The National School which had started int he town in the wake of the non-co-operation movement had closed down in the previous year. Otherwise, most likely I would have joined that school. When in primary school, I used to go out hawking khadi cloth on holidays with senior students of the National School. The first wave of nationalist movement under Mahatma gandhi brought prominent leaders from Orissa and outside to Sambalpur.

Memory of boyhood is bound to be hazy after a lapse of over forty years But some teachers and events leave lasting impression on school, my class teacher was the late Pandit Bimaleswar nanda. He used to take a period or two of religious instrictions also. He believed int he cult of Arya Samaj and asked us to pray God according to Vedic Sandhya rites. Since then, I believe prayer to be the essence of my religion.

The late Maulavi Abrar Bux, who used to teach us History was one of the most unforgettable teachers. With his long sherwani, and long curl of hair covering the back of his neck and wearing a white embroidered cloth clap, he used to enter the class inspiring awe in us. He was a strict disciplinarian. Everybody used to salute him as he entered the class. He enforced pin-drop silence in the class. a shower of light fist blows on the back was the punishment for boys, who disturbed the class.

Sri chakradhan guru was our drawing teacher. He taught my father also. He is now an octogenarian and is my neighbour. 

I still remember 5th April 1924, the day after the death of Gangadhar Meher. the morning school was closed in honour of the departed soul. We were glad that we had a holiday. Little did we realise then what we had lost.

I began to study Sanskrit privately at a very early age, when I was only nine years old. this helped me write good essays etc. in Oriya.

My mother died in April 1925 before she was thirty years. On the previous day and night, while I was awake, I prayed God with the hope that my prayer might save the life of my mother. Although I was only a boy I performed the funeral ceremony and sraddha.

Sri Ananda Chandra Pati, (who later became Rai Saheb) came to our school as its head master, I think in 1924. I have no recollection of his personality because he did not take any of our classes.

In those days, students who were guilty of gross misconduct, like copying in examination or assaulting fellow students used to be caned in presence of all students of the school in the dril shed, I think this had a salutary effect on the mind of student.

Drill was a compulsory subject of examination those days, and Moulavi Abdul Razak was our drill master. We had two periods of drill every week. The drill master was very good in gymnastic. At the time of examination, he used to be fed by students, who wanted to stand first in drill. Proficeincey in drill had also a prized in each class.

Sports and games were more respectable those day than they are now. Even now, good sportsmen earn fame at a very young age. But in those days proficiency in sports was as good a qualification for Government service as proficiency in studies. When the school was located in the present Lady Lewis School premises, our foot-ball field was the premises of the present Gangadhar Meher College.

We studied in the old school building from 1923 to 1926. The Zila School hostel was the same as the present Lady Lewis Girls’ School hostel. Ofcourse, the boundary walls of the school or the hostel were not so high as they are now. The hostel had double tile roof, which became coloured with green moss and shrubby flowers in rainy season.

When Mr. Dieppe was the inspector of schools for Orissa, he is reported to have remarked after a visit to this hostel. "I have seen many schools and hostels but I have never seen beautiful roof garden elsewhere."

We shifted to the new building (of the present Gangadhar Meher Gollege site) in 1927. I was then in class VIII. It was an imposing double storeyed building with a hall and a large compound with spacious playgrounds. The present main hostel with its dormitories became the school hostel. The number of students had increased considerably by that time and all the classes had double sections. Sri Chaintamony Kar was then our headmaster.

For the boys of the town accustomed to come home during the afternoon recess for tiffin, the distance of the new school created difficulty. But students gradually got used to cycles.

It may be recalled that in those days, all subjects expect Oriya and Sanskrit were taught through the English medium. We read History of India by R.C. Dutta in class VIII and History of england also. I wonder if college students will be able now to understand R.C. Dutta’s History of India without frequent reference to a dictionary. E. Marsden’s Geography was another text book.

At that period, I think the most renowned and revered teachers were Pandit Kulamoni Dash and Pandit Krushnaprasad Kar who taught us Sanskrit and Maulavi Rahmat Ali who taught us Mathematics. Pandit Kulamoni Dash had great affection for me, specially because by 1928, I had passed the Madhyama examination in Sanskrit and wrote good Oriya prose. I used to translate some English poems of our text book into Oriya verse and our friend Sri Ramchandra Patnaik, now a teacher of Chandra Sekher Zila School also translated some English poems into Oriya verse. The school had not magazine then, so our manuscripts were all the more valuable to us.

My father spared no pains to give me the best possible education. Even when I was astudent of the lower primary school, I was being coached in the morning by the late Pandit Fakira Misra, who was then the Head Pandit of Sambalpur Zila School. He used to call me "my master." I imbibed a passionate love of books from him. I learnt Bengali and Hindi even before I left the lower primary school and read the Bengali magazine ‘Bharatavarsha’, ‘Shishira’ and Hindi ‘Kalan’ and ‘Utkala Madhupa’ and ‘Sahakara’ regularly. I passed the first part of Acharya examination in 1930 when I was in the matriculation class.

In 1929, Sri Aniruddha Dash, who was senior to me by one year and was int he matriculation class published his first book "Swargaja Samara", a small book in blank verse. The style was good. We admired and envied his precocity. Sri Dash passed the matriculation examination in the first division in 1930.

Our class had a good batch of students. It contained five good scholars. I had the good fortune of standing first from class V till the school final examination in 1931. the late lamented Rajaram Dube who came from the Patnaikpara M.E. School and joined our school in 1927 always stood second. Whereas the difference in my aggregate marks and his was considerable in 1927, Rajaram narrowed the gulf considerably, later on. Physically and intellectually, his tallness in these four years was remarkable. The late lamented Sashibhusan Panda, the eldest son of Sri Brajamohan panda came to class VIII from Larambha School. He stood third and the late Taraprasad Misra, the eldest son of the late Shankar Prasad Misra stood fourth. In 1931 when the matriculation result was published, Sambalpur Zila School hit the headlines. After so many years, it had twined out four first division students-first division was rare those days-one winning a provincial scholarship, one a divisional scholarship (Orissa was then only one of the five divisions in the province of Bihar and Orissa), Sashibhusan got the district scholarship, and Taraprasad got the Morris scholarship. The late Satyagopal Nayak, who was very good in Oriya literature, though a little deficient in Mathematics, was also a very good scholar and usually stood fifth in the class.

When I think of the premature death of these four brilliant friends of mine, I can’t help feeling that Sambalpur might have been a better place, if these friends had been living now. Of my friends Sashibhusan died at th age of 24 in 1939, Satyagopal in 1947, when he was 32, Taraprasad died in 1948 and Rajaram in 1963. they left a void in the public life in Sambalpur, Sashibhusan died issueless. The sons of Taraprasad, Satyagopal and Rajaram who were students of the Chandra Sekhar Zila School may prove themselves to be worthy sons of their fathers.

it is hard to give an adequate account of my four years of high school days in a short essay. Memories of teachers, linger like fragrance. The debts we owe to them for all we are worth, is sweetened by the affection that is showered on us long after we have ceased to be students and they have ceased to be teachers.

Sri Chintamoni Kar, our headmaster, I think retired from Sambalpur Zila School in 1927 or 1928. He was succeeded by Sri Biswambhar Misra, who was our headmaster till we passed out of the school in 1931. Sri Misra was a strict disciplinarian and was a good and painstaking teacher of English. He used to set regular home tasks in English grammar and prose and poetry and corrected every answer book. He and Sri Balabhadra misra taught us English. Pandit Chandra Sekhar Misra taught us Sanskrit, and Sri narayan Pati was our teacher of Mathematics.

When we were in class IX we we staged Oriya play "Sita Bibaha" of the late Kamapala Misra. It was an unusual venture because few years before or after school students never staged any play. We borrowed some logs of wood from Sambalpur main station for erecting the stage, and scenes from the local dramatic association. the play was not expected to be a great success but it created in us a confidence that we could manage a show by ourselves.

There was a lull in the national movement between 1923 and 1930. But in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi declared his intention to start the Satyagraha or the civil disobedience campaign. He was to start a Padayatra on 12.3.1930, was a solemn day for the whole of India. We, the prominent students of class XI held a meeting in Budharaja on 11.3.1930 after the school hours and resolved to abstain from the classes on 12.3.1930. Next day, the bencehes of class XI were empty. We stayed away from classes and homes, our names were struct off the rolls for concerted absence. Later on the guardians again got us admitted int he school, with the payment of usual fees for re-admission. 

Although I could not take any active part in the political movement at that time, I attended all meetings and processions. Of course, the Satyagraha movement of 1930-31 was not as evident in Sambalpur as the movement of 1921-22. But after I had appeared in the matriculation examination, I volunteered to picket before the liquor shops in Sambalpur town. I had the approval of my father. For some days, we picketted bofore a Parsi liquor shop near Khetrajpur. The sale was adversely affected. Then the Parsi gentleman, challenged us to picket the Mahomedan liquorshop in the Kumbharpada and see the consequence. I and another boy of my age took up the challenge and from the next day, shifted our picketting to the other liquorshop. The shop-owner was prepared for action. I was warned about what might happen to us. But we did not falter. In the evening while we were standing in the front of liquorshop, asking the would-be drinkers not to go into the shop, one mahomedan gentleman, apparently an agent of the shopkeeper appeared before us and broke an empty bottle before us. Then he went to the Sadar police station and reported there that we had broken his liquor bottle while he was coming out of the shop. We were arrested detained in the thana hajat but were released on bail the same night.

The case proceeded, and during the pendency of the case, I learnt the good news that I had stood fifth in the university, I had not done well in Sanskrit, otherwise I might have done better.

My uncle, who was the vice-chairman of the Sambalpur Municipality and other prominent persons of the town were very much perturbed over the criminal case against me and persuaded me and my father to let me sigh a petition of apology. I did so reluctantly. I was then sixteen years old.

I apprehended that a conviction would create difficulties for my further study as I was sure not to get a good conduct certificate while leaving the school. But I got the certificate of good conduct. I joined the Revenshaw College in July 1931.

School day memory is happy for me. I seem to get back a part of the happiness of those days, when I meet a revered teacher of those days. Recently, I met my old teachers Sri Gagan Behari Roy, Sri Narayan Pati, Sri Ram Krushna Sarangi and Pandit Chandra Sekhar Misra. When I meet them, I feel their presence inspires me to be a better man than what I am.