Sometimes when I look back at
some incidents in my life, I wonder whether those are real! Today as I walked 4
more kilometers, something from my childhood popped up in mind. So far, my
school friends were the only ones who knew this and after a little hesitation,
I decided to share it here.
I studied in one of the reputed
schools in Mumbai. This school was known for churning out about more than a
dozen students in merit list in the state-board exam every year. Couple of
divisions used to be looked upon as possible pool for this merit list and we were
supposed to study more. Also, there was a certain behavior expected from us.
There were also some kids who used to be sports heroes of the school. These two
categories mostly used to be mutually exclusive. Some of the sports heroes used
to be dressed in a relative rowdy manner by the school standards – actually nothing
much – they used to wear a T-shirt inside the shirt (mostly colored!) and handkerchief
around the neck on the playground! I was hugely attracted to this dress-code.
In that system, I was supposed to be the studious type and even my personality
suited that profile. I was short with a lovely paunch during my school days!
After years of resisting the
temptation of that dress-code, one day I made up my mind and dressed up for
school. I was in 9th standard that time. I wore a yellow sleeveless
thick T-shirt inside the white shirt. That yellow T-shirt also had red borders
- even better. My mother looked at me skeptically and said, “Don’t do this; you
sweat like an ice-cube (mothers can be so mean!) – you will feel stuffy”. I
simply ignored and confidently marched out. I got some weird looks from my
classmates which I accepted as compliments – this is a blessing I am born with –
whenever there is any ambiguity about anyone’s reaction, I safely take it as a compliment!
As the time passed by, my mother’s
prediction seem to be perfect. I felt stuffy and miserable and could not take
it anymore. When the teacher had given us time to study on our own, I slid
under the bench, took off my shirt and then the T-shirt. Just as I was getting
ready to put on my shirt I realized how priceless friends are in life. Patiently
waiting for me to be perfectly topless, someone shouted, ”Teacher, Yogesh is
sitting without shirt under the bench.” I put on my shirt with lightening speed
and got up to see teacher shell-shocked! I confidently replied, ”No, he is
lying!” The bell rang and thankfully the teacher went away muttering
something!!
Why did I do it? I don’t know.
But I am aware of this streak in me to try out something new. What does it do to
me – well, actually this has been quite beneficial sometimes – I am always ready
to try out something new, taking myself completely out of my comfort zone. I
quite enjoy it and know when to get out of any trouble just in time! Some mad traits always help and if nothing
else it has given me a joy of sitting topless under the bench in midst of
discipline!!!!
Good one.A refersher.Brought smile for a while
ReplyDeleteNostalgia just creeped in from my school days and the fun which I used to have with my classmates..Can i guess? Is this a school in Dadar?
ReplyDelete