We are now in the 7th semester of engineering, with our college life in PESIT drawing to an end, here we are so apprehensive about what is to come and what is to happen, thinking about, planning and working on and worried about our careers to come. Our goals, our ambitions and our dreams at stake. Amidst all this a few memories personified as a little kid stands there laughing at me, calling me back, back to my far past, back to those days in my native when I was That little kid and all that I wanted was enough money to buy those cakes in the bakery on the way to school.
I wore navy blue shorts to go with a white shirt and went to school with a kerchief pinned to my collar. I used to go to school in an auto sitting in the front with the driver, on the small gap he made for me on his seat. I used to sit there and wait for the driver to squeeze that horn. It used to amuse me how squeezing that rubber could produce such a loud thrilling sound out of the wide opening at the other side. I had tried doing that myself a couple of times but that rubber bulb proved to be too hard and too big for my tiny hands.
St. Josephs Convent was the name of my school:
Those were the days when I was the class teacher’s favorite kid. Upsara miss (as she was called) it was, who had once gifted me 2 black pencils simply because she liked me which made me no less happy than I would be now if I got a golden pen with a diamond nib. Gone are those days when we stood in a straight line shoulder to shoulder and had the ‘Peeing Competitions’-whoever peed the farthest won, all for the 25ps ‘peppermints’ that the winner got. Jagadish it was, my best friend back then…the 2 of us used to make ‘paper rockets’ in all shapes and sizes with each one having a unique flying skill to show. We had 25 to 50 of them in each of our bags and in the break time we flew them all around the classroom showing-off and me trying to prove the rockets I made were better than his and vice versa. For the Republic Day Function, the 2 of us were paired with a girl each to waltz on stage. It is only now that I realize what the big guys in school had so much to chuckle about looking at a boy and a girl dancing together that way. And that one day in school when I could not hold it any longer and let go in the classroom with the whole class looking at me and I pretended as though I had no clue how my shorts were getting wet. It still makes me close my eyes and cover my face in embarrassment. (more…)
