Life from the eyes of a Marian from the Pre-independence Era!

Reverend Father Richard Lane-smith a pucca Anglo-Indian and all of 85, lives a retirees life in the quaint neighbourhood of Colaba. He is arguably the oldest Marian in the city of Mumbai. He studied at St. Mary’s School from 1934 to 1943 in the pre-independence era which he describes so beautifully through his words. He was in the school band and recalls the band being popular among the citizens of Bombay and they were often called for various public performances by the Government at their functions at Esplanade, Fort etc.

Father Lane-smith became a Jesuit Priest (from Jamshedpur Province) and has had an illustrious career as a teacher, Vice-principal and Principal of various Jesuit Schools all over India. He feels (I’m sure incorrectly, having met him) the Jesuit community views him with some trepidation as he always believed in calling a spade a spade, a principle he lives by till today.

But he is best known for having been the vice-principal of Campion School of Bombay for a couple of years. He recalls those times with a big smile, as he spent those years along with a principal who not only was an ex-principal of St. Mary’s School but also his classmate at St. Mary’s. That principal and a very dear childhood friend of Father Lane-smith is none other than our school’s first non-Jesuit Principal Mr. Kenneth Dyer.

Father Lane-smith has some very fond memories and some not so fond memories of his schooldays at St. Mary’s. He recalls one particular incident not so fondly but it taught him a lesson which helped him later in life as a teacher and Principal. In those days in the 1930’s the students used a quill type of ink pen where the ink flowed between two metal nibs. One of the nibs broke and Father Lane-smith was having visible trouble writing and keeping up with the teacher who was dictating. When the teacher noticed the same, instead of handing him another pen from her drawer, she pointed the same out to the whole class and Father Lane-smith was the laughing stock of the class for the next few minutes. Father Lane-smith never forgot the incident but it helped in treating children in a better fashion during his long and illustrious career as a teacher and Principal.

Another incident that he recalls is bit of a funny one. Father Hennessey was a very prim and proper priest with a pronounced English accent. When he was looking after the boarders he had this peculiar habit of lining up the boarders on the school grounds after they finished dinner. And then clear his throat and say a simple, “Go on” and the boys would promptly march off. One night, as soon as the boarders lined up, one of the boys cleared his throat and mimicking Father Henessey said, “Go on”. The other boys having thought Father Henessey said it, promptly marched off. This happened the next night as well and wanting to find the culprit red handed, Father Henessey let it continue for a few more days till he was absolutely sure which boy was mimicking him. On the next day, the boys around this particular boarder realised it was their classmate saying “Go on”, chuckled and Father Henessey immediately caught the culprit. He summoned him to the office. The boy was scared about the canning or any other punishment that he might receive. But when he went to the office, exact opposite happened. Father Henessey told the boarder that he was an excellent mimic but he must stop and boarder was let off without a punishment. Needless to say the boarder never mimicked him again. Again, a valuable lesson learnt for a future teacher.

But Father Lane-smith’s favourite anecdote is that of when he as vice-principal and Mr. Kenneth Dyer as the principal of Campion School went to visit on school business to Mr. Zaveri (Owner of TBZ) a St. Mary’s Alumni’s office at Zaveri Bazaar. Both Mr. Dyer and Father Lane-smith were greeted with dear respect and guided through all the jewellery to Mr. Zaveri’s office. Once seated and post initial chit chat, Mr. Dyer remarked, “My GOD, Mr. Zaveri, how does it feel to be surrounded by so much wealth”. To which Mr. Zaveri replied, “Sir, all this is merely what you said, WEALTH, what is here today could be gone tomorrow and would be back day-after, but the wealth of knowledge and teaching that you and my school has given me is priceless and shall stay with me forever!”. Father Lane-smith was astounded by this reply and recalls it very well and comments, “such a reply could only come from a Jesuit student”. I agree with Father Lane-smith, that Jesuit education truly provides the right morals, values and principles in a child to make them exemplary citizens of the world. 

- Article by the Social Media Cell