, football and even baseball and billiards. Here I must confess that I could not learn playing volleyball though it is quite popular game in Indian scenario. I thank my alma mater for providing the latest and state of art facilities in modern games like Cricket, Tennis, athletics and gymnastics that inspired me to learn these games.

After passing through various grounds and games I finally decided to settle in Tennis as there was no competition in that field at that time and secondly my father also played this game with wooden racquet so I could use or share his racquet because he still played Tennis though he was more than fifty years of age. From this game I not only learnt volleys, forehands and backhands but gentlemanly behavior with my seniors, teachers and administrators as well. Most of the boys in those days were not allowed to play this game but as I was member of teaching faculty so I had an edge and opportunity to learn and play this game. In those days mostly wooden racquets were used in Badminton and Tennis and it was necessary to keep them in wooden frames to prevent them from bending during the monsoons. Though I had to struggle against various setbacks like weak stamina and weak shoulders that prevented me from becoming a good tennis player as I could not volley and serve powerfully yet I continued this game even after completing my higher education and I started working as college teacher. My first posting was at Karauli where there was a tennis court that was entirely available to us as there were only four people in the town who played this game regularly- Additional District Judge, College Sports Officer, a government doctor and myself.. At this juncture there was a valuable addition to our club in the form of Mr. Rishibhan Chauturvedi, who was also an English teacher at the college and former no. 3 player of Tennis in Rajasthan. His company improved my game a lot till I was transferred to another town Bharatpur in 1990.

Though I had played all the modern games but I tasted my success in a very strange game or athletic event named three legged race at Karauli. The occasion was annual sports day of the college. This event was held for teaching faculty only. It had to be run in pairs in which one of the leg of both the runners was tied up and the pair had to run in coordination with each other. My partner was also of almost of my height and stature. There were five pairs in the race. The victory fell on us in an equally strange manner. At the beginning of the race the position of our pair was at number four. It was nearly impossible to beat the first pair as they were quite fast and won the race hands down. Luckily for us the second pair lost their balance and fell on the track and not only did they fell but they fell in front of third pair as a result of which they also fell on the track after losing their balance and so our pair finished the race at second sport. However, we managed to keep ahead of last pair. So we were given a brass peacock by the Chief Guest of the function who was none other than Director of College Education Rajasthan. 

When I came to Bharatpur in 1990 I continued playing Tennis as fortunately there was a Tennis court in the college campus. Here also nearly half a dozen of my colleagues played this game. Here we organized an unofficial tournament of Tennis among the faculty members of the college and I tasted success by becoming the runners up of this contest as I reached finals easily and I lost to a more experienced and a better player. So in Tennis this was my first success even though I was not the winner of the contest.

I tasted success in the field of athletics at Government College Kekri and the occasion was again Annual Sports Day of the college. This success was in the field of throws and that too shot put in which iron ball was to be thrown as far as possible. One of my colleague was injured also in it. However, I succeeded here also in securing second spot in the contest and was awarded a metal miniature trophy by the local M.L.A, who was chief Guest of the function. I was naturally overjoyed by this success as this was my first success in the field of athletics and that too throws. However after 1991 I could not keep continuity in playing Tennis as I had to commute daily from my place of residence to my place of working for nearly four years.

In 1995 when I was posted back to my place of residence I thought about restarting playing Tennis. In this venture I was encouraged by my father and my friend Sharad Gangwar, who was then Secretary of District Officer’s Club Chittorgarh. He enrolled me as the member of the club that had facilities of playing Tennis but still I could not continue this game regularly. But still I played off and on with the veterans and youngsters and during summer vacations I lost nearly 3 kgs of weight due to this game as the temperature soared above 40 degrees Celsius. But now besides dearth of stamina I had to face trouble of weakening legs and knees as I was approaching 40 years of age. After three consecutive days of playing it my knees started aching almost unbearably. One day another moment came in my life when a South Korean gentleman working in a firm to help the Zinc factory in the town came to play the game. He was hitting the balls alone. Luckily at that time I was in the district club and I started playing the game with him for some time. This was a historic moment for me as for the first time in my life I was playing with a person who did not belong to India.

But the crowning moment of glory of my Sports life came in 2017 when in the month of September my town organized State Level Civil Services Badminton and Tennis Tournament. I became the member of the team of my district Chittorgarh as in Veteran category above 55 years there was no civil servant in the district who played Tennis. Though I did not win a single game in this contest but owing to intelligent planning by the Captain of my team and luck draws our team succeeded in reaching the finals of the tournament and were runners up as we lost to Secretariate Jaipur team in the finals. Collector of the town Mr. Inderjeet Singh, who was chief guest of closing function, honoured us by individual as well as runners up trophy to the team. Here I would like to record my indebtedness another collector of the town, Mr. Ravi Jain who was a good tennis player and who played a key role in laying synthetic tennis courts replacing the cement courts in the premises of the club.

            Unable to find good partners in games and due to my own growing physical incapacities I found a game that I have named as Roncho that I can play in my house so as to keep myself fit. In this game I used ping pong ball and wooden racquet and played it like a squash hitting the ball against the wall of the room. I have found that this game is quite manageable to the people of my age group and help in retaining the fitness in the old age. N this game too I had devised three events. The first event is that in which you have to use only forehand in returning the ball. In the second event you have to use only backhand and in the third event you have to use forehand and backhand alternatively to return the ball. O.K see you after some time as it is time to go for another round of this new game Roncho.                    

Life in N.C.C. Camp : Author : Dr. K S. Kang

Life in the N.C.C Camp

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

            As a student or rather as a cadet of Sainik School it was mandatory to join National Cadet Corps, which was brain child of First Government of Independent India to start an organization to create a second line of defence and to develop leadership traits in the young school, college and university students. It was compulsory for me to join N.C.C for the eight years of my stay in my school; and then as a member of N.C.C it was mandatory for me to attend atleast one camp so as to acquire eligibility to appear in A Certificate Exams. So I enrolled myself for Annual Training Camp for Sainik Schools to be held at some place in Jammu & Kashmir in 1978 which was a perfectly normal state at that time. Our school group lead by a JCO ( Junior Commissioned Office or popularly known as Subedar) and two ANO’s ( who were our teacher too) accompanied us for this camp. We started by train, after school left us at the railway station couple of hours Railway Station to board the buses of state roadways that took us to some remote place near Srinagar, named Khrew after a long journey of ten hours on winding mountain roads of the State. As it was my first experience of hill journey. So we did not know the troubles of journey in the mountains. We started the journey after taking heavy breakfast and soon it was out from our mouths within the first hour of the travel. However it was realized by us not to take anything heavy while on a hilly journey. It was quite dark the time we reached the camp site and our school was given a square tent to spend the night in. after a hurried dinner of lentils and rice we rushed to spread our beddings in the tent. The last boy, who got late in opening his bedding had legs out of the tent. As it was quite cold in the before the scheduled departure of the train, from our place of residence and reached Delhi after an overnight journey. From Delhi another train took us to Jammu Tawi after crossing the plain states of Haryana and Punjab, in the morning. Our troop as we were called, which was a group of about 70 Cadets, got down at Jammu Tawi night so even in the month of May we were shivering even after taking two blankets over and two blankets under us. Next day in the camp was spent in pitching our tents at the allotted place to us and we came to know that troops from five Sainik Schools, from various states of the country like Kunjpura in Haryana, Ghorakhal from Uttar Pradesh( now in Uttrakhand), Kazakottam from Kerala and Nagrota from J&K, were participating in it. In the morning we came to know about the lay out of the camp and it was on the slope of the valley with mountains surrounding on three sides and a rivulet, whose water was used by us in morning ablutions.

            Next day camp started in the right earnest with P.T roll call at 6.00 a.m in the morning. Some of the cadets were getting late for this event so an N.C.O entered our tent with a cane in his hand to drive us to the P.T. ground and some of the cadets with shorts came out of the tent putting down buttons of their shirts and shorts. Mostly we were taken for jogging of about 3 kms and some exercises in this activity. After P.T we were given some time to wash and change and take our breakfast at the camp mess, which had become one of the most haunted spot for cadets as they used to display menu on the black board that cadets will be given that day. After the hurried breakfast, including cleaning of utensils, and change of clothing we were again required to assemble at Parade Ground for Drill. After the roll call and drill the cadets used to disperse for various activities till lunch. One day we were given fire-fighting training, another day we were taken for firing, another day for route march to some place we were given demonstration of modern weapons, including signal bombs, by army personnel of the unit stationed there. Interestingly here also we found one officer of that unit the then Capt. Hari Ram Poonia who was the alumnus of our school. These activities continued till lunch. One day to escape the tiring walk of route march I took the duty in Quarter Guard which was in a large square tent with a flag in front of it. Normally there were eight cadets who were to watch the treasure of the camp stationed in the Quarter Guard Tent for 24 hours every cadet giving four hours of duty twice. One day selected cadets from different troops took part in treasure hunt exercise too. After lunch some cadets used to go to listen to music as hobby and then in the evening they had to report again for games. Mostly the games in the camp were football, volleyball, hockey and Kabbadi. After the games cadets used to rehearse for the cultural events to be staged on the final day of the camp that is camp fire.

            The icing on the cake of this camp was that we were taken to visit Srinagar one day when I got opportunity to visit not only famous gardens of Srinagar- Chashme Shahi, Nishat Bagh and Shalimar Gardens, but we also visited the historic mosque of Hazratbal which has pure hair of founder of Islam Hazrat Mohammad Sahib. During this visit we a;lso came across the then Chief Minister of J & K Mr. Sheikh Abdullah who had coincidentally also came to pray at this mosque at the same time. On the last day of the camp after an impressive march past different troops there was a cultural variety show in the evening by different troops that was known as The Camp Fire that continued till midnight. Next day in the morning we again boarded the buses of State Roadways to reach Jammu Tawi where were to get trains for our respective destinations. I will not conclude this piece without sharing with you these two experiences. On e was that due to stringent routine of the camp we used to get so much tired that while on a duty during Firing I had nearly gone asleep and a goat was nearly killed as it strayed into that area where firing was being done while I was snoring with red flag of warning in my hand. And the second experience that I will never forget was that by the time we reached our homes we were nearly unrecognizable even by our parents as our faces had turned dark and had scratches on our noses.         

My Cyber Training Author : Dr. K. S.Kang

My Cyber-Training

                                                                                            Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

With the dawn of twentieth first century government felt the need of training their personnel particularly teachers of higher education in cyber knowledge so that they can keep abreast with the latest that is happening in the world. As for our department government of the state entered into MOU with American Embassy in which it was agreed that they would give their English Language Fellow working in the Embassy to the State government for the period of two years in which he will train the staff in the latest cyber teaching techniques. The person selected for this job was Mr. George Chinnery, who was working as Senior English Language Fellow in the embassy. He adopted the modus operandi to train some master trainers and then those master trainers would train other teachers of English Language in the state. First of all he invited English teacher from various colleges across the state and interviewed us to know our willingness and consent for the programme. After selecting teachers form different regions two week two master trainer programs were held at a private college in the capital of the state and the other one was at Dungar P.G.College Bikaner. I was selected for the course that was held at Bikaner. After this training programme all the master trainers were called for a couple of Orientation and Refresher Courses in different private colleges of Jaipur. Atleast three colleges I could remember still- ICG Mansarovar Jaipur, SS Jain Subodh College Jaipur and Agarwal  College Jaipur. After selecting Master trainers the process of training rest of the English teachers of the state began, of course under the supervision of Mr. George Chinnery, Senior English Language Fellow. During the training sessions we were apprised of the latest teaching techniques with the help of computer and other cyber aided tools. It was during this period that e-mail accounts not only of all the master trainers but of all English teachers in the state were created and even blogs were also created. One of my blog is the creation of that period. A team of three to four master trainer along with the English Language Fellow trained rest of the language teacher of the state in two weeks programme held at different divisions of the state. One interesting incident that took place during the training programme was Mr.George Chinnery married his fiancée and the happy couple was blessed with a daughter named Melody. I think that was the best return that he would have expected from this country for the services provided by him to the teachers of this state.