MacDonalds & Air Ace

I remember the small pastry shop opposite our school. My Aunt who visited me once on a visiting Sunday took me across and bought me a small cake. The man at the counter was a really nice guy; he recognized me as a boarder. On Sundays he would come around and ask the Fathers if we could distribute his flyers. And we were more than eager because he then gave us a real treat. Later I heard they went big time.

Else there was the bajiya shop at the corner where we could get bajiyas, and the channa chor garam bhaiya with his big tray propped on top of a cane double cone. And who was always near the gate? Ozzie! He looked like a bum, but he wasn’t. A small group of boarders, my gang of course, saved small portions of food packed into ‘gutlis’ and we made sure that every evening after dinner we went to the gate to feed Ozzie. Come what may, Ozzie had a puff to envy and he made sure it was well watered and had the Elvis puff. People coming out after mass would give Ozzie alms and on a feast day he would have a good collection.

As years flew by I grew to love the school and especially the boarding. Though WW II was way behind us, comics with World War illustrated dog fights were easy to come by. My favorite was Air Ace. So I decided that I too would become a fighter pilot and fly Liberators. This led me to a hobby, that of aero modelling. I studied the planes in the comics and in the air, made drawings and plans to contruct them. My gang was recruited to collect ice cream sticks, cigarette packets, match boxes and broken toys. These were my raw materials, not forgetting the glue. Sure I made Spitfires and Liberators and they took off in one hand each for a tour of St Stanislaus. There is more of this and many more escapades, but later.