OUTWITTING THE WATER DEMONS OF KASHMIR 



505 



Some of the subjects on which the 

 pupil is tested are : gymnastics, boating, 

 swimming, games, and manual labor ; 

 deportment, "absence of dirty tricks," 

 self-control and cleanliness ; obedience 

 and honesty, pluck and unselfishness, 

 esprit de corps, and duty to neighbors. 

 English, mathematics, Sanskrit, Scrip- 

 ture, and other branches of study figure 

 in the standings ; but gymnastics count 

 400 points where English, Sanskrit, and 

 mathematics count only 100 points each. 

 "Pluck and unselfishness" count 300 

 points. Boating, swimming, deportment, 

 cleanliness, and esprit de corps count 200 

 points each. 



The teachers, most of whom are for- 

 mer pupils, try to bring out all the powers 

 of each boy, so that he may not turn out 

 merely a "swell-head," who, because he 

 has passed examinations, thinks he is 

 fitted to govern his fellow-men. No boy 

 need go to the wall, for he has three 

 strings to his bow : If he has not a good 

 memory, he may excel in bodily prowess ; 

 and if he is physically weak or crippled, 

 he can put forth his energy in excelling 

 in soul subjects. 



When a boy considers he has not been 

 treated fairly by his teacher, the whole 

 class is asked to decide the question. The 

 resulting commendation or condemnation 

 is thus the judgment of the boy's own 

 fellows. 



The subjects are not graded according 

 to their relative importance, but accord- 

 ing as a subject is popular or not with 

 the boys. All the boys are as keen for 

 mathematics as were their ancestors, but 

 they inherit along with this keenness a 

 distaste for gymnastics ; so gymnastics 

 count four times as much as mathematics. 



BEST MARKS FOR THOSE WHO TRY 

 HARDEST 



In marking for athletic sports, the best 

 marks are not necessarily given to those 

 who excel, but to those who try hardest. 



In foot-ball, for instance, Ram Chand, 

 a timid little fellow, who is never likely 

 to become a star of the game, receives 

 more marks than Tara Chand, who is on 

 one of the school teams, because Ram 

 Chand has lost his father, the bread- 

 winner, and is dependent on his mother, 

 who ekes out a livelihood by spinning. 

 Hence Ram Chand is always underfed 



and puny, while Tara Chand, being the 

 son of a state official, is well cared for 

 and more is naturally expected of him, 

 as he has everything in his favor. 



We have already seen some of the boys 

 taking an early morning swim in Dal 

 Lake. Let us go back to town with them. 



Comfortably reclining in a gondola- 

 like boat under a thatched shelter, we sail 

 down the main "street" of Srinagar, the 

 capital of Kashmir. In this quaint old 

 city of 130,000 inhabitants most of the 

 streets are waterways. Temples, mosques, 

 palaces, and balconied buildings with 

 grass and poppies growing on their roofs 

 line the canals. 



AEE THE BOYS SIT BAREFOOTED IN SCHOOL 



Here and there we have glimpses of 

 rose-gardens and cool retreats in groves 

 of chenar trees. One of the dilapidated 

 structures with a goodly crop of hay 

 growing on its roof is our destination. 

 We disembark at a landing and ascend a 

 steep flight of stairs. 



On the veranda the boys leave their 

 shoes — rows and rows of them, all sizes 

 and shapes. This means that 600 boys 

 are sitting barefoot within. Xo boy in 

 Kashmir would think of entering his own 

 home with his shoes on, any more than 

 we would wear our hats in the house. It 

 is an old Eastern custom. 



But you will rarely meet this sight in 

 other schools where the West is under- 

 taking to teach the East. Too often the 

 main idea in these institutions seems to 

 be to graft our trivial customs on the 

 oriental, making his exterior as occi- 

 dental as possible, with the hope that his 

 interior will follow suit. 



The custom of leaving shoes at the door 

 has one drawback in Kashmir : it gives 

 an opportunity to the thief. The Kash- 

 mir people, who are noted for their 

 comely features, their fine physiques, and 

 their charm of manner, are also notorious 

 for thievery. Y\ 'hen a thievishly inclined 

 boy comes to school with old shoes, he 

 will sometimes leave early in order to 

 take away a pair of newer ones. 



If the boy is found out, his punish- 

 ment fits the crime. The shoes are tied 

 around his neck, so that he may have 

 them always in view. At such tricks, the 

 high-caste Brahmins seem to be the worst 

 offenders. 



