National High School (NHS) Basavanagudi

It will be 50 years since I joined this revered institution.  

The year was 1975, and during those days we used to have a public exam (conducted by the education department of the government—as I remember, at a district level) for seventh standard it was called the LS or “Lower Secondary” exam.  

The school that I studied till then, had classes up to 7th and, for pursuing higher secondary education, we had to seek admission to another school.

The Fear  

Fear is a strong motivator, and my mother used that effectively. We had the best of institutions—the National High School or the NHS, where only the very best got admitted. At the bottom of that list of schools was a school called “The Fort High School” (or that’s what we were made to believe, not that it was bad), a government-run school which was near to NHS and on the same road (more towards the Bangalore Fort and hence the name).  

So, my mother literally “made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse”—NHS or Fort High School.  

I had to do well in my academics to get a “merit seat” at NHS, and I did so more out of fear of Fort School rather than love for NHS.  

My elder brother was an alumnus of that school, and hence the pressure was immense that I needed to pass out of that school too.

 Admissions  

I was too naïve and did not know if I had scored enough in my LS and was tense. The “Merit list” was announced (generally announced multiple times as 1st list, 2nd list, and so on) and I was in the top ten names announced (4th or 5th as I remember in the first list). I was so thrilled that I got into this great, revered temple of education. For sure, this was a bragging point for my mom in the town.

The Sections, N & Ms

We had so many students and many sections; perhaps our batch or around our batch was the highest density that the school experienced. We had "A" through "F" sections, and I was assigned to "D" section. We must have had some 80-90 odd students per section, so they decided to create one more section (F section). These sections were based on the second language we had taken (Sanskrit, Kannada, not sure if we had Hindi too). I chose Sanskrit (we could opt for Sanskrit to Kannada or Sanskrit to English, and I had chosen Sanskrit to Kannada).

All ground floor rooms were named as N1, N2 and the first floor rooms were named as M1, M2. N stood for ನೆಲ ಮಾಳಿಗೆ (nela means ground in Kannada & hence the N. M stood for ಮಹಡಿ (mahadi means upper floor). Our class room was in M13.

NCC - Scouts - NSS  

Oh yes, that was the pecking order. I thought I was just good enough for Boy Scouts and chose that. We had an NCC naval wing lead by a handsome NCC master who also taught us math, Mr. B R Chandrashekar Rao (BRC). Scouts were led by Sri D R Vijayendra Rao (DRV). My memory fails as to who headed NSS.

NCC with smartly attired BRC

Scouts under the leadership of DRV

Electives or Special Subjects “Work Experience”

We had to necessarily choose a field to gain “Work experience”. We had options of Dramatics, Tailoring, Typing, Philately(?), Photography, etc., and I chose Dramatics. We were taught by Sri P R Srikantaiah (PRS) and Sri B S Narayan Rao (BSN). I can never forget those classes, which I used to immensely like, and we had stalwarts like Sri Parvathavani, Sri Narayan Belavadi (“Makeup Naani”) came and took sessions for us. BSN’s reading of the Kannada version of Marathi play “Natasaamraat” still gives me goose bumps (particularly his dialogue “Sarkaar” or “Mane beku mane”.

Stage craft, lighting, sound, direction, costumes, make up, Play reading with intonations.. oh! what fun we had!

The Initials and the Teachers  

You may have noticed that the teachers were addressed by three-lettered initials, and starting from our seniors who had it passed on from generations, each of these teacher’s initial had a witty acronym expansion (my guess is all our teachers knew their nickname names based on their initials, and we dared not say that openly in front of them). So, we had   

HLR - H L Ramachandra Sastry  (our class teacher)
MKL - M K Lakshmana Sastry 

HNR - H Nagabhushana Rao
BVD (Our headmaster) - Sri B V Dakshinamurthy

KRR (Also our headmaster in our final year) - K R Rama Rao. 
SAB & KTS - Sri S Alasingha Bhattachar & Sri K T Sundarasampathkumarachar (perhaps one with the longest name).  
SRP - Smt. S R Pankajamma  
CSB, KTN, GTN, GKN and many other such revered teachers.  

Two teachers were an exception to this three-lettered business. Both were feared, and one more than the other. It was undoubtedly the PT (Physical Training) teachers Sri Raju Master and Aslam Sir.

All those teachers were dedicated and cared so much for us, and one blog is not enough to recollect those moments and those influencers had on our upbringing, in our career and way of life. They truly loved their students and cared for them. Teaching was not a "profession" or just a means of livelihood for them. Some even donated their personal money to help some students.

It is not just enough to say that these great people moulded us when we were at an impressionable age, they made us what we are today.

Who ever says "उपाध्यायश्च वैध्यश्च कार्यन्ते निष्प्रयोजकाः (A teacher and a doctor is forgotten after their job is done) is clearly wrong. They are revered and प्रातःस्मरणीय (to be remembered every morning with reverence)

Our Class teacher Sri. H L Ramachandra Sastry (Also seen Smt. Pankajamma - SRP and Sri. Banashankaraiah - CSB)

 The School Prayer and the Speed  

We had an eclectic collection of Sanskrit hymns which prayed to God—and not specifically to “A God” but to “The GOD.” Sounds so noble and great now when I think of it.  

We also used to recite parts of the Bhagavadgita.  

KTS used to generally lead that prayer and occasionally PNV (who was our Asst. Headmaster).  

That rich nasal booming tone of KTS still reverberates in our ears as we think of the prayer.  

While we were in a hurry to finish the ritual of prayer and move on, KTS was a stickler to that being recited at a specific speed and would make us stop in between and start all over again, only to be accelerated by us, much to his dismay.

Prayer at the "Quadrangle"

The Festivals  

Of many festivals celebrated, two stood out—the Ganesha festival and the Sri Krishna Janmashtami. The Ganesha immersion was a big affair with the marching school band in attendance and ending up at Lalbagh lake for immersion. I still remember being asked to volunteer for the Prasada department, and I thought that would be the best thing that could have happened to me instead of marching on the road. Little did I know that it meant filling up ದೊನ್ನೆ (Donne) with puliyogre and mosaranna and keeping it ready by the time the hungry lot returned from that procession. We could eat only after serving all of them!

Sports  

There was a lot of encouragement for sports at NHS. In Table tennis two of our classmates (CR Anand and D Srinath) went on to represent state and country too. Something that I could never do (did not even attempt) and was fascinated with was “Malkambh”—both the wooden pillar one and another exotic variety practiced called “Rope Malkambh.” 

Yoga was taught, and one of our classmates has now become a renowned yoga guru (Chandrashekar). Cricket, the famous game, had greats like Vinayak, Sumanth, KG Shekar, Radhakrishna just to name a few. The annual sports competition was a must for us—no exceptions were made.

Malkambh Pradarshan

 Drama Competition  

This was serious stuff—not just each class but each section had to produce, direct, and present a play. Favourite playwrights’ plays like TP Kailasam and Parvathavani were enacted. The drama competition used to be a long-drawn-out festival spanning over a month (poor judges had to sit through the whole lot).

The highlight during our time, was a hilarious play ಅಳಿಯ ದೇವರು (ALiya devaru) written by Sri. Parvathavani and with teachers enacting the key roles (KTS as Father-in-law, HNR as FIL’s friend and the three sons-in-law being PNV, HLR & KTN).

Being a "All boys" school during those days (It became a Co-ed school much later), boys had to enact the female roles too!

The prizes were coveted and fought for in all earnestness.

Cultural Competition  

This was another event that one dreaded or welcomed based on one’s disposition.  

We had singing, mono acting, fancy dress, poetry recitation, etc. I can never forget our star sitarist NR Ramender’s sitar recital and Lakshmeesh Kanti (who unfortunately is no longer with us) doing his “ಯೆಚ್ಚಮ್ಮನಾಯಕ” and “ಅಂಗುಲಿಮಾಲ” mono acting. Raghupathy reciting shlokas melodiously and  KKT (Thirumalesh) rendering of "This is my prayer to thee my lord" (Rabindranath Tagore - Gitanjali). These are still fresh in my mind. 

Lessons in Self-Governance and Politics  

Each class had a panchayat or an elected set of five leaders who represented the class.  

I recently got to know that even the “Headmaster” was an elected person amongst the teachers!  

We had a strong foundation in an elected and democratic process. Just to juxtapose this, this was during Smt. Indira Gandhi’s “emergency” period.

I was the “first panchayat” in my eighth standard but almost lost the election the next year! I understood the importance of being with the people when we lead them. This helped me later in life—to take defeat in the right spirit and respect democracy and its power.

Science  

We had a science club (of which I was elected as secretary along with my one-year senior Rajkamal). We used to conduct annual science exhibitions wherein many students presented their models and science experiments. 

I distinctly remember two such projects—one with my one-year senior K Srinath (a paper cone, mechanically operated gramophone), and another with HV Harish, where we made a telegraph instrument. 

We had a decent science library that students could use to study beyond academic pursuits. We also started electronics workshops (remember that I’m talking about 1975-78). We had a few “Dynam Kits” using which we built small and simple circuits like “Crystal radio” and “Burglar alarm,” etc.

Science Exhibition

Academics  

With all this all-round development, the focus still was on academics—and after all, the cream had entered the hallowed premises, and nothing but the best was expected.  

SSLC or 10th standard was a state-level government-run exam and each school’s pecking order was decided by the number of ranks that they got (the top ten counted; others did not).  

Our batch got the highest number of “one in ten” ranks till that day in history—we got eight out of ten ranks. The honours went to Ganesh Kudva, BS Vishwanath, Hemanth, HV Harish, Shashidhar, Srinivasa Murthy, Muralidhar —the names that I recollect.

I finished as a 47th Rank holder (which entitled me for a Central Government base “National Merit Scholarship” (NMS).

 Final Words  

If there is one school/institution which moulded me with nationalism, scientific temper, love for Sanskrit, and basic leadership skills, I would unhesitatingly say, it was The ನ್ಯಾಷನಲ್ ಹೈ ಸ್ಕೂಲ್ or The NHS Basavanagudi and I am eternally grateful to that institution and to the teachers who made us what we are. We are proud to say that we are "NHS Alumni".

A group photo with our teachers (seated on chairs) and many of Classmates.

Reading some excerpts from the blog after it was published by SRP at our Guruvandana program 

(On the Dias are Sri HNR, Smt. SRP and Sri CSB)

PS.

This blog was officially published by our teacher Smt. S R Pankajamma (SRP) during our 50th year year celebration on 23rd November 2025.

Picture Credits of various photos in this blog belongs to those relevant persons and have been sourced (except for the two colour photos, which are of my own contribution)