The Nelson Memories - Cochin - "My New World"‏

Dear All,

I cannot remember which happened first. I believe it was before I came to India to study in Cochin. Achen was working in a Company called Hardial Singh & Sons and Mum was in India. I stayed with Achen in a dormitory above his office with all the Sardarjis. That is why he could imitate how the Sardarjis ate their Chappatis while stroking the beards and moustahes. Well let me come to the embarrassing part. I used to bed wet and that happened almost evry night and Achen would have a tough time cleaning up.

Then I came over to India and he got me admitted into a boarding school in Cochin called St. John De Brittos.

The first trip to Cochin was a real torture - I had to get up at 5.00am and we (Alby Uncle & me ) had to walk from Thumba to Kazhakutam that early and he put me on the bus to Cochin.
There was someone to meet me at the bus station in Cochin. It was a a strange place and there were Keralities , Anglo Indians and Tamilians.

Fortunately there were 2 brothers from Palithura and they kind of took care of me. It was a very regimented life. Wake up early in the morning take our basin to the well and draw water to brush teeth . get ready for school and have breakfast and troop in a single file to the school.
Most of my teachers were Anglo Indians.

I started to study Malayalam as a language . I wrote my first letter to Mummy and all at home had a good laugh at my Japanese version of Malayalam. It Moottaa for egg . I wish Mum had framed it.

But there was one thing that was consistant - my bed wetting. I had a tough time getting my clothes cleaned. When I went home for holidays I had about half the number of clothes that I had first taken. There were some short holidays that some of us did not get to go home. So we stayed back and enjoyed our holidays in Cochin.

We made our own pappaya pickles and had better food because we were so few in number. On sundays we would troop to the beach with the rector as our troop leader. He was a Christian Brother and we really hated him. Was very strict. Well my father thought that I needed the discipline.

We were not allowed to buy anything from outside and we were not allowed to keep any money. The senior guys used us small ones to buys stuff for them. I used to sprint accross the road and buy sweets and pickles for them and that is one reason I improved my running.

That school and boarding still exists.

That is one more episode for now.

To be continued.
Nelson Arthur Fernandez