Let me begin by saying that K.I. Thomas or Princi (both names were used interchangeably and affectionately) was personally a very kind man and very secular indeed. He was also academically gifted. When he was asked for help, he was willing and able; and here I set out but one example: Dr. Jaganathan, a year below me was on a scholarship in the school as a little boy. After school his brilliant achievement led to his obtaining a place in a Medical College in Pondicherry. However, Jagga, as he was popularly known by his friends, simply didn’t have enough funds for day to day needs such as purchasing text books etc. He travelled to Lovedale by bus and approached his old Headmaster, K.I. Thomas for help and within days that help did materialise. For many years, Jagga was a practicing surgeon in Edinburgh, co-incidentally a place where K.I., Thomas had himself obtained a Masters Degree!
Personal Kindness aside, it is only fair that we examine what was expected by the parents of their children and where better to begin than an extract from the Radhakrishnan Report of 1950:
“one of the serious complaints against the system of education which has prevailed in this country for over a century is that it neglected India’s past, that it did not provide the Indian students with a knowledge of their own culture. It had produced in some cases the feeling that we are without roots, and what is worse, that our roots bind us to a world very different from that which surrounds us”. Radhakrishnan Report 1950
Although this report was in relation to college education, I am sure Princi would have read it and been aware of its contents as the passage applied equally to schools like Lawrence:
By the time I joined the school as a 6 year old in 1958, K.I. Thomas had been Principal/ Headmaster for 8 years and should have, but didn’t connect us to our roots. Instead, the school was rabidly Anglo-Indian and Christian. Let me use the words of Nobel Laurate Naipaul to describe Anglo-India:
this is a mimicry not of England, a real country, but of the fairy-tale land of Anglo-India, of clubs and sahibs and syces and bearers. It is as if an entire society had fallen for the casual confidence of a trickster. Casual because the trickster had gone away, losing interest in his joke, but leaving the Anglo-Indians flocking to the churches of Calcutta on a Sunday morning to assert an alien faith more or less abandoned in its country of origin….Leaving ‘civil lines’, ‘cantonments’, leaving people ‘going off to the hills’; magic words now fully possessed, now spoken as of right, in what is now at last Indian Anglo-India, where smartness can be found in the cosy proletarian trivialities of Women’s Own and the Daily Mirror, and where Mrs. Hauksbee, a Millamant of the suburbs, is still the arbiter of elegance.
So let me start with my entry as a 6 year old:
- The The first boy I came into contact with was an Anglo-Indian called Teddy. This character also of a similar age stole everything he could lay his hands on including toilet soap, tooth paste, hair oil etc. Looking back, it is obvious that he originated from an Anglo-Indian slum and was not the scion of fee paying parents. His thefts were the result of the poverty of his parents.
- The first prefect I came across was Owen Mannas, an Anglo-Indian.
- The first matron I came across was a Miss Teresa, a ‘Rice Bag Convert’ Christian who slapped, pinched, and pulled hair liberally.
- The first ayah I came across was Rosy, again a ‘Rice Bag Convert’ Christian who was even more violent than Teresa.
- The first stewardess I came across was Miss Fowles, a parasite. She was a white remnant of Empire. A Page has been devoted to her.
- The first bearer I came across was Augustine, another ‘Rice Bag Convert’ Christian.
- The first teacher I came across was Mrs Enos, an Anglo-Indian. A Page has been devoted to her, The Enos Phenomenon.
- The next teacher was a Miss Nainan, a Syrian Christian
- The next teacher I came across was a Miss Prince, an Anglo-Indian. A Page has been devoted to her The Prince Phenomenon
- The next teacher I came across was a Miss Dudley, an Anglo-Indian. A Page has been devoted to her Miss Dudley and I
- The next teacher I came across was a Miss Stokoe, an Anglo-Indian. A Page has been devoted to her Miss Stokoe and I
- The doctor was Dr. Shaw, an Anglo-Indian. A Page has been devoted to him Dr Shaw and I
- The nurse was Mrs. Richter, an Anglo-Indian.
K.I. Thomas would have made a brilliant Principal in an elite day school or he could even have been a brilliant academician in a prestigious University anywhere in the world. However, he was out of his depth in running the boarding institution known as Lawrence School, Lovedale. This post will set out my reasons for this conclusion. Others, and I am aware there will be hundreds, may well disagree and that is their prerogative. I speak as somebody who went through that institution for 11 of the most valuable years of my life and also as a sibling of two Old Lawrencians, my brother and sister. I consider those 11 crucial years as totally wasted and an unnecessary drain on the financial resources of my father.
There has been no end of effusive words spoken about K.I. Thomas. He joined as Principal of the school in late 1950. Throughout the period I was there, he was affectionately referred to by his sobriquet ‘Princi’. He held a Masters Degree in English from Madras University, went on to get a Masters Degree in Education from Edinburgh University and also a Teaching Diploma from London University. On returning to India, his first job was as Principal of Rajkumar College in Rajkot. Ironically, if my father had to send me to a boarding school in India, I wish he had chosen Rajkumar College as that would have been in my family’s ‘comfort zone’ not least because it was built for Kathiaward princes. As it happens, my family is Kathiawari (albeit not of Royal heritage). However, Rajkumar College was unheard of in distant Kenya. Following his spell in Rajkumar College, Thomas went to Sindh Madressatul Islami (which is now a University) in Karachi when India was still undivided. It was in Karachi that he befriended a gentleman called Salim and that is who his son is named after. Then, in late 1950, he joined Lawrence School Lovedale as Principal.
In 1953, he changed, of his own volition, his title from Principal to Headmaster to be in consonance with the system obtaining in British Public Schools which system he desired to emulate. He even became Head of the Indian Public Schools Conference. He remained in Lovedale for 22 long years.
‘Mystique’ best describes why he is held in such high regard.
However, an analysis of his stint, long after his death will reveal just how bogus his reputation was. In all of the 11 years that I was at the school not once did I see Mr Thomas in any part of the school other than
- His office
- His Home
- In the Assembly Hall were he took one assembly a week and participated in functions such as Prefects’ Investiture and ‘Founder’s’
- The Parade Ground at Founder’s celebrations where he accompanied the Chief Guest
- A classroom where he held his one class a week teaching English.
- He took one English class a week for Senior Students.
All of the above would have taken him no more than 5 minutes to walk from one venue to another.
I did once see him at Prep School, when he came to show off two tiger cubs that had been shot on school premises. See below:
In all of my time he had never ever visited
- Any dormitory
- Never ever the library
- Never ever the Prep and Junior Schools ( he did visit Prep school once in 1959 when he accompanied various others to exhibit a couple of tiger cubs that had been shot dead on school premises by a guard)
- Never ever the Girls School
- Never ever the hospital
- Never ever the toilets
- Never ever the showers
- Never ever the kitchen
- Never ever most of the vast beautiful acreage (750 acres) that formed his domain, that is Lawrence School Lovedale.
Had he done so, he would have noticed the filth and dilapidation that was creeping in! Had he done so, he would have noticed the physical decline and put in place plans to stop matters almost leading to the collapse of the institution! Had he done so, he would certainly have noticed the culture of torture and bullying that was all pervading. For who on Earth could have failed to notice Senior School Prefects, who had no other day to day contact with the Junior School, both schools being some distance physically apart, descending down what were known as the 67 steps on a daily basis to subject Class 5 boys, 6 years junior to them and aged merely 9 or 10, to unspeakable physical torture? To start with, there was no possibility of any misdemeanour alleged or imaginary coming to their notice because of the physical distance and in any case, what was being done was collective punishment! And the Head boy, or Head Prefect? Sunil Nehru…. Yes indeed! Nephew of the now notorious chacha! To be fair, Sunil never personally inflicted any torture but he could have and should have stopped those who he headed! I must mention that Sunil had a younger brother Nikhil at school and the youngest brother Vikram who was my classmate, was and is my friend. Vikram was Vice-head boy in my final year but never participated in any torture even though he was, as my classmate in class 5 subject to the same torture, notwithstanding his brother being Head boy.
During most of the academic year students only got a glance of K I Thomas taking a lugubrious walk from his residence to his office. That added to the mystique. Reality is that the Principal didn’t do much. On the academic side, for most of the time I was in Lovedale, Mr. L.A. Vyas was the Senior Master to whom all the teachers had a dotted reporting line. Mr. Vyas, who held two Masters Degrees from USA had joined the school in 1953 from a stint at Doon School, was able to teach Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Hindi. He also took charge of Hindu prayer meetings. Further, he had been Housemaster of Nilgiri House before Mac (about whom there are several Pages). Thomas couldn’t have hoped for better support and quite rightly, Mr Vyas became Headmaster as soon as K.I. Thomas retired.
K.I. Thomas had an outstanding Bursar, Mr R A Mehta who was in charge of the finances and was excellent at his job. He also had clerical support from the likes of a Mr Krishnamurthy who, with his team did all the correspondence with parents and other parties, there was a team of staff located just below the clock tower room that did all the accounting, and there was a Mr Bellie in charge of the vast physical estate of 750 acres. Thus, the Headmaster would have had more than enough time to show a physical presence in various parts of the premises. I have documentary evidence that the following administration staff, who gave Thomas support throughout the time I was there had many years of valuable experience and had joined the school years before Thomas:
- Mr. K. Nagarajan, Quarter Master joined 13.3.1939
- Mr. Roland, Electrician joined 01.01.1941
- Mr. Bellie Estate Manager joined 01.01.1943
- Mr. Ragunathan Accountant joined 01.01 1943
- Mr. K.B. Kongan Accountant joined 01.02.1943
Thus, administration was taken away from him and all he had to do was ensure that the best academic results were produced and overall there was satisfaction among the pupils and parents. By satisfaction I mean an atmosphere where boys regarded the school as a home away from home, where little boys were allowed to be little boys and were thriving in a pleasant atmosphere. Instead it was a torture chamber where illiterate and uncaring ancillary staff with absolutely no knowledge of child care controlled little boys as if they were prisoners who could be beaten at will.
As Headmaster, K I Thomas should certainly have kept an eye on the whereabouts of his staff, particularly those whose job it was to be ‘parents’ (In Loco Parentis) of the boys they were in charge of. Had he done so, he would have noticed how much time Mac (about whom there are many Pages ) spent away from the school premises leaving his wards in the ‘care’ of 16 year old thugs! He could have, indeed was duty bound to discipline Mac but it is unlikely even a word was said. Without a shadow of doubt, Mac was bringing the institution of Lawrence School into disrepute. K.I. Thomas should also have been a ‘butcher’ when assessing the performance of staff. Sissodia, for example, was a graduate of a US University but was teaching Indian History. His results were so bad that not one science student chose Indian History as his optional subject. Sissodia should have been sacked or certainly he should not have been allowed to return to school in 1962 after he had taken a year off to spend time in USA! K.I. Thomas should certainly have got rid of Mrs Fowles, mentioned above, who was a parasite, who was not only on the payroll of the School herself, receiving a salary and perks but her three children were also parasites!
Where K I Thomas was totally negligent was in recruiting staff to actually teach! Biology teacher Naeem was allowed to take a sabbatical and go to the USA for some sort of further study, without Thomas having made arrangements for a replacement. Haphazardly, he recruited a Mr Ahmed, who was completely out of his depth and barely able to speak English. Ahmed lasted just a few months. In his place came a Mr Justin Anthony who wasn’t familiar with zoology, only botany; totally inappropriate where both aspects of the subject were equally vital. When Physics teacher Jacob resigned, after a falling-out with Thomas, for months there was no replacement. Thomas should have managed the situation and retained Jacob. Jacob, a Brown University, USA graduate had been in the school 13 years, ran the ‘Camera Club’ and was an experienced Housemaster. Above all, he maintained discipline in his classes. I can do no more than quote from the musings of E John (see Post E John): ‘He left Lovedale; miffed by a professional disagreement he had had with the headmaster. He had felt let down by him, one of his own kind; a Malayalee no less.’
It so happened that a former pupil, a lady called Vasanti Vasudevan was visiting Lovedale and was instantly ‘press-ganged’ into teaching on a temporary basis, this complicated subject. Subsequently, a Mr Dorairaj was hired, once again, a person barely able to communicate in English and whose written English was barely decipherable. Dorairaj, probably a graduate of some rural University, who was short, bald and extremely hot tempered lasted some 30 years, had his family and offspring take full advantage of free accommodation, free education, free food etc and I understand wormed his way into the USA via his offspring to live in retirement. See his photo below. The worst recruitment decision was to hire a Mr Leonard (See Photos), newly qualified, to teach Maths. This was in 1967. The pretentious Leonard was more interested in impressing the female pupils in his class and every time he was paid, would have a bespoke suit sewn, only in his case, the suits not only looked tatty but his bumpkin upbringing came to the fore as he combined a green suit with grey shoes etc! He was a terrible teacher who didn’t have a clue about his subject. I was in his class and witnessed him getting stuck in answering questions raised by pupils. He would pretend that he knew the answer but was passing it on to a fellow classmate to test the latter’s knowledge. He would even offer a monetary award to the problem solver! This was, of course, nonsense! Fact is he simply couldn’t answer because of his lack of knowledge. Six decades after the event, my friend and classmate, Arun Kumar the ‘problem solver’ remembers Leonard thus: ‘I won money off him – twice. The first time Rs10 for solving a geometry rider. The second time he had lowered the stake, for another rider to Rs5. If all else failed and this fool couldn’t answer questions, he would suffer bouts of ‘pretend’ fainting. He would then ask a pupil to fetch him hot water with salt, he would take a sip and his recovery would be miraculous! In the meantime, the question raised would be forgotten! Added to this ‘drama queenery’, in reality this Leonard character had no experience in either athletics or football but pretended to be an expert in both, turning up at playgrounds sometimes in a long sleeved formal shirt, white shorts and uncertain footwear. The advice he gave was made up on the hoof and in later years when I restarted running, I met many coaches who assured me that Leonard’s advice was utter rubbish! I do recall one incident on the football field: Leonard had scored a goal and was walking back to the centre to start again as is normal after a goal. The goal-keeper chucked (chucked, not kicked) the ball towards the centre. The ball hit, very lightly the back of Leonard’s head and that led to him fainting (or more accurately pretending to faint). Leonard resigned at the end of 1967 stating that he would be leaving for Tanzania where he had a job offer. This turned out to be bogus as the Tanzanians booted him out and meekly he slipped back into Lovedale only to resign the following year. I understand this character also wormed his way into the USA.
Thomas and Parades
Thomas should have had the courage to discontinue the odious practice of Parades honouring the Founder of the School, Sir Henry Lawrence. He did not have the courage. It should have been glaringly obvious to him that countless hours were dedicated to this bogus activity honouring a colonial tax extorter. India had been Independent for 3 years when Thomas joined and he should have realised that he was continuing a colonial practice which is so embedded now that a subsequent Headmaster, Lahiri who did have the courage to question the necessity to continue the practice of parades was hounded out of Lovedale.
Thomas and House Names
Readers may be interested in learning that the much revered K.I. Thomas wanted to keep the names of the various Houses inherited from British times and said he wouldn’t have changed them but one of his predecessors, Suraj Bhan had. So let us have a look to see what Thomas would have kept and what actually happened:
- Lawrence House became Sumeru House. I have written extensively about Lawrence in this blog so will not elaborate further.
- Murray Hammick became Amarkanta. Murray Hammick was a British babu whose main claim to fame was he was Governor of Madras between March 1912 and October 1912, when John Sinclair took over
- Hope Grant became Nilgiri. Hope Grant was a British soldier (ultimately becoming a General) who took part in the supressing our Indian ancestors during the 1st War of Independence. He also fought against the Chinese in the infamous Opium Wars which were started because the British wanted to force the Chinese to allow into their country opium grown in India. This was on the basis of imposing ‘free trade’ which the Chinese were against, as opium addiction was killing millions of Chinese. The character had, like a number of British Officers initially purchased his commission rather than obtained it by merit.
- Padfield became Aravalli. I have written extensively about Padfield and the gated community he ran. Please see my Page on Padfield.
- Knapp and Stanley dorms became Kailas. Knapp was one of the most incompetent British babus. In fact, so incompetent was he that there was a Malayalam word brought into use, still valid today called ‘knappen’ meaning an incompetent person! Stanley was George Stanley, another British babu who rose to be Governor of Madras between the years 1929 to 1934. To be fair, he did open several public institutions which still bear his name including Stanley Medical College.
- Amarkanta and Nilgiri merged to become Nilgiri.
I venture that Thomas knew very little of the History of India otherwise he wouldn’t have dreamt of continuing the British names.
The photos below are reflective of what may have contributed to Thomas’ ‘mystique’. Here he is, with Nehru and Indira Gandhi when Nehru was Chief Guest. I happened to be a pupil but aged 7 didn’t know and didn’t want to know either who these mysterious visitors were! However Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were held in such high regard that anybody who met them was considered a significant figure. It should not have been a big deal. Below that is a photo of my parents and sister (also an OL) meeting Indira Gandhi. Another photo shows my father meeting P.M. Vajpayee who was a truer reflection of my family’s outlook.
