Music & Movies

Ever hear of the Binaca Hit Parade. No! Neither did I, until a kind adopted Uncle living on Bazaar Road just behind the Boarders Dormitories decided that the least he could do was to play that hit parade real loud for us boarders. And so, we learnt about Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Jim Reeves, Cliff Richard, Connie Francis, and of course Elvis. From Sinatra we learnt to do it our way; from Pat Boone we learnt about Wishful Thinking; from Jim we learnt about our Precious Lord; from Cliff we learnt that the Young ones are never afraid; from Elvis we learnt that we should keep loved ones always on our mind. Thats where we got our education in music.

Every Thursday or was it Saturday, we were taken to the hall high up above the church to see a movie. As I said before it was Joe that ran the show, while Master Gregory and his son ran the canteen. We saw Jonny Weismuller as Tarzan; The Three Stooges; Flash Gordon; some Westerns; some war movies; but what really took the cake was the movie Ben Hur which was showing in a Theatre opposite Churchgate Station. The Fathers decided to take us on an outing to see a movie, which was Ben Hur, and so as the great day approached we had our plans, which was of course about things to eat. My favorite was three gutlis, buttered and with some filling. Wow I was smashed by the gigantic screen and the movie itself was fantastic lasting near to three hours.

The result of all this was of course play acting when we had the chance which was after supper. We could be Robin Hood, a western cowboy using our fingers as a gun to dishoo the opposition, Tarzan, or the Ape, or act foolish like the stooges. Else we could put in a good imitation of Elvis. Remember I had the tallest Puff. This in turn led to the Dhap Marooing session where someone or the other boasted an imaginary brave deed. And so this was indeed our third avenue of entertainment. Who said it was dull?

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