(1)
"Hey there, what's your name?", asked me a skinny looking guy from the corner of a room. He had big eyes, a smile on his face, a slightly broken teeth and the haircut of a cadet. "Aye, batana tera naam kya hai?", he asked again.
"JAY". I replied without looking at him.
"Oh! Hi Jay, I am Pradeep. Tuza ghar kuthe aahe?," he added a question to his answer.
"GHOGHA CIRCLE", I said. And then he disappeared into the classroom. That was my first day at school. I was inducted in 1st standard. I had studied in a kindergarten before joining this school. But kids in there are not much bothered who else is enjoying the building blocks or pole rings. They are more busy in rubbing off or slurping up the liquid from their nose. And most of them are busy with their tear rolling for which even the teacher is not much bothered.
But this was entirely a new place. I felt I had achieved the highest degree from the kindergarten and graduated to this place. The display was entirely different from the previous institute. There were benches, where at least 2 can fit in appropriately and if required one more can be accustomed. There were shelves for the books and a cupboard which I could immediately relate with the one I had in my house. There was a HUGE blackboard on which a date was written on the top left corner. I thought why they have made such a huge slate. Then I thought maybe we are supposed to study too much and write a lot. As my eyes scanned further, there was white powder at the bottom of the blackboard and few chalk pieces lying around.
I was busy observing the surrounding when Pradeep suddenly pulled my hand and took me to the two seater. Although not bulky for my age, It took me some time to climb up the seat. I wondered why did they make a 3 storey bench for a 4 year old kid like me. Pradeep, no doubt was holding my hand then, pulled it hard and made me reach the top floor of the bench. I was still hanging my bag on the shoulder and thought to shed some weight.
By the time i adjusted to this new seating arrangement, there were couple of more guys who stood around my seat and kept on grinning at me. I did not know what to reply or to say. So I grinned back harder which turned their grinning into a giggly laugh. Just when their giggly laugh was going on I heard a roar inside the classroom where everyone said "GOOD MORNING TEACHER". When I looked around, everyone including Pradeep was standing on the floor. I thought,"GOD I just made it to the 3rd FLOOR and will take time to climb back again."
Pradeep once again pulled my hand and asked me to greet the teacher. As if I knew what I was doing, I said,"GOOD MORNING TEACHER". The difference was that only my voice filled the air and the teacher could clearly notice who that individual was.
I was filled with surprise and felt so shy about the entire thing, that i giggled a bit. And in return, entire class, including my teacher gave a hearty laugh. Post that She too greeted us all with a smile on her face and said,"GOOD MORNING".
(2)
For next few days, Pradeep became my obvious choice for all the activities that we did at school. I had joined in late by a week, and he was my guide for the things that we were supposed to know. We used to have lunch together, play together. I remember, we used to follow each other to the slide which normally kids use it during the breaks. The SLATE which I saw on the first day was actually used by my teacher and it relieved me of thought of writing so much on it. However, the feeling was limited to blackboard, as were were given notebooks. A checkered one for MATHS, a four line for ENGLISH and a single lined for GUJARATI & HINDI. Then I thought a black board was far better than writing on these patterned papers.
By the end of that year Me and Pradeep grew fond of each other. Although he was a Mahrashtrian, a Patil, I observed him spelling the alphabets like M as Yem & N as Yen. This sort of pronunciation is observed in South Indians. Like how would a South Indian spell MOON. (Yem Wo Wo Yen). Funny ! Gradually we started competing each other academically and in sports. But all in good sense. He was a wonderful athlete, so was I. He was excellent in English as I was in Maths. We used to forge adhead even during the annual functions. Cultural activities mein bhi hum log saath mein rehte the. But even after all this, he used to be a step ahead of me in academics. Atleast in terms of results. We had a class of 24, where he stood first every time. Being second was not bad enough, but, my parents, insisted me to beat Pradeep once. Just once.
And I studied hard. Hard enough that I almost ignored him. He walked up to me and asked,"Where are you now a days?, I don't see u often." To which I replied," I am supposed to beat you in exams. And that's what my parents have asked me to!.
"So you are going to hit me?"
"Big time. And you'll see that soon." I said to myself.
He smiled back and left.
(3)
"Arey wah Jay, wonderful. You have scored good in your exams. Wonderful. You are one of the top ranker in the class," said Miss Bhavna. Our class teacher. I had completed the 1st standard and was feeling so great to enter the next level.
"Who has come first?," I asked. The answer was as expected ,"Pradeep"
I felt no pain, no sorrow as my best friend was at the top in exams. I forgot the competition which was virtually existent. He was not in school at that time to get this wonderful news. I kept on waiting for him as I wanted to be the one who would break the news. He turned up after half an hour and went straight to the teacher. His mom accompanied him to the desk. I could not hold further and shouted. "O Pradeep, taro pello number avyo chhe!. Everyone looked at me in surprise, but who cared. I gave him a big smile.
He came to me and said," Vandho nai next time!"
I didn't bother whether next time or any other time. All I had in my mind was that I had a friend who was a the top. I was proud of it.
We continued to be the best friends for the next year. We were the dynamic duos. No change nothing. We even did not need anyone else to get in between. But as they say things do not always go as planned. Although we didn't loose anything between us, there was a definite addition to our group.
PRANAV PANDYA: A smiple guy with wit and humor. He used to make us laugh almost at anything. They say as a person grows up, he adds to his sense of humor and wit. We never knew when we were going to grow up. But this guy was full of it.
He was there in our class since I joined the school. But we never interacted much. Only after we spent time together at our school picnic. It was also discovered that he used to stay nearby where my home was.
His humor was so intense for us that we got punished for laughing in the class. Me and one more guy from our class heard him say something funny and we laughed like hell. Next thing we were standing out in our undies outside the class. Our teacher had punished us for LAUGHING. We were holding our ears, and people were just gazing at us moving around in the corridor.
Every kid in our class was laughing at us. Except for those 2. That day was quite weired for us. But we had the support of our dear friends, Pradeep and Pranav. Pranav was so silent that he didn't talk to me for next few days. His eyes were asking for apologies, where there was nothing to be said. Friends do not ask for apologies. In no time we were back on track.
We were now the three stooges in the class. The school which i studied was graduating along with us. The first standard started with us and so was the second standard. New rooms were getting made next to our existing classes. We as kids were always eager to run around here and there.
Pradeep was standing in one of the newly constructed room. We saw him and he said," Ahiya bau pochu pochu chhe, dodvani maja aavshe." The place was newly layered with cement. Getting the footprints on the layer was our new time pass. Kids do not see any logic behind such activities, do they? So we ran and ran and ran, till entire floor was covered with footprints. We were 5 of us, who contributed to this original masterpiece.
We thought of giving a final touch where two of us stood near the door and rest three stood near the window of that room. Pradeep was near the window. Get set go! and BAAAM !.
Next thing I could remember was my forehead was bleeding. Pradeep's nose was bleeding. We both bled to death. Ha ha ha.. We as kids saw the blood for the first time. I saw the red fluid for the first time. We were crying out loud for other people to listen. First aid attention was given to us and we were given a day's off.
I still have that scar on my forehead and Pradeep still answers for the one which he has on his nose.
(4)
I was getting late for school. It was the day of our result and I was graduating for the third grade. But I was not happy about something and that was hurting me very bad. My father got transferred to Ahmedabad and we were supposed to shift with him. I was in no mood to collect the result. All I could think was, how would I face Pradeep and Pranav. I din't expect things like this. I didn't want this to happen.
As I entered the school, I thought I would go straight to the teacher, get the result and move out. In that way need not talk, need not face anyone. Reaching near the class room door I could only see Miss Bhavna, the desk and bunch of papers lying on the table. She immediately spotted me and called me in. My mom and dad pushed me in as they too entered the room. I ran towards the desk without looking who else are in the room. Miss Bhavna didn't utter a single word, to which my tension grew. I lost a heart beat. "I had failed. I knew my Gujarati was weak. I could re-collect entire paper in a flash."
I didn't have guts to look at my parents. I just took the report card turned back when I heard, " A Jayla, TARO PELLO NUMBER AAVYO CHHE"
I turned towards the voice, and it was Pradeep. He shouted again." Ela tu to pello avyo." All I could do was SMILE. "Ela tu pello aavi gayo?" Pranav added. To which all of us laughed.
I was facing my friends. As I walked towards them, we exchanged the report cards. Pradeep stood second and Pranav was not bothered much about the rank. We could hear our parents talking about the scores and marks and the paper checking style and all.
"Jay, chalo jaiye? Tara friends ne aavjo kai de. Te kidhu emne? Aapde amdavad jaiye chhiye?. My father broke my silence.
I bid farewell to my friends.
Pranav is working with a firm and Pradeep is working for a leading telecom company. We often chat amongst us recalling the days when we became friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment