On the upper berth.

On a journey to my native  I embark,
A place where I'm yet to make my mark.
With my earphones plugged in, I lay on my back..
Lost in the music as the train changes track.
Of all the thoughts, my mind raced towards her..
I knew,the less I thought about her, the better.
We were meant to grow old together,
We would have, if only she did not leave me forever.
I've looked up at the skies and have raised my voice,
He did not respond, nor leave me a choice.
Left me... with a limp in my walk,
A reason to wear.. only one sock.
With sorrow and grief, my pockets so deep..
Wishing her good night, I fell asleep.

School Re-visited : Start to the Millennium !

(After a reasonable good number of views on the previous blog, I thought I'd continue with the flow.So here goes...VII std ! )

Like for every other kid, on first evening was always mood-off. By this time, I had gotten used to the homesickness and was able to move on quickly. There was something new to that feeling - the feeling of being an old boy. It was good for a change to come back to place where you knew the people and you knew where the freaking loo was. I could see the fear in some of the new kids. Frankly, it felt good. Because not only did you know the place, we were bloody seniors in the block !
That was something !*raises eyebrow*Ok.Tried to.  :P

Now in 7th standard there were a lot of highlights. My class teacher was Ms.Josephine Rozario. On the very first day of class, something funny happened. There was this new kid from North India who spoke with an accent. When asked for his name, he said "Turjo Sen..but it is spelt as T.U.R.J.Y.A.. from Calcutta". Kya be..kya naam rakha hain tere waalon ne ? Maybe that's why his FB page says TJ Sen, just to avoid the confusion. LOL. Okay.Moving on.. Turjo started pestering me with questions and constantly kept turning back asking for a pen or pencil. I mean, Come on ! Which kid comes to school without stationary ? They don't use pens/pencils in Calcutta uh ? Country fellow. I admit, I was a bit stingy back then. But finally I ended up lending him one. Hmph. This guy also 'corrupted' me..in 7th std !  Saale !

Another newflash was that, there was not one, but two Thai boys in class. One named Bell, who apparently came back to Montfort after a year. The other guy, named Parkpoom Kosalagood. Don't laugh. Though Parkpoom had a tough time talking in English, he was quite fun to hand around with. He had these Milo sachets and dry fish which he used to share. Good fellow. One subject I hated that year was Music. The faculty decided to keep a Music theory paper. I mean seriously, WTF ?! We already started questioning teachers, how knowing about Mughal emperors would help in our lives..and then they forced Music down our throats. This outrage is only because of X.Ravi, the music sir, who would blast his lungs out at students with low marks. I know..experience.

In the dorm, Ramaswamy was my dorm-mate. And on the other side was Kannan Biran's room, the warden and TT coach. So the extra 10 mins of sleep was not attained. We were the first ones he'd wake up. Games were fun. We wasted a good 15 mins in walking all the way to the ground because we were asked to play in the other corner of the school. (Where the auditorium is being built). Studies were okay I guess. I do not remember that part very well. Maybe I choose not to. Why talk about studies and ruin the mood eh ?

There were so many events in a year in Montfort like House picnics, Camps, Fancy Fete, SSGY fete and then the Prize Night. SSGY fete I remember that year because Shijin was the Junior SPL (School pupil leader) and his sister was the school captain of *SHY. She bought us some goodies. Coming to think of it, I remember the song requests played during the fete. Something like this "This song is from the students of standard so-and-so , dedicated to the students of standard so-and-so. Looking forward to meet you all near the canteen/some stall." Hilarious man ! :D

And now to the main part of this post *drum roll* Prize Night for SHY students. The Prize nite was held on two different days. First for the SHY students and then for the parents. Since my class VII-C was near  the auditorium, the music was pretty much audible and to make matters worse there were very less teachers that evening for rounds. The disastrous result of both was evident. All of us from VII-C were on our feet..and our feet were on the benches. We danced and screamed like mad kids. In Tamil we'd say seriyana attagasam. To be on the safe side, Sunil Gowtham volunteered to be the watchman. He'd peep outside the door and warn us if there were any teachers heading our way. It went like this for quite sometime. Due to some reason, our man Sunil gets distracted from duty. Now picture this - all dancing, some on the bench, screaming.. and then out of thin air, the principal walks in..the tall and scary George KJ.Voldemort effect.
I wish I could see our own faces then. We were scolded and made to kneel down for a solid half an hour.
When we look at it now, it would seem like a small punishment. But I remember so clearly, how me and most of my friends sobbed during dinner. Oh wait, we had dinner after everyone else - all part of the punishment. To make things worse, guess who the class captain was ? ME. Of all the people, ME. Its not good to be the teacher's pet on all occasions. It doesn't work that way. The same night, during study hours Sir Roshan came to our class and called the class captain outside. I only remember a part of this conversation..

Sir :  What's your name ?
Me : Raj..sir.

Sir: Do you know Hindi , Raj ?

Me : Yes sir.

Sir : Do you know what your name means ?

Me : It means 'to rule' sir.

Sir : Then what the hell were you doing when all the ruckus took place ?

I always wondered how this conversation would have started, if my name was Kumaraguru or something which had no meaning. Hmm.

Anyway thats all I remember. This instance was the first time I actually realised the meaning of my name. I mean, I knew what 'raj' meant, but never realised it as my name. Thank you Sir ! :)
Apart from all this, I remember singing for the 11th std's skit for the Prize night. Don,Nikhil, Jikku,Adarsh and me were the only ones from junior block. *proud feeling* We bunked a lot of study hours for that.It was pretty cool in a way..to be associated with the play like that. That's when we met 'Psycho" aka Sooraj Mathews, probably the only super senior I knew. Also sang Bapshuadua, Bap, Bapshuadua ! LOL.

The notorius 7C !

These were the special moments of 7th std. Nothing else springs to mind what happened that year. Except for playing table tennis with geometry boxes and a rumour that spread about Shevaroys hills being a sleeping volcano and there were some changes in the temperature and lava moving and all that. I was not scared at all. Serious. I did not write 6 letters to my dad asking him to rescue me.

That was the end of life in the Junior block. I was shit scared to enter senior block and during the holidays I prayed for a good year.

My prayers were answered alright ! :D

Keep watching this space. More to follow. :)

Raj.A.B


*SHY - Sacred Hearts Yercaud ( Girls school )

School Re-visited - The year was 1999 !

(Before you start, I'd just like to say that this post is about what I remember when I was in the 6th Std, my  first year in a boarding school. Wrote it down as I remembered. Most of you who did not study in Montfort,would not be able to connect with this post.But that's your fault. ;)  
Just keeping those memories alive. ) 

The over-all view of the school now. Can't seem to find an older pic !

It was someday in the first week of June in 1999, when I first entered Montfort. An unforgettable day indeed. For a boy who was pampered till 5th Std and then all of a sudden to be dropped in a boarding school, it was a bit hard to digest. I wonder now, how it would have been for my friends who joined at the 3rd Std.

I remember every minute detail of that day. My dad dropped me in the dormitory. I knew no one. The only guy I knew before I joined was Shijin Mathew(And to make things worse, the bugger came only the next day !) The worst part was not knowing the schedule or the whereabouts. The school looked like a labyrinth sort of a castle. Like the sort of buildings you imagine in the fairy tales. Anyways..the first people I got introduced to, or rather spoke to on that very evening was Adarsh Appukuttan and Don.T.Scaria. Apparently, my dad was calling me from the classroom window and Adarsh or Don was the one who told me about it. Then came a badly tanned version of Santa Claus, with a cane. That was Simon sir. (Black magic guy) :D Man did he freak me out or what ? Thinking about it, he reminds me of Shrek now.

That night, I wept and I wept.I learnt the meaning of the word - 'Homesick' only then. Being an old student, I expected Adarsh to console me, but no. It happened the other way around ! I looked to my left and there was a tiny guy with huge glasses. His name was Hari Vignesh. He talked ..a LOT ! I cannot remember who was on the other side. Time flew that evening. Cried myself to sleep. It was 6.30 am..and then rang the most disturbing bell I ever heard in my entire life,followed by a wailing siren like those used when an inmate broke out of prison.The thought did cross my mind then ! Thus started the first chapter of my life - Montfort.

Initially I hated it. I hated it so much, that I sent a letter every day..every single day to my dad, asking him to take me back. I had no idea that the letters took almost a week to reach Dubai. He eventually got a bulk of them. My first class teacher was Ms.Jean D'Monte. Infact she was the one who told me, that it takes a week for the letters to reach my dad ! Friends were easy to make. Some of them were Nikhil Sebastian, Ramaswamy, Jakir , Jacob Shailendar, Alsad, Jacob Joseph and sooo many more. The first blunder I made in school, was bringing a squash racket thinking it was a tennis racket. I remember that embarrassing moment. Especially because T.Santhosh and KV Manoj teased me during the morning coaching ! :D

6th Std had so many other memories. Joining the choir seemed like a big deal to me. And being in the "Tenor group" was *ahem* a very big achievement for me. Then there was the Junior Literary Society aka JLS. Oliver Goldsmith, Wiilliam Shakespeare,Wordsworth and John Milton were the house names.
( Pats back for awesome memory)  and I was the captain for Oliver Goldsmith...in my class. 6B ! *insert applause*.  The funniest day that year, was the fancy dress competition ! Nikhil helped me out with the costume. I dressed up as an FBI agent. LOL ! The line I said on the stage was so funny and dumb..but mostly dumb. It went like this - "I am Raj. FBI, from the police department ! Are there any robbers out there ? *pointed gun to audience* Beware !!" . *applause* That was my first stage performace ever. Got first prize for it..and later found out that all the participants got 1st prize..even Gurumoorthy !  Didn't seem wierd at that time.

When it came to exams, I failed once in the 6th std. It was for Geography. Got 33/100. Mrs.Betty was the teacher then. I begged her for grace marks but in vain. My birthday was another day I'd never forget. The custom was that the birthday kid had to go to Bro.Anthony's office to order a cake. The kid then had to prepare a list of the people invited for the birthday party. Before the prayer in the refectory, Simon sir would read the names of the students invited. Only close friends made the list and I think there was a limit to it too. And this so called "Birthday party" happened under the staricase outside the refectory. I still remember Anand Raj's birthday cake that year. It was baked in the shape of a ship. It was massive and the whole 6th std got a piece :) Thanks machi :D

There were also Nutella sharing, Don's white complan sharing and also some kid's awesome fish pickle. Don't remember his name. And ofcourse Bro.Wilfred ! He was my dad's warden too and so he was 'supposed' to be lenient to me. But he forgot who I was within a week. We used to get phone calls from parents through him. He was also incharge of the pocket money. The small plastic rectangular pieces used to be my only source to buy Curry noodles and Crunch chocolate bars coz Sunday dinners sucked big time.

Thats all I remember about what happened in the first year of my life in Montfort. The facts I have stated here are all straight from memory. Its never easy to forget the first part of an amazing journey. To look back and think about it, it leaves you nostalgic for sure. But more than that,by writing down all of this, it gave me an opportunity to live through that one year again. That one year was just the beginning to an amazing journey in Montfort.

I sure as hell enjoyed writing this.

More to come.

Raj.A.B