School Days: Social Studies Period

SS lessons started from Class III, included History of Stone Age Man and Civics of Gram Panchayats and Geography of the Universe and Natural Phenomenons. Lessons were taken by Supriya Valunjkar teacher. She always said, "Hands fold", taking the wooden ruler in her hand. Class IV had stories of Shivaji Maharaj; narrated by Pallavi Chavan teacher. Class V had strict lessons on Revolutions and Social Reformations by Clevy teacher. There used to be pin drop silence and viva's after every chapter. Not to forget the remarks in Calendar and if there is no parent sign then one more remark for it. We had Mary D'mello teacher during Class VI for teaching the Ancient History. Geography introduced us to latitudes and longitudes, all Asian countries and yes the different types of regions eg. Tundra, Mediterranean, etc. Different types of forests: coniferous, dense, etc and the human and wildlife. Class VII had Medieval History taught by Choula Verma teacher. Here we walked through the Mughal Empires and again Shivaji Maharaj stories. Geography had Europe and Africa, taught by Bindu Dixit teacher. Again we got back to the strict lectures from Clevy teacher for Modern History in Class VIII. Geography included American countries and Australia. Also we learn on the earth interiors, volcanoes, caves, stalactites and stalagmites, etc. Natural phenomenon like eclipse, solstices, moon phases etc were also covered. Class IX included one more subject named Economics, got to understand economical terms and current affairs better; Bindu teacher took our lessons. Mary teacher taught Civics; this subject included all political terms and eligibility for the Post of Political Positions. The common point was: Candidate should be a citizen of India. Geography included the same set of parameters: staple food, climate, animals and plants, places to visit for different regions. Class X was crucial and we had 4S for SS. We had Sheetal Koradkar teacher to narrate the World War stories. Sangeeta D'silva taught Civics using the Point-wise pattern. Finally we had India Geography, taught by our Principal Sarika Rawat. Sneha Kamath, our Supervisor taught us Economics. Thus the exciting eight years of SS are just a memory now.