My school and the Duke of Edinburgh

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is no more. The news of his death brought back memories of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme in our school. It involved participation in certain games, treks, camping and such as other activities. On completing the requirements, we would be given the Duke of Edinburgh of medal. It was quite a coveted medal and I remember that I just scraped through to receive one.  

The investiture ceremony was precided over by some foreign dignitary, a British of course, but I don't remember his name. Any person with a fair skin was next to God and a person who spoke fluent English, the Queen's English, was God incarnate. He gave away the medals, delivered an address, which, to be frank, I didn't follow due to his accent.

What remains etched in my memory is that a senior girl was to wrap a scarf around his neck, embroidered with the insignia of the Duke. She dutifully did that and to everybody's surprise and her utter embarrassment, the guest bent over and kissed her on her forehead. The whole school was scandalized. Nothing of this sort was ever known to us. The girl kept weeping for a very long time and the teachers had a tough time consoling her. I left with a very bad impression about British manners and mentioned this to Shashitai, my class teacher, the next day. She was very gentle and chose her words carefully to make me understand that people come from different cultures and have different ways of meeting and greeting. The gesture that I saw as having sexual overtones, was in fact that of appreciation and adulation. 

Sanjeevan vidyalaya did teach me a lot. 

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