Bishop's boarders were a class apart.
In order to galavant on Sunday , be out with friends, have a meal or just see the girls - Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh boys visited temples, mosques and churches and gurudwaras.
No,not only their own places of worship, but each others too!
It didn't matter in the least. They went where their heart took them that day and all returned smiling and with satisfied stomachs.
They went out on Permit, supposedly to the house of their local guardian, but were often found elsewhere .
Often the Master on duty had to explain to guardians that the missing boy had probably left school with a fake guardian , such was their ingenuity.
Faking signatures and producing letters from parents and guardians who never wrote them was their forte.
One poor uncle popped into school after 6 months to see his nephew. He told me that the whole family had been out of India for 6 months. However, records proved that the nephew had visited him every week!.
Where they went, who they went with, who picked them up from schhol , who wrote those letters remained a mystery .
Those were simple and safe days.
No one was kidnapped and no one went missing . No parents complained of neglect.
I know some of you will read this and relate these incidents to your wives and kids.
Please also tell them that you were naughty boys. That most of you never studied enough and were often in trouble.
But tell them this too - that the staff loved you and the boarding taught you plenty .
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