As life becomes shorter & memory grows
Looking back at all the brickbats & blows
Always acted without much thought
Never knowing what the future holds.
Having said that, I can proudly say that those 12 years of growing up in MHS were really the best years of my life. Nothing really mattered, no great pressure to perform, no worries, yes passing those damn exams was important, they still are, but honestly it was never really serious because for me school was not a centre for education it was a place to have fun. A ceaseless celebration of life where whether “tomorrow comes or not”, never really mattered. It was a mixed bag of highs & lows, adolescence is a difficult & complicated phase of life, but in the overall analysis, it was simply great. I dedicate this piece to all my partners in crime over the years.
Once when under provocation from some, I tore the White Card (blasphemy) in P5 (RSJMS) given to me by Mrs. Chandra for running in the corridor. If I remember right I was racing Manoj Kumar Gupta to class after Break. Then I was made to stand in front of Mrs. Sachdeva’s office, Mrs. Chandra had decided to make an example out of me, since I refused to accept, when she claimed that, “main tumhari ma ke jaisi hoon beta”. Eeeks, poor mom, had to come to school for the nth time to pacify her howling son & scowling teacher.
Going further back in time I recall an incident from P2, rather heroic. Mrs. Neena Kaushal was our class teacher, one obnoxiously stuck up babe. We did a play, I’m not sure whether it was Annual day or House Function. Anyways, I was Robin Hood & my cousin Sandeep Srinivasan was the Demon King. I was supposed to vanquish him with arrows & rescue the damsels in distress Alpana Kishore, my first crush ever & Mahip Grewal. Now I was armed with this toy Bow & Arrow & everyone, especially Neena Kaushal was petrified that I would actually shoot & injure her poor darling Sandeep while performing those great acts of valour, since I had injured him during rehearsals, he however escaped, unscathed.
It’s funny how the guys one hung around with in school & took for granted one is the most distanced from now. I’m cutting in time yet again, this time going ahead to S6. One of our favorite pastimes used to be to bunk school, go to my place & watch Pornographic (blue) films. It actually all began in S4 & I remember that the impact on us was quite devastating, being the first time for most of us & we were all mentally stripping & ….. every girl/ woman we saw after that. The reason that these sessions used to happen at my place was primarily because I was fortunate enough to own a Video & my place happened to be walking distance from school, of course not to forget that both my parents used to work & therefore were never home.
So on one of those days, when someone (really don’t remember who) had brought a really “hot” film & all our juvenile hormones were pumping overtime in anticipation, we bunked as usual & headed home.
When we reached home I found that my parents had locked their bedroom therefore denying us all access to our proposed voyeuristic excesses since the Video was in there. I refused to yield to this lockout & as usual with unstinted support from some of you broke the lock & enjoyed the flick. But alas it didn’t end there, my mother was furious &; no amount of excuses worked. There was a test-match on that day, she couldn’t care less that we were dying to see the match & that we had only done that because our classes for the day were over. She decided to throw me out of the house & in the hostel, it was petrifying to suddenly be confined to a corner & to share one’s room with others, thankfully it blew over & I lived to salivate another day.
Let’s not forget the all time favorite pastime, watching movies. Sandy Aggarwal, Dicky Singh & I spent more time watching movies than preparing for our 12th boards. In fact the influence of movies & our implicit faith in them was so strong that Dhanno & I watched “Far from the madding crowd” rather than read the novel to appear for our 1st term English Elective Exam &; would you believe it, passed! Sandy those days was being given the cold shoulder by his childhood sweetheart Gauri, she happened to be the hottest thing going in Modern Vasant Vihar those days. Anyways, Gauri’s brother was Sandy’s best pal, he was trying to play cupid & reunite the two estranged lovers. One morning we three as usual bunked & went to Chanakya to watch a supposedly intellectual movie which had a lot of nudity in it, no guesses for what we went for.
When the movie got over & we were walking out, Sandy’s future brother-in-law picked someone’s pocket & showed it to us later with great pride, so much for education, I was, to say the least, frightened & appalled.
A movie experience that lasted longer than usual was with Atul Kumar & Aman Sood. We bunked, we went, we saw movie, came back to school as if nothing had happened & were hit by this thunderbolt called Rita Talwar, who was looking out for Atul. She made us literally rub our noses on the floor of her Lab. Height of humiliation anyone….!?
There have been innumerable such incidents, some in class, some outside but all memorable & educative in their own way. I’m sure you all remember these & much more, those wonder years which have gone forever over a long time ago.
Never despaired when the summit seemed too high
Hope always emerged & transcended me beyond the skies.
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