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.
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