My Pre-School

I dreamt once again that I was back at school.I couldn’t study well for the exam and moreover I got up late and was really running behind. This is one of my recurring dreams which always wakes me up in cold sweat only to heave a sigh of relief when I realize it was only a nightmare.
I wish instead of this scary one, if only I had dreams about the beautiful times I had with my friends.
My very first memory of school is the smell of warm milk which my teacher used to pour out from the flask that we had to carry from home .How I hated that smell and even now I dislike milk. As a pre-schooler I detested school. My bus stop was a tailoring shop, ran by an old man who was a communist. He used to allow me to go through his boxes of pamphlets with the symbol of scythe, hammer and a star and I remember taking bunches of them along with me. My bus driver had a tough time every day since I used to hide behind the boxes and he had to carry a kicking and screaming me and place me inside the bus.
My teachers were all Anglo-Indians and they trained us in the western culture .My best friend was Finny ,a boy who loved to grow his hair really long .Our class teacher Loretta miss once tied his hair with rubber band since he refused to get his hair cut. His granny and mine were friends and I used to tell everyone who would listen, that he was my cousin. I learned my first steps of ball-room dancing at school with Finny as my partner. I left my alma-mater; St Mary’s R.E.M.H.S for an year and later rejoined as a fifth-grader. Same year Finny left school and I have no idea regarding his whereabouts till date.
It is so weird and wonderful how certain memories refuse to go away .I can still see myself as a child in a blue pinafore before the flask of milk and walking up the stairs with Finny holding my hand ,the two memories of my Pre-school that remains still vivid .

Krishna Ray that I knew.

Sometimes even the sweetest of the memories pale as years go by, leaving behind just a faint whiff of whatever feelings that came along with that memories.
So here I am, inscribing them so that when I wish to fish them out some day,I would acquire them strong as ever.
During my first year at Sanjivani, my direct interaction with our Vice-principal, Krishna ray was almost nil. But there was no dearth of gossips .Eventually I became aware of the different groups that existed in our school .I took special care to keep myself distant from these so called groups .
Towards the ending of the session ,one fine day, we were all summoned to our Principal’s office to discuss the most shocking event of that year ,the sudden oust of a senior teacher .Instead of thrashing out behind closed doors ,we had to witness the washing of dirty linen in public. Allegations after allegations were thrown at Krishna .All the while she sat there ,holding together her dignity ,not losing her temper , giving clarification to all the charges.That was the moment when I first made personal judgement about Krishna .She secured a place so high above everyone present there. I never troubled myself in finding out if any of those accusations were true or not.For me she became the synonym of restraint.
When the new session commenced, I was promoted as the primary co-ordinator and she called into her cabin to instruct me about the expectations from the school management side.
There is a lesson that I learned through the hard way.If you wish to tell someone something, do not delay;for, time doesn’t wait till you gather the courage to blurt it out. That day I told her about how I placed her on a pedestal from the day of her trial at the Principal’s office. She was quiet for a moment and then her eyes welled up .That day I realized on more fact, she is not used to getting compliments for her work and what she is .Not from our school anyway.
The past four months, I got the opportunity to work alongside her.My respect for her as a person grew every day.Her ability to not let her emotions rule her words and actions,that cool and relaxed exterior is what that I admire about her.
Our respect and affection was mutual. On an occasion, while I was writing my resignation letter, she literally caught hold of me and dragged me to our Director’s office, sorting out the issue in no time.She told me not to act when negative emotions are strong, to wait and make decisions when you get the clutter out of your mind.
The last few days of hers as a Sanjivanite, must have been the most beautiful ones for her. Everyone let her knew how much they all loved her and how much they all will be missing her. She was shedding tears of distress and joy.
I am positive that wherever she goes she would gain respect and love for the wonderful person that she is and I know that she would remember me.
I would never forget the great lesson that I learned from Krishna Ray.

Lincey and Me...

November...I can’t wait for November.Two reasons.First, my sisters have already planned their leaves and is tempting me with all their plans .This would be the second get together after my youngest sister’s marriage.Secondly,the thrill of driving down to Kerala.
This Rakshabandhan ,I had been thinking about my sisters.I never realised how close we were till we marriage took us physically apart from each other .
Lincey was the naughty one who always gave my parents trouble.We used to have fights on a daily basis where I used to be the loser.( Though I am admitting it for the first time .)Once I succeeded in pinning her on the wall which Linta witnessed and which I used to boast off every time when I couldn’t beat her in an argument.Or I would call her ,her nickname(I am not exposing that here or else she would reveal more darker secrets of mine.You see she is on Fb too.)which she hated eventhough it was the name which my dad used to call her when he wanted to annoy her.
As a child,she was too lazy to brush her teeth and mom wouldn’t give her food .So she would start her morning raga which sounded exactly like a truck going uphill...uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh......She was so adamant in every single thing and I strongly believe my younger son has inherited that gene somhow.Don’t ask me how ,maybe I had been thinking about her during my gestation period.
She is the most intelligent and talented among the three of us .My dad wanted her to pursue Physics but she joined for Literature .Her reason ,Physics department was at the crown of hill on which our college is situated and she didn’t want to climb up every day.(Now she is a gazetted officer.)She writes,paints,excellent fashion designer..there is no end to her talents.
She is an adventurous spirit and would act first and then think.It is her name and address in pen-pal column which brought me where I am now.Though she got bored of her pen friends ,the one whom she chose for me later on became my life partner.Even though she tries to remind me that often, I would brush her off, giving the credit to serendipity.
She was always and still remains my best friend .We still have our secret codes which we haven’t revealed even to our husbands.
Adventures of Lincey would be an interesting read which I would write someday ..obviously after she grants me consent.