Bishop Cotton School, Shimla

Off to Bishop Cotton School

British Airways announces the departure of its flight from Dubai to….

That announcement by the airport always reminded me that my vacation was over and it was time to go back to my grandparents or St. Andrews School.

The pretty BA air hostess would guide me through customs, on to the flight, meet the captain, see the cockpit and get the captain’s signature as a member of the Junior Jet Club.

Today was different.

I had just turned 15 years old and told British Airways, I did not need an air hostess to escort me. I wanted to fly by myself.

So where am I heading?

A few weeks ago, I was having a discussion with my mother as to what to do after St. Andrews. I had my own convictions about where I wanted to go. My mother had her own opinions. So, the conversation went like this:

‘Mom, I want to go to New York, London or some big city to experience high school’

‘Nice try son, but I think at this stage in your life, a boy’s boarding school would be a great fit’

‘Seriously mom!!! Why?’

My mother who keeps detailed notes of my entire life brings out this nice folder with all the bills from St. Andrews.

‘Well you see son, the bills from your shenanigans at St. Andrew were more than the annual bill.’

‘Now mom, you are amazing, you are awesome and your only lovely child has passed grade 10 with flying colors and let me look at those allegations again.’

Mom brings out two pages of written notes and they are all numbered

1. Destruction of the chemistry lab (mom it was just to see how the frogs were doing)
2. Destruction of 14 frogs (mom I wanted to taste the legs)
3. Chasing girls with a frog in hand (they asked I showed it to them)
4. Entering the girl’s dormitory without permission (just visiting Vanessa and Maryam)
5. Destruction of a cauldron of soup (mom I was hungry)
6. Breaking pots in the garden
7. Entering apple orchards without permission
8. Waking up the entire dorm at midnight
9. Going on town leave without permission (mom breath deeply and let’s focus on positives of St. Andrews)
10. And the list went on

‘Son, I think you need some discipline and male bonding time. You have been around women too long.’

Mother was paying the bills and so she won.

I am heading to Bishop Cotton School, 160 years old, steeped in tradition. Most students are lifers. Very few are taken in grade 11.

I am in Lefroy house. This house has been the number one house for a long long time.

I meet some of the juniors who I knew from St. Andrews and then I met some of my classmates. We were about 16 of us in the first year. I meet Ashwani Virk (ash), Anup Bhalaik (skinny), Jatinder Taneja (tan) and a whole bunch of others. These three would become lifelong friends.

The bell went at 6 am. Time to get up and hit the hot showers.

After that, the dorm would be reviewed by the housemaster. The bed had to be clean, the nails had to be polished, the locker had to be sparkling clean.

Everyone had to stand in line and be reviewed by the house captain and then breakfast (breka).

The porridge was hot, the toast lavished with butter was just amazing.

Time to hit classes.

Lunch was always something fresh and delicious. As seniors, we sat on the other side. For less than ten of us, we had two servers. A little cash in their pocket always meant more food.

Tea was my favorite time. Fresh tea and those biscuits.

Sports. BCS was built around sports and playing against teams all over the country.

I played hockey, cricket, badminton for Lefroy house. Taneja and Minocha were not only great at table tennis but they represented the school as well. In tennis, the Thai guys (boffies) were just amazing.

Yes, I did try for the boxing team. For three months of the year getting up at 5.30 am, having a banana and two raw eggs and then running uphill for 1 hr. Did I mention holding two stones in your hands? Did I sign up for the marines?

I acted in plays, I wrote for the school journal.

I looked forward to the weekends.

Out of 300 boys in this 160-year-old Protestant institution,  only 4 protestant boys and one Catholic boy. Ajoy (RIP) was always chosen to round up the other four to attend mass on Sundays. Now hold on a minute, no one is converting me. Hey, we take the bread in the mouth, none of this taking in the hands’ stuff.

Did I mention, all 300 of us had to attend mass early morning before school. The hymns were legendary.

Jerry since you are a Christian around here you will do the reading. So once a week for the next two years in front of 300 boys and teachers, I would read from the scriptures. Arun Sachdev, a cardiologist was visiting from Thailand and while Vipul Goel, Arun and me are driving to Niagara, Arun starts quoting all these scriptures. Holy moly this guy knows the bible better than me.

Paul Yap (Malaysian), Sati (Swiss) (RIP) and I hung out a lot because of being the foreigners on campus. Paul had a sister in Auckland, so town leave always meant we had a date from Auckland house.

Taneja had a connection at Beads. The girls were the same age as us. For the first time, the maturity level hit me. I was so off base.

Unlike St. Andrews which did not have the policy to disbar students, you were on thin ice at BCS in terms of rules.

I did take apples from the orchards, I did take the furniture and threw it in the pool on all fools day, I did knock on Mr. Hakim’s (RIP) door and run. I will never forget Pannu who clogged the whole drainage system with his T-shirt. He got disbarred.

After the first year, a couple of students left. For grade 12, there were just 10 of us. The time passed and we were all moving on.

The last day of school was always tough. We all held hands and sang the school song.

Seven years after graduation, three of those ten graduates had died. In the grade 11 pic, I am standing between the three.

I get asked a lot about whether going to a private school made a difference in my life. It is a loaded question.

I learned loyalty to fellow Cottonians, to country, to faith, and to the law.

I learned discipline, writing skills, speaking skills, leadership, communication, how to dress and it was my first foray into multiculturalism.

In grade 12, the whole class took off to town without asking for permission. I mean come on we are all 17 and a bunch of prefects.

We got caught and as soon as we came back, we had to change into shorts and T-shirt.

All ten of us got whacked ten times by heady. I was the first to go and maybe he forgot to count but I got 11 shots. Man it hurt.

I never broke a law for the rest of my life. Didicit.

Photo Credits: English Jumbo 747-400 by Bill Wilt CC BY -ND 2.0,

The author wishes to thanks Ashwani Singh Virk, OCA and Arun Sawhney for all the pictures in this article.