In the late fifties and early sixties, St. Ignatius Convent, Palayamkottai, and St. Joseph’s Convent, Nagercoil, were the most sought-after convent schools for girls in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts. The European nuns who managed the convents were particular about inculcating good manners and discipline in the students apart from imparting knowledge-based education to them. When it was time for my elder sister Petronilla to join a school, my parents decided to send her to St. Joseph’s.
Whenever my mother used to visit her, my younger brother and I also used to accompany her and spend a day or two, enjoying the spontaneous and incomparable hospitality of the European nuns. During a recent meeting with Petronilla who is 77 now and five years older than me, our talks lingered over her days at St. Joseph’s and made me nostalgic.
Once my mother, my brother and I reached the convent, the sister in charge of the parlour would receive us with open arms. Within minutes, Mother Patrick, an Irish nun and the school’s principal would appear there in her impeccable white robes. She would hug us children with affection and with a twinkle on her single eye, the other one lost in an accident, and hand over a bag full of fruits and chocolates to us. She would then guide us to a well-kempt guest room.
After we freshened up, Mother Aldene would arrive with my sister and guide us to the dining room for tea, nay a high tea. With cakes, biscuits, imported cheese, bread, butter and jam, the high tea would be a sumptuous dinner. On return to the room, Sister Gaitan, in charge of administration, and Sister Walbrousch, the hostel warden, would arrive to brief us about our sister and the progress made by her. Even her minor shortcomings used to be mentioned only as a passing remark and never as a complaint. One general complaint from Mother Adlene, in charge of the kitchen, used to be that my sister was a very poor eater, indeed a motherly complaint.
As the convent insisted that every child should learn music, my sister opted for piano and violin and was enrolled as a student at the Trinity College, London. The examiner from Trinity would regularly visit Nagercoil to conduct the tests in the convent. When it was time for us to leave, the nuns would hand over a bag full of selected gifts very gracefully packed for us.
When the entire educational field stands totally commercialised now, I can’t help but think about the exemplary services rendered by the nuns of St. Joseph’s in the field of education and medical care with selfless dedication.
Email: tharci@yahoo.com