soniek's review
5.0
A beautiful anthology of school days by or about 58 eminent people from different times and walks of like, ranging from Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Gandhi and Ambedkar to Suketu Mehta, Vikram Seth and P. T. Usha and Gavaskar. This book describes the different schooling systems attended by the people featured: home schooling, Hindu schools, Christian, Jesuit and Catholic schools, day schools and boarding schools, co-ed and all girls and all boys' schools. Some had fond memories and some had bitter ones, and some quite indifferent to their school days.
I thought this book would be about innocence, happiness, of carefree days. But I was shocked to read about the brutal casteism and discrimination many young students had to face at the hands of both teachers and classmates alike. It was saddening to see that the casteist and classist undertones eventually become a recurring theme in almost all the memoirs. Yet another recurring theme is a sense of loneliness, a sense of being trapped and trying to fit in or to find oneself. And yet amidst all this ugliness, there lies the innocence, a stubborn optimism and resilience which is present in children.
Speaking of optimism, there're also the inspiring stories of these young students developing a character, of strong friendships and camaraderie, of a blind little boy wanting to beat the sighted boys at a race, of a husband defying his mother and society to educate his wife.
I even found a girl who, like me, changed so many schools that she was the perennial "new girl" and who read books, and who clearly wasn't the popular or the coveted girl of the school.
I guess this book has such a variety that the reader is bound to find someone they could relate with.
I thought this book would be about innocence, happiness, of carefree days. But I was shocked to read about the brutal casteism and discrimination many young students had to face at the hands of both teachers and classmates alike. It was saddening to see that the casteist and classist undertones eventually become a recurring theme in almost all the memoirs. Yet another recurring theme is a sense of loneliness, a sense of being trapped and trying to fit in or to find oneself. And yet amidst all this ugliness, there lies the innocence, a stubborn optimism and resilience which is present in children.
Speaking of optimism, there're also the inspiring stories of these young students developing a character, of strong friendships and camaraderie, of a blind little boy wanting to beat the sighted boys at a race, of a husband defying his mother and society to educate his wife.
I even found a girl who, like me, changed so many schools that she was the perennial "new girl" and who read books, and who clearly wasn't the popular or the coveted girl of the school.
I guess this book has such a variety that the reader is bound to find someone they could relate with.
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