NOSTALGIA

Summers of Circa 1988- a happy kid pushed into Carmel Convent to make the life of his teachers (read Bhavana Mam) a havoc. Extremely talkative-seeds of Mistake no. 1 were sown, but who cares.

2 years of complete leisure flew by; Mistake no. 2 was implanted already that of Topping the class- a gross habit that breaks sooner or later and causes a lifelong afflict, but why would anybody care about such a mistake.

Fast forward to 1994(reason being this boy remembered very little about the time before except that he met someone special & more special friends and Sister Noela who would ruthlessly send his copies flying out), he conducted Mistake no. 3 that of becoming too independent though this one was forced to him by the fracture of his mother's leg. For the first time there was no one to care about his little wishes except his extra loaded sister. Stage set for melodramatic 'grew more than his age' act. But NO! his protective father took all pains without letting any of the kids realize how grave the problem was(it took 5 years and 3 operations at Gwalior, Delhi and Chennai for his mother to finally walk without pain). So, though he became independent but still not responsible - a lethal combo. Apart from this, life at school was coool with Mam Grewal throwing him out of class each time she got irritated by his continuous chatting ;).

Came 1995- his eventual movement to Seniors' Building, a sense of pride filled his heart(don't ask why). Alton and his mom Shaileja Mam(grown kid's class teacher as well) positively influenced his mind by their peaceful conduct and he got greatly attracted towards Church and Jesus (not unnatural for a convent educated guy). Utsav and Rahul were his closest friends and he thought that they always will remain. Mistake no. 4 occurred when he started studying for his Value Education paper a night before (a habit he has continued to religiously follow till date and his Mistake no. 5 as well) and happened to call his friend to inquire about his progress in mugging. Unaware about the dates, he came to know that his exam got over the same day and that he had missed it. Hey! this isn't the mistake mentioned above but only a root for the bigger one. He became phobic to dates and stopped remembering them forever. This one mistake has already cost him several B'day misses & similar events and, may be, many more to follow. Sad part is that for this mistake, All Cares! or rather consider that he don't care enough for them ( quite untrue though :( )

Exams got over, his years of innocence getting over as well (becoming kamina ;) ) and his close friendship with Utsav-Rahul was getting over as well. Now draping his books and copies with brown sheet (for 6th Std.) started appearing bore to him, following his sister (and her friends) had by this time became nauseating, Sketching became his prime time hobby (which he maintains till date with gradual promotion to Painting as well) and his colony friends were the ones whom he started spending half of his non-school time Playing, Lukhing, Following ... and most important Collecting Stamps (his collection till date is 1000 + and this hobby was instilled to him by his dearest sister while she gifted him with an Archie's Stamp Book that became an instant rave amongst his colony friends). His school time was more exciting though as he spearheaded an epic clash in classroom which got divided in two halves. Acting as knight from Khushboo's side (he still wonders where she has gone after that), he was the main person who lead to collapse of opposite side but then he committed Mistake no. 6 of accepting his fault when there was none for the sake of peace. There it clicked, but in long run of life, it always boomerangs! And it boomeranged; again and again (mentioned later). He cares for this but to no avail as he keep on repeating it (his closed ones will never agree on this claim but who cares :P )

Life changing moment came in 1997 when his teacher made a new girl sit by his side in new class so that she can get acquainted to class and course WELL. Namrata (or Nammo as his family calls her) was best competitor anybody could demand for. The class rocked with his friends Kinshuk & Kandarp (though he could not understand how they are twins when they looked so different but coincidently he learned about Fraternal twins the same year) and he rocked more as he stood first with a staggering margin of 26 marks (huge for that class-never ever this feat was repeated by him or others). But he rocked more because in the presence of Nam he did not made any new mistakes that year. Now that's the real point of worry but don't care much about it now, he will surely make up for it the next year ;D. He sucked at the same time because he used to trouble his classmates by caning them with sticks as a monitor and he got rewards when they used to do the same when their turn as monitor came. And with regular Mistake no. 1, anyone could guess who got more.

(to be continued...)