Personal Narrative: My First Day At A New School

The sky was grey, and it was raining heavily. It was cold and windy, and the only thing I could remember of that day was my first day at a new school where I was to spend the next 12 years of my childhood in Shimla. It was, perhaps, in March 1965 when school life began. I was only 7 years old and not ready to face the world that was going to unfold before me. Perhaps, I was too young and naïve to know what life is. The only thing that trilled me was playing, and playing only with other Tibetan children of my age. Before joining the Central School for Tibetans, Shimla, I lived in Sterling Castle, a big cottage, situated on top of a small hill. It was a home administered by “Save The Children Fund” for the Tibetan refugee children. The parents could not take care of theirown children because they had to find work for their livelihood. Most of them were working to build roads in the Northern part of India to earn their livelihood. I was one of those lucky children.

Whenever she came up to meet me on holidays, I would be very quiet and obedient. She would bring sweets and fruits for me. The moment of the separation was difficult, sad and reaaly heartbreaking. I didn´t want her leaving me on my own in the institution. I desperately needed my mum all the time with me. I would cry loudly and desperately implored her not to go away.

Most of the broken glasses were replaced by sheets of tin or carton paper to keep the rooms warm in Winter. The educational curriculum consists of English language, Mathematics, history, general science, civics and Hindi and Tibetan languages. The medium of study was English. We, the Tibetan students, found it hard to understand the subjects we were studying. At the beginning, the ideal way to pass the final exam was cramming. It was our ability to memorise the syllabus by heart that stood us in good stead. We could do and pass the final exams of primary grades with