Malory towers and St. Clare’s: Dreams of Being in a Boarding

Most people who read Enid Blyton as a child read at least one of her boarding school series books, St. Clare’s or Malory Towers. Both series with six books each, follow the school lives of a few characters, as they progress from the First Form (something like sixth standard for us) to the Fifth Year (tenth standard). Both books had similar story lines and the characters were quite typical too.

St. Clare’s shows Patricia and Isabella O’Sullivans, twins, who are made to go to St. Clare’s by their parents after they have been spoilt silly in their previous school. The twins are initially determined to cause trouble but learn their lessons and end up liking the school a lot and making a whole lot of good friends too. In their last year they are made head girls too.

Darell Rivers in Malory Towers starts by being led astray by a fellow student, messing up her grades in the process. She also has temper problems which she later overcomes. After proving her prowess in sports as well as academics, she is made head girl in the fifth year. Along with her are her best friend Sally, her sister Felicity, the spoilt Gwendoline and a whole lot of other characters to spice up the books.

Both books are based in England, and give an insight of life of British girls in those times. Each book delivered several moral lessons. Blyton brings out class issues by introducing characters such as Gwendoline in Malory Towers and Prudence in St. Clare’s, who look down upon the girls with working class backgrounds, like Carlotta the ex-circus girl. They are also seen sucking up to richer girls. Common problems like thieving and cheating are also highlighted.

I could never get enough of these books as a child. I would be filled with longing to go stay in a boarding school, away from my parents, living on my own, following strict rules and learning responsibilities. In my imagination, my parents would see me off to England, where I could be friends with the likes of Pat, Isabel and Darrell. I wanted to have secret midnight feasts, play pranks on teachers and fight the unfair vamp-like girls.

I never bothered to check that these books were written some forty years before my time. Blyton wrote the first book of Malory Towers in 1946 and St. Clare’s started in 1941. The entire world had changed since then! But believe it or not, half of my wish came true. In eighth standard, a situation arose that my parents were forced to leave me in a boarding school! I was in seventh heaven, of course. Ignoring the lump that formed in my throat as I said my goodbyes, I prepared to have fun.

I was in the juniors’ dormitory and I quickly made friends with all the other dorm mates. Very soon I realized that out of the protection of our parents, we are so vulnerable. I met spiteful girls, jealous girls, mousey girls, aggressive girls; but never did I find the righteous ones. Everyone had a flaw! Including me. Slowly I learnt that no human being could be as simple as a character in a children’s book, least of all girls! So I learned to accept all these girls with their flaws. After all, we were stuck together 24-7. We had to live with each other.

Moreover, who can forget the notorious hostel food. You have to look for the dal with a submarine! There are no snacks with tea. If you are not on time, food is over. I, a finicky eater, became a glutton within two months. Once when the warden was out, we bribed the cook to prepare some chicken for us. We stole it into our dorms and ate with so much relish that a vegetarian girl decided to try some too.

It was disheartening to find out the difference between my fairy tale boarding school and the real deal. I remember straining my eyes looking for the postman, for just one letter from home (There was no e-mail back then, believe it or not). But once I settled down I did have loads of fun, very similar to Pat, Isabel and Darell. On my birthday, we had a midnight party in our dorm. Then once we tied an anklet around the hostel pet cat and let her loose on the roof. That really scared the hell out of the girls and our Warden! Like Clarissa Carter in Malory Towers, we too had a girl with a heart problem, of which we once took advantage of when we got late for class. We had our own Gwendoline too, a lazy, messy girl who would brag that her family donated four gold biscuits to the local temple every year on her birthday. We also had a dignified head girl to whom we could look up to.

I only spent a year in boarding school, and in that year I really got to see a mean slice of life. But, I also learnt to take care of my stuff, to be resourceful in a crisis and take care of my friends when they were ill. I was a whole new person when I went home for winter break. And among my friends and cousins I was a hero! I did take advantage of that one! Hey! That was one of the things I learnt in boarding school.