By Shobha Rao Smilemaker
Mangaluru, Sep 12: Thirty-six years ago, when I was just married, I wondered why my husband, insisted to take me to his Aloysius school and college. Growing up in the limited spaces of Bombay, the first thing that hit me was the sprawling expanse of the Aloysius campus.
Imagine a very high standard educational institution, established since 1880, spread over 37 acres with an illustrious alumni. In fact I personally know three generations of Aloysians including my father and father-in-law.
Initially we walked around all the administrative, academic, and other blocks. We were excited to get a peek into the old classrooms and relive the countless memories of countless people who have grown up in the Aloysius campus. The thrilling part was to suddenly see a 1967 group photo of my husband as a child on one of the school corridors.
As college students, my husbands close group of 22 friends used to meet every evening outside the Aloysius gate, next to the lighthouse, and banyan tree, which ended up in a lifelong bond of close friendship among all their families too! Even now this Lighthouse gang, as these Aloysians are called, enjoy together on annual holidays, or attend the active Aloysius Alumni Reunions!
Recently we proudly showed off Aloysius again to our non-Mangalore friends. We now looked at it purely from a tourist's perspective. As we admired the classy architecture of the old structures, we were surprised at the many new blocks that have come up and changed the look of the place.
Every visitor to Mangaluru must visit the St Aloysius chapel and museum.
As we entered the chapel all were stunned with the paintings, covering every inch of the place. The full story of Lord Jesus was depicted as many fresco paintings on the walls and roof of the sides.
The main ceilings and the wall behind the alter also has oil paintings on canvas depicting the story of their patron saint Aloysius who selflessly served the plague patients, before himself dying of plague at the young age of 23 years.
This chapel was painted single handedly by Italian painter Antonio in just two and half years.
We soaked in the surreal serenity of the place and understood why this place was affectionately called the second Sistine Chapel of the world.
Our next visit was to the Aloysius museum which was a treasure trove of artefacts, many representing Mangaluru culture. The huge collection of jars, lamps, sea shells, stamps, currency notes, old brass and copper pots, tiles, bricks, musical instruments, botany specimens, animal bones, etc brought back memories of my childhood growing years.
We learnt about the traditional domestic and other implements of local industries.
We were thrilled to see the first car of Mangalore that belonged to the family of my dear neighbours, the Saldanhas.
And yes we ended the visit by taking pictures with all the statues around the place.
Smile and keep Aloysius campus visit on your to-do list, the next time you visit our dear Mangaluru.
Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.