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!)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
(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.
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...
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...
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...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
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
(Like, you know, 'aatinkkarayorathu...' from film Rasathanthram)
and
(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...
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...'
Keerayolamenjoru chettakkudilin jaalakam melle melle thurannu...'
(Like, you know, 'aatinkkarayorathu...' from film Rasathanthram)
and
'Tankinullil lavanaanu
kanthurannaal pokkaanu
vallorumarinjaal moshaanu
Greesammaaaa
Greesammaa aa aaaa...'
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...
Friday, September 4, 2009
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?
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?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
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.
No, its just that I was busy with admission, I'll be back as soon as I can, stay in touch.
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