O…The Rhymes I Heard

I was in school now and learning Nursery Rhymes. Since this was an ‘English Medium’ school, all the rhymes I learnt were in English.

As if not knowing much English was not bad enough, I was a little hard of hearing as well (courtesy of getting Streptomycin as a toddler).  That combination led to my unique interpretation of the English nursery rhymes.

The first one I heard goes like this

‘Ini mini maena mo

Paisa leka baees ko

If it cream let it go!’

It was years later that I realized that what I was supposed to be singing ‘Catch the tiger by its toe…If it screams let it go’.

Our English teacher Miss Lulu bless her soul, never corrected us or made us understand what we were committing to our memories.

Another one I remember was

‘Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetcha peala waaaaater

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling aaaaaafter’

My favorite one started like this

‘Singa songa six pens’  (Sing a song of six pence).

Perhaps I should not be complaining too much about my hearing loss. It helped me become ‘class monitor’.

Miss Lulu, our English teacher wanted to teach us the proper British accent. In particular she was keen to impress upon us that the ‘r’ sound at the end of words (such as  there, where, care, are etc.) was silent and you were supposed to have your mouth half open after you finished saying there or where. Needless to say it was a tall order for us kids whom primary knew little English, British or not.

She wanted the kids to learn saying ‘There are seven days in a week’ However, most of the class still emphasized the ‘r’ in there are. This made her very frustrated…until she heard me. I was not saying the ‘r’ in ‘there are’.

You see only I understood the teacher. I heard that she was not saying ‘there are’ but ‘baera’ a word I had my dad used while summoning a person (bearer or waiter)  to order French fries for me at the Officers’  Mess.

 Miss Lulu liked the way I was saying the sentence and asked me to step forward say it for the whole class. Then she told the class to repeat the sentence ‘There are seven days in a week’ after me.

Therefore, the whole class repeated the sentence ‘Baera seven days in a week’. Miss Lulu was very pleased. She said to me that Nauman, I make you the class monitor right this minute. She told me that my job was to have the class repeat the sentence after me while she was going for a ‘meeting’.  I thought for a moment. Indeed, it was a great honor to become the class monitor, but the prospect of me managing the whole class of 30 kids without the teacher was scary. ‘But miss, I said, if the kids start talking with each other and not listen to me what would I do?’

‘Then you report them to me and I will punish them when I return, reassured Miss Lulu, and added you can also ask the kid who misbehaves to stand on the bench’. With that, Miss Lulu left for her meeting. What happened next? You will find out in my blog post.