It was the month of July of the year 1970, the time of cool monsoon season in Mangalore. Everyone was with their parasol or raincoat to take shelter from the pouring rain. The vast public were living their busy lives as usual and a small section of the younger feminine generations, were eagely waiting to begin their new lives at St Agnes College. Around 55 students who had enrolled themselves in the Pre University Class, began their journey collectively after completing their guided and monitored uniform lives in the High School level. They came from various backgrounds and schools in and around Mangalore, St Agnes, St Annes, St Mary’s, Mary Hill, Lady Hill, Bajpe, Kinnigoli, Udupi and so on with a sole intention to move forward to graduate in Commerce syllabus.
Many unknown faces, strangers to each other but with an enthusiasm to beat the isolation, all mingled together and started their college life in an altogether different atmosphere with much more liberty and choices to live. Like birds of same feather flocking together, girls who belonged to a particular school wedged together comfortably and coolly. The remaining lonely ones tried to get acquainted with the quiet ones and soon grew closer and closer.
I remember the first day in the college, all were anxiously looking forward to our new lecturers whom we neither met or seen until then. Once the classes commenced, gradually we tried to get acquainted with our new teachers. We had Mr Varkey for Accountancy, Mr Frank Lewis for Economics and Mr Monteiro for Statistics. Some of us were fascinated by the young lecturers without losing an opportunity to amuse at their accents or pronunciations.
Catechism and moral science classes gave us wider choice to meet more teachers and under the guidance of Sr Olivia everybody made an effort to be a good student .
The lunch breaks were very relaxing, specially on those days when I had my quick bite at the canteen or a nearby restaurant; I used to get ample time to divulge in conversations with the fellow students at ease.
As the days passed by, the whole class knew each other well enough to recognize the faces at the bus stands or road and we grew closer during those four beautiful years. We moved forward together to First year Degree Course, then to the Second year and to the Final year of our journey and some of the lecturers remained with us tutoring whereas few other new ones joined in. We had the privilege of being taught by Sr Amabilis (presently called Sr Angeline, whom I often meet these days) - Economic Development, Sr Agatha Mary – Economics Analysis, Mr Frank Lewis Income Tax and Sr Marie Xaviour English.
And finally the day to bid goodbye to our classmates emerged. We all were in mixed moods, one way the contentment to be graduates soon and ending the hectic student life and stepping into an independent life. On the other hand, our carefree days were going to end soon and we had to bid goodbye to the fellow students and lecturers with whom we had a bonding and an attachment.
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