strike

We children were always afraid of strike. I have heard all horror stories of students being hit by policemen during strikes, and many innocent students having hit by the stones thrown by striking ones. I have in mind that these innocent students are pushed to strike by cunning politicians to take mileage. In those days, the main schools that are prone to strikes were, Fort High School, SMV high school etc..The Holy Angels Convent, St Joseph;s HS were not affected by strikes.

One such group of striking students came to our school too. The gates were closed and their usual prank of long bell did not work.i.e. The schools had a typical bell resembling a dosakallu. There was a small log and when it is hit for a number of times at a time, it is called Long bell. This can be seen in a recent advertisement also.
The students then threw stones. We in the classrooms hid under the desks because the stones alongwith the tiles would fall our heads. The class rooms are also unsecured. The walls along the side of the road are about 6 to 7 ft and then there was a very old and thin bamboo grill and thereafter the tiles. On the other inner side of the school compound, the walls are only 4ft and then the bamboo grills. The class rooms had plenty of natural light.

Many of us were timid and afraid to go out to the compound. We all were thrilled to see our leader Mr.Eugine catch a stone by the student strikers. At last because the striking students managed to have the long bell ordered by the HM. The gates were thrown open and we had to go to our school.

When i came out, there was a big crowd on the road. I was afraid and so i caught hold of another friend and instead of going to my home, i went to my grand mothers house because that friend was near my grandmother's house.
As there was no phones or mobiles like these days, one can imagine the great difficulty we had to reach our parents.