| Sat, Jan 16, 12:21 PM |  | ||
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I was a reluctant school goer in primary school. Reluctance largely due to my close friends in neighbourhood were at Rama Menon primary school with holidays on Saturdays and Sundays while I was in Govt Primary school with weekly holidays on Fridays and Sundays.
I used to accompany Janaki teacher to school in the first couple of years and we were around eight students by the time we reached school. When in third standard, Janaki teacher retired. How to send away a beloved teacher empty handed ? We all carried "gifts". After all ceremonial gestures of retirement which we watched seated on the ground, we made a bee line to pile up the "gifts" on a couple of tables arranged for this purpose. Pray, what were these "gifts" ? Mostly bathing soap ! I carried four cakes of Rexona, Some gifted "Lifebuoy" and "Chandrika". There were some tins of talcum powder as well. I wonder how Janaki teacher took her gifts home. She used come from distance and even getting somebody with a cycle was impossible. Wherever Janaki teacher is now, she must be youthful in appearance, thanks to our "gifts" !
We also had "economic" exchange operations. Slate pencils could be exchanged for edible sweet leaves and edible sour leaves of some plants in our village. I used to get shouted at by grandparents for "losing" slate pencils too often. Then I resorted to breaking the slate pencils, exchanging for edible leaves and bringing back pencil stubs home. This ingenuity was not required for long as I discovered a group of sour leaf plants in the bamboo grove at a corner of our compound. I used to give away slate pencils I earned by exchanging sour leaves to my friends. If my grandparents had learnt of my exchange activity, they would have given me a "taxing" time.
Since all of us had to trudge a decent distance to primary school, nobody could escape soiling their trousers on a few occasions. In such situations, we would hide behind a tree and friends would report the "development" to elders at home. Somebody would come with "relief material". If a friend's house was the closest, it could be his mother with a spare trouser and a pitcher of water. Such good samaritan act saved us from insitu "dressing down".
We had to trudge a long way to attend upper primary school from fifth standard. This school had holidays on Saturdays and Sundays and two hour lunch break on Fridays. Most of us from Ram Menon school and my alma mater landed up there. There were two teachers in this school ( including my dad's closest friend ) from our cluster of houses. So we ( six in total from neighbourhood ) had to follow a tougher regiment on discipline than other students. At home, our playing arena shifted to temple compound from house compounds. I even refused to run across to call my dad home from his friend's place during this period. I had two "disciplined" friends in that house.
Major part of the trudge to upper primary school was on a public road. Two buses, "Rani" and "Bhagwati", used to ply at that time and it was a must to have a favourite bus. Even the most thrilling finish of T20 /one day cricket match cannot match the joy we felt when our favourite bus overtook the "foe" in our vicinity.
As I write this, I can see clearly "Bhagwati" painted with body painted in blue and white with a slanting board "Enamaavu- Shornur".
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