Recreating Convent life with wit and humour
“Love, Learning and Laughter” is a delightful follow-up to Bernie Hay’s first book “Lives that touched my own.”
Bernie possesses great strengths as a writer. Her principal skill, I would say gift, is to bring to animated life whatever subject she is writing on. The narrative never sags. She “paints” in words with vividness and vivacity. The reader’s attention is gripped and while one enjoys the smooth flow of the story, one is at the same time intrigued by the expectation of what might happen. It is a delightful suspense, with an end that is never unrewarding. The constant play of humour, sometimes gentle, sometimes puckish and at other times hilarious steadily accompanies the narrative.
“Love, Learning and Laughter” consists of 18 tales of innocence but not yet experience, reflecting the numerous episodes of ingenious inventiveness of young schoolgirls in a boarding school environment and their association and interaction with a stern but benevolent array of nuns mostly Irish who transcend the spiritual content of the title “Mother” and drape themselves in the earthly mantle of more worldly maternal care, concern and attention directed towards a considerable collection of mischievous imps who have been entrusted to their temporary supervision and oversight. Of these imps, according to what Bernie has related, throughout the book, she has been a leading one. She not only sponsored, co-sponsored or participated in the most mischievous and one could also say the most inventive deeds, but her innate appreciation of matters literary, even at so young an age, also resulted in her enjoying the inevitable admonitions that followed discovery and exposure.
An example of this is the episode of “A Hat, a Stick and a Statue.” The statue of St. Agnes dominated the quadrangle of St. Agnes’ convent, Matale where Bernie was a boarder. She was nine years old and with what seemed to be her regular partner in crime, Millie, one “quiet Saturday afternoon” both decided to improve on the prevailing tranquility of that afternoon. Spotting the gardener’s battered hat in a corner as well as the convenience of a bamboo stick nearby, the spark of innovation and creativity ignited. The end result was that the revered patron saint’s head was soon adorned with the gardener’s hat “at a rakish angle” as Bernie puts it. The bestowal of the hat was bad enough, but the angle at which the hat rested on the head was a clear case of aggravation enhancing the injury.
Discovery by the authorities followed; a communication by an elderly gentleman passing by on the road outside who probably first doubted both his vision and his sanity before he decided to give himself a clean bill of health and report the matter.
The result was a lecture given by Mother Principal where words such as “irreverent,” “desecrate,” “ragamuffins” and “incorrigible” were used, much to the appreciation of the literary personality residing in Bernie, even at the tender age of nine years. She states, “ragamuffins” for instance had a suggestion of the deliciously tasty, but I loved “incorrigible”. It had a lovely crunchy sound, like eating nut chocolate.”
Bernie Hay
Much of this delightful and readable book, consists of similar episodes of innocent mischief most of them elevated to the admiration of the reader by their sheer creativity, ingenuity and comic energy.
Bernie recreates her boarding life at St. Agnes’ Convent, Matale, and Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy with vivid reality accompanied with wit and humour. Her book is also an important social document which captures the spirit of an age, now transformed by technology almost beyond the bounds of imagination.
Through the acuteness and sensitivity of her writing however, she successfully transports us back to that age, and for the time it takes us to read the book, we ourselves live in that slow and spacious age and partake of its flavour. Even when the book is finished and laid by, the flavour lingers on. So powerful is the recreation.
Bernie’s talent in recall and recreation is truly admirable. The book is both lively and grippingly interesting. It is written in a style and manner that illuminates the resources of the English language for narrative and humour. I do hope that she will continue to write.
(The reviewer is Deputy Chairman, Mercantile Merchant Bank and Former Secretary to the Prime Minister)
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