Myriad memories flashback: the first smell of monsoon rain after a
scorching summer, the bare feet afternoon strolls to pluck guavas from the
neighbor’s backyard, the street cricket matches, the small squabbles over
marbles, and overall the unforgettable memories of my childhood buddies. Many
times I will laugh aloud immersed in the past completely unaware that Bindu is
watching. She would ask, “Again you are back in the DM days! Tell me what was
so funny”.
Funny it was indeed but that was not all, it was a cauldron of
emotions. It was one of the most joyous and carefree times of my life. This
time came and disappeared in no time. Yet it left lasting impressions of a
lifetime.
I will start with an interesting one first. You may associate the
right emotion. It was an uneventful day until the PE class in the afternoon. I
was quite anxious, as I had forgotten to wear my canvas shoes. However, I was
not the only one. Sudeep
had done likewise. We knew that this was a serious offense. While I was quite
nervous, Sudeep seemed unfazed. The PE class started with all students queuing
up and Hajari sir was inspecting the uniforms of everyone. Sudeep stood before
me and I waited with bated breath for my turn. Sir approached Sudeep and asked
him the reasons for wearing sandals instead of the usual uniform. Sudeep
started to sob and this prompted sir to go close to him. Sir asked softly, “What
is wrong Sudeep. Are you all right”? Sudeep, in response, started sobbing a
little louder and this prompted our teacher to repeat his question, with a hint
of concern this time. Sudeep, encouraged by sir’s imminent kindness mustered
enough courage to point to the cause of his sorrow. While continuing to sob, he
pointed to a boil on his left eyelid. What happened after that is history; our
teacher’s wrath resulted in many back sores but no more eye-sores; I mean
eyesores!
A second memorable event is associated with a teacher who replaced
our usual Math teacher for a few days in class V. He started the class with a
quiz: “Who is he that sits between two mats and is an ics”? The class was
silent for 5 minutes and then sir asked us to discuss possible answers. We
started to murmur with our neighbours but found no clues to this puzzle. Sir
then smilingly said, the answer lies in the subject of interest for this class,
namely MAT-HE-MAT-ICS. With this interlude, sir aroused our interest in this
mundane subject through his unique pedagogy. I thought to myself, who is this
interesting teacher? Later, I learnt during the recess from my friends from another
section that he is Mr. Kameswar Rao. I still remember his full name K. A. S. S.
V. Kameswar Rao and I am sure many of you will recognize the prefixes – Kundulu,
Appala Sita Satya Venkat. These were part of the DM folklore and I can’t
ascertain the veracity of these.
Section C was an interesting class. We all came from Odiya medium
unlike the other two sections and were in training to switch to full English
medium from class VIII. However, academics and the challenges posed by the
bilingual training was not always our focus.
We were a multitalented and diverse bunch of individuals and we
excelled in mimicking our teachers and giving pet names to them, which were
ranging from the Elephant (Hati) to the Ant (Janda)! While we had a few studious
individuals who were always immersed in academics, many were excellent in
sports, some great in arts and music and yet others whose main talent was
related to creation of fun and frolic primarily through mischief. I will dwell
upon one of my colleagues who belonged to the last category. While he was “vertically
challenged” and seemed much smaller than the rest of his peers, he matched this
shortfall with an immense ability of thinking laterally and beyond the
comprehension of any one else. He was the unlikely leader of an “alternative
segment”, who led all plotting and planning activities related to the next big
prank. I will now relate an incident that changed the moral of our class forever.
The said incident happened when we were in class VIII and we were
occupying one of the last classrooms on the first floor. Any teacher would have
to walk a long corridor to come to our class. The leaders of the alternative
segment would stand outside the classroom on the veranda when one class
finished and we waited for the next teacher’s arrival. On this eventful day, we
were waiting for the start of the Math lesson. Many students in our class
didn’t like the style of teaching of this teacher and made fun of him usually
in the background. On this eventful day, our teacher was approaching from the
far end of this long corridor. At this point, someone from this alternative
segment shouted the teacher’s pet name and then everyone ran into the classroom
accompanied by a deafening noise.
Our teacher entered the class but was visibly upset and made the entire
class stand for the whole period. We were advised that the incident will be
reported to our much-revered Headmaster and no further Math classes will be
conducted until the culprit came forward. The class stood in silence and no one
came forward. This was repeated for three periods on three consecutive days, until
the teacher’s patience ran out. For the next class, sir said that if we all
stubbornly refuse to comply, we would all receive hits on our knuckles from his
duster. This form of punishment continued for a few more days until something
happened behind the scenes and the teaching resumed. I am not aware till this
day regarding the nature of the solution or how it was arrived. However, this
incident bears testimony to the nature of the unity and bonding between our
classmates. While we fought and quarreled from time to time, our alternative segment
would take a stand and would mend fences so that we came together again.
From these collective memories, I will now digress a bit into my
school blues. I was inherently shy, frail and hence introverted. I came
straight to class V from a very small Odiya medium UP school in Unit IX
Bhubaneswar. DM, in contrast to my previous school, was massive with a large
compound, many classrooms with large classes and a huge student population. The
school was not just focused on academics but on a wholesome education involving
sports, music, drama and classes involving life skills from carpentry to
welding. I was in complete awe of this school and its pupils, the smart uniform
clad pupils and the well-dressed and (usually) good-humored teachers. Due to my
shy nature and frail built, it usually took me much longer to make new friends
and I was struggling in the first few days. I would usually play by myself
during the breaks. One well-built
colleague of mine spotted my weakness and whenever I saw him I took my gaze away
and moved to a different spot. One day, I was sitting on a branch of a star
fruit tree thinking that I was all by myself, when I noticed that my “not so
fond” colleague was right beside me. When I stated to get down, he made a foul
remark. In response, I was taken over with rage and my fist landed on his face.
He retaliated brutally and we both fell on the ground.
Some magical thing happened afterwards. He got up first and
forwarded his hand to help me get up. I didn’t realize how that happened. Maybe
he sensed that this frail body frame was hiding something deeper. I also sensed
that the hard exterior of my colleague was hiding a much softer side. We have
never looked back since that day and became best friends for life. We complimented
each other very well as he helped and protected me from many menacing
situations, while I reciprocated through joint lessons and academic
preparations before examinations. I will never forget my friend’s selfless
service to many in our class.
It is now close to midnight and I will have to conclude reluctantly
with deep admiration of those eventful days, the dedicated teachers, and the most
remarkable friends that I reminisce forever.
