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test in St.Gabriel School on Broadway not far from my house.
She anticipating that I would have done well even prepared in
advance some sweet dish to celebrate my admission! When I
didn’t make it in St.Gabriel she took me very soon afterwards to
A.G.Jain High School and waited by sitting on the steps of the
stair case till I returned after writing entrance test. This time I
was successful and my mother paid the fees and got me enrolled
in that school. I continued in that school without interruption till
I reached S.S.L.C level. Meanwhile my father shifted residence

to a locality in Mint area not far from where the State
Government’s Mint and Government Printing Press was located
It was customary on my father’s part to always add a class or
two when he introduced me to his friends .So even when I was
th
only doing 9 Standard he would say I am appearing for
S.S.L.C Examination! When he returned home after office his
eyes used to scout for me on the streets to check if I was
playing with other boys not minding studies. If he located me in
the midst of boys playing he would be liberal with abuses and
even physical treatment. Sometime he even used to follow me
to a cricket ground about a mile away from house and on
spotting me on the field he would chastise me and lead me
home. But after shifting to the Mint locality a change was felt
by me myself ,to wit, I started showing interest in studies. I was
st
a regular 1 rank student in my class. The ease with which I
could read English poetry caught the attention of my School
Head Master who himself prepared me to speak the lines from
Gettysburg Speech of Abraham Lincoln and made me deliver
flawlessly the famous speech. at the Annual School Day
function. I also came first in the entire School in the public
examination though the score itself was not anything to boast
about! The main reason behind shifting to Mint locality appears
to be bad company I had in the house on Godown street .The
tenants were drawn from a mélange of backgrounds-one was a
cloth merchant, another a family of temple priests , still another
a political worker. My father found the habits of the children
from these families were corrupting me and so he was on the
lookout for a house where lesser number of families were put

up. The sight of myself sitting on the carriage with the other
archakas accompanying the Deities mounted on the chariot on

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