Mama Parsi: Down memory lane with the alumni

The Old Girls’ Association was established in 1925 to keep the former students in touch with the institution.

KARACHI: Ask any Mama Parsi Girls’ High School graduate about their alma mater and their instinctive recollection is of a “highly disciplined” environment where individuals can avoid distractions and connect with one another through the bond of sisterhood.

Lining up for the assembly every morning while wearing one particular type of a ponytail, shoes and socks was what that kept them all go hand-in-hand despite the diversified financial statuses during their 11-year stay at the school, recalled Saadia Minhaj, who graduated from the school in 2005 when Zarine Tehmurasp Mavalvala was the principal.

“No alumni can forget the discipline and uniformity of the school,” she remarked.  “For this reason, I do not see Mama Parsi as a school - rather an institution where you learn a way of life.”



Mavalvala was so particular about discipline that if any student would arrive even 30 seconds after the designated assembly time of 8am, she would not let them enter the school. “She did not care whether you are a minister’s son or daughter or a civilian’s, Parsi or non-Parsi,” said Minhaj.

She recalled that many students yearned to have mehndi on their hands, especially for festive occasions like Eid - but it would cost them the deduction of 25 marks from their monthly report which put a dent on the student’s prestige.

“The school stays with you in spirit even when you graduate after 11 years - it sets the benchmark for the rest of your life,” said Minhaj. “Even if you don’t excel in academics, you’re disciplined in all areas of life.”

The students of all four houses - Mama, Pochaji, Dinshaw and Contractor - had to go through cleanliness tests, which were done impromptu. Marks were added up to the overall house performance through the academic year.

The best two among the four houses were announced with awards of a golden and silver star respectively. “Each of the discipline-creating activity had some goal which we can only understand now and that was to let students strive for a positive competition,” said Humera Jamal, an alumnus of 2002. Since the inception of the school there was a strong sense of affiliation among the school’s students and to bind these deep ties of loyalty and affection with the institution, the Old Girls’ Association was established in 1925 which continues to exist even today, said Zinaida Golwalla, another graduate of 1996.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.