One fine
morning way back in the winters of 1988, my parents took me to a strange
looking place where I could see a huge gathering of tiny tots all dressed in
similar colours. But I was happy for I was wearing new clothes, new shoes and
to top that all had a new School Bag. But little did I realise then that the
school Bag carried stuff that would put my patience to test for 20 odd years. I
guess I enjoyed the chaos that day for my Ma says that I did not cry while
other parents were having a torrid time consoling their kids. Next day was a
different story though. While other kids started to settle down, I decided to
start crying. This was my way to maintain the balance between the chaos and the
silence. First shade of my personality revealed itself and I am still that way
(…no I don’t cry anymore). Yes, I hate Silence because it makes my life boring
and scary. One exception is the silence inside a Church. Somehow I am at peace
with myself there.
My School looked beautiful. Assam Type Building painted in
sky blue as if to inspire students to fly high and achieve great heights. The structure
was intimidating for me initially but then I came to know later that the
building had enough space only to accommodate primary section. Over the course
of those two decades, I had the fortune of learning from some really good teachers but
the teachers at Laban Bengali Boys’ Primary School were simply awesome. The tiny
bit of goodness in me is largely due to my parents and the teachers like Bodo Mashima,
Choto Mashima, Shobhana Mashima and Eshu Mashima. The great care that they took
of students at such tender age is unbelievable. They knew how to instil
discipline in us. That Carrot and Stick funda which we read while doing our
MBAs was experienced by me way back then. That is why I feel MBA degree is just
a Degree that makes you familiar with business jargons. “Jaali Bet” hurt but it
was effective. It was hardly used by them but the mere sight of it was enough
then. None of them are there now and the school is not the same as well. The
vacuum that they left is hard to fill. Then there was Didi who cleaned the shit
of all the kids day in and day out but there was never a moment when a child
could feel that he or she was not at home. All the parents trusted her and knew
that she would take great care of the children.
Yeah the most important element
of this school was that it was a co-ed and for the next 5 years I had the company
of a few girls but we would wonder then why those girls were getting the
special privilege of studying in a Boys’ school. The best testimony to the fact
that Girls spoil Boys, could be found in my school as the Girls were not
allowed to seek admission from Class IV onwards. After all, those were the
crucial years for a Boy and the administration thought that nothing should
distract the talented bunch. The medium of instruction was in bengalee.While
other children studied Black Sheeps, Humptys and Dumptys, we enjoyed “Haradhoner
doshti cheley”. Further, while other students studied in KGs, we studied in the
system of A’s and B’s for the first two years. My friends in my colony could
not understand and I did not bother much as I was in love with my school.
Infact, those kids were envious of me as my school hours started at 11 O’Clock
while they had to be in class by 9 AM. This is where I took a liking to the
number “Three” and almost all through to Xth Standard, I never let it slip. My
father used to tell me that there are two more ranks above the third rank but
how could have I let down my friends Suman Bhattacharjee and Saurit Kar. They trusted me a great deal but still I got
the Second Rank once (in IInd standard if I can recollect) to please my father
and take that Badminton racket from him. That very year I also scored a perfect
hundred in Mathematics. I actually felt a bit odd and decided not to make such
mistake again in future. I had the fiercest competitor in Smita Das for the
third rank. Four of us were quite popular with teachers and every year we used
to win prizes for our performance in the examination. They were especially
pleased when we secured ranks in the State Scholarship Examination and our
parents were so thrilled that they threw party for the teachers by turns. I was
a regular at Cultural functions with poetry recitations and I really enjoyed
that time. After the initial few days of awkwardness, a kid makes his first set
of friends at school. And then he never looks back. I was lucky to have my
cousin Abhijeet Chakraborty as my classmate.
We were buddies and had a great time together. I still can’t forget that scene when one of the teachers hung his school bag on
the Black Board because he was caught trying to jump out of the window before
the school bell rang. That sight of this little kid jumping to reach the school
bag was hilarious and is still fresh in my mind.
We also enjoyed running and
sliding into the class after lunch. It was the APE ACT….one did and others
followed. The best part about those days would be on the way back home with my
aunt. I would thrust the bag into her hands and then would enjoy myself on the
road. Walking on top of the walls or trying to beat the speeding cars while
crossing the road or hiding myself in the crowd gathered to watch the Snake
tricks at Laban Bazaar. And of course I used to get the angry stares of ladies
on the road for most often than not I used to step on the foot of those poor
pedestrians. My poor aunt had a tough time controlling me and she would have
been relieved to see me grow up enough to feel shy of being seen with a
guardian at school. Another “cute” act of mine that I remember from those days
was that I had gone shopping for sweets with just 50 Paise in my pocket. I was
able to convince the shop owner without even uttering a word. It was only in
the evening when my father narrated the story to everybody at home that I
realised that my face and not my skills did the trick at the shop. My father
paid the shop owner for that piece of sweet and he bought a few more of those.
Everybody had a great laugh at this.
It has
been 18 years since I had been to my first school and I miss those teachers. I
thought that I would be able to acquaint you with my school life in one post
but now I realise that I have to break the story into two halves. In fact the
flow of this post has been much unstructured. Memories just flooded in as I
started writing. You have just got familiar with “Ayan” in primary school. Come
back to see him go to the High School. Lot to share from that phase as well.
