November 27 – La Martinière’s Boy’s School and evening sporting event

Today we had a tour of La Martinière Boys College, Lucknow, India. This was the original school founded by Frenchman Claude Martin (from which the schools gets their names). It celebrations its 175th anniversary next year.  We were directed to Constantia House where the days events were starting.

We arrived in time for the morning assembly in the chapel.  They do this each morning.  The assembly consists of a church service and announcements to the boys about upcoming activities and such.

After the service we were serenaded by the boys choir.

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Video of boy's choir
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The service was lovely and attended by some of the older boys.  However, the service was in a relatively small room and we didn’t realize how large the school was until after the service when we left the building.  There we found the entire student body of hundreds of boys lined up in the assembly area at the bottom of the building steps.  Quite a sea of khaki uniforms.

Tara gave a speech about service, maintaining connections and giving back.

One of the highlight announcements was that the next day the school was switching to winter uniforms so today was the last day that the senior boys would wear the khaki uniforms.  So they were allowed to have friends write messages on their uniforms.  We saw several later in the day and their uniforms were covered with writing and drawings. 

We had a light breakfast on the lawn prior to starting the tour.

During the tour many of the La Martinière’s Girls School alumni had a grand time visiting and having photo sessions together.

First stop was a tour through Constantia House.  This was the original home built by Claude Martin and is a focal point of the campus.  The house recently underwent extensive restoration and it looked beautiful.  Lots of decorative detailing...

and a trophy room with animal hides.

Mr. Martin is entombed in the lower levels of the house.  He wanted his body placed here so that his friend, the local ruler, would not take over the house.  Apparently, as a Muslim the ruler would see the building as desecrated so would not take it over.

In the upper levels were dorms for the senior boarding boy.  Even those dormitory rooms are beautifully and ornately decorated.

At the very top of the building we had good views of the statuary 

The top level of Constantia house gave great views of the campus and surrounding buildings and rooftops.

Just across the assembly area from Constantia house is the Laat…a tall pillar built to commemorate Claude Martin (built to his specifications).

Next was a bus tour of the boy’s campus.  The buses had seen better days and you could consider them to be part of the “experience”.  The spare tire was in the middle of the aisle of the bus.  

And the bus maintenance history and licensing information were painted on the side of the bus.

We were accompanied by a couple of the young students who were to serve as guide.  However, the reunion visiting was such that they couldn’t share much.  We did stop at the Tomb of Boulone Lise, a companion of Claude Martin from the time she was 9 years old until he passed. 

We were back to the hotel by mid-afternoon for a rest.  On the way back we passed an area with lots of plants and flowerpot stalls along the road.

Then we went back to the La Martinière’s Girls School for their evening sporting events.  There were actual track event plus award ceremonies.  Tara gave out some of the awards.

And there were lots of production numbers by various classes.  

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Video of performance
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Video of jumping thru fire hoop
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The school is separated into four houses, each with a different color - gold, blue, red and green.  Several of the demonstrations incorporated those colors.

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Video of performance
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Near the end of the evening they dimmed the lights and the performers used  blue and gold glow sticks (school colors).  Quite dramatic.

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video of glow sticks
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Then they really topped it off with a mass of students entering the field with flaming torches.  (Would never have that in the US...fire hazard.  Someone might get burned or inhale too much smoke.)  Was breathtaking. 

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Video of Torches entrance
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Video of performance with torches
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Very enthusiastic group of young women.  We very much enjoyed it.