50 years of the German School Mumbai!

This evening was a special treat for me.

I got to stroll through one of my schools. It turns out that it is the youngest of them all. The Deutsche Schule Bombay (DSB) was founded primarily to meet the needs of German-speaking ex-patriates in 1961. My other schools Cathedral and Woodstock turned 100 last year and 157 respectively, while my universities of Taylor and Yale are blushingly 157 and 300 plus years old. So the DSB is the spring chicken of the lot!

The school has changed dramatically in some ways - it now is mainly English speaking and caters to many different nationalities - but most of the classes are still held in the charming little building next to the old American Consulate on Warden Road.

It was charming to see where Stefan, Premi and myself had been formed in so many ways. The teachers at DSB were top-notch - pouring themselves into us. There were not many of us to pour into - my class was a 'big class' of 7 students in those days - the class below me had all of 4 students. But how we benefitted from their attention. The names of Herr Meister, Frau Doongaji, Herr Heuser, Herr Keuhne, Herr Fischer, Herr Ranft, Frau Chraiath, Herr Sipple still fill me with a great wave of thanksgiving.

I was hoping to meet one of these legends at the School Fair, but was stunned to meet - of all people the hale and hearty bear of a man - Herr Guenther Pankoke and his wife Frau Pankoke. Here he was - larger than life - a man of 80 years old and full of the same joy as he had been when he kindly admitted us into the DSB 31 years ago!

Herr Andi Eicher, Herr Pankoke, Frau Christa Eicher und Frau Pankoke - at the 50th Anniversary School Fair

Herr and Frau Pankoke have continued coming to India - especially to keep up the long-term relationships they have with local charities such as Mobile Creches. This year they plan to add a trip to Arunachal Pradesh to their itinerary!

What do I remember most from my years at the DSB?

Obviously there was the initial shock of coming to such a luxurious school (air-conditioning in the early 80s...) and having the odd teacher who smoked in school (the odd student too - it was not banned officially - but there was a strong peer pressure not to smoke).

Since German is my mother's tongue - while my mother-tongue is English - it too a long time for us to get up to speed with the medium of instruction. But immersion helps. Within a year we were being graded with the others (special patience for us in the subject of German however - I always did poorly in that).

What stands out is the joy our teachers had in teaching. I still remember Herr Meister's history classes. Herr Heuser taking us into the mysteries of the DNA. Frau Doongaji in her elegant way unravelling the mysteries of art and music (and drilling French into my unwilling head). How much any of my teachers will remember me - I do not know - but on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the DSB I am just so grateful for their inputs into this person-who-I-am.

Herzlichen Dank!