Happy Boarder's Birthday!

When did you last hear someone wishing you a very 'Happy Birthday' when it is not your birthday? Well, I did and so did the boarders of St. Francis Xavier's High School, Mapusa on 8th September every year. So here we continue the tradition. For me, the whole thing was so strange in my 1st year after I joined the boarding, which was in the 3rd standard. Every year after that I looked forward to the wishes, the special moments, most of which seem to be a blur now. But I am glad to re-live memories with the help of my special friends.

 

This post should have been out on the 8th of September to commemorate our 'Boarders Birthday', however, due to other commitments this post comes a bit late. A friend and schoolmate, Eslinda Fernandes took a whole lot of trouble creating collages of most of us she knew and for some she didn't know as well. This was posted on FB on the 8th of September in honour of our day. Everyone was so happy and touched with the memory that it brought back. So I thought I would ask her if I could put these up on the blog. She was happy to share this. She gladly agreed saying 'I created it for us'. So you will see this below.

 

In SFX, as we fondly called our school (hope St Francis Xavier doesn't mind), the boarders had a special day called 'Boarders Birthday' on September 8th. Unlike any other birthday, every year on this day we were woken up in the morning with loud music (I remember some really old songs) playing on loud speakers installed below the building. Luckily, we did not have to wake on our special morning to the 'clap' of Santan who was the caretaker of the top dormitory. We knew the day was going to be special, so from the time we woke up we were excited and all smiles. The happiness everywhere was contagious. The best part of the entire day was even if we screwed up for anything, everything was ignored and we were still treated like it was our birthday. We usually kept aside 2 sets of clothing for the day, one for the mass and the other for the evening. It was usually an outfit we never wore in the boarding before or no one had seen us in. There was always a special mass followed by a special breakfast. The rest of the day was anything but studies and school. We had the best lunch served. Our nuns always found a way to make the day special for us. We wished one another 'Happy Birthday'. The big part of the day was the evening party which was normally held on the ground (just as you get past the main gate) with chairs set in a circle. The nuns conducted games for each class and there were prizes too. Another highlight of the party was the yummy food we were served, which we never got on regular days. Mostly it was always Pulao and Chicken Xacuti or Sorpotel. The only sad part of this was the killing of the well fed pigs for the big feast. We could hear the screams before they were killed and this in fact made me not eat pork for years after. But the party was special, we danced, listened to good music and loved every moment of our special day. This is a day all of us boarders will always treasure and will cherish for as long as we are on this earth.

 

I wish I had pictures of some of our special 'Boarder's Birthday' moments but I do have pictures of most of us. I would love to see your comments and memories

Across and Down: Fiona, Genevieve, Doris, Elizabeth, Grace, Glenda, Elodia, Fazila, Audrey, Barbara, Alzira, Amita, Bella, Bibiana, Soucourine, Arkangela.
 

Across and Down: Blaise, Cida, Conci, Cynthia.

Across and Down: Cecilia, Merlin, Lisa, Hazel, Aramita, Eslinda, Joanita, Margaret, Aruna, Indira, Avril, Valentina, Marina, Virginia, Veena, Orina.

Across and Down: Nyta, Nyvi, Maria, Mildred, Olga, Rima, Mitchelle, Nevis, Josephine, Lina, Grace, Jacqueline, Marceline, Maria Happy, Jasmine, Jessy.

Across and Down: Rocklyn, Acel, Vivian, Yolanda, Sharmila, Christabel, Yoma, Peppy, Suzan, Sybil, San, Sandra, Tessy, Thelma, Sebastiana, Sharon.

Please share your memories and I hope you enjoy the recent photos of all of us. :-)