Friday, September 9, 2016

English Lessons!

There often come instances in life when you end up doing an intentional childish prank, or your do (or forget to do) something out of sheer absent mindedness which ends up making you feel like you rewound the clock of time all the way back to your childhood. I can bet it happens to you as much as it happens to me, just that the frequency and impact of such occurrences might differ from one person to another.

It was one such incident which happened to me recently which made me think of one of the earliest “lessons” (literally..!) I learnt in my life. I would rather not make you endure the torture of what happened to me, but the incident reminded me of a character who was present in my English text book in primary school – Kutchu. Kutchu and his family occupied a good portion of my English textbook in my primary classes. I think his wife’s name was Kamala, I can’t be sure about it. I very distinctly remember his son Ramu and his daughter Sita. One of the more popular and humorous lessons was Kutchu’s glasses which I believe, was in the syllabus for Class Two. The story was about Kutchu searching for his glasses, and eventually he “discovers” them on his nose when he looks in the mirror.

There was another one “Shake Well” which also has a Kutchu exploit in it. I only  have a vague recollection of that one but it involved Kutchu shaking his mother (or was it his grandmother?? Scratch, scratch….!.) after she had some medicine because it was written “Shake well” on the medicine label. Those stories seem innocuous now but I am truly impressed by their impact that I remember a lot of it even now, more than two decades after I first (and last) read them.

Allow me to ramble along a bit more. I have peppered my nostalgic part of my senses and it is not going to go away soon, not at least till I put a final full stop on this piece for sure.

English was a subject I really liked at school. I’m not quite sure what made English take the crown for me, maybe it could be attributed to my English teachers, maybe it was the language I felt closest to (since my school, a Kendriya Vidyalaya had a policy of not teaching the mother tongue), maybe it was the quality of the course syllabus. Whatever it was, English remained one of my favorite subjects at school and as a result I do recollect (and reminisce) a lot of what I learnt in my English textbooks at school.

There are a lot of stories that I remember bits and pieces of but importantly they introduced me to a varied number of authors and the differences in presentation styles. I remember reading Nadine Gordimer (Ultimate Safari), Satyajit Ray (Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment), Anton Checkhov (The Beggar), Sarojini Naidu (Coromandel Fishers), Robert Frost (TheRoad Not Taken)….. these are but a handful of what I recollect.


Thank you NCERT. Thank you Central Board of Secondary Education. And thank you, Government of India. 

44 comments:

kamal said...

really nostalgic

Unknown said...

Very similar memories myself. Just thought of Kutchu and searched online. Surprised you wrote on something that I am feeling today.

Unknown said...

Same thing happened with me today. My son was searching his glasses while the glasses were on his head. I called him Kutchu. He asked me who is this kutchu. Then the same above story happen that I searched Kutchu on Net .... and reached here.
I did my First class in 1973-74 from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sector 2 RK Puram Delhi almost 43 years ago.
I remember the parallel hindi characters were रानी मदन अमर
(Neeraj Singhal neeraj_singhal@yahoo.com)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Khushi said...

Memories 😊

Roy said...

Really you remind our childhood..

One more story that i liked most during middle standard-THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Unknown said...

searched for Kutchu and landed on this page hahaha!

Cool Guy said...

Golden Era of my life start with KUTCHU

Kriti said...

A friend of mine just showed the kind of absent-mindedness kutchu would show and hence it reminded me of him. I wanted to show him who kutchu was when I came actoss Ur blog. I wasn't really having a good day today but thanks to you. Reading this brought a smile on my face :)

Grousewife said...

Remembered Kutchu today and like many others above landed up at this page. He does live on in our memories. I wonder if he still resides in the primary class textbooks?

Dhirendra gurjar said...

Brother the same nostalgia happened to me, and I have been trying really hard to if I could get a copy of those books to relive my childhood. Those books of class two had a special and different kind of sketches in their chapters.I still remember a glimpse of them.

I remember there was a story of cat and mouse as well. And also there was a chapter which involved conflict between birds and animals over superiority and there was a Bat (mammal).

There was a chapter about a barber finding a white elephant and ending up in heaven , serving as a barber to gods.

There was a chapter that had an elephant in a room and people were blind folded and were touching the different body parts of the elephant and were guessing . The one touching the legs , says he feels something like trunk of a tree, the one touching the tail says it's a rope .

I would love to discuss a lot more if you guys could make a group for such discussion. I was in class 2nd in 1996 , at kendriya vidyalaya gill Nagar, madras Tamilnadu

Sharmi said...

Can anyone tell me how can I get a hand on that ncert book with kutchu stories again? Is it available on net?

Dhirendra gurjar said...

Sharmi ji,
To be honest I have been looking for them for a really long time I have managed to collect some of them. Here is one the school books which I managed to find out, and man it took a loot of time and searching. But am sure I will find some more.
I hope it helps you rejoice your Childhood memories, mail me at dhirendra.gurjar@gmail.com and I will send you the PDF of one of the books I have found.

Ambreen farooq said...

Nostalgic... Was telling my son n hubby about kutchu and landed up here. Also I remembered the story of conflict between birds and animals. Good old childhood memories!

Murali said...

I also remember another funny character associated with the Kutchu family - Gangaram. He along with Ramu and Sita were practically my friends during my 1st and 2nd classes as I used to spend most of my time thinking about them. I remember the story where Kutchu complains to his tailor that the pockets to his shirt disappear one day and reappear the next day (he must be wearing it inside out). The other story I loved was how Sita lost her way home while chasing a butterfly. Eventually, she chases the butterfly again which brings her back to her home.
Thanks for the post!!

Dosanjh said...

Omg I remember this story of Kutchu. I went to Sutlej public school in Punjab. It must’ve been in 1980 or so when I read this story in first grades wow!!

Murali said...

I went to Radiance school in Chintal Basthi Hyderabad. This was around 78-79. When After completing 2nd standard, we moved to a different place. I still remember names of some of my friends from that school. Hoping someone from that school is reading this blog. If so, drop me a message.

Unknown said...

Omg.. Kutchu was an all time favourite character during my school. Did my 1st class from kv no. 2 suratgarh in 2000

Parveen Kumar said...

I reached as my wife called me Kutchu today. We both are Kv'ians.

Unknown said...

I was just remembering kutchu and searched for story online. I have studied in sutlej public school banga

Asif Ahmed said...

I stumbled across your blog, while me and my friend both KV students, were remembering old stories of NCERT book. Thanks for writing this. Beside this Read for pleasure was my favourite book. Although it didn't matter in the exams

Unknown said...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I am not the only one. While working and looking at my dog I said Kutchu lost his glasses lol. Of course I had to google and look what I found. Thank you for starting this blog. Also, does anyone remembers flying donkey story?

Unknown said...

I remember this lesson ..and I vaguely remember the picture/ cartoon of the lesson especially kutchu in my mind!

Unknown said...

Kutchu for me was not a character. He was in flesh and blood. To be honest he comes fast to me more often when I have a glass of whisky in my hand. Oh! those beautiful lessons of 1972-73 still cherish my memories more so because I'm a lone wolf who stays with a pack of dogs. I have nicknamed one of my dogs as Kutchu as he frequently forgets his toy and keeps on searching for it... Oh! those lovely days still are so strong and they will accompany me till I kiss the grave, for sure.... Thank you. (Didn't knew Kutchu has so many friends).

Unknown said...

One or two more thigs - like the story of Rumpelstiltskin. The Poetry "My House is Red". Another Poetry in Hindi in 3rd standard I think (if my memory serves me right) - Balu. Cheeta, Baug, Lomdi, Geedad ya khargosh; jungle me sab dekh sakenge, jane ka ho hosh!!! Those Kendriya Vidyalay days from 1972 - 1982 were the best days of my life... Sathian, Palakkad, Kerala (By the way I had posted the above post as well - Kutchu for me is in flesh and blood).

Unknown said...

Wow...got a smile on my face...I read it in 1987 when I was in first grade...

Unknown said...

I think we tend to forget things that happen in recent past but we all remember kutchu. So nice to see so many of us are connected through kutchu

Unknown said...

I too loved the fictitious character kutchu.I think we learnt lessons of life through kutchus various funny pranks.
The lesson was so apt at that age that it is still vivid in our memories.

Fabiola Jacob said...

Yes!! I remember Kutchu... probably he’s the reason I chose to major in English 🤣🤣🤣

Unknown said...

Really nostalgic took me to the good old memories.really kutchu and his family is deeply registerd in our minds

Unknown said...

I had a Kutchu incident and was trying to find his story online...landed on his page!

Unknown said...

It happened to me today �� I was searching for my glasses and it was on my nose.. got nostalgic remembering kutchu and his family and searched for it.. felt good seeing so many remembering him.. I did my first and second grade from kv hashimara in 79-81

Unknown said...

Nostalgia indeed! It's been 37 years still the recall value of this story is high. Love it

Manisha Das said...

My search for Kutchu landed me here just like many of the fellow readers. Great to see so many KVians in the comment section. Read it somewhere in the summer of 1999-2000 at KV Fort William, Calcutta :)

Unknown said...

Different private schools follow different syllabus till class 8..nothing as intersting as those days..in private school ..jo recitation..no dramas.. nothing..I taught my daughter.. daffodils..and she is very good at English..I think..kvs..are still the best

Unknown said...

I can't believe this, I just called my husband Kutchu as he was looking for his glasses and as soon as I googled, I landed here(so glad I did) and I read each and every comment.
Trust me these 10 mins brought all my childhood memories back. Thank you all. :)

Unknown said...

Friend where shall we get these books now. Please let me know as I want one.

Unknown said...

Sir please get me also

Seema said...

I always remember Kutchu, very hard wired in my memories. Today I kept looking for my glasses and found them on my forehead. Just out of the bag the memories came back. Searched online and found this site. Lovely. A thread to connect on.

Unknown said...

Cant believe that kutchu's character is still exists in all of our mind...

Class 2...memories..

Unknown said...

I was searching internet for those Old NCERT books, let’s learn English series, (book I, II, III) of 80s for purchase, but couldn’t find one. Can anybody suggest a better option please?

Dhirendra gurjar said...

Well I have finally found the old NCERT books, if anyone needs the pdf of those , kindly let me know , and I won't charge anything, memories are to cherish . Contact me at dhirendra.gurjar@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Yes, same feeling as expressed by all the others.

Adarsh Gupta K said...

Kutchu's brother comes in one story. His name is Pitchu :D