HPS boarders can recall that their daily routine kept them all on their toes from as early as 5:30 AM until the lights were switched off at 9:00 PM. Our typical weekday (Monday to Saturday) would begin with early morning PT. Guys who liked to sleep until the last moment got into the habit of sleeping fully dressed so that they needed to only wear shoes before making it to the school grounds on time. Anyone who was even one minute late had to endure extra PT and possibly frog jumps all over the ground. The training was tough and included weekly cross country runs skirting the hillock behind the school. During the morning PT, various inter-house competitions such as cross-country running, obstacle race and “chinning” (pull-ups on a beam), were held. Each house was represented by 20 participants. The pull-ups of each team were aggregated and the house with the maximum was declared the winner. If waking up early in the morning was itself a great ordeal, the rigorous PT proved to be too much and some of us tended to skip this by feigning illness and resorting to short-cuts such as sleeping with an onion tucked under the armpit in the night to get the body temperature to rise! No sooner was the PT over, boarders would race each other up the steps to the dorm building to have boiling hot milk and bananas. Queueing up for a quick shower followed by dressing up for the morning Prep at 7 am (?) supervised by class teachers was all part of early morning life. However, the best part was the sumptuous breakfast that awaited us in the spacious dining hall. In addition to porridge, eggs served in different forms each day by rotation, bread, jam and butter, there were very HPS-specific items such as alu-salan and sambar in the breakfast menu. Although dining hall etiquette was strict, and table manners were repeatedly instilled, the food was excellent. On weekends, when for some reason or the other, the attendance thinned, those present at the table made merry and consumed extra butter, jam, and eggs and some ate up as many as 10-12 slices of bread. The bread was baked in the hostel and the slices were jumbo-size. All the middle and high school students including day-scholars occupied their allocated places in the school assembly by 8.30AM. The assembly began with the school prayer usually led by the Principal, and everybody else joining the chorus. News briefs were then read out by students selected by turn. Announcements, if any were then made. The school song was then sung by all of us to the accompaniment of music- ‘Sarey Jahan say Acchha Hindustan Hamaara’ still lingers in our minds and evokes great memories of a glorious past! Students dispersed from the assembly and headed straight for their respective class rooms. In junior classes, we had tablet chairs but when we went into the ISC course, we had desks with storage underneath. Although occasionally we had some relatively inexperienced teachers handling the classes, most of our teachers were highly accomplished, dedicated and industrious. They devoted their every minute in the class to imparting knowledge and competencies. They encouraged us to ask questions, which helped us to improve our critical thinking skills. Lunch-breaks were really welcomed as the rigorous teaching sessions left us hungry. It was great fun to have day-scholars join in for lunch which again was not only sumptuous but also had great variety. Meat balls, kheema, rice, leafy vegetable dal, fried curries, sambar, rasam, papads, salad, cutlets, curds, butter milk, bananas and last but not the least the highly tasty coconut burfies. Very few day-scholars were allowed to make their own lunch arrangements. Some of us vividly remember how two cars were used to carry lunch for the Nizam’s grandson who studied with us in the same class before flunking once again; and his orderlies would set up a table for him every day and serve him like in a classical Hindi movie! No wonder he had a bulky and obese frame! By the time lunch was over, it was time to go back to the class rooms for more teaching sessions. In addition to regular subjects such as English, Languages, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, thanks to the fabulous infrastructure available in the school, we also had the freedom to choose and pursue, one or more of the wide range of extra-curricular activities, such as: sports, arts and crafts, horse riding, photography, music, aeromodelling, Ship-modelling, debating, quizzing, dramatics etc. This certainly helped us to blossom not only in studies but also discover and nurture our own innate hidden talents. Some of the periods were also devoted to NCC and Scouting. During work periods, we were made to work in the school paddy fields - the school also had its own aviary, poultry and dairy farms. Once the afternoon classes ended, all of us (boarders and day scholars) would make our way back to the dining hall for our afternoon high tea and bun or biscuits. The elite members of the school band (many of them from our class) had the privilege of being allotted ‘power snacks’ at tea before band practice! There was also no limit to the jam & butter with the buns. 😢 On some days, on many days as a matter of fact, many of the plates with biscuits and buns were left untouched by the primary school kids. And we would wash them off as we walked out! Post-tea, we rushed to our hostel dormitories and change into the games dress. Playing games in the evening was compulsory for all from 4 to 5PM. And we had a wide choice of games/sports to pursue- football, basketball, volleyball, handball, baseball, tennis, paddle tennis, cricket, hockey, athletics, swimming, ………., etc..; and a phenomenal number of grounds, fields and courts to play to our hearts’ content and excel in inter-school competitions. After the games period, the day-scholars would pack their bags and board the school buses to return home while the boarders made their way back to their respective dormitories. Quick shower and change of clothing- elegant black Jodhpuri coats and white pyjamas were mandatory before attending the evening prep in the designated classrooms. The matrons of both East and West Wings checked each student for neatness of shoes, dress, nails, etc. as we went down from the hostel to the school for the evening prep. They trimmed our nails or stitched any missing buttons on the spot. The prep classes were supervised by the teachers who were resident within the school campus and provided opportunities for clearing any doubts or getting additional mentoring support. As soon as the prep was over, with hunger pangs becoming dominant, we would all rush up the stairs and head straight to the dining hall where fresh hot dinner was served around 7pm. The menu was similar to lunch but with different curries and meats. No sooner was dinner over, we would rush down the stairs again and this time head to the Recreation Room. First come first serve was the dictum for the use of the Table Tennis Tables, Carrom boards, Chess boards, etc. Those who couldn’t reach any of these quickly enough crowded around the Radio located in one corner of the room and listen to Vividh Bharati and other programs. We most eagerly looked forward to listening to ‘Binaca Geet Mala’ that was broadcast every Wednesday evening. Some of us also fondly remember the after dinner walks and chats we had. The lights in both the East and West Wing were strictly turned off at 9PM and all boarders were expected to be in bed by that time. The matrons and housemasters would go round to check compliance and anyone who was loitering in the corridors and found outside their beds would be meted out warnings and punishments All boarders were allowed to purchase eatables like potato chips, Cadbury chocolates, cool drinks, etc. from the school tuck shop (located in one of the rooms called dungeons under the West Wing 4 bedders’ dorm) on Saturday afternoons. Saturday evenings, we would be dressed in white and watch English movies (such as Westerns, Tarzan, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy) which were projected via a 16mm movie projector. On Sundays the boarders were allowed to relax slightly. There was no PT or Prep in the mornings and we could wake up and get ready any time before breakfast. It was quite common to find that in winter, some of the early risers would use up all the hot water, while the lazy bunch would have to endure a cold water bath. However, there was a morning assembly in the assembly hall with religious talks arranged. Members of different school teams were provided with extra hours of play and practice. Likewise, those who wished to pursue extra-curricular activities including arts, crafts and other hobbies were given ample time and opportunities. There were others who would just go around the campus, sit on the rocks and enjoy some eats as if it was a picnic. Others would just laze off in the pavilion of the hillside cricket stadium, watching Dakotas and Caravelles taking off and landing. Up until the swimming pool had to be closed due to contamination in the source well, many of the boarders spent all day in the pool, taking a break just for lunch. Sunday lunch always had some special vegetarian and non-vegetarian items (?). Fabulous lunches were organised at the principal’s residence for each batch by rotation and term-end grand dinners were simply awesome. All boarders could obtain Exit Passes called the Exeat (1 per month) and go out during the weekends. A typical visit would be to a movie in one of the city’s popular theatres (such as Sangeet, Tivoli, Dreamland, Nataraj, Liberty, Lighthouse, Ramakrishna 70MM, Royal and Dilshad) followed by dosas, idlis and vadas in Gopi Hotel, Taj Mahal, etc. or Irani Chai, Osmania Biscuits and Onion Samosas in an Irani Café (such as Alpha, Garden, Lucky, etc.). It was also not uncommon for some students to jump the wall even without an Exit Pass on other weekends and make their way back to their dormitories in the stealth of the night. The boarders were allowed to visit their homes thrice a year during term breaks (2 months in summer,1 month during December and a shorter break in October). The only time we were not allowed to go home during the October break was in 12 ISC when we had to take prep lessons for the exam. That was the time we had our legendary tennis ball cricket every afternoon by the area adjacent to the dining hall steps (where morning milk was served). Some of us remember the ISC break we had: minimal study maximum play, and also for a few days they served us Idli for breakfast- some of us would devour as many as 12-15! Excursions to different parts of India were often organised by the school. Most students were enrolled into NCC and Boy Scouts and participated in the camps organised at Dehu Road, Belgaum and Fox Sagar, Jeedimetla. As Scouts, we pursued the goal of becoming President Scouts, and collected proficiency batches in a variety of arts, crafts and other skills. A program called Civilian Rifle Training was launched in schools including HPS, in the context of the then Chinese and Pak aggression. Czech 0.22 rifles were used to train us in the makeshift shooting range against the hill in the school backfield. We remember being amused by the instructor describing the shooting postures as "leaning position and lining position," instead of kneeling position and lying position. In NCC camps (Belgaum & Dehu Road), we used the warhorse and ancient 0.303 rifles. They were as heavy and difficult to carry during marching as they were to shoot.