Let me first define Hygiene: conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, especially through cleanliness.
Here is a newspaper report dated 19.02.2026.
Now here is an extract from my Page ‘About me’ referring to my ensconcement in that institution from the age of 6 in 1958 until the day I left at the end of 1968:
‘it was bewildering for 6 year old me to then have to adapt to slum conditions! Those slum conditions remained in force throughout the period I was in Lovedale with constant shortages of water, filthy premises, abysmal toilets, filthy servants, poor nutrition, frequent bouts of diarrhoea, an infestation of cockroaches, and an abundance of rats.’ I wrote this Page 4 years earlier in 2022!
Not much change then, 68 years later!!
Now here are more extracts from my page Infrastructure which I wrote 4 years earlier in 2022!
‘What this resulted in were flies; millions of them! Thus in the mornings when standing in formation waiting to get into the dining room, the flies would cause intense irritation to the legs of boys, all of whom wore shorts! A simple cleaning of the counters after each tea break would have obviated the problem but there was simply nobody taking care of such matters.’
‘In all of my life I have never come across an area that was filthier than the kitchen of the Senior School. On the walls of the kitchen there were thousands of cockroaches just relaxing! No effort whatsoever was ever made to clear them. I am aware that in a country like the UK, the kitchen would have been shut down immediately and the person in charge sacked! Finding dead flies in food was a routine occurrence. If one went into the kitchen, the filth of the cooks would shock anybody! No question of any headgear or apron and obviously, if the boys didn’t have access to soap, the cooks and bearers certainly didn’t!’
The story of K.V.L. Narayan Rao
Jaundice was a common occurrence throughout the period I was in Lovedale. The year was 1968 and Narayan Rao was in the same ‘First Guard’ that I was when rehearsing for the Founder’s Parade. He was in the middle row and I was in the rear row right behind him. Suddenly, Narayan let out a moan and was on his way to fainting. Instinctively, I broke his fall and dragged him to the bank at the back of the parade ground. Not only was he admitted to the Hospital but was removed from school for the rest of the year as it turned out that he was suffering from Jaundice. Many years later in 2010, we were both guests at the wedding of our mutual friend’s daughter in Delhi and we both recalled the incident. At the time, Narayan was CEO of N.D.T.V. Sadly, Narayan passed away in 2017 due to unrelated causes.
Jaundice is, of course caused by consuming contaminated food and contaminated water.
Once again, not much change in the hygiene conditions decades later!