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.