This was the quality of character possessed by Merwan at the age of ten.
But the incident did not end there. After Merwan and Jamshed had returned home, the Muslim boy brought his mother and a few neighbors and sought out Shireenmai. Her name was yelled out and she rushed to the street, followed by Merwan. The Muslim boy's face was bruised and his mother wanted a word of apology. When asked who had beaten him, the boy pointed to Merwan.
Merwan took it calmly and offered his apology in the presence of all the neighbors and passersby gathered there, and the Muslim boy and his mother left, satisfied. The accusation did not perturb Merwan. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy it by the reaction on his face. He was smiling as he apologized. Shireenmai, however, did not believe it and knew instinctively that Merwan had been a scapegoat for Jamshed. Afterwards, Shireenmai scolded Jamshed and warned him to stop fighting.
A third brother, Beheram, was born on 20 June 1908, when Merwan was fourteen years old. Beheram would grow up to be sweet natured individual and took after Merwan, while their brother Jal was similar to Jamshed in temperament. Both Jamshed and Merwan knew that Jal was Memo's informant, and they avoided trouble when he was around.
On Monday, 4 January 1909, Merwan began attending the all-boys, Roman Catholic St. Vincent's High School, considered the best secondary school in Poona.1 It was run by Christian missionaries, and most of the boys were from wealthier families, but boys of all castes and faiths were admitted. Unusual for a Catholic school, religious instruction was not mandatory. Discipline, however, was strict and punishment for any mischief meant strokes with a cane.
At St. Vincent's High School, Merwan, now fifteen, entered the sixth standard (grade) and came into contact with new teachers and friends. Gradually, he started to like the school, and as in the Poona Camp School, he became a favorite of his teachers and classmates, especially the Christian boys. The principal, a black-frocked, red-bearded German Jesuit priest named Wilhelm Windhausen, observed something unusual about the boy's personality. Father Windhausen developed a great affection for Merwan, which stirred envy in some of the other students. The gym coach also took a special liking to Merwan and gave the boy personal training in the gymnasium. Although Merwan was neither tall nor muscular, he was agile and a swift runner; his reflexes were exceptionally quick.
Footnotes
- 1.The school was named after the French saint Vincent de Paul who did much work with the poor.