A Tempest of Temper - 4th Standard - Part 2

Well, I don't really know if the incident(third eye) served as a catalyst for our relationship later on, or whether it was just another seemingly disjointed occurrence in this world of unexplainable happenings(well there are those that believe that there is no isolated event, and everything is inherently linked to everything else and all events move at the behest of a primeval cause, don't really have an opinion on that though, because some days, when times are good, I believe in it, however I don't when times are bad). The essence being however that, it was my first recollection of Sadde as a person. He still maybe the same person(with a very short fuse, that's right at the tip of his nose, and just as easily given to laughing), but it doesn't really matter, because once we have forged the pact, it becomes our duty to be bound by it.

Moving on to other events during the 4th Standard, the next one that comes to mind is the Spelling Test.

2. Spelling Test

Although I don't remember the first instance that she became our teacher, I honestly believe it was during the 4th Standard that she became our English teacher. Of course people who are more sure of their memory are always welcome to correct my faltering memory. The person I am talking about is none other than Anantalakshmi maam(of the "not even a blade of grass can move without His will" fame).

She was our English teacher in our 4th Standard and was a formidable one at that. Not that she had an imposing figure, she was actually reed thin, as if she might be blown away any minute if we switched on the fan. If there was a reason she was feared, it was because of her voice. It had a reed-like quality to it, as shrill as a trumpet stuffed with macaroni can get. Although no glass ever shattered during her class, there was always the risk that it might happen any day(just kidding, her voice was like that only when she got angry, though one must admit, it was the norm, because she would get easily ticked off at the slightest movement).

Anyway, returning to the crux of this post, maam conducted a spelling test one day, when she was really disgusted at some of the spellings she saw in the unit test. It was for 100 marks and there were hundred words to spell. She would rattle off the words and we had about 20 seconds to write the spelling. The test was over and done with, and she went about correcting the papers. The marks were soon out, and to my great astonishment, I had got a 99.

I mean people would say why crib when you got the highest. But its not about getting the highest, it is about getting what you deserve. I deserved a hundred because I put in the effort to get it and wrote all the spellings correctly. It irked me more because the whole issue was about the legibility(my handwriting contributed to it in a major way, being almost as neat as a doctor's prescription).

The whole issue was that my 'i' looked like an 'e' according to her. And to me it was clearly an i. To this day I don't know if she refused to give me the mark because of a genuine misunderstanding or because she refused to accept that anyone could get a hundred. But I do know the consequences of the whole incident. I refused to attend any more of her classes, until she gave me the hundred, and just walked out of the class. She too stuck to her stand, and refused to relent. Thats what I relish, a fight with an opponent who doesn't bow down. And besides women have always been the haughtier of the sexes and thats what makes it all the more fun fighting with them(not physically i mean).


Anyway matters came to a heady climax, when I started walking out of the class the moment she walked in. For two days she just shouted at me to get back in. The third day, she decided she had had enough and took me to HM. HM was as usual looking through those inscrutable glasses at both of us. And I don't know what made her do so, but she just told maam, to get my paper and took a look at it and said "it looks fine. why don't you give him the mark and get on with the classes". That settled matters and the verdict was binding, and yes, although she could have still fought, she decided to be a gentlewoman and gave me the mark.

to be continued... ... ...

- GUPTA GHOST

P.S.
1. Its quite a paradox that the word in dispute happened to be 'friend'.
2. For those who didn't know, Anantalakshmi maam used to brag that she had "four eyes" and could see everything we did(referring to her moony speactacles). Surprising though that her four eyes couldn't help her decipher the spelling. That's what happens when Gupta Ghost writes.

A Tempest of Temper - 4th Standard - Part 1

Have decided to do away with the 'clothes list' letter, because it's beginning to sound more and more like a Harry Potter custom. But that's how it really was. I mean we really wouldn't want to go home for a long time. Liked all our classmates more than family(whatever our misgivings), so we were always anxious to get back. And the clothes list was the first sign that school was going to reopen soon. Although we never had a 9 3/4 Platform and invisible train, the good old train by Indian Railways was equally good enough for enjoyment quotient. So enough about clothes list.

I came to the school and found that Vaidehi maam was our class teacher for the year, and was really pleased, because she always had a disarming smile that would put you off your guard. Of course, those who have seen her frown(with eyebrows, surprisingly arched downwards , and pouting lips) would vouch that she seemed quite uncomfortable acting angry. Anyway there she was, checking the luggage, as the students checked in, one after the other.

My memories of the 4th Standard are not quite momentous. Although I must admit, that things did happen then, which have played a far greater role in moulding my character to a greater extent than during any other class, specially the ones involving Vishnu and me. A pity though, that I don't yet want to share them. May never want to. But you never know. Times do changes. Atleast for now, those episodes are best left unmentioned for the benefit of everyone concerned.

There are however incidents that have come to mind, that I believe can be shared for the purpose of this blog. Actually I currently remember only three, and hence this series will be limited to that number unless my memory can do better. They are:

1. Third Eye.
2. Spelling Test.
3. Chocolates.

1. Third Eye

This was the first experience in my life that I recall with my lifelong comrade-in-arms, Ashish Verma a.k.a Sadde(hereinafter called so for the rest of this blog). The classes had resumed and one fine day, in the afternoon, after lunch, we were in the dormitory(still wonder why, because we had classes after lunch, maybe a bunch of us came up for toilet). Whatever the reason, about 10 of us were in the dormitory, and I was actually just walking in.

Everyone was surrounding a guy, who was in the middle of the circle and was apparently talking something interesting. I decided to get up close and hear for myself what seemed to be so interesting to a bunch of 4th Graders. Sure enough, there he was, mesmerising everyone with his sales pitch kind of talk. It was about his spectacles. He had just got a new pair of them and as is wont with children, was already bragging the earth about it. I wouldn't have taken much interest in the whole episode if it wasn't for a claim that really set me thinking(really couldn't resist my Newtonian urges then).

He was saying "these are unbreakable. just drop them anywhere and on anything and see if you don't believe". Since there were a fair number of naysayers, he felt it an obligation to give them an unwarranted demo by dropping them a number of times onto the floor. I was naturally fascinated just like the others, but unfortunately didn't stop at that. I went forward and asked him if they were really unbreakable. Really irritated by my question even after seeing such an impressive demo he said "if you don't believe, any of you can try". I promptly accepted the offer and took the spectacles from him. I lifted it as high as I could(too bad, wasn't really so tall then, wish I was ten feet tall and had done the experiment), and threw it onto the floor with all the force I could muster. It hit the floor with a resounding bang and the inimitable shattering sound of glass. It was then I found that he wasn't as sportive as he was a few moments ago.

Rama amma too had heard the sound since it had disturbed her afternoon siesta. She immediately got up, took her stick and came as briskly as she allow towards us. I was just frozen there transfixed, not sure what to do, when Rama amma reached us. It was then that Sadde pulled the most coolest trick I ever saw anybody pull.

He pulled the stick from Rama amma, and that itself, although really shocking, was enough for me to get unfrozen from my 'petrify' spell and start running. Unfortunately, that was the year when the cots from Ooty were put in the dormitories and they occupied the entire central portion of the dormitory, severely limiting my escape routes. I tried to get as far away as I could before I got hit. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be my day. Adding to the trick he had just pulled, Sadde pulled another ace from under his sleeveless sleeve.

Unable to chasing me he was about 10 metres from me. I was just about to break into a grin, when he pulled off a smart move. He decided to turn the stick into a missile and hurled it at me. Caught unawares, it hit me squat in the center, on my forehead. It hurt for some time and then subsided, but not before being replaced by an enormous blob of a swelling, which stayed that way for a good part of four days despite any medicine I applied on it. Throughout that period I was taunted as Shiva, because my name was Thandava and the swelling on my forehead exactly resembled the fabled "Third Eye"(the very same one on which many tales were cooked up amongst us about pralaya and that kind of stuff).

I don't remember him talking to me again, throughout the 4th Standard. Although I wouldn't blame him for it. If I was in his place I too might have cursed the guy who broke my brand new spectacles that weren't even a day old and besides there was the explanation he would have to give his parents about what happened to his spectacles(he was never much of a storyteller, though he has vastly improved since).

to be continued... ... ...

- GUPTA GHOST

To Enjoy And To Learn - 3rd Standard (Part 2)

Well, 'eye infection' will forever be remembered as the shortcut to bunking classes. It was the evergreen disease. Measles, scabies and chicken pox came and went, but eye infection would be the one that would outlast them all, not because of complexity or because of being an endemic disease(as popularised by the 'madras eye'), but ironically because of the simplicity.

The simplicity of transfer, that made it spread through 40 to 50 students in a single day. For the more enterprising ones like me, because of the simplicity in obtaining it(or should I say faking it). We were a batch of guys who would hover over the horizon, like vultures, looking for he first signs of eye-infection in anyone. The moment it came to our knowledge that so-and-so person had it, we would rush to that guy and try prying open his eyes and looking in them. We were told that it spread by contagion, that is, through contact by air. The best part of eye-infection, is that there was never a slack in supply of people with it. It was always in fashion, 365 days a year or more.

Upon such prying open and staring, a few of us would get it. For the rest of us, there was always the 'detergent infection'. All we would do is wait for these guys of our gang to get admitted and when the number reached about 10, and a separate dormitory was being opened, the rest of us would rub a speck of detergent into our eyes and lo-and-behold, we were into the world of eye-infection. We were a kind that thrived on mass-production, long before we even knew the term. Because of the sheer number of us waiting to be admitted, there wouldn't be a formal thorough checkup, if your eyes were red, you were in, and when they cleared, you were out.

So, on alternate days, when there used to be checking, we would help ourselves to liberal supply of detergent(from the dhobi box, ah, the very mention of the word, brings memories of the dhobi box adventures). Not only when someone else contracted it, we would even use it to bunk classes on some days, and also to bunk unit tests. Unfortunately the curtains soon fell on eye-infection, when I left Primary School.

The other most significant activity apart from bunking classes by faking diseases, was to read books. Upto our 5th Standard ending, the library was a cramped room next to HM's office, which initially was also used as the staff room. The library then, had about 8 to 10 racks of books that were mostly childrens' classics in a condensed and usually hardbound illustrated form. We used to have one period called 'library period' in the whole week. This was the time many used to gather in a corner and chat(there never was, and will never be, any dearth of topics to chat about). However, I used to use this time to read about 30 pages of a book(the periods then were for only 40 or 45 min. if I am not wrong), or to conclude a book I had started the previous week. After about 2 months I found it really frustrating that there were almost 1000 books and I was not even being given an hour a week to read them. At this rate even if I continuously failed for about 40 years I would still be nowhere near completing them. Besides, what made it so frustrating was the fact that the books were not allowed to be borrowed(even today I have not been able to comprehend the reason why, although childish negligence and carelessness, leading to loss books seems a probable answer). You could only read whatever you could within the library period.

That was when I decided to take matters(or should I say books) into my own hands. I decided, that if you were not allowed to borrow officially, then you were entitled to borrow unofficially(flick?). So every library period, when no one was watching, I would take 4 or 5 books, depending on their thickness and tuck them between my shirt and short(we never used to wear pants then). Then after classes, while everybody went for games, I would go up to the dormitory and hide them in my shelf. And everyday night, after everyone slept, I would go into the bathroom and sit on the top wall, and read one book a day(as much as I could finish before I felt sleepy). Then the next week on library period day, I would take all the books down to class, and from there to the library, to be 'exchanged'. There was only one minor incident, during my whole stay, regarding the library books. It happened during my 3rd Standard.

We used to stay with 4th Standard guys, and one fine day, there was a raid in the dormitory for 5 stones(the eponymous games, that led to a great number of fights, breakups, and needless to say enjoyment), and all the shelves were being checked. They were approaching my shelf, when I suddenly remembered that I had a library book in my shelf. Immediately, I took it out and hid it in the nearest place I could find, out of the window(if students recall, every window had a ledge above and below it, where a lot of trash used to be thrown, it was a place where even a prized set of 5 stones, much akin to a pair of Shakuni's dice, used to be hidden).

I forgot about the whole issue. Towards the end of the year when everybody was packing for holidays, I put my hand out of the window and groped around for my set of 'lucky 5 stones' that I had hidden there. To my astonishment I felt something long and hard. I pulled it in and found it was a hardback edition of "Treasure Island" by R.L. Stevenson. I was shocked, because I had forgotten to remove it on the raid day, and had forgotten it totally in the days thereafter. Besides, we didn't have any more library periods in the year since our exams had also got over. The only option, I decided, was to take it home and bring back the next year and return it. And so, in it went, as I packed my clothes all over it. To cut an already long story short, the book inevitably never came back. That proved to be my good fortune(my criminal mind was not so razor-sharp, back in those days). Because if I had brought back the book with me, I would have been caught while I brought it in, during the luggage checking while joining.

- GUPTA GHOST

P.S.
I still have the book in my collection.

To Enjoy And To Learn - 3rd Standard (Part 1)

Having got the 'clothes letter', I got ready for school after 2nd Standard vacations. Upon reaching school, I found myself at the end of a long line of students checking in(rejoining) after holidays. The best part of school was the timetable. It was always perfect about two things:

1. Holidays would always start on April 1st(some used to leave on March 31st evening). An interesting coincidence being that April 1st was also HM's Birthday.

2. School would always reopen on June 1st(This has been the schedule for all the years that I have studied there).

Coming back to the line, I don't recall them checking the luggage so thoroughly during my 2nd Standard, but I would recall them do so from now on for every year. It was always a list in the teacher's hand compared against actual luggage. God help those who bring 1 underwear less or one white pant less.

The line was how I learnt that our class teacher for the year was Uma maam. Was never much fond of her, because initially she was one of the 'pinching stars' of the faculty'. However my opinion of her gradually changed, when I found that if you knew how stay on the right side of the fence, there was a lesser chance for you to get pinched, unlike other maams who would pinch for the glory of pinching(quite a few readers will know who I am referring to).

The most prominent events of 3rd Standard that still linger in my memories are the diseases(or should I rather call them epidemics). I went through one after another. First it was Measles. No sooner did I recover, I was struck with Chicken Pox. And of course not to forget the evergreen 'Eye Infection'.

The best part about these diseases was that they were highly anticipated and awaited like springtime. Those who were ill were placed in a separate dormitory(the sick room was never sufficient for the number of students that were down everyday), and did not need to attend classes(for obvious reasons of contagion).

Those who were down with measles(am talking of the lucky guys like me, who were early birds) were taken to the room near Sai Srinivas(guest house) on the way to Mandir. There we would laugh, play around, jump and shout, and enjoy all day long except for the few hours that 'medical amma' would appear to apply a pink lotion all over our bodies and bring us breakfast, lunch, tiffin and dinner. We would also get those lovely cars that Swami gave, for playing, and cars would be hotly fought about(I still remember that the most 'in-demand' car was the pull-back car, which was a very prized possession, and Sanjit got one in 4th Standard as a prize). In fact they were the reason a lot of us became sick, to play with cars. Unfortunately, for those who came in late, for measles I mean, because the number grew too large for the room, they were kept in the school itself in a separate dormitory(well that was fun in its own way, but you can never compare it with the charm of a few guys staying in a room, having fun all day).

Even the chicken pox guys used to be housed in a separate dormitory, but that was after a lot of them got down with it. Luckily even in the case of chicken pox, I was what I would like to call a 'pioneer', and the chosen few of us got to stay in that room again. This time it was one hell of an enjoyment purely because of the classes we were going to miss(all of us missed about nearly a month), and that made it feel it like heaven, although then, the sick room was a kind of mini-heaven even otherwise, because of the food we used to get and simply because of the schedule.

And to talk about eye-infection will take me to the end of this page, so it would be better to talk of it in the next post, along with my other adventure of the 3rd Standard(library).

to be continued... ... ...

- GUPTA GHOST

Friends and Foes - 2nd Standard(Part-2)

The second incident I remember about my 2nd Standard, is my fracture.

It was a really funny incident, and even now when I come to think of it, the only thought I get is "How could I have been so stupid?". It all started on the third day after I joined. I was passing through the central hall between the dormitories, when I happened to see, some of the seniors in their dormitories having a hand-stand race. I was really fascinated by it. I mean, I had never seen anybody do such a kind of thing even in the movies.

Immediately, I went back to our dormitory and started attempting the same. needless to say, even after about 40 trials I hadn't even got started. Then came the most stupidest thought. I still don't know if the idea itself was good and the execution flawed or vice-versa. But, the important point is that it got me a fracture.

I decided that although I didn't know how to do it, if I tried to do it on the steps leading down to the lobby, somebody who knew, would notice my efforts, appreciate my dedication, and get right down to teaching me. It might have still worked out, if someone didn't have a bigger plan for me. Right at the moment that I started it at the first step and fell down there itself, NBR(N. Brahmananda Reddy, who studied with us upto 4th Standard) was passing by and he stopped. He asked me what I was trying to do, and I told him. He told me "It won't work this way, you wont get enough attention. Instead, if you try doing it on the railing(he meant the railing of the steps), everybody who is standing beside the steps for breakfast will notice you."

Now, I was really beginning to get cold feet. I mean, I was literally wobbling at the knees. It was one thing to try it on the stairs where I would land on the next one if I failed, and it was entirely a different thing, to try it on the railing where if I failed, I would go all the way down. So I refused flat out to try such a thing and asked him"What if I fall?". He simply said, "I am there, I will catch you." Somehow I felt a lot more reassured and got ready for the big stunt.

Everything went as per the plan, except the climax. I caught the railing with my hands and pushed myself upwards. Only to flip over and land on my hand, down the other side of the railing, in front of the toys showcase and beside some boys waiting to go in for breakfast. For a while I just lay there not even sure what had happened. And then I got up and found I couldn't feel my left hand. Poor NBR, was waiting on the stairs and was wondering where I had gone. I just didn't happen to fall on the side he was waiting to hold me.

I remember walking to the medical room, and telling Aunty(I really don't remember her name, I think it was Radhika or something like that, something that started with an R. She loved to write the most nasty-tasting tablets and would almost always recommend an injection, and was therefore considered one of the top terrors in the hostel) that I felt great pain in my hand. She asked me how, and I told her, I slipped from the stairs and fell on my hand. She immediately gave me some damn injection(I knew I shouldn't have come there in the first place) and took me to the general hospital for a checkup.

At the hospital I was made to undertake an X-Ray, and was told it was a fracture. So we went to the dressing guy(still don't remember what his official title is) and he put my hand in a cast. The first few days, were a real torture, as everybody who found me walking around in a cast, would stop me and enquire how I had got it. After the first few days however, I began to see the upside of having a fracture. Everywhere I went, I got preferential treatment. Even for food where everybody used to fight to go in first, I was allowed to go to the head of the line, just because I had a fracture.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. And so did my fracture, which was removed after a month. And boy, life did get back to its usual routine nondescript way.

But not for long, adventure was never an earshot away from me.

- GUPTA GHOST

Friends and Foes - 2nd Standard

If you remember, in my earlier post, I was talking of somebody nearly equaling my score. It was none other than IAK(I. Aditya Kumar), who got 97. He also happened to be the first guy whom I befriended, maybe because of unpacking our luggage on the same day or maybe otherwise. But the fact remains that he was my first friend in the school.

IAK and I have a long and chequered history(of fights and make-ups). For quite a long period of time(maybe 6 years) we were on-off buddies, who would be friends for a few days and be at each other's necks for a few more days. Well, the significant reason why we were even friends may have been due to a factor called 'Sections'. In the 2nd Standard there were 2 sections(although later we were split into more, only to be rejoined into two again in the 5th Standard. Now these sections were fundamentally divided on the basis of origin of batch. There were the Parthi guys and there were the Ooty guys.

Ours was the last batch for such an occurrence, because the school in Ooty was closed down after the Ooty guys from my class finished with their 1st Standard(the very last batch of 1st Standard there). So since the school in Parthi already had a section for 1st Standard, the Ooty guys were all just moved in as a separate additional section. Since we two(IAK and myself, although I believe there was also a girl who joined along with us) were new admissions, we were just added to the Ooty section that had been created. We were to continue there until the 6th standard, when after the great 'gang war' and 'great cleansing', the two groups(Ooty and Parthi) were finally mixed.

I have very few memories of my 2nd Standard, because there were not many really memorable incidents. However the two things that I do remember about my 2nd Standard are:

1. Pin-Drop Stories
2. Fracture

To keep the post from getting unusually lengthy, I will only deal with the first one here.

PIN DROP STORIES

Well, to begin with, there is nothing as a Pin-Drop Story, its just a name I have given now to stories that we were told almost everyday. There was this maam called Soumya maam. Everyday(well almost) after bhajans, we were sent to the classrooms to wait our turn for dinner(the dining hall was not large enough to accomodate everyone and thus classes would be sent one after the other), and Soumya maam usually, invariably was sent to 'mind' our class until dinner. She would keep us all engaged by telling us a-story-a-day. However there was a small hitch to it, she would only tell us a story if we kept quiet(you can imagine how noisy a bunch of almost 40 2nd Standard students can get). To ensure this, she would call for what she termed 'pin-drop' silence(and no, believe me, it's not the cliche you are used to), which literally meant, she gave a minute to get silent and the she would drop a pin onto the floor(literally). If she heard a sound, she would tell us a story right away, else we were given one more chance to get ourselves a story. If she failed to hear a sound the second time over, it meant we were simply not going to be told a story that day.

Now comes the most important question of the whole exercise, did it work? Well, honestly, for most of the days, say 20 days a month, we used to be told a story. As to the rest of the days, well, there was always somebody or the other(me included) who decided they had to talk when they had to, and this deprived the rest of the class of the story for the day. The most difficult part of the exercise was not just hearing the pin drop, it was about having to keep absolutely quiet until the end of the story. It seems an improbable task, but somehow if a story got started, I never remember it being stopped in between because someone had talked.

to be continued... ... ...

- GUPTA GHOST

Of Effort And Trust - Part 2

Well, once I had my fill of the Elephant Slide, I moved on to the other rides and went around trying to guess which animals were what. By the time I was done, it was evening and everyone was rounded up and taken for bhajans. Now, that was another concept that was entirely new to me. I had never seen anybody pray this way before. The only exposure I had towards prayer were the incoherently muttered mumbo-jumbo by my parents at home. Even that was never as lively and engaging as the bhajans. I felt drawn into it just by the tune and kept trying to follow despite not understanding a single word, they were so enveloping and infectious.


After bhajans, we left to the dormitories for a few minutes before dinner, and lo and behold, the first person I came into contact with was Ganesh, and he immediately asked me if I was a new admission, and which class. When I told him 2nd Class, he told me he too was in 2nd Class and to this day I remember the first time anybody mispronounced my name, it was him. I can understand Britishers calling Ootakamund as Ooty and Thiruvanathapuram as Trivandrum, but here was this guy, a pucca Indian, pronouncing my name(Thandava Krishna) as 'Thataki', because that was the only name that came to his mind that resembled my name! The rest of the guys surrounded me and asked him who I was, and he repeated my name. Thus I was introduced royally to everyone as 'Thataki', a name that more or less came to be my involuntary alias for the better part of the next 5 years( I tried explaining my name wasn't that but nobody would listen, until the next day Sangeetha maam(our class teacher) called my name in class.

Soon, it was time for dinner, and we went down in a line. The moment I reached the serving counter, I took one look at the serving counter, glanced at all the items, and immediately ran from there. I was stopped at the door, by Prema maam who was on duty there and was assigned as a special case to Prassanna maam(misbehaving case rather). When she came to know I spoke Telugu, she asked me in Telugu why I wasn't eating, and I told her that it was my first day in the school and I didn't like any of the food and didn't even know what they were serving. She was very understanding and took me to the elevated end of the hall where the teachers used to eat and made me sit, and asked me "ok what will you eat?". Nothing flashed, and the only thing I remembered were the biscuits I ate on the way to the school. So I told her "biscuits, aunty"(I didn't know what the teachers were called here, and I didn't even know if she was a teacher there).

She smiled(maybe at the request, maybe at being called aunty, I will never know), and went to the table there and got me a big box of animal-shaped biscuits that used to be given out very rarely and filled a lot of them onto my plate(even now when I come to think of it, that was the only day in my life I ate the maximum number of animal-shaped biscuits, throughout the rest of my school life, biscuits meant by default "Marie Biscuits").


The fact that I never told her or anybody else in my life was that, the reason I ran away from eating was because of the curry. That day happened to be 'meal-maker' or 'nuggets' curry as it was referred to. I saw the pieces and they starkly resemble pieces of mutton(I used to eat non-vegetarian then, and in my home my folks ate all kinds of stuff, although now I have turned completely vegetarian and am constantly taunted for it at home). I was told that non-veg was not only not served in the school, but also strictly forbidden, and if they(staff) came to know I was eating non-veg, I would be kicked out of the school(I still remember, everytime we came back after holidays, HM would ask everyone whether they watched movies, or whether they ate non-veg, but although she never used to ask me, my parents would always jump the gun and say "he hasn't been eating any such thing").

It was more of a confusion than dislike. I was stunned actually, that this was a school that forbade eating non-veg at home, and here I was, waiting in a queue for a large serving of what I was very much sure was mutton. So I ran away. Later, I asked IAK(more of him in the next and subsequent parts), who told me that it was vegetarian and nothing to worry.

I spent my first night, dreaming about being kicked out because THEY found out I had eaten 'nuggets' curry. Gives me the shivers every time I think of it. Maybe I should have just told Prassanna maam about it, but somehow I felt she would laugh right back at me in front of everyone and make me look foolish.

So much for dinner(and all my effort to get in, and my trust in the school to serve me non-veg).

- GUPTA GHOST

P.S.
Future Posts relating to Primary School will bear Class Numbers in the Title to help establish a time-frame for reference.

Of Effort And Trust - Part 1

"The greater the rise, the harder the fall". But what of people who have never climbed, can they ever fall? Is there something lower than the ground(a pit is also ground at the bottom)? These are the questions that come to mind when I think of how I joined the Sri Sathya Sai Primary School.

Legend has it(well actually I was told by my family) that, the first time around, they had actually taken me to join in the 1st Standard itself. Munni Aunty(hereinafter referred to as HM a.k.a Principal, for the rest of the blog, even if otherwise specified) had asked me my name, and I just stared from HM to my family and back(and back and forth a few more times). For those who didn't get the joke, I had done my Kindergarten in Telugu medium and those were as far as I remember, probably the first words of English I ever heard in my life. Hell, I didn't even know what language was being talked around me.

There was some discussion and some pleading(voice-reading?), after which I was taken back home. I didn't even know what had happened and asked whether I was in or out. Everyone just laughed and said "your time hasn't yet come". So I came to join Bala Sankara Vidyalaya or whatever school it was, that was in T. Nagar. I was made to stay at my grandfather's house, as it was only a few hundred feet from the school, and my parents were in Guntakal at that time.

I was told that I had one year to learn English and join the school I was earlier taken to, or continue in the school I was forced to join. Sometimes I think, I was made to join a Tamil school(a language that was completely alien to me) in order to force me to learn English. I jumped to the task only because of one reason, the Elephant Slide in the playground. When I had come to take admission in 1st Standard, I was really fascinated by seeing other children emerging from the head of the Elephant and sliding down its trunk. I badly wanted to slide down its trunk, and besides the school I was made to join didn't even have a decent playground. Thus the one and only deciding factor for me to learn English was the Elephant Slide.

Nobody in the house were well-versed in the language. So the only alternative was to learn it myself. My grandfather taught me the alphabet and I figured writing it out on my own (so you now know why my handwriting is so impressively illegible). I was given only one exercise the whole of my 1st Standard, to read aloud the newspaper everyday morning. In those we used to subscribe to The Hindu(and I believe we still do), and as soon as the paper came flying through the gate, until the time to leave for school, the only task I was assigned, was to read the paper aloud and my grandfather would stop me at every sentence and make me pronounce the words right. He would then make me read the line again until I got the word right. Well, it was really bothersome, but only for the first 3-4 months, after which I had got a good hang on the words. Then came an unexpected blow to my skill, seeing that I was blazing through the paper, he made me hold a dictionary in one hand, and would suddenly stop me and ask me the meaning of a word I had just read. This exercise which lasted for about 6 months really took away all the juice that was left in my brain, and filled it with God alone knows what. The last two months were spent in an even more bizarre ritual, knowing that I could tell him the meanings of almost any word in the paper, he began asking me the meaning of the paragraph I had just read, and what I had understood from it.

Thankfully, the most gruelling year of my life came to a quick end(with the final exams turning out the way they did, as described in the previous post), and I was all set to apply again to the Sri Sathya Sai Primary School(Primary School hereafterwards).

I remember we had arrived a day early, and spent the night before the entrance rehearsing dialogues in English, while my family was busy stitching my initials(PTK) onto all my clothes, which in itself was a big motivator. Well, to understand the significance of this, you have to first understand the procedure.

After a prospective student writes the entrance exam, he or she is sent back and then a call letter is sent informing the parents about the admission and attached to it would be a list of clothes that were required for the year(for all the subsequent years, the 'clothes list' letter was the only way I knew I had been promoted to the next class).

The fact that my parents were stitching/engraving my initials on my clothes itself signified the confidence they had in me. They were sure I would be in, and they didn't want to cause a delay only because I had to go buy those clothes and then get them marked(the academic year had already started).

Well, the next morning, I went for the exam, and was given the paper and made to sit in the library and write the exam(the room next to HM's room that was then doubling as Staff Room).
I was done in an hour, and was told I had to wait around 20 minutes for the result.

An important point that I forgot to mention was that, despite all the confidence and stuff, my grandfather was really tense and anxious about whether I would atleast get in this time or not, and so he knew the next best thing, that he thought would seal my admission - Influence. He got to know that Anjali Devi was in fact that very day in Parthi to have Darshan, and having produced a few movies with her, invited her to accompany him for the admission.

While we were waiting for the result, Warden came into the corridor to go to HM's office. On the way in she saw Anjali Devi sitting on the little bench outside the office, and began talking to her instead. She was told that I had come to seek admission, and immediately took us into the office. Just as we went in, the results also were brought in along with us.

One look at me, and HM said "him, you brought him here again?". She then looked at the exam result, then at me and back at the exam result again. Now, I was really beginning to get tensed. Did I really flunk(well that was not new to me) or did I get through. I was sure I had written absolutely well, in fact it was the only time I had felt good after completing an exam. But the look on HM's face was inscrutable and gave away not the slightest hint. She just looked up and asked me a few more questions in English which I answered. She gave the marks sheet to my parents and told them to preserve it. Later, I was told the reason why, it seems I had scored a 98, which nobody else had ever done before in the entrance exam(I did learn a few days later that somebody had scored nearly the same figure).

I was immediately admitted and after the fees were paid and all the clothes were tallied with the list, I was taken to the dormitory, while my parents were made to wait downstairs(and man, were they real, those were the biggest rooms I had seen in my entire life of 6yrs, I didn't even know they were called dormitories). I then went downstairs and told goodbye to my parents and was just waiting for them to leave. The moment I saw them exit the main gate, I ran to the Elephant Slide and huff-puffed my way up for the first grand slide of my life(no pun intended).


to be continued... ... ...

- GUPTA GHOST

The First Steps Are Always The Smallest

Children learning to walk, are made to take the smallest steps possible first. This is to embed balance into the sub-conscious. A person who has walked small steps, can always increase his stride. But a person who has been taught to walk in huge strides, will find it difficult to constrain his feet. That's because, sometimes growth is easier than restraint.

I studied my First Standard in a school in T. Nagar, Chennai(Madras then, and Madras always for old-timers). Its a pity though, that I don't remember the name of my first school(I think it was Bala Sankara Vidyalaya, or something to that effect).

It was a Tamil medium school, and I was all at sea, being one of the only two telugu-speaking students. The other was a girl named Sirisha(well you can her my first girlfriend, if you want to), whose parents had just been transferred to Chennai.

To begin with, she was a GEM of a person, and had a smile that could kill(pleasantly I mean, she also had a very cute dimple). Not only did she, at the age six, and within 3 months of coming to Chennai, manage to learn Tamil, she would also act as a referee everytime I got into a fistfight with somebody in the class teasing me in Tamil(and that was almost daily, was never much popular back then, like a cowboy in Rome).

We both lived in the same apartment complex, and I would go to her house to play and study(yes I used to do it a lot more often then), and she would very rarely come to my house(usually only when some actor or actress was visiting, Chennai was the hub of even Tollywood then, and my family was very much active in production in those days).

I must have been the only guy, who didn't understand a word the teachers rambled and who didn't even know how to write my name on the answersheet(in Tamil of course). I flunked in every possible test except the final exam, where the unexpected happened. I was sitting, back in the habit, of staring at the ceiling, although this time it was because I didn't know what and how to write. Then I felt somebody scratching my arm, I turned and found Sirisha, handing me her paper, telling me anyway you don't know how to write, take this. I told her, no maam will find out and besides, her handwriting would be the same. She told me "don't worry, just take this, submit it, and get out of here". I just got up, gave the paper, and left. The look on the teacher's face was unmistakable shock(or rather undisguised). She must have been stunned that a guy like me, who never wrote, spoke, or understood Tamil, would submit the paper within half the time alloted(atleast I would have been stunned if I was her, come to think of it, being what I am, I would have suspected foulplay).

Later, in the evening, she told me, that she hadn't thought about the handwriting part, when she had offered her paper to me(good old girls, never get any criminal thoughts like me), so when I had pointed it out to her, she didn't know what to do, and wrote her entire exam in lefthand. To this day, I don't know what happened(I mean, did I pass, did she pass, did any of pass, did both of us pass). All I know is, I never saw my marks card, else I would atleast know the school name.

EPILOGUE

I shifted to Sri Sathya Sai Primary School, Puttaparthi after that. During my Second Standard holidays, I wanted to meet her and was told they had shifted to another apartment block down the lane. I managed to force my cousin sister to escort me to her home. I still remember, the walk to her house, I, almost sprinting down the road, and my cousin reluctantly tagging along(of course, I had to keep waiting for her, because she knew the address and I didn't). Once we went in, I learnt, that she had shifted, to Padma Sheshadri School(it was THE school at that time, and frankly in some ways it still is). I was happy someone with her talent was studying in a place that could help her utilise those abilities.

I remember being tight-lipped during the entire evening, and my cousin, more out of embarassment, was constantly trying to keep the conversation going(it was me who dragged her there, and I wasn't talking and she was forced to speak out of courtesy). Well it wasn't my fault entirely(I had joined a school, where we were FORBIDDEN to converse with girls(sisters as they were to be called), although not explicitly but in a more implied way). That day was the last, I ever saw of her(and her smile and dimple).

- GUPTA GHOST

P.S.
To this day I wonder, where she is, and what she would be doing. Hope I never find out, because if it is something unpleasant(like being a housewife or something, I would rather not know, than feel bad).

For all you sue-happy people, I dont mean to call 'being a housewife' as degrading or insulting, it is just my personal opinion that, someone with her skills and talent should have been something more.

Where Do I Begin?

Memories can be very fickle when they choose to be. As they now choose to be with me. It is one thing to reminisce about writing, and it is yet another thing to actually start writing, because that's when you realise your mind is so spotlessly clean and blank.

I don't remember much of my early life(before I was 5 yrs, although many would share the same feeling), but the first and only valuable memory of my Kindergarten is the incident that has left a permanent scar on me.

It was the moment that turned me into the lifelong fall guy that I have come and chosen to be.

It was just after lunch during my UKG, and my friend and I were just finished with lunch, when we got into a tussle over the food, and being hyper-active maniacs that we were, both of us got onto the bench we shared and started what, for the lack of a better word, I shall call wrestling(jostling?). He pushed me and being much leaner than I am today, I fell off the bench, and my head hit the edge of the bench in the next row. The next thing I know, the doctor was stitching the back of my head(it seems I had passed out), and I was trying hard not to bring down the roof with my shouting.

This guy comes up by the side of the bed and says "really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you so badly"(and he really didn't). I was still thinking what to reply, when the Principal barged in and asked "What happened?".

That was the moment, my life would forever change, the moment itself was so simple and nothing out of the ordinary, but the answer has come to haunt me all through my life, for it became ingrained in my character and mind as my first "lie for a good cause". It was the moment that would be my reference point for all future events.

I told him "I just skid and hit the bench". Just the look of relief on my friend's face made my day. As if telling it one time wasn't enough, I had to relive the concocted story, 'n' number of times at home, every time somebody came to visit.

But, most of all what that moment taught me, was to compare, how much I had to lose and how much the other guy had to lose, because of the truth. (he was literally crying his eyes dry, telling me, how his father would trash the living daylights out of him, if he knew, this guy had done such a thing, and I thought, they had never beat me at home, and never probably would, atleast it would save this guy from a beating, he was also lucky nobody in the class went and complained to the teacher, man, his stars must have been really bright that day)

Although I never considered it a debt, he did get his chance to repay it, and repay it he did, in style. It was the final exam day, and I was given money to buy myself a pencil on the way to school, I saw some toffees on the way, and spent all the money on them. I reached school, oblivious to the fact that I didn't have anything to write the exam with. The exam started and this guy, sitting beside me, saw me staring at the ceiling, and asked me why I wasn't writing, I told him I didn't have a pencil. He simply gave me his, and said "take it, anyway I won't pass, atleast you shouldn't fail".

And then the teacher saw him sitting simply, and asked him "why aren't you writing?" and he said "maam, my pencil broke before the exam, and I threw it away". The teacher gave him a new pencil, but not before giving him 4 juicy wacks with the cane.(yes, corporal punishment was very much prevalent then, although I didn't know it was called so)

It was not so much the gesture that touched me, but the intention, that anyway I wont gain anything, why let somebody else lose something. If there was any lingering doubt about the course my life would take, it got wiped away with that moment. I decided then and there, to make it my motto, to let somebody have the benefit, if they stood to lose more than me because of my actions.

Thus, began the career, of a Professional Fall Guy.


- Gupta Ghost

P.S.
The only regret I have, is not being able to remember his name.

A New Beginning from the Ashes of Yesterday

A person is born, grows up and dies.

And then there is nothing.

And yet another person is born.

But every man leaves behind a legacy, some parts of his life that stay behind as memories, some others stay behind as a feeling, and there's still something left behind that stays incognito.

And that is the TRUTH.

The truth about things, where his side of the situation is hidden in his heart, unbeknown to all but himself. This blog attempts to clarify specifically such incidents before it is too late, or before any clarification will cease to make a difference.

It is about the life and times of Thandava Krishna, presently restricted to incidents from school days.

Hope it will clear the fog on many events, though almost nobody would even remember them,
but try as much as i can, i cannot forget them, and hope i never will.