Beasant Montesorri School Juhu:
The first school that I joined was Beasant Montesorri in Juhu, Bombay. I have such fond memories of that school as a child taking his first steps in formal education. The school strategically located right next to the beach meant that for most parts, when my elder brother was dropped to his school which started earlier, my younger & I could play on the beach before school with our (Air India office) driver Noormiya. We had elderly Parsi teachers in a class size of just 12 to 15 students which meant a lot of personal attention. Our class teachers not only knew us but our families and what was happening in our life at home. That made us feel like school was an extension of our home. Terrific school which I miss dearly!
St. Xavier's High School, Vile Parle:
As Beasant Montesorri was only upto 4th standard and it was following ICSE format, we had to make a move sooner or later to another school. It was decided that SSC would be better from the future scoring point of view and that meant we had to switch and either gain half a year or lose half a year due to the difference. One of the really good schools was and still is St. Xavier's High School. It was decided that I was to make the switch at 3rd standard and aim for getting into the 4th standard in the new school. My mother made me study and study and really slog it out the result of which was that I scored 97% overall in the 3rd Standard exam of the new school showing that it would be determental to put me in the 3rd class when I already knew the subjects. Thus I got to join the St. Xavier's High School at Vile Parle in the 4th standard. Coming from Beasant Montesorri - what a shock! Nothing prepared me to "fit into" a class of 60+ where no one seemed to know what was happening. In fact, in the very first few classes, the teacher wrote something on the board and announced something which was missed completely by me and next day I got canning from the teacher for not doing my home-work! Prior to this I had never been beaten in my life!!! Added to that, due to our life-style and the change in the profile of those who studied with us in school I was suddenly treated like a snob or something. What made things worse was the pet student of the class knew less and that upset the "balace of power". I was in for a hard treatment.
Looking back, I think this shock-treament did real good. I was now able to relate to all strata of soceity and people from various backgrounds. Plus it made me harder in life, and better able to deal with the "real world" that lay ahead.
Soon Dad progressed in his career and with his promotion came a shift from the Santa Cruz office to the Air India building, Nariman Point. So we moved homes and thus schools. I was able to complete my 7th standard in Vile Parle and then start out in the 8th at Dhobhi Talao.
St. Xavier's High School, Dhobi Talao:
From 8th to 10th Standard I studied in St. Xavier's High School at Dhobi Talao (Near Metro Cinema & St. Xavier's College) [289, Lokmanya Tilak Mark,
Mumbai - 400001. Ph: 262 1113]
