TALES OF YORE...A PAULITE FOLKLORE - 8 BENNET PAES Class of 1950.
Bennett Paes studied in St Paul's from 1944 to 1950. He completed his further studies from RPD College Bélgaum, Wadia College Pune and St Xavier's Mumbai. He and tennis player Leander Paes are second cousins as they share the same great grandparents. The Octogenarian resides at Assolna in Goa. He has authored two books post his retirement from work and touring the world. "Simply my Way" & "Love' n Share it" Below is an extract from his book "SIMPLY MY WAY". OUT OF PORTUGUESE GOA INTO BRITISH INDIA. It was time to give Goa the slip and land into a bigger colonial empire – British India. The distance to my new English school across the border, now covered by rail or road in a matter of four daylight hours, took several by train, with a full night’s run and a change of guard in between. The Goa wing of the Madras & Southern Mahratta (MSM) Railway stretched right up to Goa’s sea port of Mormugao (now Marmagoa). However, my journey began three stations later at Margao, the nearest to my village of Assolna, passing through to the Indian customs post at Castle Rock. Then onward to Londa junction, where the changeover to another locomotive took us to Belgaum. That’s where the school was located. Trains of those days were predominantly run on 1-metre, narrow gauge rails, by coal-fired engines that huffed and puffed steam in rhythmic sync with the clickety-clacks of the carriage-wheels beneath. It was my first ride on rails, and it made music on wheels, but only until I got to the Jesuit boarding house that I was enrolled in. The Jesuits might have had their share in the infamous inquisition of early times in Goa, but they had long since washed themselves clean, and proven to the world that they were the best educationists around. Knowledge and character formation were the building blocks of their educational edifice, and India was second only to U.S.A. among their top bastions to teach what they preached. “Early to bed, and so...o very early to rise” was the cardinal rule of the day. So much in contrast to the ‘Sossegado’ culture of Goa! “Carrot and stick” came second in line. Shockingly, there were only sticks, which made me wonder what came first – the carrot or the stick. And to make matters worse, dog-biscuits at breakfast. It was the year 1944, and World War II was taking its toll on British India’s bread basket. The situation looked unbearable and I often cried in despair. But I watched a fellow boarder. He was tough, even tougher than the stick that broke on his backside. That gave me the courage, too, and I got along. We all got along, sticks and dog-biscuits notwithstanding. The war had ended, and so was my term at school at the turn of the decade. This school taught me to be what I am today, and that was the carrot I had long waited for. It was at St. Paul’s High School, Belgaum. WITH GRATITUDE TO MY ALMA MATER. Bennet Long live the Paulite Spirit. -- FN * +91-9822122436 * 784 Saligao 403511 Bardez Goa ------------------- YouTube Channels ------------------- FN https://www.youtube.com/c/FrederickFNNoronha/videos or https://bit.ly/FNOnYouTube FN1 https://bit.ly/FNVideos1 FN2 https://bit.ly/FNVideos2 ------------------- ------------------- ---------------- [image: Mailtrack] <https://streaklinks.com/BTFdTrvHB0WZfGz2fgRGIJdC/https%3A%2F%2Fmailtrack.io%3Futm_source%3Dgmail%26utm_medium%3Dsignature%26utm_campaign%3Dsignaturevirality11%26> Sender notified by Mailtrack <https://streaklinks.com/BTFdTrPn5xUDnsfh9QV3xzgn/https%3A%2F%2Fmailtrack.io%3Futm_source%3Dgmail%26utm_medium%3Dsignature%26utm_campaign%3Dsignaturevirality11%26> 30/11/22, 06:38:06 pm ᐧ -- *** Please be polite and on-topic in your posts. *** --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Goa Book Club" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-book-club/CAMCR53JSP2Q8kiubb6M_mejz3Qh-w60PwxnM4zrtWdTh1cb_bg%40mail.gmail.com.
