Scouting

Today, as I was cleaning my house and documents, found a certificate/award that I got more than a decade ago...hmmmm.....in my 10th grade...."The Rastrapathi Scout" award.

I have many interesting moments to share which I consider as one of the best moments of my childhood. well why did I join scouts?  Now my wife would hit if I reveal the truth...let me take some courage..."because of Guides :)"...Our school had so many good looking girls in guides..I guess it was a trend then...hence i too joined...well those days these were the means of social networking....but good news to my wife is that I was not much successful in doing any social networking then....ha ha

Well this was a picture that was published in Udayavani paper in 1993 when we got the Rastrapathi Scout award representing our school MJC Manipal. 

Any guesses on my photo among the scouties and dudes of my batch. Couple of them studied with me right from 1st Std. I am still in touch with couple of them (names marked in bold). Let me try to remember the names now..

1)Ashish 2)Deepak 3)Ganesh 4)Gary 5)Jason 6)Keneth 7)Krishna 8)Santhosh Palan9) Santhosh Shetty10)Shridhar11)Sudarshan12)Newton13)14)15)16) Don't know.. sad that i ain't  know any girls :)

Awesome to still remember many names. It was fun participating in the National Jamborate held in Kolar. I still remember names of some pretty girls who came from mangalore and manipal...Seema, Kushnuma, Kshama, Reena..Jahnavi....ha ha...i am sure some names will refresh memories of people reading this...

Anyways, on some serious note...let me tell few things about scout..The tutor who guided us in our school was PG Pandit..he was an awesome person. I still remember his cute little face.

The Boy Scout Movement  took  a start  in the  United Kingdom when   Lord  Baden   Powell    organised a  Scout  Camp  at   Brown sea  Island on 1907 and the 'Scouting for Boys' was published in 1908. Scouting was officially founded in British India in 1909, first starting at the Bishop Cotton's Boys School in Bangalore.

The mission of the scout movement was 

"The mission of Scouting is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society"

I feel great that at an young age I did play a role in contributing to the society (In some small ways). We did some gardening, planting trees, cycling, cooking, trekking, camping, helping people and many more..

I still can remember the scout promise and can tell it without any guide..
                    On my honour I promise that I will do my best

                    To do my duty to God and the my Country

                    To help other people at all times and

                    To obey the Scout Law

The promise by holding the hand upwards like this

I still remember the scout salute..

and Flag song

  

“Bharat Scout Guide Ka Jhanda Uncha Sada Rahega

Uncha Sada Rahega Jhanda Uncha Sada Rahega

Neela Rang Gagan Ka Visrit Bhratru Bhav Phailata

Tridal Kamal Nit Teen Pratignaon Ki Yaad Dilata

Aur Chakra Kehta Hai Pratpal Age Kadam Badega

Uncha Sada Rahega Jhanda Uncha Sada Rahega”

and the various knots we had to tie with the special rope..

• a) Reef Knot
• b) Sheet Bend
• c) Clove hitch
• d) Sheep Shank
• e) Bowline
• f) Fisherman Bend

and Republic day parade    It was fun practicing drills and doing march past on the R day @ 7.30 AM. Last year, I went to my school after about 14 years for a flashback. I was happy that my tutors still remember me. Even today we have a republic day parade done @ 7.30 AM. We used always get the Best Parade award. Many others groups who participate in march past are guides, NCC cadets, bank employees, HM guys, Medical students, Engineering students and many others. Post march past we got sweets to eat (chocolates and ladoos) and coke to drink. We then used have a football or cricket match between colonies like AnanthNagar versus MIt etc as we used have holiday for rest of the day

Camping and certification experience too were awesome. We had to cook ourselves with the woods in the forest. We had to call few guests and would get a grade based on how best we cooked..luckily we had a scout who knew to cook well in 8th grade itself, his name is Deepak Rao and is a good friend of mine.

I am feeling really nice to write this experience...I can go on for pages...It was such a nice experience. I wish all kids get an opportunity to have such a wonderful experience. Thanks to my parents...

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