Once the period bell rang we all separated ourselves for the language classes. The Bengali language classroom was placed slightly ahead of the teachers common room in the first floor and the pathway used to be kept dark at all times. And slowly but surely we used to move towards that language classroom. We never ever used to see the room open for us. It would remain bolted from inside. Incidentally there was a hole in the door which would relieve us from any misconception abo...ut any room closed from inside.
When we bent and placed one of our eyes in the door hole we used watch our teacher in a tight nap right over the study table( imagine the height and the base of the tables). The tables were joined together to form a bed. The sleeping position had feet towards the door. We wondered how a person lay flat on this and that too a “deep” sleep, in a trance. As our naughty thoughts ran through our minds suddenly a boom bang thang dhang sound occurred which used to put me, Rupak, Sajal, Ananya miles away from the scene. And when we kept peeping from a distance we see the door open and it was a fun to watch the innocent faces of Sankalpa , Sujit Mukherjee, Ganguly , Madhulita and Rita Mondal who arrived by then and not oblivious of the incident that happened seconds ago. We later use to poke them not to furnish our names. So next 10 minutes of the class lectured on how students need to respect the teachers and "gently" knock the door instead. But we never refined ourselves. It became an usual practice every day moments before start of the class. Sir used to call Sajal as “Garud Pakkhi” taken from the Ramayan meaning tall but tilted to the front.
But yes the Bengali Class was a class of its own… going by the poems and phrases from the Old Bengali Writers of 20th century made us think of the rich tradition. But alas... the words used in those novels never came back ever in our chalta hai bengali language. Else on the occasion of the Bijaya Dashami every year we were trained in such classes to touch the feet of elders and show our reverence and in return got Anek Anek Ashirbad.
Moving on….. some funny moments in our NCC Classes. The NCC dresses were chosen from the readymade ones and imagine the fittings. The Monda Diya Kada Kada Khaki “half” pants bulged and lay straight and the many gaps made us inconvenient. Hmmm.. The post school NCC drills were torturous but the relief used to come when the sergeant shouted “Singara Asuchi Asuchi ”. Oh HO Ho HO …. We were dying for that….
Other was the mass drill class on last period…. TT and few others could never do it seriously and tried to bunk until Hazari Sir caught them escaping… TT could not "run fast" and he was caught always..... “waiting for a big maada from TT".
Hmmm further are no comments on the gupsups and gossips on school “kid” romances that occasionally used to fly in the air… But some Karamanga Tree Romances seemed real.
Lets see if we have some more on such events...
But yes the Bengali Class was a class of its own… going by the poems and phrases from the Old Bengali Writers of 20th century made us think of the rich tradition. But alas... the words used in those novels never came back ever in our chalta hai bengali language. Else on the occasion of the Bijaya Dashami every year we were trained in such classes to touch the feet of elders and show our reverence and in return got Anek Anek Ashirbad.
Moving on….. some funny moments in our NCC Classes. The NCC dresses were chosen from the readymade ones and imagine the fittings. The Monda Diya Kada Kada Khaki “half” pants bulged and lay straight and the many gaps made us inconvenient. Hmmm.. The post school NCC drills were torturous but the relief used to come when the sergeant shouted “Singara Asuchi Asuchi ”. Oh HO Ho HO …. We were dying for that….
Other was the mass drill class on last period…. TT and few others could never do it seriously and tried to bunk until Hazari Sir caught them escaping… TT could not "run fast" and he was caught always..... “waiting for a big maada from TT".
Hmmm further are no comments on the gupsups and gossips on school “kid” romances that occasionally used to fly in the air… But some Karamanga Tree Romances seemed real.
Lets see if we have some more on such events...
Debjeet, thank you for taking us into these lanes of your memory - it was good to read about the Bengali classes - I remember that room was in the dungeon-like corridor culminating in the Home Science Lab, opposite the teachers' common room.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the karamanga tree romances? Tell us some more ;-)
yesss, no one is going to get a scent of it, if you tell us here, Debjeet :)
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