Nuns

I don’t know if it was typical of all Catholic schools in Mizoram to have Music Classes but the ones I attended certainly did. And the nuns were our teachers. And they were never strong or even particularly good singers. Some of our music teachers couldn’t even hold notes at all. A lot more Sister Act nuns than Maria von Trapp.

Speaking of, maybe my old nun teachers were fans of The Sound of Music and liked to romanticise their fellow nun Maria at least insofar as the music lessons teaching unruly children how to behave via music goes, if not the Captain von Trapp part. But as they taught us the Doh A Deer, A Female Deer… song, they also taught us songs like “If you want something say please for something, good manners are never out of style…” I forget the name of the song; it might be Two Little Magic Words. I don’t even know.

Also while we’re at it, all our schools mandated for us to purchase a School Hymnal. Buying it I have no issues but why was it called a hymnal? Isn’t a hymnal supposed to contain songs of praise? In what world is Brown Girl In A Ring by Boney M a song of praise? Or for that matter, Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy? Or The Beatles’ Una Paloma Blanca? Or The Carpenters’ Yesterday Once More? Or ABBA’s I Have A Dream? Ooh also Fernando? So it’s like: why not just call it a School Songbook? 

Invariably, one of the nuns would fancy herself as a composer. I remember when we were in Primary School, my sister in Middle School and her friends were taught a song composed by Sister Rita called Oh Mizoram! which we all thought was so fancy and awesome at the time but now… ya. No. We have a photo of them doing a choreography dance on it in blue jeans and white tees, tassels hanging off their hands. One of the other girls was Tetei, today an MIS officer and editor of Mean Pepper Vine. IDK about her but my sister is no longer very fond of the photo but we like it. It’s nostalgic and amusing to us.

In Sacred Heart School, they took it one step further. When the Mizo comedian Mastea released Khawngaih Takin Min Ban Suh Aw my sisters and I thought this was very familiar. We used Siri on it and it directed us to an old timey Hindi song. But that was not it. After humming it for several days, something clicked. The school song of SHS – I don’t know if it’s still their school song now – was just set to the tune of Ajib Dastan Hai Yeh. Titled Round The Sacred Heart School, note for note, it was Ajib Dastan Hai Yeh. I bet whoever it was who composed it thought it was a truly nifty idea.

I never even knew these pop songs were what they were. In fact, Red River Valley, 500 Miles, Nobody’s Child, We Are The World (USA For Africa) and others I didn’t even learn their proper tunes because the people who taught it to me did not carry the tunes properly! It is always a shock to discover what the songs were supposed to actually sound like as I realise when I listen to their studio recordings!

But, good memories, all the same! Next time, we’ll discuss AV Classes in Sacred Heart School. For now, this is Oh Mizoram! which we thought was such a cool song. I wonder how many other SHS alumni remember it as clearly as I do.

From the borders of Burma 

To the plains of Assam

From the hills of Manipur

To the rocky mountains of Tripura

Lies a land we love so dear

It’s a land where we belong

It’s a land just made for you and me

Oh Mizoram! I give my life my all to you

There’s just one life to live and offer you

Oh Mizoram! Help me live a life worth your name

Oh my sweet land, help me true to be to you

Lands where rivers never run dry

Lands where mountains are evergreen

Lands where we feel like in heaven

It’s a land just made for you and me