The School - Thalambur

After the Krishnamurti Foundations were established in England, America and India, there was talk of opening schools in these places. Brockwood Park in England was started in 1969 as an international residential school. When Krishnaji later came to Madras, the members of the Krishnamurti Centre, an associate committee of the KFI, met him and expressed their wish to start a school. Krishnaji was happy to hear this.

Mrs. Prema Srinivasan and I assured him that we would initiate the school and take the responsibility of running it. Krishnaji discussed with us as to what sort of school we should have, the extent of land for the campus, finding teachers who would be interested in the teachings and communicating it by the way they lived and related to students and others.

Then we asked him what name the school should have. Krishnamurti said, 'Why not simply call it The School since that is what you are going to do. You are not going to mould the child. The child should feel at ease. Feeling secure and free, the child would want to do what he loves to do and pay attention to all the things around.' Finally he said, 'Each school must flower on its own, as one flower is unlike another flower. It is really the feeling of doing things together and out of this comes independence - not independence first and then working together.' In the end he said, 'I hope the school will be a great success and flourish.'

It was a memorable day for us when Krishnaji laid the foundation stone for the building at Damodar Gardens, by the side of the banyan tree. Present on the occasion were a small group of friends like Ahalya Chari, Sunanda Patwardhan, and P.H. Patwardhan, Trustees of the Foundation; and Radha Burnier, Mrs. and Mr. Surendra Narayan, and Norma Sastry of the Theosophical Society.

Krishnaji used to visit the school during his stay in Madras. Once he chanted Sanskrit slokas with the children and on another occasion, gave a talk to the children, which ended with a story. The children were delighted with Krishnaji sat through a play they put up under the banyan tree.

His last visit to the school was on the 10th of January 1986, a few weeks before his passing away in Ojai, California.