Students came to this Anglo-Indian school from Bombay
island and also from the surrounding suburbs on Salsette
island. The students were upper and middle class
Anglo-Indians, a few Europeans, Indian Christians drawn
from the East Indian, Goan and Mangalorean communities, and
non-Christians who were Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Parsees.
The school was exclusive, elitist and enjoyed an excellent
academic record. Academic and class snobbery flourished
and was not discouraged. The students in the "European
Section" thought of themselves as a cut above the girls of
the "Indian" section of the school. The "European Section"
of this Anglo-Indian school prepared students for the
University of Cambridge Overseas Examination. The "Indian
Section" prepared students for the University of Poona's
Secondary School Certificate.
European culture was extolled - western classical music,
literature, dance and drama were all encouraged. The
"house" names were Dickens, Kipling, Scott, Shakespeare and
Tennyson. Examiners from the Trinity College of Music,
London visited the school annually to conduct examinations
in practical music and elocution. (This inculcation and
pursuit of European values in music led to the researcher
ultimately being elected a Fellow of the Trinity College of
Music .)
The accent on European culture was so intense that French
was always taught as a second language to Anglo-Indians
rather than an Indian language. The researcher became an
"Anglo-Indian Language Casualty" because she could not,
towards the end of her schooling, speak, let alone read or
write, an Indian language like other Indian students. (2)
This had a catastrophic effect on the researcher.
According to the researcher's Hindi tutor, she spoke Hindi
with a "fractured accent". She possessed a poor vocabulary
14
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