How much do you owe?

 How much do you owe? 

The boarders in Bishops were forever short of cash.

Although their parents ' banked' money with the Dormitory incharge , they were only permitted 5 - 10 rupees a week unless they could justify a larger sum to buy a book etc. 

Now they were always hungry as well, as most kids are . 

There was only one solution ' eat now and promise to pay later'- something like a PDC . 

There were three outlets for this.

The Ice cream man.

The School tuck shop of Mr Donoghue.

Manji ,the vada  pav seller .

All three were in high demand.

There were some boys who smuggled in money as well, and I knew who they were .  They paid school support staff to go and buy eatables for them at night. 

Others had relatives and friends who they managed to coax to send them food. Some brought in food when returning after the weekend .

Others used the age old ' eat now and pay later method'.

The bills were usually cleared by MOST  of the boarders either on the last day of term when their parents came to pick them up, or on the first day of term ,when being  dropped back to the boarding.

This worked well for all stakeholders for years I guess . 

Bishops is well over 150 years old. 

Some parents lamented on how big the bills were ! Even 100 rupees was quite a large sum back in the 80's and 90's.

The reason for large bills was kindness and generosity.

Most of the boarders were kind , generous guys with a large friends circle . Hence if you went to eat an ice cream, you often had to buy one or two for friends. 

Some boys hung around these areas and begged friends to buy them an item or two or just ' mucked into one samosa or whatever. Some were satisfied with one lick of an ice cream too! 

Some senior boys were offered eatables by juniors as well- as a sort of bribe. 

Let me tell you that some of the biggest customers were the day scholars, who always had money in their pockets . However they too had a running bill with these vendors / stalls.

Whether you were rich or poor ,there was always a day when your money was over and you wanted to eat- so typical !.

So tell me - how many of you boys had a ' bill' with the Tuck shop , the Ice cream man  and Manji and more importantly how many either ran off without paying, or just forgot to clear that last bill?

Let me add- a few parents believed that their sons also took cash loans from all three sellers and put it down in the bill !

So speak up .

PS- Some boys had bills with the bhutta and guava sellers at the gate too .( Thanks Hasanali Sura  for this info)

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