Srinagar RockeD?!

The year went by, we were supposed to go to class 8th then. I was a bit let down by the fact that Kumud ma'am had left the school as well. So we were going to have a new science teacher. Her name was Miss Nusrat. From the first day I made a very good impression on her. I wanted to be number one in class and for that i needed to be in the good books of the teachers. The teacher who hated me the most was probably my english teacher. She knew that i was okay at academics and sometimes deliberately gave me less marks in the tests. My maths teacher was also kinda okay. She didn't know much math but posed as if she knew everything.

When the results of the first test were out, i was declared second in class. I was elated. I had beaten all of the class, except one. Her name was vishata. She topped the class quite unexpectedly. Our social studies teacher was more than lenient to girls and would always increase their marks whenever they went to him. I think that was the reason she beat me. Unfortunately vishata was not able to sit in the second test, due to which i topped the class. But the talk of the class was that i topped because vishata wasnt there. I was not at all pleased. I wanted them to know that i deserved the 1st place. In the forthcoming tests, i stood first despite of vishata sitting in the tests. No one was ahead of me. I was on cloud nine. I was soon going to discover another of my traits, the sin named pride. I took the victory to my head easily. It kept me from going on later.

During class 8th a few new admissions came into our class. One of them was Anil kumar. We became good friends pretty soon. He was probably one of the best friends i ever had. I shared everything with him. At home i had plenty of friends. Surinder and vijay the closest ones. We used to play cricket after school. Surinder is now undertaking training in IMA(indian military academy). I have lost conact with vijay though. One of the other new admissions was a girl named Malvika. I must say she was fat but still managed to look good. One of our classmates had a crush on her. A big row was created out of it, the parents of both the students were called and the students were counselled. Although the matter was resolved, a bit of bitterness was left.

Once in class 8th, a small feud turned into an ugly fight in class. Two groups of boys started fighting. In the process, a boy named Wasim threw the duster towards another student. The latter dodged it and the duster went on to hit the blackboard. The glass blackboard was shattered. Later we all were summoned by the principal. He told the culprit to come out else the whole class would have to bear the fine. Anil said that he'd tell wasim's name. I advised him not to, coz we didn't know what wasim would do to him afterwards. The matter was resolved later and the school paid for the repair.

Another terrible incident took place during the year. It was sometime in the evening. I was getting ready to go to play. Suddenly we heard a loud crash. It sounded like an airplane had crashed on the road running in front of our house. Quite a few windows of the colony were shattered. Later we were told that a 16 year old boy had driven to the gate of the cantonment in a maruti. He didn't have a proper indentification, so he tried to force his way into the cantt. Carrying 30 kgs of rdx, he exploded it all on being stopped at the gate. Nothing was left of the gate, the car and a few of the guards. We were all shaken by the incident. Later the gate was fortified and the security tightened.

My mom was pretty happy with my academic show. She began trusting me as she once did. I was happy. It was then that dad got promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and got posted to amritsar.

I was in class 9th then and had given the first tests. The results came out and i was in shock. I had been beaten badly by jitinder. The guy who used to be second. It was a result of the 'pride' that had been building inside me. Good for me that we were moving to another place where i would have to start from scratch. I didn't even go to take my result as i didn't wanna show my loser face to the class i had topped for so long.

Transformation

Since dad was posted in Kashmir, mom decided that we move there as well. We were to stay in srinagar, as the place of my dad's posting was remote and risky. I was admitted to army school srinagar. As soon as we moved in, i went out and made friends. People used to play cricket there. But the thing that bothered me was that they played with the leather ball. However, i soon got used to it and got pretty good with the ball.

At school i was supposed to go to 7th class. I was not at all serious with my studies. I idled away my time in gossiping and playing. The teachers didn't like me much either, except of course my sanskrit teacher. I was good at sanskrit from the beginning.

When the results of the quarterly tests were out, i was ranked 9th in class. A girl named Sanika was 1st. My mom came to attend the PTA meet. When she saw my marks, she wasn't pleased one bit. She had immense faith in me before that. I saw tears in her eyes. It was not the first time, but it was in front of the whole class. I felt terrible and cried myself. My teacher consoled my mom. She made me promise that i'd improve. I made a promise to myself that day, come what may, I won't tolerate tears in my mother's eyes. Whatever I have to do for it. That was the day i became a different person.

I started working harder than ever. And to everyone's surprise i came out with flying colors. I stood 5th in the next tests. I was pretty satisfied. But still i wanted to be number one. That was my goal. I beat the whole class in Sanskrit but Sanika always scored better in all other subjects. God knows how she maintained her studies.

There i started reading fiction. Famous five, secret seven. I still love them. We used to sit at the back of the sanskrit class and read novels. I didn't bother to work much at sanskrit, coz i was good at it. My favorite teacher there was Mrs. Kumud. She was my class teacher(the one who consoled my mom), and our science teacher.

One day i was told to read the 'amazing facts' section of the assembly. I was a bit scared to be on stage. It was one of my first stage appearances at the new school. The crowd was new and so was the fear. Anyways, i went and read the facts. My knees were shaking but were thankfully covered by the dias.

From the naughtiest in class, i became the most obedient and docile child in class. Classmates began knowing me, teachers started acknowledging me. I celebrated the small victory in my heart. It was then that i got my first crush. She was a classmate. She always praised me on small accounts. She was herself a good person. Well i think i was quite young to have a crush back then, but it just happened. I even wrote her name at the back of one of my books. One day not remembering this, i lent that book to her in class when she asked me for it. Later i realized what a blunder i had made. I just prayed that she wouldn't look and God listened to me. After 7th she went some place else. Even sanika left so i became a strong contender for the numero uno in class.

Last Year in Shimla

After 2 years of stay, i had gotten used to the place. I almost knew the whole city. It was at that time that my dad got transferred to J&K. We were unable to move with him due to security reasons. So we stayed in Shimla. Since my dad got transferred, whatever domestic help we had till then was taken away. So it was mom and me who used to do the shopping work. We had a housemaid who did the chores and cooked chapaties for the meals.

At school I got selected to play the lead role in a play. I was delighted coz the play was being directed by Sonia ma'am. The problem was that my mom was not, coz i had to stay after school to practice for the play. Earlier i had stolen money frm dad and squandered it on video games, this was the reason she dint wanna take a chance with me. However reluctantly, she granted me permission to participate.

In class i was the naughtiest kid at that time. The reason being, i had become the favorite student of almost all teachers(except at acads!). I used to get punished in a variety of ways. I remember my class teacher punishing me by telling me to sit on the inverted dust-bin and me doing it with ease. I also remember, once she threw me out of the class and there were monkeys outside. I was so scared, that she ultimately had to let me in. Even at play practice i used to get on everyone's nerves and they had to stop talking with me to get me back serious.

As it happened one day, I came from my practice. I was a little late than usual. I saw my house maid waiting outside in the lawn, instead of my mom. She told me that my mom had got hurt. I got worried and rushed in. Mom was in the living room with her ankle bandaged. She was in pain. I got teary eyed seeing her in the condition. She said that it was just a sprain and she'd get ok in a few days. That was not to be. She didn't improve, finally after 2-3 days, she went to the hospital. There she was told that she had a major hairline crack. The severity of the fracture was such that the doctor asked her to get admitted. My mom told him that she had 2 small kids at home with no one else to care. So she got back home. When i got back home, i was shocked to see the plaster. She could no longer stand or walk. She had to be in bed for most of the time. I was the man of the house, so i had to take charge.

At first it felt a bit difficult, but later i managed it. With my mom in bed, I had to shop, cook and dress up my bro and prepare his and my own lunch for school. Well watching my mom cook really paid off at that time. I still remember once i had put a bit too much salt in scrambled eggs that i had prepared. It was horrible, but we had no choice.

My dad however busy, got leave and came to shimla. He wanted to take us to J&K for a few months. For that i had to miss school for a month. But i didn't mind. We went to Kashmir. My dad was posted at place call Buniyar(I dunno why the name). It was by far the most beautiful place i had ever seen. It was surrounded by snow clad hills. River Jhelum used to flow right behind our guest house. I was delighted to be there.

I started playing table-tennis there at the age of 10. A few other activities that I undertook were, learning how to drive, fire from an AK-47 and a pistol, go for a trek sometimes, engage in late night parties with loads of fun and learning to operate the computer.

My dad and few of his colleagues had planned to go and see NHPC in Uri(a place nearby). Mom and bro went along too, but i had other plans. I asked dad to tell someone to teach me how to drive. He granted permission!! I couldn't believe it. I enjoyed 2 full hours of driving an army gypsy and loved it to the core. Well my bro saw me when he came back and he wanted to drive too. I know its hard to believe but he did learn to drive when he was 5 years old. We had to put a cushion on his seat to make the height comfortable. The seat was also made to slide forward to the max so that he reached the accelerator.

As a routine, my dad's regiment fired practice shots once in a while. We went at such a session and some senior officer suggested that the ladies also fire. I wanted to fire too. I asked dad and instantly an AK-47 was given to me. A soldier stood beside me, if something went wrong. I fired from the gun and absolutely loved it. It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard. It was back then that i wished to go into the Indian Army like my dad(quite ironical coz i never even tried for it).

Like all fairy tales, this fairy tale also came to an end. We came back to shimla, my mom had recovered by now. I was greeted by the shouts of my teachers back at school. "How can u miss a whole month!". Even Sonia ma'am was furious. I didn't have anything to say to them. I tried studying but in vain. When the results got out, I saw mine. I had 67% and had stood 11th in my class. It wasn't the most happiest feelings for my mom. She made me promise that i would be much more serious with studies from then onwards. Without thinking about its importance, i made the promise.

We were to move to srinagar now. I was excited, after being able to see Kashmir i wanted to see more of it. What and how everything happened in Srinagar....in the next post.

Growing Up(part 5) A new Chapter

Well I was promoted to the 5th standard. Since I stood second in my section, i was put in the section of so called "intelligent" people. It was difficult coz the competition was tough. For the first time in my short life, i felt the heat of being a part of the rat race. Our teachers were also changed. The new ones were supposed to be better, but i liked only a few.

I still remember when i met my favorite teacher of all time, Miss Sonia. She was supposed to be our new english teacher. As it happened, we were enjoying a break frm the previous class and thought since there was no english teacher, the period was free. But in comes a beautiful lady with a purse on her shoulder. She didn't look like a teacher, but soon we found out what she was. She told us to open our books and one of was to read a passage. Incidentally the "breakfast" came up and the reader pronounced it like "break-faaast". It wasn't new to us, but the teacher was outraged. She made the whole class stand one by one and pronounce the word. Well to my surprise i was the first one to give her the correct pronunciation. Soon she became our class-teacher and began knowing us better.

I was the most attentive student in the class and used to answer all the questions. But when it came to tests, i failed to deliver. However i managed to score nicely in english. Sonia ma'am got impressed and began knowing me better. She knew i loved reading in class. She encouraged me to participate in my first ever inter-school competition. I was made to train under her for about 5 months to recite a poem! Eventually i didn't get any prize apart frm the participation certificate, but i was told that i was a good speaker.

The teacher whom i didn't like at all was our hindi teacher. She was always favoring a particular lot of students, and she hated me. Due to me participation in various events in school, the principal also got to know me better. I was quite happy with my extra-curricular but my acads were quite ordinary. But i didn't care.

My bro had grown bigger and was big enough to play cricket with me. We loved playing cricket in the evening. Our neighbor though was a bit of trouble for us. He was my class-mate, his name was Vaibhav. He was the most selfish and arrogant chap i had ever met. He had a dog who used to shit in our garden. It was horrible but i never fought with him, one of the reasons being, he was stronger, and the other being my mother. She was an ideal woman with high principles.

I however fell into the wrong company and started wasting my time. I stopped studying seriously. This seriously affected my acads. I also started eating flavored supari. I know it was really outrageous of me. But hey, who doesnt make mistakes? I started stealing from my father. I used to play video games at the parlor with the money. Soon my father found out and gave me what i deserved(u know what). With a bit of determination, i overcame the tendency to steal.

Another year went by and an eventful year still lay ahead of me. This was the longest we had stayed at one place. My dad got transferred to Kashmir. Hence my mom couldn't join him, coz families werent allowed there. So we were to stay in Shimla for one more year.

Growing Up(part 4) First stay in Shimla

We were supposed to move to shimla, and boy was i delighted. Although it was my second stay at a hill station, wellington was no match for it. Shimla was beautiful. Surrounded by mountains on every side, it is never too hot there. A piece of information, there are no fans in the houses there. They aren't needed.

So we moved to shimla and I was supposed to go to a school called the Chapslee School(I know, sounds funny). I was admitted to the 4th standard having completed my 3rd in nasirabad. The school was weirdly constructed. It had small classrooms with students swarming them. It had one basketball court which served as the assembly ground. The school was up to class 6th. The senior school was located somewhat far from the place.

At first i didn't like the school much. Our class teacher Mrs Anita was a nice person. Always smiling and making us smile, but when she was furious, there was no stopping her. My class had three sections and i was in the 'B' section. The class was full of people with diverse attitude.

The topper of the class Swati was a quiet person. She seldom talked and she smiled like once a year. Well as i learned later, her mother had passed away a few years ago. It was reason enough to be such a reserved person. I always tried to beat her at academics, but was always second.

Then there were my friends, Sumeet, Navneet, Aditya etc. All had different and unique accents. Aditya was the clown of the class. Always troubling the teacher. Sumeet and Navneet were serious students, and close frnds of mine. Then there was the ghost of the class, Abida Shah. She was beautiful frm her looks. But the prob with the lady was that she couldnt speak much. Whenever asked a question, she would just give the teacher a troubled look, as if saying "Why the heck did you choose me to answer?!". Then there was Bhawna. She was plump and had a sweet smile. She used to go red very easily.

Our first house was a temporary one. We then were alloted a house nearer to my school and nearer to the city. I then started walking to school instead of taking the bus. It was then that I got a book for standing 2nd in class. It was a story book, probably my first. I have loved fantasy ever since.

Shimla was full of monkeys. Wherever you go, you'll definitely find monkeys to trouble you. At our second house, the scenario was so "monkifficult" that the monkeys used to come inside through the open balcony sometimes and take there favorite food and go! i was afraid of them. I thought they were mindless creatures who'd bite if we looked at them. Our neighbors at the new house were a touch more difficult than the monkeys. The problem was that the houses were located one below the other, and we were at the top floor. The aunt who lived below us claimed that the noises of our footsteps disturbed her!! It was the most outrageous allegation I'd ever heard. She used to hit her ceiling whenever she wanted us to quiet down. In reply we used to stomp the floor harder and make her mad(hahaha).

A year passed by. I was to go to class 5th and we were told that mixing of sections was to take place. I was taken aback. That meant I had to make frnds all over again. That wasn't a problem for me, but i'd miss my old companions.

Growing Up(part 3) Rajasthan Here I come!

My dad was transferred to a place called Nasirabad in Rajasthan. I was quite excited about it. I had read about rajasthan being a desert in my books, and i was just gonna be able to see what a real desert looks like. Another important development was that my little bro was gonna join the school for the first time.

Me and my bro were admitted to the Army School Nasirabad. The first day at school was really great. All teachers acknowledged my presence and thought that i was really intelligent. This was all courtesy my dad(who made me learn all those tables!). My dad is very good at maths, and hence he wanted me to be good at it too. I tried to live up to his expectations, but always failed. The one thing about myself i discovered then was i never left trying. The school was good, i made new frnds and impressed all teachers. The maths teacher was a bit strict and hard to please, however.

I had a frnd named Satinder. In the first few days of my stay, I had a fist fight with him, right in front of the class. He was to be my best frnd in the following days to come. Apart frm him, there were two groups of people. One with Angad as the leader, he was the spoilt son of one of our regiments senior officers. The other with a few of my neighbors in it. Angad always showed off a bit more than required. I also remember getting in duels with him on several occasions. I admit, he was stronger and used to take me down every single time. So i usually stayed with the other group.

At school we played 'maram piti' with the cosco ball. Another game which was favorite was leg cricket. We also used to have many races. The best part was plucking fruit frm the trees in the compound of the school. There i played my first football match. And it was there that my academics rose to a new level. I was at the top of the class nearly every time.

After school I used to play various games. All my neighbors' kids were almost my age, so it was fun. I remember i started watching a bit of television at that time. The first thing i watched was probably ODI cricket. My mother is huge fan of cricket and so am I. My first movie was Mithun Da's "disco dancer". I loved the movie to the core. It was really a sweet movie which i will cherish forever.

It was the movie which inspired me to take up dancing and singing. I didn't take any lessons for these. I was a natural dancer and a decent singer. My mom always encouraged my by saying that i was good at both, but who wouldn't do that? I think i still have the recording of my singing to this day.

In the few months that we stayed over there, we toured rajasthan. We went to various places of sightseeing, like Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Mount Abu. I loved udaipur for its lakes. I was thrilled at the thought of boating in a lake. Mount abu was awesome too. I saw my first movie in a movie hall there. The movie was "Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge". Well the movie was really great, and the movie hall was a different experience.

In the last few days of our stay there, my mother fell seriously ill. I don't exactly remember what it was, obviously my dad wouldn't have told me. She was admitted to a hospital. But soon it was time to leave and she was fine by then. I learned that we were to go to shimla. I was thrilled beyond imagination. I had always heard about shimla, the queen of hills and now, i was going there to stay!

Growing Up(part 2) - A year in Tamil Nadu.

After about one and a half years in Assam, my dad got transfered to Wellington. Not the one in New Zealand, but the one near Ootie in Tamil Nadu.

I was admitted to 'Holy Innocent High School', the most reputed school at the place. My first day at school was far from usual. I saw that about 80% of the class population was communicating in english, a language totally foreign to me. Also we weren't supposed to shout at the recess bell. Well, that i discovered the hard way. I asked my mom to get my school changed, coz i thought i cudn't survive that. But my mom told me, if others cud do it, so cud i. And so i tried to adjust at the school. My first frnd at wellington was also a girl. I don't exactly remember her name, but her house was a floor below ours.

I had other frnds too, but they were all elder to me. We had fun, we teased dogs, and made them chase us. We played badminton and cricket. And the pony riding school was the icing on the cake.
I joined my first(and last) karate classes there. However to my instructors disappointment, i was not at all good at it. I dint even climb one belt in a whole session! I discovered one of my own qualities back then, showing absolutely no interest in something i wasn't good at. Which was going to change later on.

I had another frnd(female again). Her name was Aparna. She wasnt exactly my neighbor, but she was my classmate and dint live far frm my house. We were quite close to being best frnds. One of my close frnds apart frm the ones stated was Aditya. I remember his name coz we were like brothers. Nothing cud separate us. We had the same interests, the same thinking and we liked each others company. He was the first person i recall having called my best frnd.

Wellington as a place was beautiful. It is a hill station and is in the vicinity of Ootacamund(ootie for short). We went to ootie sometimes, it was fun. We also visited Chennai, Mysore and Kanyakumari. A year passed and dad got transferred elsewhere. I had mixed feelings when we left. I was happy to leave my school finally! But had to part with some good frnds too.

Growing up(part 1)

I grew up in various cities and towns across India. Jammu was my place of birth, after that we went to Deolali where i did my nursery schooling. As my mom tells me, I was very talkative as a small child. I learned to talk pretty fast, in fact it was almost wen i was one and a half year old that i could speak fluently. I also hear now that i used to chat wid all the people that came to the house, milkman, paperwala, sabziwala etc. They all used to ask me, which class are u in, and i used to reply wid innocence of a kid "abhi main chhota hoon na, jab main aur bada ho jaoonga tab school jaoonga" (lemme grow up first, then i'll go to school).

I was just shy of 3 years when i went to nursery. I joined the school in december, and the session was to be over by march. The principal told my parents to bring me next year, but my dad wont agree. And so i was admitted to class nursery of Army School Deolali, which i completed in 3 months. As a child i was normal and cried heavily on my first day at school, when my mom and dad left me there.

Mom was always nice to me and i wud always tell her everything. Dad was a bit stringent about manners and stuff, being in the army.

My first friend was a girl(quite ironical, coz i hav few female frnds now). Her name was Mridul and we were the best of frnds at the age of two. Later my dad got posted in Assam, someplace called Misambari(sounds horrible) and we had to part.

At army school misambari, i started going to the kindergarten. The place was a bit disturbed due to naxalite stuff, so dad was almost always away. Mom was a bit scared to live alone, so she wud often socialize wid the neighbors. There i made my second frnd(female again). Her name was Akila. We used to play and go to school together. Once she thought of a prank and roped me into it too. As it happened, her mom along wid my mom were sitting in the living room. We were playing in the bedroom. Suddenly she started applying my mom's lipstick. As a child, i had no idea what it was, so she encouraged me to put some on too. And by the end of it, i had ruined my mom's 'precious' lipstick and got a good scolding for that. I learned not to trust girls frm a very early age.

Assam was beautiful. The problem was, it rained too heavily there and there were lot of snakes. One could easily see a snake on the road while walking. I learned to ride the bicycle at that place. It was there that my little bro came into this world. I was delighted to have a little brother. He was so cute and i was determined to take good care of him. My dad named him Mayank after the Moon. I was finally relieved of having frnds to play coz i had got my own playmate!

It's a Boy!

It was cold december night in Jammu(India) in the year 1987, when the weight on the surface of mother earth increased by a few ounces. I came into the world. I was born in a normal middle- class family. My father a captain in the indian army and my mother a home-maker, i increased their happiness manyfold. Immediately after i was born, my father had to leave for routine duty, so my paternal grand-parents decided to come over and live with me.

When my grandfather first saw me, he was shocked. He said "Mera pota kaala nahi ho sakta" meaning "my grandson's complexion cant be wheatish". As i learned later, my grand parents weren't much into helping my mom raise me. They just wanted to create trouble for my mom. And i have no shame in saying that my grandmother hated my mom. She was envious of her. Maybe because my mom was beautiful, caring and loving. My maternal grandparents on the other hand were probably the happiest persons in the world when they saw me. They loved me more than anyone else but my mother.

My mother was a beautiful lady. She is beautiful even now and will be forever. But when i look at her earlier photographs, i certainly think even Aishwarya and Sushmita would have been no match for my mom if she had gone into the movies. She was obviously very happy to have me in her arms, cuddling and caring for me.

As i hear now, since i was born in the night, i was nocturnal from the beginning. I made it very troublesome for my mom, since she had to stay awake to make sure that i slept properly. I also hear that i used to sleep instantly when she kept her hands on my ears, which usually is the trait of a goat. So i was called a "memna" (a goat's young one).