A cup of coffee in my hand on the balcony, looking intently at the school bus honking loud outside our gates. Out goes my darling, my son, waiting for an instance at the gates, waving me and shouting BYE PAPA before boarding the bus.
It's not a weekday, Saturday being off, I'm drawn to those old memories of my school days, WOW... those were the days, no bus no honking, Cuttack waking up to the school crowd. Speeding on my bicycle to school just to make it before 8:45 AM. The usual assembly, prayers and announcements. Rushing to the classroom and making sure the left over homework is done before the teacher enters for attendance. The whole day just goes by at snails pace with some exciting classes and some pretty boring classes as well.
Those days were only filled with my mischievousness, I was not having any problems in my life, I was a free minded bindaas boy, I had to worry about nothing except a bit about school homework for maths and physics which I felt were scraps and not to forget Mr. Algebr Muqablai, I must have abused him with the choicest of words for what he had invented.
I miss the silly gossips with friends about the girls, movies etc, I miss the fighting with friends for seat, I miss the tiffin which we all used to share with each other and oh yes we used to eat tiffin in the classroom hiding from the teacher that was fabulous.
When teachers used to ask questions to everyone & how I used to hide my face behind my friend and praying to God "Oh God today not me plz", but God never listened, I used to get caught and the usual scolding (budbak, u'll fail, foolish blah blah blah)
I guess probably everyone had their first crush during school life. I too had. She was a damn beautiful girl and mischievous like me, the issue being, her school was 1 km away from our school. Cupid struck during some tuition classes where students from both the schools were in same batch, being my batch mates i'm sure you all must have guessed it by now, which school I'm referring to. Should end this thought here or my wife would be having me for lunch.
It’s been 25 yrs now but each piece of memory is as vibrant as ever about my school days. Each time I look back, I just remember the FRIENDS who witnessed my days and vice versa, those days will never come back and we have made a lot of friends as well after leaving school but the chord you strike when you meet a school classmate remains unparalleled.
