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.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
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.
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.
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