1886- clocks and chimes

From PhalkeFactory

Clocks.jpg


In Bombay, it was the last day of the semester at the Sir JJ School of Art.

Fellow students were teasing me about my marriage, as we proceeded to the auditorium where the annual awards are being presented to the studetns for their excellence in various arts and crafts.

Mr. Griffith, the Principal, and Mr. Tarry, the Vice-Principal, presented their annual report on the institution.

Mr. Tarry announced that they have been able to manufacture glazed pottery that can hold liquids, and have been commissioned to make ceramic insulators for the telephone company, that drawings have been made of all the caves of Ajanta, and that future jobs entrusted to (us) included building of the telegraph office, and the wood carving for the new station of the BCC and I railway line.

Mr. Tarry then introduced the ex-Principal, Mr. Kipling, and his son, to the audience.

Following this, he introduced Raja Ravi Verma, and invited students to view his paintings.

The students left for the exhibition hall. I was accompanied by a young friend who is sceptical of art schools, opining that these schools are basically established to produce aluminium utensils for the Mission hospitals.

Later, while discussing our future prospects after graduation, I disclosed to my intention of going to Baroda where my brother worked Romesh Chandra Dutt, eminent scholar from Bengal.

After the ceremony, I walked from the JJ School to Elphinstone College, where Baba was teaching Sanskrit.

When I got there, there was a commotion in my father's classroom. Baba was objecting to the presence of a non-Hindu in his Sanskrit class.

Impulsively, he resigned his post and left the premises, taking his son with him.

The face of the non-Hindu boy has left a deep impression on my mind.

At home, they announced the news of his father's resignation.

Baba decided to return to Trymbak and resumes his old job of kathavachak.

My brother from Baroda was at home, paying the family a visit, and I prevailed upon him to take him back to Baroda with him.

I went to the station to see my off, and turned my back on the train as it steamed out, homeward bound.