1987-1999
Orkut recently gave me two long lost schoolmates - Dhrisya and Sreeranjini. They re-kindled some of those long forgotten memories .. Cherian and me were laughing over them the other day. He told me to post this on my blog. Of course a lot of things we did then cannot even be mentioned in passing here. Albeit, a refined version worthy of reading is what i strive to present here.
This is not one story, but a collection of incidents from 1st to 12th standards, which still remain fresh in my mind. And i remember Cherian complimenting me for remembering the things i did and that too vividly. Ironically, i forget a lot of things happening to me now. Alzheimers? Selective Amnesia? What the $&#^$(
Ok so here we go...
Class 1 The admission interview I had with Saraswathy madam, and my father had accompanied me, because amma was pregnant with my bro.I also remember Shantanu Basu and Khwaja from this class. Both had a problem controlling their bowels. And often, one would end up screwing noses on account of the smell, when they let go.And the place where 1C was located - in the far left corner of the quadrangle on the opposite side of where you entered. I remember we had this big fight using water in our water bottles with class 1A. The result or the aftereffects escape me, but we might have won. ;-)
Class 3 My mother teaching social studies... Ohh.. that was so scary. She seemed to like every student but me. She refused to help me do my assignments which were given by her. I remember having been asked to find out names of five rivers in india and me forgetting to remember that. Yuck
Class 4 There came a beautiful girl to class. Kuwait war was going on and she was from there. Of course a mallu, but oh boy was she pretty. Almost every guy in class used to go ga ga. Our class this year was on the first floor, top right corner. And that gave us the excuse to sit near her - as it was the first floor, sunlight used to flood in making it impossible for those on one side to properly view the blackboard. All guys used to volunteer (compete would be a better word) to sit in the middle, even if it was on the floor.Why? She sat in the middle row. She left school the next year.. dunno where she is now... Aaahh..
Class 5 The final years of primary schooling. Manoj had a big influence in the class now. He told us, how to react if you touch a girl. We would rub it off with our hands and shoo it away .. or rub it on another guy's face. Gawd, and to think now that we yearn for a such touch .. how the years have gone by.. And of course how can i forget the school leader elections - my first brush with democracy, where Kannan(Class 5A) defeated me. I think the vote was 119-82, though i wouldnt take a bet on that. Of course, Saheej with his unending stock of stories of little men called undapkkru, who regaled us with them during lunch breaks. I still wonder if he made them up on the fly.And then all those abba and katti stuff. One day you ver part of Manoj's gang, the next day part of another.
Class 6 Highschool. First day of class, Muraleedhara Kurup sir was our class teacher and he said "your easy days are over. teachers in primary would give you lots of marks and cajole you. But from now on, its not gonna be that way. Work hard"
Class 8 The best memory of this year is the SUPW period - Socially useful productive work (later we we rechristened it Some useful periods wasted). Anyways, during one of these periods, Manoj, who else, who had this wonderful habit of going through girls' bags(girls would leave to another room where they were taught sewing and knitting and the works) found Rajis diary and in it written that she had a crush on me.Interesting thing is, it was what he claimed, and my friends still go by that claim. It was supposedly written in "code", the key to which was in the previous weeks' balarama. He copied the "code" into his diary and brought it to us deciphered, the next day. At that moment, I was shattered. All i could think of was my mothers reputation. Heehhe.. u are all ROTFL right? Hummphh
Class 9 The same SUPW period again - but this time with Pushkaran sir, affectionaltely known as Pushku. Like the girls, we too had to move to a new room wherein we were taught electrical wiring, hangar and candle making etc. The fun started as soon as each class began. We poured water into the candle moulds, bent the hangars the wrong way and then dropped condemned age old ceiling fans lying at the back of the class from a height to make a clattering noise that rang across the quadrangle.Pushku would chase us around the room, but that added to the meele. What a onderful time we hadAlso, social studies in English with Usha madam, Maths with Lalitha madam (uhh) and English with christopher sir are some of the things i remember
Class 10 The time of reckoning had finally arrived. Board Exams..every teacher asking just one thing. Study study and study. they loaded us with assignments and extra classes..but the thing i remember most is the result. Ashish's father knew someone in Madras and he helped us know the result beforehand. I'd scored 418 - 83.6%...far far below what my parents had expected. After prolonged discussions, it was decided that they would admit me for Commerce; my mark wasnt that bad, but for them, it was. I still remember the day when the official results were pasted on the notice board(there was no web publishing as yet, then) and i calculated my mark as 437. 418 was Anoop's mark, the guy just above me on roll. This pacified my parents and i am here finally because of that change in decision. I always wonder if at the first time itself my correct marks were known, would they be happy?Aah, my mind is not accustomed to handle such a complex question.
Class 11 and 12 Why two together? Because all i did was have fun, fun and more fun. Adolescence had set in, and it was quite difficult for me and my parents. I was very stubborn, had a bloody character and cared for nothing. My 11th results showed all that. I dunno how i managed to scrape through. In 11th i had some of my best relations with friends... a close group of people and we had fun together. In 12th, the experience of 11th having given me a light jolt, i tried to give a lil more attention to studies. But i remember when our house won the best bulletin board prize every time and at the year ending ceremony, we were given a special prize for that. I was in charge of it.I also remember a letter a close friend had written to me. I still have it with me; though i lost touch with her, in times of great solitude, that letter gives me a lot to think about.
Okkei, so we are at the end of a memorable school life.. I have more vivid memories, but to mention all would bore you to death (As if I've not done that already rite)
