(2).Academics- Learning the Easy way

I suppose our 11th was a period of uncertainty to the school managements; because for a long period of time we had no idea who our teachers were to be.
The worst problem was with Physics.
We were to have two teachers for every subject. One of the Physics teachers was Rekha miss. She took the 1st textbook. I think there is some kind of 'mujjanma bhandham' between us. She joined our school in 9th as our Physics teacher. She was also Feby's classteacher that year, in 2nd standard. The next year she became my classteacher in 10th. Then in 11th she again became my Physics teacher and Feby's classteacher in 4th. In 12th again she became my classteacher. Now I've left school and Rekha miss is once again Feby's classteacher, in 6th. Result: My mother gets to meet her every year, for the open house.
We were comfortable with Rekha miss because we'd known her for the past two years. She used to repeat 'And see' very often.
The other Physics teacher was a problem. First there came a teacher who took the first part of stress and strain. She talked about 'chakka molinji' and 'mailanchi' in class once. Then she left. For a long time we'd no Physics teacher. And then Vidya miss came. Because she was very short and because we had a Maths Vidya miss too, we called her 'chottu miss', of course she didn't know that. Nicey used to scold us, saying that we shouldn't disrespect our teachers. Anyway we'd many more names, like 'Sarasammaama' and 'Bhasku'.

We didn't like chottu miss's class. She always carried the text book with her as if she wasn't sure of the derivations herself. Anyway not much of the potion was covered. Towards the end of the year I and Dhanya would learn Physics on our own during her classes, and more than once, she caught us and scolded us.

For Chemistry we'd Savitha miss. We were frightened of her because we'd attended her classes for a short while during 10th vacation. Besides Ann had a scary story to say of her:
It was in 7th. Savitha miss was their Chemistry teacher. Once she asked some question or explained something and asked if anyone had any doubt. Ann stood up; then miss asked her to come to the Chemistry lab and beat her!!
So we were frightened of her from the beginning.

After Savitha miss's first class, our thoughts were like: 'God! How we used to complain of Anurag Sir's classes; but he was an absolute angel when we compare with her.'

But by and by we became much more used to Savitha miss and by the time 12th started we'd all become quite fond of her.

Our other Chemistry teacher was Raji miss. She was a new teacher too. Now, we weren't frightened of her at all. She didn't even know enough Malayalam to scold us; but she was terrified of us. Poor teacher! I've always felt sorry for her. But gradually she learned courage and by the end of 11th we used to get frequent scoldings from her too (ala muttiyaal cherayum kadikkum!!!).


Saraswathy miss was our classteacher. She took Botany. She thought we were still in lower primary or something. She used to write complaints to our parents in the diary if we didn't answer questions and ask us to bring it signed for the next day!! Even I used to put my mother's sign myself on the answer papers.

But we were really fond of Saraswathy miss. Especially since our Zoology teacher was Bhaskaran Sir.

Bhaskaran sir is a legend, literally and figuratively. He's really ancient, has had even a by-pass surgery!! He was very knowledgeable but we couldn't understand a single word he said. It was all hazy. I and Nicey were very excited during the first periods. We used to go sit in the front bench during the first two weeks, so that we could listen better. We slogged through them somehow, but after a fortnight 'aavesham chornnu poyi' and I left Nicey in the front and became happy with the backbenches. I and Dhanya used to usually pass the time learning to write with our left hand; Dhanya became highly accomplished in the art. Later we used to read Library books and even Kalikudukka. One of the Bhasku periods, on Wednesday, I think, was just after the 1st interval, and there used to be a lot of samosa passing among the boys.


The Biology lab was the venue of many of our 'kuruthakkedu' of course, we were all really attached to it. Bhasku usually took us there because he couldn't carry the projector to our class. Afterward we'd have interval and we'll run to the canteen and clamor for samosa or cutlet or uzhunnuvada.


For Maths, we had Nisha miss and Vidya miss and I was very happy to have them because I'd been afraid maybe we'll get Geossy miss. Nisha miss was a bit slow, but her classes were very good. Maths classes were combined with the Commerce students and usually Ragi and Aswathy would sit behind me and copy from my notes.


For English, we started having Vice Principal's classes and they were very boring, frankly. She used to drone and on about 'Portrait of an Old Lady'. Besides, she would ask questions daily too. Literature was still Shobha miss's 'kutthaka' but we'd learned her ways by then and by God's mercy, we didn't have Golden, so we adjusted quite well.

Beside the school, I had three tutions- Physics, Chemistry, Maths.
Maths was of course, as ever, with Sreelatha miss, so that was no problem adjusting. But this time, of course, I was coming from Kombara, because of house-shifting and hence I took to line bus. For the first part of 11th, I went by PVM. Neethu and Greeshma used to come by the same bus too. And Aswathy. Sometimes Deepak too. But some days Neethu'll go with her father and I'll get a lift and I'll climb behind her on the bike and cling to her like a 'kuttikkurangu' all the way to Mannathikkulam.
Me, Greeshma, Neethu, Ragi and Ann, in the beginning, used to come back to school by auto. We used to get books from Dowlin, Gayathri, Soumya Jose etc to carry too. Our autodriver knew Ambika miss and Neethu would try to wheedle out some inside information from him sometimes.

I went to Physics tuition at Divakaran sir's and I warmed up tp him immediately; I really liked his classes and wasn't at all sad that his potions lagged, because what he taught, he taught well.
And he was very funny too.
We also had Chemistry tuitions there with Saji sir. They were a complete fiasco!! Half the time he wouldn't come for the classes and we'd sit idly. If he did come, well, the classes weren't bad, but he didn't stick to the CBSE syllabus. If sir was going to be absent, he'd ring up Divakaran sir at his home, during our class. And towards the end of the year, I and Neethu would wait eagerly to hear the phone ring, all during the Physics class, to know if the Chemistry class has been cancelled. By January, I think, we quit Saji sir or maybe he gave up on us...

After Divakaran sir's class, I and Neethu would walk home. We used to discuss all sorts of stuff. Sometimes we'd talk about Yathu or Akhil; and I'll ask her repeatedly if she hadn't felt any soft corner towards either of them, ever, and she'll say again and again, no, God promise, no... And she'll ask me the same thing about Aswin, and I'll answer exactly like she had. Stupid girls, honestly, we had absolutely no other worries, so we just philosophied on about anything that came into our minds... I had no idea what the future would make of me or my heart...


Ever since I'd put in the 'kaalukudungaalu' episode Greeshma has been threatening me. She says I have absolutely no right to play the heroine at her expense. So I've decided not to mention her at all, unless of course she has a direct bearing upon any of my ventures, 'Avalude Tankukal' for instance. (Aah... nee angane aashvasikanda, athu njan ezhuthenne cheyyum. athinte copyright avakaasam eniku maathramullathaanu, and maybe a bit for Felicia... Don't think I'll 'adachupootal' this blog without elaborating upon that!)

(1)New arrivals- Wasn't Dhanya misunderstood?

When I first entered XIth class, I felt as if I was in the midst of strangers. I'd taken Biology because my chechi had taken Biology and I usually followed her footsteps, God only knows why. When I'd realized Aparna was taking Computer, I was stunned and wanted to give up Biology too, but I'd one big dream- to join AFMC. I remember the conversations I'd had with her, in which I'd passionately rejected any wish to be a doctor and telling her that I have taken Biology only because I wanted to join the army. But in two years, your aspirations change, but even now I'm not very happy about writing out prescriptions to patients because I've always trusted Ayurveda and therefore doesn't like to be a consultant physician. Now I wish to be a surgeon, but I don't know what I'll feel like after 5 years.


In our Bio class there were total 28 students. We'd checked the roll list of new admissions, beforehand and were quite excited to meet the new-comers. Soumya had spoken about a Roshini Nair, a very beautiful girl from Shanthinikethan, she said. The name Rarimol also caught my attention, because Rari was my chechi's pet name. Regarding boys we were all waiting to see if any handsome guy showed up. I still remember the excitement among girls when we first saw Jasim, and Ragi coming back later, after a closer look, disappointed, saying he had a 'maruku' near his chin, and was not worth all the attention after all.

Roshini surprised us all because she wore a 'thattom' though her name was 'Nair'. We wondered if her parents could be inter-cast couple. But later I plucked up the courage to ask her and she told me that she'd shaved her hair as a 'nercha' for her grandmother's good health, but somehow I never believed it. Roshini was very jolly.

Rari immediately got attention as the prettiest new-comer, but as usual we jealous girls were reluctant to accept it. I remember Neethu's comment: 'Nalla mudiyundu, niramundu. Athra thanne.'

Silpa, I felt was pretty too but Greeshma thought Minu looked pretty. Apart from that, I dunno, we tried to speak with them.

Regarding the Bhavan's girls, I knew Ann Maria very well, she having been our official best friend during Xth too. Gayathri, I don't remember at all, except that she'd written in my slam-book that black was her favorite color. Archa I remembered well. Felicia, Dowlin were all complete strangers. Nicey I knew as Varada's friend, I think, though we used to be in the same class. We old girls were pulled together due to necessity than anything else, we were strangers to each other as much as the new girls, but we struck up an acquaintance incredibly fast. In fact, I don't even remember my introduction to Felicia, though it was concerned with something like she saying me and Aparna had gone to meet her when she came in 9th or so and asked her the French for dog. Dowlin, I believe was comfortable with Ann around and we overtook the 5 years' gap very first. Gayathri, I'd always considered to be one among Varsha-Alka-Chandini-Sneha gang, only less familiar than them, but she turned out to be incredibly funny. Archa was always to me a good girl and I was often surprised that she didn't have any great friends among girls in Xth though she and Lakshmi used to walk together. Nicey, I don't know, I suppose we knew each other fairly well, so there wasn't anything new to remark about her in XIth. Greeshma, my best friend, was still near me, so we didn't feel much of the insecurity that Aparna might have faced in the Computer class.

From my class X boys, only Antony, Arunnath, Deepak remained. Anu was kind of distant to me, though I'd invited him for my house-warming the previous year. P Menon was absolutely new, my only knowledge about him was that his sister Anju studied with Feby.


In the completely disarranged Maths lab, the old Bhavanite girls were sitting at the window side and the new girls near the door, opposite to each other. Ann was sitting near me and we immediately made it our business to speak to the new boys; Rohit was the one we attacked first, poor thing!


Among the new girls there was a girl with curly hair, wearing jeans, who'd said her name was Dhanya, but the name hadn't rung any bell during the introduction. It was only long after the attendance rolls, that somebody mentioned to me that Dhanya was the same old Dhanya, my best friend in 1st and 2nd. Surprised, I turned around; she was sitting directly opposite me, but of course, we were at two far sides of the room. But I asked her, or rather mimed at her, was she the Dhanya who used to study here before? And she replied, yes, and said she knew I was Christabella. Was I shocked!! Never in my life had I expected to meet her again, and there she was, back again as my classmate. But there was nothing of the old Dhanya in her; she was much, much too modern. And that caused quite a stir among the girls and boys.


Girls were all totally against her from the begining. They couldn't just accept the fact that a girl could decide her priorities herself, that she could choose to ignore, or attract or be a 'dhikkari' towards boys. Somebody commented about her later towards the end of 12th: 'Vannappo avalu nalla over aayirunnu. Ippo kozhappilla. Aadhyam full, Dhanya inganeyaanu, Dhanya anganeyaanu, Dhanya boysinodu samsaarikilla, avaru vannu Dhanyayodu samsaarikkum....' Some of the girls were determined from the beginning to mark her off as too much Western-cultured.

What I can't understand is why can't she talk about herself? If she wished to think boys would be attracted to her, who are we to say she is boasting? How can we say that? We haven't lived with her for past year; if she want to think like that, it's her life, she'll do it. Nobody asked her classmates to correct her.

Saraswathi miss made us sit according to roll-number; and like in our lower primary, me and Dhanya ended up as bench-mates. That helped me cultivate a deeper relationship with her. From all our conversations, I've learned certain things about her essential character. What she used to say, can be, called as 'exaggerating', if you want, but if I let her speak about herself for a while and accepted everything she said, then she herself came out of the behavior after some time. She learned to talk less and less about 'Dhanya.' I thought, maybe it was not over-confidence, but lack-of-confidence that used to drive her before. Or maybe, I thought, she'd felt just a bit overshadowed by her more beautiful sister. But these are, of course, solely my opinion, and Dhanya you are welcome to contradict it.

I quite enjoyed my conversations with her. It was not sympathy what drove me to be her friend or anything; I really wanted to be her friend; it wasn't as if I didn't have any choice since she was sitting with me. No, I became friends with her because I liked her. You think I kind of 'tolerated' her or something. No, I laughed with her, talked with her, walked with her and stood by her, all for my own selfish reasons; for my pleasure, not hers, because I enjoyed her company. She spoke to me of a whole new world, where girls and boys were real friends, were some of the boys could even become caring like brothers. That was the part of Dhanya you guys missed, because you were all prejudiced from the beginning. Sometimes she used to talk about boys who might have been boyfriends. I never challenged her right to speak about herself. If I didn't have any other pressing matters, I always listened to her,and believed what she said to be true. Letting people talk about themselves is a crucial part of developing a relationship. It's what a good doctor always does to gain a patient's trust. It's what an investigator does to let the suspect confess the crime, accidentally. It's also what friends do, to show that they care for each other. Everyone wish to speak about themselves. I do too, but I don't get listeners; everybody wants to know what I think about them(Remember my observation classes in Bio lab?); nobody wants to know what I think about myself. But I don't complain. If you don't want to listen, don't listen. But don't listen and then afterward crucify a person regarding what she said about herself.

What did Dhanya tell me? She talked to me about her school in gulf; her classmates, how the boys there were different from the boys here. She talked as if to assure me and, in turn, herself, that she was a very popular girl there and that she could be one here too, if she wanted. But she was fighting a losing game, because boys here don't let girls become popular in class, unless they learn to accept the superiority of boys. If you want to live, please the boys first. You can't hope to be anything if they forsake you. Win them first, and then if they wish so, you can make room for yourself in the school. Or if they didn't want it, you can end up as their follower. Here the boys ruled; to let any girl, and that too a not-so-beautiful girl, mention that girls can control boys would undermine the whole hierarchy they'd fondled for years; it was a matter of survival of the fittest.

What I can't still accept is the fact that all the girls supported them. We have been suppressed for so long, we've learned to accept it and even, enjoy it. Any girl who spoke against it, is a 'pezhachaval'.


Dhanya made Greeshma feel insecure. I don't know why, but she felt that Dhanya might 'nuzhanjukayaral' in between ourselves with her claim of being my ex-bestfriend. But I suspect that what Greeshma had really wanted was to assure me that she wants to be my friend through and through and thus give me a morale booster; thanks, Greeshma.


Even now, the Kalapila often complaints that Dhanya is possessive about me. That's not her fault; if anybody's it's your fault. You were the ones who criticized her always, when I decided to be her friend. Nobody is perfect; if you are going to isolate a girl because of her shortcomings, you'll soon find yourself in that position too, sometime in your life.

Class XI - Old ties & New Breaks?

Before I start writing about XIth, I would like to make a humble request. If you are reading my blog, please, please leave some comments; they are very encouraging. Besides you can remind me about stuff I may have forgotten and correct any mistakes I may have made, because trusting on my memory alone is bound to get faulty. So please...

About XIth, I don't have hopes to finish it in a single post, since the memories remain sharp. So I thought I'll make it a series and I'll try my level best to make it in a chronological order in relation with time, but I may skip up in between and blunder about dates, so please adjust with it or correct me through comments, not SMS.

There's something else too. Many of you have revealed your secrets to me in good faith, hoping I'll never speak about them, and I wish to keep your honor and mine, and will as far as possible, stick to my word. But regarding hearsay, I can't yield that promise. I may speak out openly about stuff that came to my ears coincidentally and about which nobody asked to me to keep mum, so don't get angry with me later.

Reading all this, you are bound to get tense and excited; but don't get your hopes high: I'm usually a very absent-minded girl and don't often recognize going-ons surrounding me, and miss many of the spicy gossips. But Greeshma happens to be my best friend, and there might be some crucial news-pieces her tape recorder has captured and later revealed to me, but usually, under promises not to tell anyone, sorry.

Anyway, you decide. I think people might get hurt, but I wish to write honestly, so I don't know...

Finishing Xth

So this is an entry to record those events of Xth I've missed so far. I'll start with Greeshma's 'Kaalukudungaalu sambhavam', otherwise Aparna won't let me rest-in-peace. So, what is the great incident after all? Many of you might know it, I'm just elaborating the finer points you may have missed.

So, it happened in Xth. I don't remember now, what we girls were doing outside school, in the 'Kolothumpadi vazhi', after school time, in school uniform, walking like 'Nilaavathazhichitta kozhikal'. There was a great deal of laughter and shouting; everything was jolly. I think most of the girls were there. And then we turned that curve and there, infront of the Kodakara house( somewhere there), two dogs were busy with, you know, 'dingolfy'. So, we all kept a straight face, tried to act normal, though Neethu, who was right beside me, was overcome with her 'attahaasam'. Aparna and Greeshma were in the front and I was just thanking god that they had ignored the scene, when, Greeshma did an about-turn, made a beeline to me and said: 'Nokku, aa pattikalde kaalu kudungiyennu thonnunnu.' There was an explosion of laughter all around and, I think, some of the boys(I think I saw Yathu) in the front actually turned around to investigate(But Greeshma denies it now, she says none of the boys heard her). Considering her standard, it was a very normal thing for Greeshma to say, and as Aparna said later, it was a miracle that Greeshma didn't go help the poor creatures get out of the tangle(Aayussinte bhalam kondaavum avalkkangane thonnanje!).

So that's it.
Now, I think I'd mention Radhika. May be it was because of Rekha miss's shrewd schemes, anyway I sat with Radhika for most of10th. She was a very innocent girl(for one Biology test paper, she expanded IUCD as Inherited Union of Copulation Devices) . She was very quiet, but I managed to break her shell, made her talk a lot, helped through her lessons and we became friends. I gave her a Christmas Card and she was very surprised and happy. I made her dance in the bus for tour in Xth; I told her I wouldn't speak to her unless she danced with us and she stood up immediately! She gave me a chocolate for her birthday that year, she didn't give anyone else and I was very surprised and happy. But after 10th I've hardly talked with her at all. I don't know where she used to sit during English classes; I'm pretty sure the only places I've met her during these last two years are in the toilets.

Then there was Surya. She was also my bench-mate during Xth. I remember, she had an ear-ring with leaves on one side and flowers on the other and her constant refrain was 'Flower-to-the-top?' and I'll check her ear and adjust the ring. Once me & Aparna got into trouble with Girijamani miss because of Surya. She'd failed in some Maths exam and in class, she cried to us and asked us if we'd go tell miss that she couldn't study because of some problems at home. Me and Aparna are always ready to help people in trouble, and 'ketta paathi, kelkkaatha paathi irangippurappettu!' We went to Girijamani miss in the staff room, called her aside and told her that Surya had such and such problems and she couldn't study this time and miss shouldn't judge her too hard. Miss nodded her head and we came back happily, satisfied that we'd redeemed a poor soul in front of her eyes. But the next day, Rekha miss called us to staff room, and she didn't scold us, but told us quite softly, that we shouldn't have gone with 'vakkaalathu' for Surya to Girijamani miss. and we were stunned and sad and went to miss and told her sorry and that we hadn't meant to offend her or anything and she consoled us and said it is OK and we came back, looking utterly stupid, but of course we never mentioned the incident to anyone else. That day I consoled myself that this one incident was to teach me a lesson, but of course, I never learned anything and my impulsive nature never changed and I have again and again found myself in deep trouble for trying to help others, for not-minding-my-own-business.

OK, enough with the academic year, now to the vacations.

In April I joined Orkut. I didn't have any aversion to strangers and accepted all friendship requests that came to me. There was a 'Chinz'. He was originally my chechi's friend, she used to chat with him. I liked him immediately because his photo seemed like that of 'Nashettan' in Post-Box in Kiran TV. I chatted with him, told him I was Catherin's sister and sent him one friendship request( he was the only stranger I ever sent a request). He used to wish me 'goodnight', 'good morning' and all with cute scraps and called me dear and all, so I liked him a lot(like an elder brother, mind you). But one day, he became silent, no more scraps and I was very sad. He came back later but by then I'd learned to distrust strangers. There had been a Josy stephen, he used to send me jokes to my G-Mail account. There had been an Alex from Goa, with whom I've chatted only once, he told me he was a cricketer and I laughed at him. But there had been some Tamilan( I forgot his name), one day, he told me 'i love you' and I got angry and scolded him, and he said he was joking and asked me to cool off but I told him it was nothing to joke of and he told me sorry and all but I decided things might get off hand and deleted my account soon, sometime during June. I've mentioned all this now only because it plays an important role in my 'fabricated-love-story' in 12th.

I'd also gone for C++ course at Jyothis, with Aparna, for two weeks only. My sister told me, since I was going to take Bio- Maths, it will be a waste.


I was at a hotel in Thiruvanathapuram when the board exam results came in May. My whole family had gone there because my sister had JIPMER exam and my father had leave, so we could all go as a small tour. I had no idea when the results were to come. That morning I woke up like as on any other day, and asked my mother should I call Aparna and ask her if any news about announcement of results had come. My mother told me that it had come already, it was written in the newspaper. I didn't take her seriously, got up slowly, read the newspaper and didn't find anything. Then after brushing my teeth and having tea, I again asked my mother, should I call Aparna. And she took the newspaper and showed me the news item, it was there right on the front page, and I'd missed it!! Well, was I in a state! Results had come at 6 O' clock and it was well past 8 O' clock then! I frantically dialed Aparna's number but it was busy. Then I dialed Greeshma's number, but I knew she didn't have internet. However Greeshma told me I had 98% and was I stunned! Even now she remembers the gasps she heard from my family when they heard the news. Then I called Neethu and she had internet and read me all the subject marks and I was shocked to learn that I had full in SS, I had been so afraid that my graph was loosely tied, and that prasannakumari miss might take of marks for my project because I'd cried that day. It was much later that I learned that I was school first, I was happy to her it, but that's all.

But once I had reached home and called everyone, I realized that a lot of friendships were going to break. Both Aparna and Neethu were taking Computer. And me and Greeshma were left in Biology to contemplate our next year with a class full of(except Ann maria) strangers...

Life is Beautiful, Love is Konjaatta???

Xth was an year of hectic rumors. They didn't have any visible basis, but gained strength day-by-day. For eg, we used to tease Deepak and Varada. Together they were called 'Vada'.
Then there was Neethu-Yathu rumor. It gave rise to all sort of funny situations, I'm sure you remember the Poseidon episode, then www.thu.com, and all the 'Kothu' jokes.


Greeshma, we used to tease with Anoop Roy. Anoop left school(actually, dismissed, due to complete lack of improvement in studies) in 6th or 8th and it was only later, in 9th or so, that we came to know that he had had an 'ithu' towards Greeshma. By then Anoop had failed in Catechism class too, which made him Greeshma's junior, of course. But we, Greeshma's best friends, were not to be hindered by that small obstacle. We decided that it was absolutely necessary to create a new character, something or someone who can prevent the Greeshma- Anoop Roy rumor from fading off and open up a whole lot of possibilities of teasing Greeshma, for me and Aparna. So we started researching........
We soon came to know that Greeshma & Anoop Roy used to be neighbours, their houses situated exactly opposite to each others' with only a narrow lane separating the two lonely hearts. But Anoop changed house soon after he left our school and the house was abandoned, a forlorn sight with boarded up windows and unkempt yards, left to the mercy of nature, slowly, gradually eroded by the fury of sun and rain...(So sad, the way the two sweethearts were torn away from each other...sob sob...... and so sad, her two best friends were deprived of the joy of teasing her when the two lovebirds actually lived in the same area......sob sob)

And then in Xth, Aparna and Greeshma started going by the same van, 'Appaappan's vandi', and startling new evidences were brought to light, that the two lovebirds may not have actually been separated after all. The 'Hamsam' or more correctly, the rendezvous of the inseparable couple was the legendary, the heroic, the bombastic, the 'what-else-mannankatta', the

"TANK"!!!!!!

So what is the Tank??? It is, literally, figuratively, a simple, harmless tank or a place to store water. But it was given unprecedented importance and fame no tank could have ever hoped for by mine and Aparna's brains- the imaginary worlds our creative minds weaved, to fuel up the Greeshma- Anoop teasing. So we fashioned Tank(I've seen this thing, OK, once, when I went to Greeshma's house after 12th, and it is HUGE and is situated on four TALL pillars behind Anoop Roy's house, dominating the entire landscape and the front-view from Greeshma's house.) to be the lovers' secret meeting place. We had justifications. The entire Anoop Roy house had become dilapidated with time, covered with moss and dust, but the Tank had withstood all tests of nature and retained its glory throughout the period of neglect, which could only mean that, me and Aparna declared, that someone was regularly repairing it and that, that someone could only be our so tragically-separated sweethearts... And so, the Tank came into being and Tank itself has become the favorite nickname of Greeshma. Tank has also featured in many of our poetry works, the lyrics of which parody the famous songs of the period, for eg,

'Tankinkkarayorathu Royichettan chodichu Greeshme, Greeshme varumo?
Keerayolamenjoru chettakkudilin jaalakam melle melle thurannu...'

(Like, you know, 'aatinkkarayorathu...' from film Rasathanthram)


and

'Tankinullil lavanaanu
kanthurannaal pokkaanu
vallorumarinjaal moshaanu
Greesammaaaa
Greesammaa aa aaaa...'

(Like 'Nenjinullil neeyaanu...' from the album 'Khalbaanu Fathima')

Tank has also played a major role in the film 'Avalude tankukal' but, it is a standard 12 creation, so you wouldn't be reading the script right now.

So that was about Greeshma.

Me-Aswin rumor was also in full prime during Xth. Our rumor had surpassed all imaginations and my dear classmates created a record 7,8(I lost count)9,10,100,1000.....children for us. Aparna christened my 6th child 'Kingini' and many other hilarious names like 'Aachri', 'Chriswin' were also popping up. I think it was also in Xth that 'Ginjubella' was accepted as the official name of our rumor.

In the other class there were Soumya- Arun Tony, Soumya-Manu, Dowlin-Arun Rajan, and many other favorite pairs. But Xth was also the year of some serious affairs in our class.

To begin with, there was the Sneha-Vishnu Pushkin-Anu-Yathu love quadrilateral, Varada-Abhishek-Nicey??? love triangle, Anu-Karishma affair, Varun proposing Ann Maria, and many more. I have swallowed many names to prevent hurting people. But of one such affair, I'm not going to keep quiet, because it changed all my impressions about a girl I thought was my friend- Soumya.

Soumya was in X A, so I didn't have much knowledge about her rumors, until one Maths tuition class in December. All the girls were in a huddle and excitedly whispering about Soumya. I gathered enough information to know that she was having an affair with Anu- I couldn't believe it! I remembered the 8th Soumya very well. She had looked at me in a disgusted way in the school bus once, when I'd animatedly described one of my fights with boys, during PE class, when I'd refused to give their football and Jose Palathinkal had chased me. Apparently, I'd thought, Soumya considered laughing and running around with boys as lowly.

And now, she was rumored to have an affair with Anu! All girls, Salini included, were confident about the fact, but I was shocked. All the girls were against her, happily recounting her faults, talking ill of her, in the classroom, when she was not around. And I felt sorry for her; I wrote sentimental advice on her Christmas Card and waited for her near Sreelatha miss's house. She came and I asked her if there was any truth in the rumors flying around. And she told me, quite sincerely, she'd absolutely no idea. She used to call Anu 'Atom' but that was just for fun, she said. And I believed her, and was very happy. So we decided to make 'atom' the reversed-form of 'mota' or egg, and declare that it referred to 'Soumya-Arun Tony' rumor, concerning hen and eggs and all the rest. And there in the classroom, I stood by her; continued to believe that she was innocent, while all the other girls were going on assuring me that I was wrong. But I thought, friends don't say lies between themselves.

Later, of course, in 11th, from Aparna, Dowlin and many others, I learned that she had indeed been lying to me. And I felt hurt, humiliated. Never again had I been able to see her as my old Soumya, though I helped her through the Pookalamatsaram, ran with her in the relay and danced with her. Even her autograph for me, written in Xth, which had at first made me feel touched, later seemed as a mocking. I'm sorry Soumya, probably, you didn't have the courage to tell me the truth (or, more possibly, you didn't think it necessary), but really I'm sorry that I've tried breaking up ties with you these last years, but I can say, honestly, that I've defended you in front of others many times, when they were all ready to mark you off as a bad girl. The least I can do for a friend...and yet now I wish, we'd been a little more close...

One Xth year!

The beginning of Xth, for me, was the starting of Sreelatha miss's tuition classes. Me, Salini and Soumya used to go by cycle. I was the better of the three regarding punctuality(thammil bhedam thomman, of course!). I used to reach Soumya's house on time, and then wait for her to come out (for about half an hour-mind you), talk with her sisters, peep into the well, complete my assignments and stuff. Soumya was always late. Sometimes she wouldn't have even dressed when I reached her house. After a hurried makeup, she'll hop out and we'll pedal to Salini's house and thank God, she was usually on time. But later we split up, and me and Soumya would go by the 'Pala way' and Salini will come alone, by the 'Mannathikkulam way.' But even this didn't go on for long. Soon Soumya started walking to tuition and I stayed by cycle; so we sort of drifted apart.

I liked Sreeletha miss as soon as I saw her. She had a nice way of behaving with students. Since her son, Vishnu, was in our class, she had no trouble understanding our problems. She introduced me to Aggarwal texts and star-marked theorems and sample papers. She made Maths easy for us. Now after two years I've forgotten the tuition timings but I have a vague recollection that it was in the afternoon.

Regarding our school life, I must of course start with the disastrous shuffling attempt. As I've mentioned before, it left Ragi in tears. But the decision was revoked soon, because, the teachers felt that Xth was too big a year academically, to put emotional stress on us.

I don't remember much about the classes. But I remember Anurag sir's Chemistry periods. He had a curious way of moving his neck when asking questions; it was very funny. (I learned later that Sreelakshmi of the other class was paired up with him in a rumor, a sir, imagine!!)We thought we were really unlucky to have got him, because he asked questions everyday but they helped us a great to get through our exams in the end. I remember writing down all the organic chemistry equations(some 15 or so) 3 times everyday, to by heart them. I instructed my sister (then in 12th) to do the same and she showed me her organic chemistry equations-an entire textbook! That shut me up.

Our Maths teacher was Girijamani miss and she was totally against tuition. So we were targeted during her periods. I remember once, Aswin was doing something and miss caught him and asked him to say what is the meaning of 'linear equations'. It was then that I learned that Linear equations were named so because they gave a Linear-straight line-graph when plotted on 2D.

Sreelatha miss took us Malayalam. Those classes were conducted in X A. They were pretty much like our 9th standard. I still remeber P. Kunjiraman Nair's Pushpagopuram:
njan pokunnu.
njan kaathirikkum. anthimegham paranju.

and then,

bhoomi udhayam kaathirunnu, marangal pookkaalam kaathirunnu, aambalpoo maniyarayil paathiraakaatinte padhanyaasam kaathirunnu.

Then there was that 'Chelikundile thamaraye thazuki, pularoli paadi: Omane, njan varunnu.' Later Aparna wrote in my autograph: Chelikundile thavalaye thazhuki bella paadi: 'Makale njan varunnu'

I really miss my Malayalam text- they at least had no derivations or problems.

English periods were shared by MenonGirija miss and Shobha miss. About Literature, I remember everything- starting from The Tribute and 'the moribund of relationships'!! Then Cutie Pie! (We put that nickname for a senior chettan too, because he had big eyes. He played the girl's role in Boy's Group dance the following year.) Most of all, I remember the Golden guide( ONE BIG NIGHTMARE)! Ho, I remember all the poems- The Frog and the Nightingale, The Palanquin, The Night of the Scorpion, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner!!! Everything! I remember Gayathri chechi teaching The Christmas Carol on Teacher's Day. Then Julius Ceaser and me teaching Ragi inside the auditorium on Sports Day. Speaking of Julius Ceaser, I must mention the 11th boy's skit about Ceaser the previous year. I'm sure everyone remembers Karan and Rahul on stage and Shana miss laughing her head out. There was also Sachin's Malayalam skit and Sreelakshmi's Nagavalli- we died laughing that day.
About the Reader text, I remember that 'Itinerary' and Skander.

Well, I shouldn't skip the Biology classes with Marina miss. Though, of course, I'm impressed by the way she plunged through our 'Reproduction' chapter, keeping her face free of all emotions, she did irritate me at times. In the first term itself me and Aswin and our mothers, got separate firings from her, on an Open house day (because of our rumor, of course.) I felt really bad that day, I mean, she had no right to scold me in front of my mother.

Our class teacher was Rekha miss and we became very close to her, though, honestly, nobody cared much about her teaching skills. (Have you noticed that she repeats everything she says.)

Then we had History with Chithra Miss, out of photocopied textbooks and Geography with Prasannakumari miss - One big nightmare with dictations, asking and testpapers! The X A students had Sujatha miss's economics classes, but we were not that lucky- Prasannakumari miss took Economics too for us. In Geography , me and Greeshma paired up and we fashioned all sorts of ridiculous acronyms for source states for stuff like bauxite, orange, rice, cattle and God knows what!
I'll mention a few, so you'll get an idea of it.
'Mahatma Gandhi chathu. Oru madhyam kazhichaanu jeevan nashtappettathu.' That's for bauxite.

'Aap ka roop jo kiya mujhe nuts.' For sheep.

'Roop wahi bibiji.' For goat.

'Romp up bekam' (Like in 'Ramp up remo'- it was when Anniyan was released. This one was Greeshma's creation. Rest all came from my head.) For 2/3 cattle population.

And many such stupidities!!!!!
I remember the Social project too, about Lakshmi bhai or something. And I forgot to take my project on the day of Submission and miss scolded me and I cried a lot and my mother came from my home.

So it turns out that I remember a lot of things about the classes after all.

Regarding the 'Extra-Curricular Activities', the most fresh memory is our cancelled Munnar tour. What happened is, we were to have had the tour to Munnar on a Friday, along with the rest of the school. On Thursday morning, we were all excited and Rekha miss was going on giving us all sorts of instructions regarding the dress code and stuff. Ragi'd even bought Lays for the picnic. And then, at noon, there came a dull declaration- tour for class X cancelled!! The reason- it was raining and the roads to Munnar were slippery, so no vehicles. And, the teachers, including Rekha miss, had known this from the day before, and hadn't given us a single warning! Weren't we angry! And on top of that, the yeachers put special class for the following day, when the rest of the school were going off for excursion. We complained to Sreelatha miss(Malayalam) and she looked very sorry and we felt sorry too. And poor Ragi, she'd to eat all the Lays, by herself, alone at home.

Well there we were. Our pride was wounded. I dont know what happened in the evening, anyway, the following day, Soumya sprouted a black badge as 'Dhukkhaacharanam' to special class. She had plenty of black cloth, so we all put badges. And when Rekha miss came to class, we took them out and showed to her and she laughed and we laughed. But it became a big issue to Madam- she felt that we had waved 'Karinkodi'. We protested but poor Soumya was hauled up to the office and fired and her mother was called to school and Marina miss scolded us and said we'd betrayed her. (But I owned up; I said, yes, I had pulled out the badge in the class, I said so to miss, but, naturally, I had no courage to face madam either, so, practically, Soumya was deserted.) And Aparna, she sided with teachers- she said Madam had every right to punish us; that it was indeed a criminal offense to wave 'karinkodi'. Aparna please... we were hardly 15 years old then, and there's definitely something like consideration for age under the Indian Penal Code, right??

We got our punishment all right. For a long time, it was whispered that we wouldn't have an excursion at all(I think Anu's 'aanakutty' episode somehow strengthened the belief), but we got one compensation tour in the end, as a 'shaapamoksham'- a trip to Malampuzha! It was not a great deal of excitement and neither me nor Greeshma understood why Aparna had been sniggering all the way to Malampuzha, talking about some 'Yakshi', until of course we came face-to-face with the sculpture(wide-eyed) and realized that the 'Yakshi' was worth a great deal of giggling after all.

Our farewell was in the newly built auditorium and I don't remember much about it. But of course, it was boring. There were a lot of 'itchguard suggestions' traveling around. I remember the 9th drama (and Zeba's dance) because it was ultra-boring!
Our board exams were conducted in Shantiniketan school. We usually had a lot of time to revise before exams, in the morning, not like in 12th, when we are still trying to study some derivation.

There were a lot of autograph writings too, though many of us were sure we were going to join BVB IJK, the next year too. Still who knows, right?

Just Reminding

So this is just a reminder. Aparna asked me: 'Ninte blog adachupootiyo?'
No, its just that I was busy with admission, I'll be back as soon as I can, stay in touch.

Wild Days

So after a break, I'm back. This break was unexpected, owing to ' System Breakdown due to Unwanted Game Installation Processes with my little brother'. Anyway I've come back again with a spoonful of old, but certainly not stale, gossips and memoirs of days long lost.

Our 9th year was very short. Though class started in May(I remember MenonGirija miss's reader classes , unbelievably boring, but it could be 10th) it ended too soon, in January, with the Annual Exams, grinning at us from mid-February and our 10th year looming as an imminent danger. I don't remember much about the subjects or lessons because it was the final year for extra-curricular activities and we were all busy.

After the disastrous dance the previous year, we had no courage to attempt another dance program for the Youth Festival, but I managed to be a part of the Vandemataram for Annual Day. Under Sachin's strict supervision, we 9th girls and boys and some 7th boys, enjoyed the event. Though Sachin used to lose his temper very often and scream at all of us and once we nearly quit it, the dance was performed, and appreciated. We held practice in Hitha's house and I'd cried once, when Sachin scolded me. Then at school, we had all those small children for practice and we could roam around at our own will, even Prasannakumari miss wouldn't scold us.

I also played Thiruvathirakkali that year but with the 8th standard students. Niranjana's parents didn't send her and I, Shilpa, Soumya then I think, Hitha, played from 9th. I developed a not so favorable impression about our juniors, they still showed groupism. But it didn't stop us from being friends with them- Anna, Aiswarya, Meera and many others I've forgotten.

It was also in 9th that I participated in running races and won prizes, a big surprise! It was also in 9th that we sang 'Thuyilunaru thuyilunaru thumbikale...' for Youth Festival. And I got 1st prize in Malayalam extempore- Keralam was the subject. I forgot the Malayalam word for Pollution(Parisara malineekaranam) during it, but I did comparatively well. But I had a lot of support then. All my friends were there, I still remember Ragi's smiling face and Neethu complaining later that I had said that 'I think they were my friends' as if I doubted their friendship during my speech(Actually I'd done it on purpose; as my opening sentence; Vediyilirikkunna...ente suhruthukkale, ennu njan visvasikkunnu,...to make sure that people noticed it. It was the only bit I'd rehearsed before-hand)

But I was not a very confident inspiring friend. In fact, I positively stopped Aparna from participating in English recitation because she had G. Sankarakurrippu's or somebody's translated poem and I didn't think it had much chance to win, even though Shana miss encouraged Aparna. But I was not alone in this venture, Greeshma was also with me. I'm glad to see that despite her two best friends' lack of confidence, Aparna has managed to stay, to this day, sure of herself.

But then they sent me to state level Extempore (Vriddhasadhanangalude aavasyakatha) and I stammered on stage, in my full 'Thiruvathirakkali make-up', but luckily, Nasneen chechi was the only witness to it. Priyalakshmi miss was in charge of that extempore and neither she nor me had expected anything better.

It was also during this Bhavan's meet that I think Soumya fell down in the bus during Anthakshari. This time we went in Ayyappa's like buses, since last years school buses had been sold. We stayed in a school that night. The previous year we had been forced to pass the night in a 'Prethalayam', a dilapidated, dirty building and all girls huddled togther to sleep on the dirty, dirty floor- me, Aparna, Soumya, Athira(Juniour- now better known as Mookuthi), Niranjana and all( Varada came with her parents, not with the school, she didn't have to suffer this).And Karthika and the teachers slept in the other room, but no less filthier. And the bathroom was...uh, horrible! But this time we slept on benches in a classroom and Soumya was sleeping near Lalitha miss and she got up in the night and started her English speech(Shana miss's, I think, the one that starts as ''Reading maketh a full man', says Francis Bacon...' )or something. It was real fun.

It was also in 9th that Ann sung Prayer for Christmas. In 9th we had the legendary English Radio show, an event I wish to forget with my whole heart, and something for which I've never forgiven myself, especially, Shana miss getting angry and Deepak crying. The others have forgotten it, Varada don't even remember that she'd been Vikram and that I'd interviewed her( it was when Anniyan was released), but I was my group's leader and I still feel sad at times, though Dowlin has told me many times not to worry about small things.

In 9th I quit Hindi and took up Malayalam and we got a separate Malayalam class where we could sit as we wished- Me, Aparna, Greeshma in one bench, Salini, Niranjana, Sreelakshmi( I have alwys wondered how she ended up with them, I thought Aswathy was their friend) in another, Ragi, Neethu somewhere else. The Malayalam classes were the scenario of many of our mischief- especially 'targeting', our own exclusive creation- once we managed to push Greeshma right off the bench(she's lightweight) and she landed on top of Arjun, in the nearby bench and the poor thing hurried off to Hindi class, throwing frightened looks back at her, while we rolled about in our place howling with laughter. But this could be 10th, I don't remember correctly.

Ann took Hindi and she drifted off from our gang, though, officially, she remained our best friend, a matter determined by the Christmas Cards when Ann, Aparna and Greeshma would get the best and identical cards from me, showing their identical positions in our gang. We still walked to toilet together, but she was now friends with Sneha and Soumya Jose in her Hindi class, so we were breaking apart.

9th was a great year for romance round the school. I don't think I'm bound by anymore promises not to mention them because everybody knows about them. It was in 9th that Sunish proposed to Ragi and Akhil to Neethu(both on the same day, before Christmas vacation and both were refused point blank). It was also in 9th that for one PE class I had sat out sick, and Chandini and Sneha fed me with a big story about some senior boy, some mobile SMS saying goodnight or sweet dreams or something(I forgot most details). They said the boy's name was pronounced as 'Uh-uhm' but of course you can't understand it by reading, it is a sound, but they never told me his name.

In 9th we went to Nelliyampathy for tour and though the teachers had promised to show us orange trees ,all we'd seen were dry plant-lets and no oranges, not even to buy. We also went to to Seetharghundu and Greeshma wore high-heels and she couldn't walk and begged us so much and looked so gloomy, that for sometime we exchanged our chappals. We also went to Pothundy dam and someone lost their hat, I think. It was in the bus that Manu told Jayanthi miss about me-Aswin rumor, which got a lot of fuel in 9th- there had been one debate between me and Aswin in Shana miss's class( You might remember the noise I made that day) and many other small things.

In 9th we did social project on water and we made a nice poster for it too. We went to Salini's house and tore up all the newspapers and stuck a lot of Tsunami photos and laughed at the bathing suits we found in them(Neethu especially).

I think it was in 9th that we did that 'Desert' too for exhibition and though at first it looked really good and all, during exhibition I had to resort to asking people,'What do you think this is?' pointing at our demonstration(Greeshma, traitor, left me at mid-day) and when they said they had no idea, explain to them patiently, that, it was supposed to be a desert.

In 9th I used to talk a lot to Aswin, but once, when I was saying something he said:' Manassilaayi, alla ingane pinnaale nadakkaan thanikku ishtamaanennu' and I felt really angry and he told me sorry later but I decided to keep distance from boys then on. I decided that all boys were untrustworthy. Of course, then I had no idea, the levels to which girls could stoop, I thought they were all pure.

We also did a Gymnosperm-something-demonstration for Saraswathy miss, where we collected all the grasses from the ground and stuck them up to make forests of Jurassic period and had put up dinosaurs and all, but everything had wilted by the next day. I remember carrying plastic bags full of mud and sand to Biology lab for that.

9th ended, as I told you, too soon, and we reached 10th, a big year academically.

Coming Back

And so, I was back. I believe I'd called a junior in my catechism class, Ann, to alert Greeshma about my arrival, in any case, the whole class knew I was coming back. I was a bit shy, because I was wearing churidar as uniform, for the first time. When I got into the class, everyone clapped and shouted and I felt really happy. I made a beeline to Aparna(I think Greeshma was in the other class.) I was positively bursting with the prospectus of amazing her with My Adventures at Poochatty. But everything I said fell flat before her. She was not the Aparna I remembered, the girl we used to tease 'Touch-Me-Not' for she was very sensitive and who used to be worried about catching Chicken Pox. So as a last attempt, I said, in a huge whisper: 'Ithonnumalla, avide rumors undu...' She looked at me scornfully, ' Ithaano valya kaaryam? Athu ivideyum undu!' Well, I was stumped; rumors, in my class?

Seema miss was our class teacher. She decided to elect the class leader. And this is were I took my revenge against Aswin. I thought the girls' leader would be Niranjana, but they chose me, as a welcome-back-present, I suppose. It was our turn to vote for the boys' leader. The candidates were Aswin and Jeswin. I voted for Jeswin and made everyone sitting near me vote for him too. The reasons were, the Jeswin I remembered used to be a very good boy, calm and quiet. And Aswin, God!!!!!, he disgusted me. I had sat with him in 5th and he was so clumsy, I hated it. He never put his bag straight, his books were never properly covered, and his place was always unbelievably dirty. After lunch he used to throw his lunch box and towel into the shelf under the desk along with his books and the shelf would always be dirty, jumbled-up. It was a very frequent thing for his lunch box to fall down too. So all in all I thought Jeswin was better(of course, I had no idea he would turn out to be such a big alavalathi). And besides, it gave me the opportunity to write Aswin's name on board and avenge his writing my name on the board, for saying just one word 'paalu' in malayalam.

And so our 8th standard started. One big difference was that along with Greeshma and Aparna, Ann would also walk with me;she was officially our best friend. I didn't, for a long time, realize how this happened until later Greeshma explained to me that Ann was her best friend in 7th when Aparna was in the other class.

I dont remember many things about our 8th. It's all hazy. I do remember after one interval we'd Seema miss' class and Anu, Varun and all had kicked somebody's shoe around and I'd said Varun's name to Seema miss and he was very angry and I realized that I must not be a sneak.

It was towards the end of this year that the 'Mother-Of-Five-Children' rumor cropped up. It could have been a Physics or Boiology period, I don't remember, anyway it was a free period. I was sitting near Sneha, reading something. And near us the boys were laughing and fighting but I was completely oblivious to them until Justin called me. Laughing and hiccoughing, he explained to me what had happened. Someone had said Mahatma Gandhi is the Father Of The Nation. Then someone else said Nikhil Mukund is the Father Of Tension and then Aswin said Christabella is the mother of five children. A harmless sentence, only those boys heard, Christabella is the mother of my children!

But it didn't seem like a big thing to me, then, but it grew up through the years and has, despite my many efforts to thwart it, managed to survive for five long years. Stupid thing, really!!

I remember the Children's Day in 8th. I wore a blue jeans and white kurtha and read Thought-for-the-Day in the open assembly. It was also in 8th that we played 'Gujarathi kaalthala kettiya...' for Youth Festival; an utter disaster!!

I suppose it was also in 8th that we went to Salini's house to do Biology project-still model of paddy field. We worked really hard but it was a fiasco. I still remember Neethu getting excited about gilt and Niranjana teasing her.

Then what???
Ever since I started writing this blog Aparna has been compelling me to write about her but I cant remember much. As for Greeshma, she's absolutely forbidden me from publishing her list of yearly infatuations, so I can't write that either.

I remember the 8th tour, but we went to Veega Land, so it's not a great deal.

Aah, yes! In 8th I played Thiruvathirakali for Bhavan's Meet. From 8th, me and Soumya and Niranjana. Rest were chechis from 9th- Akhila, Neethu, Anagha and many more. We used to just fool around since we were the little kids and after practise I and Soumya would walk all the way home from Bus Stand, eating groundnut(Rs.2 pack) or Chochos. We used to walk like drunk people, I think, we had no worries at all, no responsibilities, absolutely at peace, shouting and laughing and not caring at all that we were walking through crowded streets. Those were great days. I can never be like that anymore, because I've grown up and therfore I am, and should be, consious of my each step.

The Lion in the Dog House

Those who are closest to me wouldn't have, by now, failed to notice that I had been curiously silent about a certain person in my last post. The reason that I've omitted to mention Leo's name up to now is because I felt that I would need an entire blog post to describe his legendary deeds.

For those who don't know it, Leo Mequin(What a name!!) was the first ever boy with whom my name was linked up, in a rumor, for reasons that follow.

Leo had been pointed out to me by Anaswara on my very first day at Poochatty as a formidable character - he didn't have a gunda image(but he did he have a thara, thallipoli image), nor did he flirt with his classmates, but he was supposed to be the hero of many heart-breaking love stories and was rumored to have girlfriends even in 12th standard. But he was a very friendly character and excelled in sports-football, his favorite. The thing I suppose Anaswara had against him was that he didn't study at all- a complete ozhappan. But the teachers liked him too, he was considered as a naughty boy, like Shraddha, maybe.

I struck up an acquaintance with Leo in the very 1st week. He used to call me 'Kolamby', not in remembrance of the flower, but because my name reminded him of 'Christopher Columbus'.

His notes were never complete, because he didn't listen to the class, and so in my second week or something, he asked for my SS note, to take home, to copy notes, and I gave it to him. When Anaswara came to know about it, she warned me that I would never see my book intact again; she'd given him some book the previous year and got back only pages of it, that too months later. Well, Leo heard Anaswara's warning. So, I suppose, he wanted to prove that he was not that clumsy at all or something, and the very next day, brought back my book, not just intact, rather he had covered it with new brown paper neatly and stapled it(I hadn't finished covering all my new books then) and explained that he couldn't find a name-slip or would have stuck it too. Well, I was really happy and showed it to Anaswara. Osinu kittumbo brown paper aayalum vendannu vekkaruthallo.That day he asked for my Malayalam book. I had covered it, but he ripped it off, and put new covers and brought back the next day. The same happened with my Hindi(I think) book too. I didn't suspect anything, but it was enough to set the tongues wagging.

Then there was my scale too. It was a sort of three scales stuck together, in a long triangular prism shape. He used to put it into his belt and draw it out like a sword and play with it. I let him keep it in class because he never broke it or anything. But people were talking.

Here I must also mention that, at Poochatty, three students sat in a bench, girls and boys mixed, upto 9th. For some months, Ayyappadas sat near me, he was Leo's friend and, so, to talk to him Leo used to come and sit near my bench. We used to talk, laugh and all, but that's because we were friends.

I still remember the day I got an inclination that rumors were flying around, about me and Leo. Usually when we girls discussed about love affairs, it was about Elizabeth not talking to Mohammed or about Arjun now having 'ithu' towards three girls in the class -I forgot whom( We called Arjun Thriveni for that). Or, in the bhuji gang of Anaswara, Anisha, Amala and all, the conversations were always about Harry Potter; it was the time when OoTP was released and Harry potter was zooming around the corridors, classrooms, with everyone trying to read the 5th book somehow(the weight of the book horrified us),or Anaswara correcting my pronunciation of 'Chamber' as Cheymber', or Anisha narrating the story of PoA to everyone(only she had read it)- about dementors,Sorting and Arthur Weasley warning Harry not to go to the Forbidden Forest that year, or Megha telling me CoS story as much as she could from the film, or myself wondering what sort of creatures the Death Eaters were, having not read GoF before OoTP(I imagined them to be amoeba-like creatures) or me mistaking Sirius for Severus(Snape) and declaring that it was well that he got killed in OoTP and everyone looking at me disgusted and Anaswara consoling me that since I hadn't read PoA, I couldn't know that Sirius was a good man, and me not having a clue about what was going on, but nodding all the same. My day-dreams then were always about suddenly finding out that I was a witch and that Harry(not Daniel Radcliffe) was my boyfriend and that we would fly over the grounds in his Nimbus 2000 and such stuff...

So one day, outside the never-opened music class, waiting for the non-existent teacher to come, I was truly surprised to know about the rumor, which the other girls broke to me softly. Immediately I denied it and then they said that the matter did not concern me, it was about Leo having an 'ithu' towards me or not. It could be resolved by only one way- by asking to him and Dhrishya was given the job. So the very next interval Dhrishya went and asked to Leo and the reply was: 'Cheppikutty adichu therippikkum njan!!'

Well that satisfied me and he himself soon told me there was nothing of that sort so, we again went on talking as usual, and on the other side, unknown to me, rumors became more and more intensified.

There were instances to make people talk, I admit, but they were only coincidences. Once Leo played football barefoot in he hot sun, got his feet all burned up and he was transferred to the last bench were he could lie down during class. Only thing, this bench happened to be behind mine, and I dunno, he told me I had kicked him and must wash his clothes because they were dirty or something (I forgot the details). Anyway people were talking. But I was completely oblivious to those rumors, because I confess,( for the first ever time), if I had had a soft corner towards any boy at Poochatty, it was Sibin, because, he was the only boy in the class who studied well, though his position in merit list, naturally, came beneath mine, Anaswara's, Amala's, Elizabeth's and Anisha's. As I have said before, girls ruled the class.

Well, the rumors reached their peak at the beginning of 3rd term. And I am about to describe most dramatic incident that, it is alleged, occurred:

I have not until mentioned the school library, but it is in integral part of the incident. At Poochatty we are allowed to take library books home only in 7th instead of the 5th at IJK(but Anaswara used to read Nancy Drews even in 3rd, she went to the Public library). The library was huge and the room was two storied with all the Fiction upstairs and Reference and Reading Room beneath it. We were to have Identity Cards to take books.

One day Leo came to me and started reading out my phone no. and address from a bit of paper. I wondered where he got them from. He said that he'd accidentally dialled my no. instead of Sibin's and that the Caller ID had shown all the details. Well, I was stupid, I didn't know how the Caller ID worked and I believed him, mainly because some days before a call had come to my house asking if it was Sibin's house. My chechi had attended the call and she'd said that it was wrong no.. But I had wondered then if it was the Sibin of my class that the caller had meant. Leo spoke about it and he said that he knew it was my voice because it was squeaky, but I said that, no, it was my sister, and then he gave some long-winded explanation about the Caller ID showing the address to be Padamadan and me being the only Padamadan in the class and he had connected it up and thus got my address and phone no.; and believe it or not, I swallowed the whole story! From then on, he used to carry that little piece of paper with him and, I dunno, show it off, or something, to irritate me. It irritated me, but that's all.

And then some weeks later, before assembly, there was a lot of commotion in the classroom. Leo was absent, and rumors were flying around that his father had found a girl's address in his Science textbook, had become angry and tore it up, burned the book, and Leo was grounded and all such things. I was afraid his father might call my house or something but my friends consoled me, said that nothing would happen. And then nothing did and Leo came back and we talked as usual and all. I don't remember if I asked him about it. The next thing I recall is talking to Dhrishya.

It was a PT period and she said she had some things to tell me and we walked over the grounds, talking. She explained that it was from my library identity card that Leo had got my address, that he'd deliberately called to my house and cooked up the rest of the Caller ID story. This much I do believe, because it follows logically, but what I'm gonna write now, is only second-hand knowledge from Dhrishya, and it seemed stupid to me then and still seems stupid, but I'm gonna write it all the same, because it's really funny, but I'm not saying that any of it is true, this is what Dhrishya told me:

One day Leo's father found out my address from his book, got very angry and tore up his books and warned him never to repeat it. Well Leo was never obedient, just exactly the opposite. So to enrage his father further, he obstinately wrote my name or address or something with lemon juice(naaranga neeru) on his bedroom wall so that it would glow in the dark(that's what she said, I've never tested it). At night his father saw it, shouted a lot, ordered Leo out of the house and painted it over(why couldn't he have just washed it? anyway, that's what Dhrishya said). And do you know what Leo did? Well, he went to 2nd show of some film(he always had pocket money, Dhrishya said), came back, went to the dog kennel and slept in it that night(what did the dog do? Dhrishya didn't say)!!

So, you see, it is simply incredible. But that it is the last event I remember about that rumor. Except, later in 8th, after I'd returned to IJK, and said all about it to my best friends, once when Ann met Leo during a sports meet, realizing that he was from Poochatty but not knowing that he was Leo, she'd asked him if he knew a Christabella, an Anaswara, a Megha, a Leo and stuff and he'd nodded to everything and admitted only in the end that he was Leo and sent me his regards through Ann. He left Poochatty(or dismissed??) in 9th, I think and later, once when I phoned her, Anaswara said to me that Leo had said, about me: 'Oru kollam koodi kittiyirunnel njan avale valachene.' Well, I must say, I'd had a very narrow escape, but considering everything, he wouldn't have been a bad choice-he was tall, neither dark nor fair, cute(I think so, Ann agrees) and had a shy smile that was really attractive. Only problem was, Anaswara said, his nose was a bit jammed to one side, because he'd fallen down from his bed once when he was small, but I never saw any problem with his nose, but maybe I didn't look hard enough.

Anyway, thus with a full year's experience in another world, I returned to IJK, hoping to amaze my friends with my life there. What they thought about it and how different my school had become in my absence, I'll tell you another day...

Chronicles Of Poochatty

I remember my 1st day at Poochatty Bhavan's vividly. Though there were some 20 school buses that stood like elephants at Pooram, I and my chechi were to go by a private van, Vikas. It was in it that I met Anaswara(Her cousin Abhimanyu was also in the same bus). Anaswara was very tall, incredibly thin, wore braces and had short hair reaching just up to her ears. She was, as I was to learn soon, a perfect Bhuji. She hadn't heard the word 'alavalathi', hadn't seen a film at theatre except 'Magic-Magic', copied down notes through telephone if she became absent one day and did all her homework regularly. But she was not dull at all, she was always bubbling with energy. She literally pulled me into the seat beside her in the van and bombarded me with all sorts of questions. She was a Harry Potter fanatic. The only aquaintance I had had with that book was a feature published in Children's Digest and Aparna's recent letter in which she'd said that her Vallyachan had bought her HP & PS. Anaswara was shocked to learn that I'd never read a single Harry Potter book and gave me her 'Philosopher's Stone' the very next day, 2nd of June.

At school I met Megha Ann Jose, Anaswara's best friend and from then on, we became a trio. Poochatty was entirely different from IJK. Here, the girls ruled. There were no Nikhil Mukunds and Vishnu Menons here; all the padippists were girls and there was an army of them: Anaswara, Amala, Anisha, Elizabeth and now me. We called teachers 'teacher' here instead of 'miss'. I remmeber Elsy teacher, who took us SS. During her first class she remarked "Entha aarkkum oru shraddhayillaathe? Shraddhayillatha kaaranaano?" Everyone laughed and Anaswara explained to me that 'Shraddha' was a student and that that person was absent. What I hadn't expected was Shraddha to be a boy; but he turned out to be a boy, full name'Shraddha Chohan', but he's a Malayali, I dunno where he got his name from.

I also remember Sandya teacher who taught us English. I once promised to give her edited photocopy of 'Bishop's Candlesticks' (Aparna's previous year's work) to play but I forgot it.

Our Hindi teacher was Vrinda teacher and once during her class Salu fainted. Vrinda teacher was never a good teacher, but that was not why Salu had fainted. She was a very delicate girl and usually fainted atleast once every week.

Anaswara pointed out Elizabeth to me the first day and said 'See that Chinese girl, she's Elizabeth.' I wondered for almost one week how Elizabeth spoke Malayalam so fluently, until she herself explained that though she looked like a Chinese girl she was a Malayalee. Elizabeth was an allrounder; she sang well, danced well, studied well, ran well, talked well, was cute and friendly. She had a tiny sister, Rebecca. Elizabeth's best friends were Roshini and Chandini. Roshini was, according to me, the most beautiful girl in the class.

There were no groupisms among girls here. Everyone were friends, though some were best friends. No one would point out anyone else as enemies. It was from here that I learnt that more than two can be best friends; like me, Anaswara and Megha, like Roshini, Chandini and Elizabeth.


Our Principal was Mrs. Shanta Murali. She had bobbed hair and wore lipstick. Everyday we had open assemblies and instead of National Pledge,we said Bhavan's Pledge, with our palms unfolded, which ran as 'We, the students of Bhavan's...'. Everyday we had different prayers along with the Bhavan's Anthem. On Fridays' it was a Christian prayer, I think. I've never understood anything of it, except the 'Adam & Eve's' bit and the 'Amen' at the end. The assembly ground used to be a mystery for me for many months. You see, the school was on a hill and the various blocks were at different levels. Above the assembly ground was sky and then we'd go down a flight of stairs and emerge onto the basket ball court and Lo! above it was also sky, when, I felt, it should be underground. We had 'Om bhrammau..' befor lunch and 'Om poornamitham...' before the National Anthem. There were no restrictions to bringing non-veg, though nobody usually brought non-veg. We could sit wherever we wanted in the classroom during lunch. Anaswara usually brought Maggi noodles for lunch and she'd lick her fingers later, a habit that irritated Megha tremendously.

The singer Jyotsna also used to come in Vikas. Once she drank water from my chechi's water-bottle and another time we put 'Karuppinazhaku...' in the van when she was in the van; she smiled when we cheered. But she was a very normal girl, then in 12th, only very tall, with no 'jaada'.

At Poochatty we had SUPW classes, we used to call them Work Experience (WE) period. We had to go to another room in another block for that. Our PT ground was vast and we had separate places to play badminton (me against Neethu, a tall,dark girl), and Dodge ball and the boys played football in the big outdoor stadium. There were no furious competitons here, we played to enjoy. We hated the mass PTs in the stadium during Wednesday Zero Periods, in white-and-white, when the whole school was forced to work out the 'Display'.

We were supposed to have music classes in a small block by the side of the stadium, but those periods usually ended up as PT periods too. We had dance classes in a room by the WE room, but we were never taught anything, we usually practised for the Youth Festival.


Apart from all these, the air was thick with romance. There was Mohammed, who'd carved Elizabeth's name in his forearm with a compass, Arjun who was caught writing a love-letter to Roshini, Merry Henna who droned on and on about her secret line 'Golden', and Lakshmi chechi in Vikas who used to assume 'Ananthasayanam' pose across Anaswara and the other girls to reach the window from her seat in the van to talk to her boyfriend, Sachin. It was here that I first came to know about rumors too...

Troubled relations

When a girl reaches upper primary, she starts understanding a lot of things. Like when after one PT class Sruthi told us about 'periods'. All the girls agreed knowledgably, I acted stupid, said I didn't know what they were talking about. In the end when even, tho official 'sisu' of the class,Greeshma, acknowledged that she had understood, I couldn't take it anymore, I said, 'You're talking about sanitary napkins, right?'

You see, we were growing up. Such was our 6th standard.

It was in 6th that Salini came to our class(other division, I think). She tried to be my friend, I was quite rude to her, because I had two great friends, officially, my best friend Greeshma and my good friend Aparna and I had enough trouble managing them; I wasn't interested in anybody else. Then suddenly one day Salini came to me and asked me if I knew Sreemol. Sreemol was my childhood friend, my neighbour. We used to play 'ammayum kunjum' and such stuff with my chechi. Once we three had gone to Sreemol's school(I forget which school) to 'thaalampidikkal' for some function. There we had met Salini, Sreemol's best friend from school. Since the chief guest was late, we had spent a lot of time together that day, and played about. Sreemol left in 4th, I think, she went to Thiruvanantapuram, and I had forgotten her. Suddenly it all came back to me. It was a revelation, like knowing that Greeshma was my relative. Salini became suddently important to me, with that link in our past, known to only ourselves. We became friends.

Me, Soumya N, Salini used to go by the same school bus, Route no.4. We used to play balancing in the bus, by trying to keep standing without any support. I remember the picture of Samyukta Varma that Soumya drew once; I had laughed at it then,( there had been some problem with Samyukta's smile), but it was a really good painting, what I'd felt mainly was jealousy.

It was in 6th that I got record marks in maths for unit test, 13 1/2 out of 25. It was a shock. Girijamani miss was our maths teacher and she scolded me a lot. I decided to study better for the next exam and got 49 out of 50. I even remember where I lost that one mark, I had forgotten to put a negative sign somewhere.

It was also in 6th that I became classfirst for the first time. My mother bought me a necklace as a present. I remember Girijamani miss saying, I've become better than even Jayakrishnan.

6th saw the introduction of two great teachers to our class, Sobha miss and Prasannakumari miss. I was already afraid of these two, thanks to my sister, and it was with great fright that I sat in Sobha miss' class for the first time. The way she said 'a' was a class joke. I was terrified by her'annotations' and hadn't understood, for a long time, what she meant by 'who is being addressed?' when there were no letters mentioned.

It was also in 6th that Rajasthani sirs came to teach us, for the first and last time, English. He asked Anoop Roy to spell 'Elephant' and he didn't get it! Imagine!!! I think it was in 6th that we had 'Laxamma' too(It could have been 5th).


In 6th we had to enact 'The Bishop's Candlesticks' infront of the class. There had been a big fight between me and Niranjana as to who'll be the convict. We had both ended up crying and complained to Girijamani miss or Chitra miss, I forget who, but luckily the matter never reached our English miss. Of our English periods, what I do remember is the poem'Pigtail' and Sobha miss laughing uncontrollably and me wondering at seeing her so happy in contrast to her usual strictness.


With the coming of Sobha miss, the rule that'Thou shall not speak in Malayalam' was enforced strictly. If we said a single word in Malyalam, we'll lose our PT period. Once Aparna was punished for saying 'Sruthipetty' and another time I was punished for telling 'paatta' during the rhyme 'I one paatta, I two paatta'. But the incidence that remains sharply in focus is connected with the hero of my life, Aswin.

It was the time when Doordarsan was campaigning for milk purity with Vinaya Prasad saying 'Suddhamaaya paalinte thelivu' and that raindrop-like sign. Once in class I started telling it to Aswin, in Hindi. But what I said was 'Paal shuddh hone ka proof hei...', I stopped suddently and he realized that I had said the malayalam word, 'paal'. I tried to argue with him that I had meant the English 'pal' meaning friend, but he was not stupid, and I lost my PE class next week. I had decided then that I'll take revenge, how I avenged, I'll tell you later.

Ragi and Neethu used to be great friends since... I dunno, very small. But 6th saw a break up in their relationship. Neethu was the official complaint box of the class, the big 'para' and we didn't like her much, then, she was a notorious 'kusumbi'. After their breakup, Neethu's target was me. The reason Neethu said she'd left Ragi for was unbeleivably stupid, so I wouldn't repeat it here. But my own friendship with Aparna and Greeshma was undergoing a difficult test. Sticking to my old notion that one best friend for two years and one best friend at a time, I wanted Greeshma to be my best friend. She refused. I used to plead with her and complain about it to Aparna! Would you believe it?? Here I was cruelly leaving Aparna, her friendship, and telling her my sadness about Greeshma ignoring me! I dunno how Aparna took it. We gaveher a lot of sufferings. Once during a PE period when Greeshma finally agreed to be my best friend, it was to Aparna that I said it first, quite happily. Aparna, really I'm sorry, I was too stupid to know your feelings.

Well after that I was definitely not interested in Neethu. Though never my best friend, I accepted her as my friend in 6th(to keep her mouth shut, to be honest) and tried to patch up her relationship with Ragi, and in the end, they made it up, and you must remember the Ragi who cried, later in 10th, when reshuffling separated her and Neethu.

In those days we, ie, me, Aparna, Greeshma and Salini, used to read 'Secret Seven' and 'Nancy Drew'. We had great anticipations that in 7th we'll read 'Hardy Boys', in 9th 'agatha Cristie' and so on... But life had in store something very different for us. After 6th I left to Poochatty. The girls said they'll give me a grand sent-off and all but nothing happeed. I resented it, but Neethu gave me beautiful bracelet-cum-bangle(I lost it) and Aparna a 'Kumkumacheppu'(I dunno why, but again, I lost it) as momentos. I also took everybody's autographs. It was during then that '2' was added to phone no.s and everyone had reminded me about it, when giving me their phone no.s, but I lost that book too. I also gave Greeshma my one photo, she also gave me her photo. These, I'm proud to say, we've not lost. And then with a lot of hopes I set off to my new school...

Growing Up

Our 5th year was splattered with all kinds of incidences. It was for this year's Teacher's Day that we howled at that chettan and got punishment for behaving like jackals. I'll tell you what happened.
This chettan came to our class and said he'll sing a song. We all waited for a hip-hop song and he started singing 'Aayiram paadasarangal kilungi.......'. The movie 'Niram' had just been released. We couldn't take it. We started howling, and our class was just next to the staffroom and the teachers came running in. We got a great deal of scolding and then they left. And would you believe it , that chettan said again,'So shall we sing another song?'
The next day during assembly, Venugopal Sir declared publicly that class 5 B had jackals; he described the whole event and we felt really humiliated. Our punishment was to clean the ground, collect fallen leaves and stuff. Our first period was Sreelatha Miss' and we spent the first whole Malayalam period out in the grounds. That was not a big punishment(actually we enjoyed it), but as soon as we came back in the second period, it was Jayanti miss' period, we started a torrent of complaints, that the chettan had goaded us into it, that it was actually his fault. Later during lunch, I believe, Ragi and someone went to Principal to complain. And what did I do??
When the great howling happened I was sitting next to Greeshma and she saw me joining in quite enthusiastically. When she confronted me later and declared that she had not even whistled, I denied the whole thing. I maintained that I had only cupped my hands arround my mouth and not made any sound. I was afraid to confess then, now I'm not.

Our Malayalam periods used to be sheer racing. Sreelatha miss would ask us to write all that 'artham' and all 5 times in rough book,and she would give a 'star' and 'verygood' to the fastest students. I believe, Aparna and Deepak used to be the competers for first place. Usually Aparna won and her handwriting was much better than Deepak's.

Nisha miss was our Maths teacher. She used to make us write multiplication tables daily. It was a compulsory homework and I've got loads of beatings for not doing it. Usually, when we got a freeperiod, we'll all get together and write a week's tables in advance.

It was also in 5th that I invented a game called'Deluxe' with Siddharth. I dont remember what it was, anyway it was stupid. Anyway, for me, games started losing their importance. For the first time in our lives we were allowed to take library books home and we were all really happy. We used to take that'Camey Jones'(I think) books about that girl with photographic memory. It was through them that I realized that UFO stands for 'Unidentified Flying Objects.' Later we started taking Bailey School Kids books.

It was also in 5th that Anu saved me from punishment. It happened like this:
I was reading Balarama, under my desk, again during classtime. Arunnath was sitting behind me, he saw this. He was a big 'para' in those days. Immediately he stood up and said it to miss. I closed the book and sat up straight and tried to look innocent. Miss came to me, and Anu who , I think, was sitting near me, came to my rescue. He said, 'Miss, the book is closed, she wouldn't have read the cover, right?' And so I escaped. I dont think I ever said 'thankyou' to him for that, but I'll say now, 'Dear Anu, Thank u'. I must also say that for years, I was afraid of, and didn't like, Arunnath, and it was only quite recently, during our Bio projects in 12th, that I realized that he was actually a harmless boy.

There were a lot of boy-girl divisions then. I mean when it came to games and all, boys wouldn't play with girls, they thought it was a shame. In those days too I was a big 'Upadeshi', I remember me and Aparna lecturing Ragi about her head-lices, that she'd better use 'medicare' or something and get rid of them, because, I said, the boys were just swarming around for some reason to criticise her.There was some problem when I called Anu 'dragon' or 'dinosaur' or something. There had been a more serious problem with Anjana miss when I'd told someone, as a joke, that 'DPEP' stands for 'Daridravaasi Pilleru Enganeyelum padichotte', but I'll skip that.


We used to play 'Ethu moola' (We weren't allowed to speak Malayalam, so we usually called it 'Which Corner') during intervals near the badam trees, and I remember seeing Nicey wearing a pinned up something over her shirt to make her skirt look like a pinafora, but Nicey says she'd never done anything like that, so it would have been someone else.

Ambika miss took SS, I believe. One of those days Pranav PM did something wrong in class and miss asked him to go and sit in front of the class and write imposition. I was sitting beside him. Just as he left his place he asked for a pen, I gave it to him. Result: Miss asked me to go, sit in front of the class too. Very neat!

Beena miss was our classteacher, I think. Any way it was she who made me class leader for the first time- it was done according to roll number. I wsa so happy I wrote it down under my desk: 'Christabella Thomas, the classleader' and stuff like that. Again Arunnath caught me. He tried to complain about it( we were not supposed to write on benches), but luckilly for me, no teachers listened to him, and I escaped.

One of the most important thing in those days was leading the class out after the National Anthem, I have never got a chance to do it, because the first benches were reserved and fixed for Anoop Roy and the other 'tharikidas' and they went out first. I used to resent them for that, and it was my biggest ambition to sit in the front bench. Years later, when I did get the chance, it was in 11th, and I didn't want it anymore, I was happy in the last benches, with hopes of a great deal of rule-breaking.

Ann came back in 5th, as she had promised, and she was full of Bombay stories, a boy called Chandan, who had a crush on her, or she had a crush on him, I forget which. It was also the year that Syam P came, and maybe Niranjana too.

It was in the beginning of 5th, I think, that I wrote a letter to Aparna. Until then I had had a best friend for two years , so I was afraid I'll lose her that year. I wrote a really touching letter indeed, expressing all my fears and worries to her, from my end of the classroom to the her corner, during a free period. I got back the reply within five minutes: that the letter was full of spelling mistakes, and that everything I had written was utter rubbish.

Is blood thicker than water?

3rd year found a great deal of change in our class. Ann left school, but she promised she would come back in 5th. Dhanya changed division. It was also the year we were supposed to chose our third language- Sanskrit or Malayalam. I chose Malayalam. That prevented me from cultivating any further contact with Uma Miss. Bindumathi miss was our Malayalam miss. She was also our classteacher and she was very strict; the first ever beating I got was from her, for talking in class. I dont remember who our leader was, but I used to get regular beatings then.

I dont remember when I first met Aparna. As far as I remember, she had sprouted out just like that in my third year, fully formed, as my friend. I dont remember her before that. Even after being friends, the earliest memory I have of her is walking down the corrridor with her and seeing Dhanya pass by in the opposite direction. That was the last time I saw Dhanya before she left school; ther were no goodbyes.

I remember our sportsdays. The sportsdays now have lost their colour. It's no longer compulsory for younger children to come, rather they are encouraged not to come. When we were small, we all used to come with small plastic bags and lunch boxes, and sit under the trees in the ground(not the badam trees, the other ones). We never used to participate in anything, but we usually had a good time furnishing nests out of fallen leaves and keeping chalk pieces for eggs in them. We used to hang our plastic bags from branches and have little fights in between ourselves as to who will have the best tree. We used to criticize 'Ragi gang', because they formed a seperate group and wouldn't let us join.

During PT periods, we usually played 'Kho-Kho'. I hated it. Boys Vs Girls was the routine and Ragi from girls and Anu from boys were the fastest. Ragi would give 'Kho' to only her friends and we would feel left out. Even now, years later, I dont like that game.

It was in third that Saraswathy miss came to teach us English. Once in class she asked us who would like to go get some chalk from the next class. We were all enthusiastic and put our hands up. She picked me. I was so happy, I bounced all the way to the next class. Fousy miss was teaching there. When I asked for chalk, she said angrily, quite audibly: 'Class disturb cheyyaan oronnungalu......' That wiped the smile from my face. I still remember myself walking back dejectedly. I believe, that was the last time I ever volunteered to do something in class on my own. I have never again stood up for anything, even to answer questions. There was once a confident, bubbly girl. She lost herself, because she was too sensitive to let others speak ill of her. Years later, when Saraswathy miss came in 9th to teach us Bio, she once asked me to read out a part of the lesson in class. I refused saying that I had cough; I dont know why. She knew I had done that deliberately. In 11th when she again asked me to read a lesson, she asked me quite pointedly, if I was suffering from cough; I said no, because I had decided to come out of my shell.

Another thing I remember about third standard is Venugopal Sir coming to our class during lunch and drawing a cock, a fish and an egg on the blackboard. He then drew a cross over each of them and asked us not to bring non-vegetarian food to school. We resented it, but obeyed.

The most fresh memory about my 4th year is Ligi miss catching me reading 'Aayirathonnu raavukal' in class. Aparna gave me that book. I was an enthusiastic reader. Our library periods were quite bore, with Bindhu Thampatty miss reading out Luttappy from Kalikkudukka for the class. She used to explain everything, including the introductory bit, that always said:'Luttappy oru kuttychathanaanu......' Actually the whole story shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to read, but she could go on and on with it for full 40 minutes. So I read any other book that came my way, greedily. This time it was in Hindi class. Ligi miss caught me, she confiscated the book. I never had the courage to ask it back from her, even though it was Aparna's book. Days later, when I had to go to staff room for something, she asked me, smiling, didn't I want my book back? I said, yes, and she gave it back to me. I have realized, ages after, that the book is too , you know, vulgar, to be read by a 4th std girl, but miss didn't ask me any such questions, bhaagyam!

It was in 4th, I believe, Nikhil Mukund, Vishnu Menon, and Soumya N or Niranjana(or both) came. Anyway that was the beginning of academic competition in our class. From racing to write malayalam words ten times, we came to know about quizzes and scholarships.

It was also in 4th that I saw Greeshma at my some relatives marriage. The fact that she was my some kind of relative had a powerfull impact on me. I told Aparna much philosophy about 'blood being thicker than water' and all. She was quite practical. She asked me to describe the exact relation between me and Greeshma, and pointed out that since Greeshma was the daughter's daughter of sister of wife of my father's father's brother, we couldn't talk about blood relation.
Ididn't care, I wanted to be her friend. But I dont remember her before that, nothing at all. It was like seeing Justin at my Catechism class in 2nd and wondering if he wasn't at my school. I dont remember him before that. I think I dont notice people around me unless they have a direct influence on me.