Alma Mater

“May we seek truth to find God in all we do and reach out in love to everyone in need,..” I was surprised when I realized what I was humming in the early hours of the day. I was busy packing lunch for my husband and it was only when I reached the school motto “Towards Charity by Truth” that I realized I was absent-mindedly humming my school song. I am sure all Dominicans who happen to read this would have started humming it too, to check how much they remember of the song we used to sing so often. I am indeed proud that I could sing it till the very last word, though I find it difficult to recall the definition of “market” which I have been memorizing sincerely every term since 11^th Std. This brought me memories of the good old days of school and morning assembly. It fills me with nostalgia as I remember how we used to run towards the assembly ground as the bell goes at 8.30 am, making sure we carry our song books along. I can still recall the day when I had left my song book at home and Sister Rose Daphne unfortunately decided to pull out the girls who dint have their song books. Luckily I was not alone as a whole bunch of girls accompanied me to the other side of the assembly ground, wondering what will be in store for us. The seemingly never-ending assemblies and the good values taught each day followed by the news and song for the day are all evergreen memories now. How we used to laugh at times when girls stammered reading difficult names in the newspaper. How I wish we could rewind our lives and go back to those carefree days, where the only problems were forgetting the badge, not tying up the hair, missing the ribbon, not cutting the nails etc. The worst part was when the PT teachers came round checking if we were wearing the bloomers!!J How we used to run for chalks before the assembly trying in vain to make our shoes look white. Not to forget the crows that always seemed to have problems in the stomach right at the time of assembly, and how we used to pray that we get spared. And the intercom assemblies on rainy days were fun except for the ones who had to be part of the assembly as they had to march to Sister’s room for the intercom. The ‘freeze bell’ in the afternoons was a fun thing when it was first introduced; we used to act like statues as the bell was meant “to freeze”.

Looks like I can go on and on and write a book on St. Dominic’s and all the things we did then. I am forcing myself to stop as I prefer to lay down on my couch and dream of the many many other things which I cannot possibly put down on paper now, but would love to do sometime later. All the Dominicans out there reading this can also contribute other interesting things we did or just lazily sit back and run a flash back…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzwwwwwwwwwwwwww,……