George Hess

Within a few weeks I learned that Fr. McGinley was to leave for Rome to prepare to teach young Jesuits Sociology in Pune (then Poona) and I was destined to take his place behind the desk. Any qualms which I felt were quickly dispelled by the wise counsel of Fr. Carroll Fasy, S.J., Superior of the Jamshedpur Jesuits, and the ever present support of Mr. Narasimha Rao.

I had decided that it would be best to name no names in writing this because to do so would be to name every one of the staff at that time and during the next ten years. However, those two names were essential parts of the structure of Loyola and have been recorded in the memory of each student of that time.

The School occupied the CNR (Chhotanagpur Regimental) Club; and when it moved to its new facilities the club was remodeled into an auditorium. Yes, the auditorium brings memories of the films screened there each Saturday. We once received a telegram reading, “Send mummy Calcutta earliest.” Whose ‘mummy’ was debated for some time until a teacher remarked that we were screening “Abbot and Costello meet the Mummy”. So much for the films. They were eagerly anticipated by students and faculty alike. Perhaps the cultural value was meagre; but, they did ensure improvement in the standard of English.

In late 1952 the walls had begun to rise from the foundations of the new school building. By the end of 1953 the ground floor was more or less ready for occupancy. True the flooring was still flooded with water for the curing process. A line of bricks led into the classrooms and two bricks in front of each student’s chair kept feet dry.

The Principal moved from the cramped back room of the CNR club to the spacious corner room on the ground floor of the school. After a few months it became obvious that the registrar and secretary and files and almirahs deserved the large room and that the principal should move to the present location. In one of the drawers of the principal’s desk was a large, flexible leather strap which Fr. McGinley, the most mild mannered of men, would use for a few slaps to the palm of wrong doers. New times and new punishments — jug, of much debated etymology, became the verdict for wrongdoing.

Always smile when assigning punishment so that the student will realize that there is no personal anger. My comeuppance came one day when a perennial occupant of the jug session told me that he realized that he deserved the punishment; but, that what really rankled was that I enjoyed it so much. Another management principle destroyed.

The building was originally planned to be a single storey. While construction was in progress that was changed to two storeys and within another four years a third storey was added on three sides.

Sir Jehangir Ghandy laying the Foundation Stone

To build that third storey money was sought from the companies and individuals. The most outstanding donation received was the Rs. 12/- which was given to me by a Std. V boy, who told me that of his monthly allowance of Rs. 3/- he had saved one rupee each month through a whole year of this beloved school.

All remember the classes held in the school bus. It was a ramshackle, wheezing affair which picked up boys for school and stood by to be used for the classes which split up, with one group remaining in the classroom and the others filing out to the bus. Let us not forget the Special English class — for boys who wished to switch from Hindi medium to English. That was held in the cycle shed.

The library moved more than once. In the CNR building books stood in the wooden boxes in which they had been delivered. In the new building two spacious rooms were assigned. And, that lasted until, with a shift outside, the biology lab took over the rooms.

Construction work of the present building

Each teacher had some special quality. No two were the same. Thank God for variety! All had at heart the good of the school, which meant the good of the students. There were frictions, as there will be in any family of contrasting characters and where creative ideas can clash. There were creative ideas. No principal can hope to have a monopoly of them.

A school band flourished for years — until someone stole the instruments. From 1951, for a few years, the school leaving examination was the Senior Cambridge Overseas Examination and the exam centre was Ranchi and then Patna.

Loyola has the distinction of giving birth to the idea of an association of schools to represent the new generation which arose after independence — an association which began with five and grew to the present 415 which seats 6 principals on the law making body of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.

Class of 1953: Front: K Devitre, Asit Ghosh, Jamshed Billimoria, Ashoke Mammen, Douglas Frascis, Rear: Bernie Pereira, Sohan Singh, Pranab Ghosh, Arun Mehta

Loyola also has the distinction of conceiving the annual Inter-Jesuit School Elocution Competition. The first such was in 1954, as part of the inauguration of the new building. It still continues to be held.

Having watched Loyola stumble, walk and then run through 44 years I can feel as though I am seated in a time machine. It is a fine feeling, and a most rewarding one for which I thank God. He, above all, has been the guiding spirit of these fifty years, and will be for the next fifty.

Donors' Plaque