I Fredrick Castro take great pleasure to host this web site in memory and honour of my grand parents Mr Fredrick Nehemiah and Grace Sundarabai Fredrick. Lets walk down memory lane

A pigeon chested boy was walking along Yesudian street in Nagercoil holding the hands of his Grandmother Grace Sundarabai Fredrick. His grandmother was taking him to Elizabeth nursery school. Since he was very mischievous and uncontrollable he had to be put in nursery school at the age of 3, while other similar children were put in nursery school at the age of 4. Every day his loving grandmother will carry him to the nursery classes and carry him back home . Nursery class in 1964 was very casual. You went to the class in the morning by about 10 o’ clock and you had a morning prayer and then started Oooone, twoooo, threeeee, foooour the numerical classes and followed by Aeeee, Beeee, Ceee, Deee, Ffff, Geee the alphabets classes. Then the teacher tells you some moral story and then you break for interval, where you visit the urinals and then have a drink of the milk or bournvita which you have brought in the morning. This is followed by one more session of story telling rhymes and then it is lunch time. After lunch you lay down in carefully spread mats and have a nap. Then rings the bell. Don’t think it is the electric bell which rings now. A matron carries a brass bell and keeps shaking it up and down. This bell is a real bell shaped bell made of brass and a striker which is dangling in the center is the hammer which strikes the bell when the matron shakes it up and down. Then comes an hour of playing in sliding boards and tricycles and rocking horses and swans made of wood and then you are off to your home. I am this boy. My Grand mother was there to carry me back home. Being an adamant boy. Many a times I refused to walk and my Grand mother will have to carry me in her hips.

Almost one and a half years went by in this fashion and then I was moved to “Morton English Primary School” which was / is situated inside the Duthie Girls High School, Now Higher secondary school. I completed my first standard to Fifth standard in this school

My Grand father (Mothers parents) Mr Fredrick .G. Nehemiah and Grandmother Mrs Grace Sundarabai Fredrick lived in Nagercoil . As a 6 months old baby, I am told that I was handed over to my Grand parents and I grew up with them until I was 10 years old. I called may Grand father as thatha and my Grandmother as Thathi. My Thathas father Mr G.N.Nehemiah had built up a huge bungalow in Nagercoil in the 40’s and after his death it devolved on my grand father Mr Fredrick. G. Nehemiah and his 2 brothers Jos Nehemiah and Ernest Nehemiah. This is the house in which I grew in. It was a huge bungalow situated in about 6000 square feet of land in No 122.Yesudian street Nagercoil. (See picture) During this 10 year period I was moulded by my grand parents in many ways and I owe my present status to them. They taught me how to read and write and how to behave with elders and how to be kind to others. They taught me to read the Bible, attend Sunday class and endeavor .During the summer vacation I attended VBS (Vacation Bible School.).

We always ate together and prayed together. Every morning started with a family prayer and every day ended with a night family prayer. In the family prayer I, my thatha and thathi will sit together and start off the prayer by singing a hymn from the song book “Christian Hymns and Lyrics” and then one of us will read a few words from the Bible and then sing a Lyric and then either thatha or Thathi will pray.

My grandpa was a voracious reader and he got me comic books to read .every month an issue of ‘Phantom’ comics, ‘Tarzan’ comics or ‘Mandrake the magician’ comics used to be released by the publisher called ‘Indrajal Comics’ every fortnight or month and my grandfather will religiously purchase the same for me . I used to cherish these comics as these were the only pastime available .This also inculcated in me the reading habit and the habit to sit and read books . If it was not for my grand parents I would have found it very difficult to sit in a place and read .My Grandpa taught me to play Chess, Ludo, Trade and snakes & ladders.

When I was a boy I was a boy with knock knees and had severe wheezing problems and was very lean and puny (see picture). This is a family picture taken somewhere between 1964 and 1967. I am the small boy with the knock knee standing in the farther left. I had pigeon chest. I always wanted to be a muscular man like Phantom, Tarzan or Lothar the friend of Mandrake the magician. My Thathi always used to apply coconut oil on my chest and pray to God for setting right my pigeon chest and for me to grow into a healthy boy.

When I was 3 or 4 years old (I am not able to remember clearly) my grand parents put me in Nursery school. In those days there was no LKG or UKG. There was something known as Nursery school where all small children studied their basics like alphabets and rhymes .I joined Elizabeth Nursery School in Nagercoil. The toys that we knew at that time were rocking horse and the Rocking swan made out of wood, tricycle, building blocks and a few dolls made out of plastic or wood. There were no electronic toys as we find in abundance these days. We in the Nursery school used to play ,read books as our teacher read word by word and slept in the afternoon and played in the evening and then returned back to home,

Thereafter I studied in Morton English Primary School from 1st standard to 5th standard.

My grandmother carried me to school every day .I seldom walked. I never went to school on my own. Either my grandmother escorted me or one sister by name Pramila Akka who was the grand daughter of D.P. Mani Thatha who was living 3 houses next to my thathas house escorted me. This Pramila Akka was a very loving Akka (An elder sister is called Akka) and despite my mischievousness she used to handle me with care and love. I can only guess what amount of troubles I would have given her and how difficult she would have found to take me to school. Some of the days I came back from school along with Pramila Akka but many days my Grand mother (Thathi) Mrs Grace Sundarabai Fredrick was there to take me / Carry me back from school.

when my Thathi came to pick me up from the school in the evening ,she used to bring coins of small denominations bundled up in one corner of her hand kerchief. At that time there was 1 paisa,2 paise,3 paise,5 paise 10 paise , 20 paise, 25 paise and of course the 50 paise and all other denominations of the present days . When taking me back from school on many days she would take me to one ‘Kumars Sharbath shop’ which was about 5 shops from the Collector office junction in front of the Morton school entrance and take out 10 paise and get me a sherbath for 5 paise and biscuits and sweets for the remaining 5 paise .Dont be surprised .. 10 paise had its value in those days. The way back from school was an enjoyable one.

Both sides of the road was lined up with houses of our relatives and they will be standing near the gate or near the door and each one will talk something or call us in for coffee and some snacks like mixture ,biscuits, plantain fruits, cakes etc and it was a very wonderful life. Almost all those who lived in Nagercoil were related to my grandpa or grandma in one way or the other, some close and some distant. I still remember Richmond thatha who had a shop a little down the collectorate junction, Charlotte thathi and Henry Thatha, baby aunty and Anbu uncle, Jessie thathi, Salommal thathi of Doss press, Annie thathi, Raji uncle of Thasor press, D.P Mani thatha, A.T.Joseph uncle,Retnaraj uncle ,Jothi thatha ,Thangabai aunty , Pastor Edward sam and so many others whom we used to meet on the way .It was almost a closed society and we could find out if a new person walked through the roads.
Teachers of those times and the present day

I can still remember Mrs Valli (Tamil teacher)Mrs George (fifth standard teacher) Mrs Thilaka (music teacher)and Mrs Nelson (fourth standard teacher)who were teachers in Morton English School . These were the teachers and till this day I am yet to find teachers like these .I do not know how to express, but these were TEACHERS. They lived by example .They taught us how to behave .They taught us discipline and they taught us to be God-Fearing .They admonished us and beat us with a scale when we did something wrong and I can confidently say with my head high up in the air that it is these personalities who moulded me .The children of the present era will never be the same as we are /were since they are not taught/coached/guided by teachers .Parents are up in arms against teachers beating their children and a time has come when the department of education has gone to the extent of stating that beating children and punishing children are offences and crimes. Why did this all happen. It all happened because of the senseless arrogance and ego of the teachers. The teachers of those times were well educated and many were teachers for generations together. Many of the teachers of these years are persons who have scored poorest of the poor marks in school and have just managed to pass. Many become teachers since they were not smart enough to get any other job. Many become teachers because it is an easy job since they do not have to update themselves every day like other officials and since they do not have to interact with intellectuals but only with students who know less than what they know. When these so called teachers find their classmates who were intelligent being placed in good attractive positions and drawing better salary their ego comes into play, They try to act over-smart and their inferiority complex pushes them to exhibit their authority and they attempt to paint a fine picture of themselves .They attempt to build up a scene as if they are not less equal than their intelligent classmates who are well placed in life and they do this by beating up the children of the rich and the famous for any trivial mistake and thereby try to project a larger than life picture of themselves. These teachers attempt to sideline the well educated, dedicated and sincere teachers since they are sure that if these well educated, knowledgeable, sincere and dedicated teachers are allowed to function without any hurdles they will overtake these so called teachers . These so called teachers bossed over the children and when the parents questioned their unscrupulous acts of beating up the children unscrupulously they gave arrogant answers and never admitted their mistakes nor took steps to correct themselves. Over a period of time these so called teachers have populated the teaching profession and now rules and laws are being put in place to curb the unwarranted acts arising out of their ego and idiocy.

The teachers whom I am referring to were teachers for generations and were well educated .Many of them had passed out of school and college with distinction .They were knowledgeable and knew almost anything. They were counselors and mentors. They taught the students, corrected their homework every day, prepared question papers carried the homework notes home, almost every day and carried it back to school after correcting the home work at home. What one teacher did in those days is being done by three teachers now. These teachers used the stick but in a controlled manner. Their beating hurt but hurt as far as we could bear. Their beating was to correct us, make us understand and become good students and not to harass us. Their principle was based on the Bible verse “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. Their beating and punishments were ot correct and mould us and not to harass us. They were respected and they were loved by all in the society. I simply love these teachers.

Cost of living, then and now!!!????

While at school ice stick was our favourite .Ice stick was being sold by Ice vendors by putting up Ice boxes behind their cycles and Ice sticks which cost more than 2 rupees today in 2012 costed one paisa . When I was studying 5th standard the cost of ice stick became 2 paise and 3 ice sticks cost 5 paise. This created a great furore since the hike from 1 paise to 2 paise was a 100% increase.

In Nagercoil fish vendors cycled their cache in cycles from kanyaKumari to Nagercoil and the fish was so fresh. I still remember the fish vendor called Puttu who will cry out Me…ee…eee…eeen (f..i..s..h) like a cat. It was almost like a mee.. ow of a cat. He was considered to be a fair and just vendor who will not cheat. For 50 paise I used to get one big slice of Seer fish (roughly ¾ inches thick 12 inches long and 6 inches wide) from him .Even in Vadasery market it was more or less the same price only. Vadasery was the biggest market in Nagercoil and every food variety ranging from different types of grasses for goats to the most exclusive vegetable was available there. It was a busy place with vehicles from all over Kanyakumari district flowing in and out. It was bustling with people buying and selling goods. Fish, mutton, beef and pork were all available there. Everything was cheap and fresh..fresh to the core. The vegetables , fish mutton etc had a different taste. All these in Madras did not taste half as good.

My grand parents were so loving and kind to me. Both of them were God fearing people and both held respectable positions in the CSI Home Church Nagercoil. My thathi had to attend to several church meetings like Womens fellowship meeting , Thorkal Sangam, Friday prayer etc. Everywhere she went she carried me and in all prayer meetings I got the prayers of all my thathis friends. I am sure that it is these prayers which have protected me till date. In short I was like Marys little Lamb for my Thathi. Just like “ Mary had a little lamb and evey where that Mary went the lamb was sure to go”. Every where my Thathi Mrs Grace sundarabai Fredrick went, I was sure to go.. Be it prayer meeting or weddings or street prayers .. be it anything , my grandmother took me along with her.

My Daddy and Mummy used to come to Nagercoil to visit my Grand parents (Maternal Grand parents, ie my mothers parents) during the summer or Christmas holidays. I and my grand parents would go over to Madras (now called Chennai) every year during either of these holiday span. So by and large , every year either I would be in Madras or my parents would be in Nagercoil during either of these holidays.