One of the first things that Shri Nathji and Mateshwari had done on returning to Mussoorie was to take the children to school. The boys were late. The classes had already begun in March 1947. This had happened almost every year.
Shri Nathji went to Hampton Court School neatly dressed in a black achkan and a golden silk turban and well-polished shoes, with Mateshwari wearing an elegant pink saree walking by his side.
The walk down the winding slope, from Jhoola Ghar on the Mall Road, to Hampton Court School, had now become routine for Shri Nathji and Mateshwari, who frequently came to the school, not only to get the boys admitted but also to witness the sports events, school fetes and dramas.
There was the usual wait in the office of the Mother Superior. A chaprasi brought a white slate and a black pencil before Shri Nathji, and Shri Nathji dutifully scribbled his signature on it as, “Swami Bhola Nath”.
The chaprasi took the slate inside, and, after a while, the Mother Superior arrived. She greeted Shri Nathji and Mateshwari politely, but made it a point to tell them that the boys had come late.
Shri Nathji took the blame upon himself saying it was his pre-occupation with the public that had delayed their return to Mussoorie. The Mother Superior, whose name was Mother St. Clare, had great respect for Shri Nathji, and always addressed him as “His Holiness” whenever she wrote to him.
Shri Nathji was greatly relieved when the Mother told him the boys could re-join their classes the next day.
Whenever the boys missed classes and joined the school late, both Shri Nathji and Mateshwari were worried that they would not be given admission and their studies would be disrupted.
Both, Shri Nathji and Mateshwari, were living in Mussoorie for the sake of the education of the children, which would have been difficult, if not impossible, amongst the crowds of the plains that always surrounded Shri Nathji there.
Shri Nathji had been living at Shadi Bhavan since 1945. The boys had joined Hampton Court School in May 1945.
Both, Pran Nath and Priya Nath, had been admitted to Lower Kindergarten in 1945. In 1946 they were in Higher K.G. In 1947, while Pran Nath had gone to the First Standard, Priya Nath had begun to lag behind due to one year of ill health.
Shri Nathji kept a meticulous record of the marks that the boys received in school and also of the fees and school expenses.
There was even a time when Shri Nathji had been tardy in paying the school fees and the Mother Superior had woefully sent a letter to Shri Nathji telling him that the boys could not attend school the next Monday if the arrears of the school fees were not paid!
But Shri Nathji paid it and also explained to the Mother that he was sorry for the inadvertent delay in paying the fees, which happened because he had been too occupied with his work.