Notebook
A short boy, standing in the assembly of the Independence day celebration functions. The flag is hoisted, the rest of the formalities done, the various speeches delivered, it was now time for the prize distribution function where the prize winners in the various competitions conducted with regard to the day, would be receiving their prizes. The list of the winners in the various was being announced, while the boy was lost in his own thoughts. A part of him lost thinking wish my name also is called up now, so that I can go and get a prize too.. No matter what it is, it just doesn’t matter. It was the pride of winning that, he wanted or though he dint know it, that was what it was in a way.
His thoughts raced back to his pre-primary classes where during the various celebrations only the prize winners went down to the assembly while the others watched on the proceedings from their class itself. There was a place, rather a room which was the exit from the nursery section leading directly to the quadrangle, where the assembly took place. He remembered those times when he saw others walk through there while he along with others stood there besides one of the windows from where he could have a clear view of the assembly, or rather when everybody sat down once the formal function was done. Even back then it was the same thought that crossed his mind, wish his name would be called up so that he could go to the stage to receive the honours…
The funny fact was that he very was aware that he had to win the competitions in order for his name to be called, and to win he had to compete in the competitions, which he never did. Yet the childish part of him always thought one day his name would certainly be called out…
To think it would really happen a few years later was quite unbelievable and now, years later he still found it unbelievable to take it in.
This series is all about his journey in the field of art describing the various things that happened with him, trivial most of the times, yet certainly a step towards the unknown dream.. His realization of the fact that, it was all about learning, rather appreciating the art..
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Enter your password to view comments.
Why did thou hath to return, back to me,
When I was, but better in thy memories..
For all those years I was recovering, healing
myself, slowly but steadily, telling myself
that whatever happened was bound to be
and that thou were gone forth good.
The journey never for once seemed to be
a piece of cake, for with every thing around,
wherever I went, there was a memory stuck
with thee, that kept reminding me of thee..
The period of transition indeed grew
tougher than i thought it would, but
as time went by I learnt I had to face it,
for it would kill me steadily if I failed to.
I knew it was time to open up, time to let
thee out of my thoughts forever, but that
was easier said than done, for even if my
mind would, my heart would never do…
Gradually I began to move on converting
those memories, taking every thought of
thee as a happy moment, burying those
others deep down, in the depths of my heart.
Why now, of all times, did thou hath to find
a reason to return, to come back, when, finally
I had settled myself leaving behind the past,
accepting present, the way it came by..
Why did thou hath to return, back to me,
When I was but, better in thy memories..
– Nocturnal poet
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Amongst the crowd of people, all set for the day
ahead, thou was lost or so thee seemed to be.
That was when I saw thee, in thine state of
confusion, nervousness playing in thy eyes.
I could not take my eyes of thee, and
as I stood there transfixed, I found thine
eyes speaking of thy purity, thy expression
describing thee, I was lost in thy grace..
And when it finally happened that thou
chanced to glance at me, I felt like a thief
caught red handed, robbing, and judged
guilty of having committed a sin..
It all seemed to happen within moments,
when thou found what thee were searching
for all the while and it felt a eternity as thee
finally got ready, setting thyself to leave.
Even an hour later, after thou had left,
I was still lost in thy thoughts, and it felt
as though only moments back, I had
first seen thou, amongst the crowd..
And as I was thinking of it, suddenly the bright
shining sun seemed to be covered by the clouds,
emerging out of nowhere, and it started pouring,
completely catching me unaware, drenching me.
I started walking back, enjoying the rain descending
upon me, happily recalling the beautiful incident, when
somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard a voice,
thou shalt never forget her, for thou art in love..
-Nocturnal poet
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Year 02-03
I believe this was one of my best years at Madava Kripa, even when I was in there it was certainly a fun filled year, beautifully wrapped with all the excitement and a whole wide range of activities to be looked upon. A bunch of my most memorable moments at the school were born in this year, so in spite of this post being held back due to a lot of reasons, let me try to share the same things that this year showed me.
Solomon teacher was our class teacher for the year. She was a special teacher, and when I say special it was for many reasons. She handled English and social studies for us. She used to conduct a test after each lesson and the best thing about it was that, it would always comprise just fill in the blanks, match the following, and such other one mark questions. It always saved the trouble of reading pages long question and answers.
In English, after each poem was dealt with, while writing notes, we were required to be drawing a scene which depicted something from the poem, maybe a overall picture if it was a poem concerning something in general, or a scene or line if it was some kind of story, and we would be given marks out of ten for it. It would always be an achievement for me when I used to get 9 on the average for it, and I would be on cloud 9 on the occasions when I got 10 on 10. It was the same case in social where we were required to maintain a map drawing book, and again I was happy to be getting 9 or 9.5 usually.
Among other things, everyday after the prayers, one of us was required to read news and another was supposed to read a thought. I still remember those two occasions when it was my turn to read news, that after the normal few news items, I had spoken of those things that happened in our immediate surroundings. It was the time when signals were just installed in Manipal, and the time when they no longer worked!! My headlines went something like, Signals a waste investment in Manipal, or something like that, and I had received a merit for it. Another proud moment, among the many in that year…
For the first time in my life I heard of the concept of Friendship week, and it was because we celebrated it. It was usually in the afternoon sessions that we were indulged in these activities and I still remember that particular afternoon, when we made bookmarks for our friends. Our teacher provided us with a piece of nicely cut red colored ribbon which we used for our bookmark. We were required to give it to any of our friends, and I remember receiving one, and I am very much happy to say that I still have it with me. On the last day of the week, she had asked us to call our friends home and give them some snacks and anything else. I usually played in the evening and so I had no problem gathering friends. There were about twenty of us, and after a round of play, we enjoyed the snacks I had got along with other things. Back then it didn’t mean much, but thinking of it now, it really is a wonderful feeling to be with friends, enjoying as if there is nothing else more wonderful in this world….
We has three rows in our class, and usually whatever competition was conducted as a group, it would be between the three rows, which were named love, peace and joy. My row was “Love”, and like elsewhere, it was LOVE, our row, that won in most of the competitions. Once we had a kite flying competition, wherein each row was required to prepare a kite and then fly it during out P.T hour. Our kite was both the most beautiful and the one the touched the maximum heights. The other time that we worked together on something was, when we were required to prepare a model of, “The turtle beach”, which was a story of a turtle, which comes to the shore, to lay down its eggs. It faces a lot of difficulties on its way, which included stumbling through the bricks and other materials lying around, of a building being constructed nearby. But in the end it succeeds to lay its eggs safely, but dies in the process. It was really fun doing it, but it was more fun when children from 1st and 2nd standard came in a line, to see it and each group narrated the story of the turtle to them. Again we won it.
As I said above we received a merit for our good deeds and it goes without saying that we received a demerit for our misdeeds. On earning ten merits we got a silver star, and on earning five silver stars or twenty merits, we got a golden star. It was a very proud moment for every student to receive a star. At the end of the year, she had in fact presented us with those golden stars that we had earned. Its a pity to say that I misplaced it sometime ago, but those were really hard earned moments of happiness within those stars…
Once it so happened that our maths teacher was on leave and the class was in chaos, of course. At that time our class teacher was taking class for students of seventh standard, which was situated in the ground floor, unlike ours, which was in the first floor. She had asked a girl to make us do some work, and give her names of those who misbehaved, so that she could deal with them. It so happened that, we were having fun and that girl just for fun wrote my name as well as another guy’s name, and guess what? A few moments later the teacher comes to inspect the class!! There you go.. no excuses from her to anybody, so off we go. We had to sit in her class(seventh standard) and listen to her lecture, which happened to be the causes and results of the battle of Panipat. So for no fault of ours, we simply got punished…
Within no time we reach the end of the year, a year full of excitement, and memories that will be cherished through out. The various things that we did was mostly just for fun, back then, but now they really have paved the way for us to learn a lot things… Actually there were many more things that were a part of the year, but to pressurize my mind too much on those things would simply result in activating my tear glands. It might seem childish or whatever, but the very simple reason for it being those time will never come back, and that, they were among the best…..
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
It all began at a meeting which was held in connection with an art exhibition that was supposed to take place very soon. Usually whenever we plan to conduct an exhibition, all the participants meet up, decide on the various things, such as when should it be held, the theme for the exhibition if any, the size of the canvas, whether uniform size or any size of the participants choice, number of works, the amount which might be required to be contributed by each participant, and such other things. I had participated in four group shows and in most of them I wasn’t indulged in any responsible work as such, mainly coz I was very young. Yet I helped in whatever I could. So my activity in the meetings would mostly have been passive until now, but this time it was no longer so. I had got into college, so it was time i started taking on the responsibilities too.
Our sir, who helped us with most of the things said that this time, we had to do everything by ourselves, and he would just guide us whenever needed. Once most of the things were decided, it was time that we decided on invitation. We had built up a reputation of bringing out a unique invitation for each exhibition, so that was one of the most important task. Sir suggested that we would design it ourselves and would get it printed at Bangalore, coz the people in our place did the same. They would get the design and layout from us, go to blore, get it done and deliver it to us. We could save a lot on it and hence decided that we would do it that way. Now it was the question of who would do it, who would handle the responsibility. I thought this would be a right time for me to get work done by me, so I volunteered to do it. It was decided that I would be given the design and all I had to do was get it printed at a decided printers, and get it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I thought the same when I took it up, but it turned out that it was more complicated than it initially looked.
The other arrangements began and I did whatever I could. Finally, the design was handed over to me along with the proof print or whatever its called, to show how the print looked like. It was like I was given the design today and I was supposed to leave tomorrow night, reach the next morning, get the work done, catch a bus back the same day and be back the next morning. The materials reached me, but i still didn’t know where I was to be going!! Sounds ridiculous right? But that was how it was. I was told I would be given a person’s no. All i had to do would be call him, and he would arrange for the work to be done. But surprise!! I get a number of a person, who is just an artist in blore, who might be knowing such people. I realized how things were, when it came to reality.I just used to sit back and see how things were done, but now when it came to me, i realized how things could really be.
I called up one of my friend who stayed at blore and asked him if he knew any printers personally. Like it was necessary coz I just couldn’t walk in to some press and ask for the job to be done. He said he personally hadn’t got any works printed, but he had a few friends who did and told would check on them and let me know. It was in the evening when I called him, and he told there was a possibility that they might have left too!! Man!! What was i supposed to do if they had left? But thankfully, he called me back soon saying there were two places nearby to where he worked, and his friend knew those places. I thanked him and hung up.
I have one of my uncles staying at blore and initially I hadn’t wanted to disturb him, but now I thought it was best that I took his help. And guess what? he knew a person, who was working at a graphics shop, moreover his work place was situated nearby to my uncle’s factory. Uuf!! I sighed relief…
I left the following night, reached the next morning as scheduled. Reached a bit late, so I only had enough time to shower, freshen. I changed into new clothes and left along with my uncle. We had breakfast at a hotel on the way. I had masala dosa, and when one is famished it really feels good to be eating 😉 He had to open the factory on time, so we had to hurry, but we managed to reach in time. Once we settled down, he called up the concerned person and he said he would come in about an hour. He went about with his work, while I read the news paper. Then he took me around the factory, and it was perfectly as I remembered it from my last visit. When we went back to his office, the person had come. So it was work time. My uncle explained him about my needs, and asked for a rough price. He said he would have to check out on that and so would let us know in a little while. He took the materials to check them out. He called back in a little while saying it would cost this much. The cost was readily acceptable for us, but the problem was time. He said he could give it no earlier than in three days. Not again!! We said it was urgent and that I had come solely for that purpose. So he said if the cards would not have to be punched he would give them the following day. But again that was unacceptable, firstly coz punching those holes would be another work for us, and second, we couldn’t afford to wait. But it was election time and most of the press was engaged in printing ads, so obviously there was no place for a thousand prints.
I then decided that we would check out the person whose contact no I was given and it so happened that he was out of place that day. I couldn’t just help thinking if I could finish off the work in that day. But then he said we would have to go to the place and he would speak to them. Thank god 🙂 It was in Chamarapet, and even though my uncle had an expert knowledge of the roads around, we required a little while to reach and it was twelve thirty in the noon when we reached the place, Lakshmi Mudranalaya. We were waiting outside, while I looked around the place. It seemed to be a high level press which printed and published books in large quantities.I wondered if they would accept our order. After a few minutes of wait, which seemed like hours, we were sitting in front of the owner there. We placed our requirements and agreed to it. He said he could not arrange for the cards to be punched but he could arrange it to be delivered by the evening. WOW!! I was really glad it was finally into processing. He asked me to tell everything to the designers and I did the same, and it was set. He did the calculations and it came up to 12.5k and odd.. With a few words from the no I had obtained, it was settled to 11.5k. I paid it, and we returned back to the factory. Now the thing that worried me was, whether it was possible to get it by evening. From a previous experience I knew that once printed they were required to be properly dried, or else it would simply be a mess. But I was rest assured coz, he had said we would get it by evening.
We had lunch in some hotel. I had a kulcha and some gravy. It was a peaceful lunch, with the major part of the tension got over. After lunch, went back to the factory and were just chatting. We had a tea along with another colleague of his, whom I knew very well. She suggested that in the evening once everything was done with, we go to pizza hut and have a pizza.
In the evening we went home, watched TV for a while, then as suggested by his colleague, we went to pizza hut. Had a pizza, and I even had ebony and ivory, actually the only time I had it. By then it was time to collect the invitation. We went to the place in my uncle’s scooter and by the time we reached there it had already become dark. The package was there waiting for us. Now the problem suddenly came out of nowhere. How to carry it? I tried lifting it and my goodness it was so damn heavy. It weighed more than 50kg and that would be really tough to carry. We decided we would take it in the scooter itself and I carried it and all the way back home, I had it on my lap. The journey back never seemed to end at all.. My back was slowly starting to ache, but thankfully I was able to manage. My uncle’s house is in the first floor and as we had a lot of time until my bus was due, we carried the package all the way up. Guess it was total madness to be doing that, but we did it. For the first time I saw the invitations, it looked good. Gave a copy to uncle, and just sat back to relax…
As we both were filled with the food we had earlier on, we skipped dinner. Again we had to take the package down. This time in addition to that, there was my bag too. I didn’t know how I would manage, but I somehow did. But I really wonder how he managed. With that package it would have really been a tough ride for him. We went to some fresh juice centre and I had an orange juice. Had got a return ticket earlier in the day, so just had to wait for the bus. It was drizzling slightly. I hoped it wouldn’t rain. Thankfully it didn’t. But there was a little confusion with the bus. Initially we thought it would stop at one place but when it came, there was another bus and so it stopped a little ahead. He got the package loaded, while I got into the bus and bid him adieu. I really wished I could thank him profusely, but well taken into consideration my shy nature, even if I stood in front of him to do it, words wouldn’t have come out. So the thought remained only as a thought, as I slowly drifted to sleep, thus ending the long tiresome day.
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Walking by the sands of time,
I found a pebble, so smooth,
so cool and lustrous, that I,
immediately was attracted.
I picked it up, pocketing it
and continued my journey,
now being no longer alone..
As time passed by, the pebble
became my companion, my mate,
as I started sharing myself with it
feeling the joys of sharing myself..
It knew when I was sad or happy,
jubilant or depressed. It always
inspired me to achieve something
new, something better, each day,
each moment, that kept me going.
Soon, I started taking it for granted,
I went along my way, not bothering
once about its feelings nor how it felt.
I lost track on my companion, my mate.
Having once handled it with care,
I was now careless with it. Having
once loved it the way it was, I now
stared finding faults in things it did..
But towards the end of the day,
I always cared for it, forgetting
what happened or what not,
looking out for a fresh start..
Yet, I failed to realise that,
each time i hurt it, I had left a
scratch on its smooth surface,
a scar etched, a reminder forever.
An now when I finally am seeing,
the whole surface which once
reflected my image, my thoughts,
my feelings, was now shattered..
I decided that I no longer deserved it
and left it back in the sands of time..
hoping it would find back, its lustre and lost image,
hoping it would find a better companion next time.
-Nocturnal poet
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Amidst the crowd of people,
strangers and acquaints alike,
I felt like a joker, who reflected
happiness, with a heavy heart.
I realized the difficulty they
go through, to entertain people,
to bring out a smile on others face,
while their heart wept deep within.
I was bothered if the mask of happiness
would fall, revealing my true self, rather,
I found that the masked happiness goes
undetectable, the crowd find it amusing.
The silent tear was never recognised,
it kept falling, soaking the throbbing
heart while none bothered to stop it,
not even thee…
I felt happy for thee, but thou never
bothered to notice my presence..
I felt like a stranger blocking thy
way and hence I just walked away.
I concede the fact that I did hurt thee.
I dint mean to, but on feeling those tears
roll down thy eyes, I cried more than thee,
in my heart, coz I always cared for thee..
-Nocturnal poet
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Past is gone, never to come back,
leaving behind happiness, sorrow,
pains and gains, alike. It goes by,
only to be recalled as a memory.
On bothering to notice, we find its only
etching its effects on the sand of time.
As said, everything will have two outlooks,
a positive and another negative. Its better
to learn from the negative part and also,
console ourselves through the positive.
A pessimist will be sad to find the past gone,
those happy moments passed away,
and thus by sulking over the lost he,
tends to forget he left behind the pain.
An optimist on the other hand will be glad,
that past events are not written on a stone,
coz what is inscribed on a stone is rather
difficult to be erased, to be forgotten…
So lets be optimistic in our approach,
looking forward for a happy today
and a wonderful tomorrow…
-Nocturnal poet
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Sitting out in the terrace, I notice that the
clouds have taken over the starry sky, its
thundering, its lightning, but still the rains
for which I am waiting, are yet to be seen.
Slowly I feel a drop of water on my hand
and realise its started to rain. With those
drops of water, my thoughts drifted back
to that cup of coffee, one similar evening.
It was a lovely evening, with everything
prefect about it. The sun was wrapped
cozily, behind the darkest of the clouds,
lousy enough to shower light occasionally.
I was lost in the tune being weaved
by the chirping of the birds, as they
returned back, calling it a day. And
the rustling of the leaves, it created.
I was woken up from the lost world,
brought back into the reality when,
I heard my cell chirping, YOU AND
I, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD..
I got ready but no sooner did we leave,
it started to rain. Amidst the pattering
rain, I took her to her favourite place,
our favourite place, cafe coffee.
Having ordered our cup of coffee,
we sat back trying to dry ourselves.
The Ac gave a chilling effect but the
coffee contrasted it with its warmth.
We spoke about this and that,
not that it meant anything but
we were speaking something,
which meant we were together.
Every sip of coffee was enjoyed,
every moment, cherished. It was
difficult to say what was stronger,
was it the chill in the air, or love..
All that starts tends to end, so was
with that wonderful evening, With
the cup of coffee now empty and
having paid the bill, we walked out.
The rain had subsided slightly,
but it was still drizzling lightly.
I lifted my face to look at her,
when I heard my phone ringing..
YOU AND I, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD,
GREEN GRASS, BLUE SKIES, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD.
YOU, AND I, WINDING LANES, AS STREAMS GO BY,
YOU AND I, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD,
YOU AND I, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD.
I notice, I am all alone, my fone,
still ringing. Its no longer raining,
but I am drenched, the memory
still buzzing around in my mind..
That cup of coffee, one evening..
– Nocturnal poet
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I have got this habit of studying in front of the PC and I was just updating my status at twitter when that thought led me to this.. Of course I wrote it only after I stopped reading but that was the initial thought provocation..
At last the wait has ended,
all the stress and tension rid.
I am back home all fully fresh,
having just finished my exam.
I am on a break from the study stuff
an I decide on picking a book, a novel.
Its not that I don’t read otherwise,
but now I got a licence to go at it.
One book to relax from another?
Weird ain’t it? Well, yeah that’s me..
I look at my shelf revealing a bundle of books,
books, waiting to be explored, to be read.
I face confusion with the choice,
finally picking up one that looks good.
I make way through the initial pages,
struggling to make sense of what’s written,
what’s happening. A part here, a part there,
which is leading me nowhere.
Before I get a doubt of my choice,
I see a hint of light in it, a story
blooming from the very same things,
which didn’t make sense a few pages ago.
Time flies by yet I am glued to the book,
I find myself reading furiously, when,
I hear somebody calling out for lunch.
But oye, I just had my breakfast moments ago!
The story is now running at full pace,
and taking new twists as pages unfold.
But I have to stop in front of a signal,
signal being breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Within a few days I am at the end,
savouring the depth of the story,
the skill involved and marvelling
the composition and the writing.
Its done finally and the novel being explored,
is set to return to its rest place – my shelf.
While I am all ready for another novel, yet
another initial nonsense to final thriller journey.
-Nocturnal poet
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Year 01-02
Another year at the old building, third in fact. I had three years at the old building only. Maybe that’s the reason I liked it a lot. Its a pity that its not there anymore. It is brought down to give way for a new building and the one we used to call new building has now become old..
We had Mrs. Vijayalaxmi as our class teacher for the year. We had a lesson in English titled, “The pie and the tramp”. The story goes somewhat like this – It was a story of two tramps, who are going through tough times and they can’t even beg to live as begging is forbidden in their place and they were already arrested a few times for begging. The play begins with them, sitting in the street, sharing their woes, when they hear a couple in a nearby house, speaking. The husband wants his wife to give the pie to a person he sends and when she asks how she would know the person who claimed the pie was genuine or not, they settle on the idea that the person coming to collect the pie has to kiss her hand. As soon as the husband goes out the two tramps who were over hearing the conversation decide to bring their hunger to an end by getting the pie. One of them goes and gets it the way the genuine person was intended to and they enjoy the pie thus fooling the couple…
We had enacted the play and I was one of the tramp. I still remember the first scene wherein I was to be looking glum but I was smiling.. I remember our teacher saying you shouldn’t be smiling. Change your expression… We spent two classes one fine afternoon enacting it and I believe we did a good job. Was a very memorable moment performing in front of the class..
The Magnetic field theory:
Every morning, as we used to reach early to the school we had about an hour before classes started and so we used to chit-chat sitting on the steps outside the class or else just roaming here and there. Once it so happened that one of us had got a pair of magnet and was just playing with it when someone said there was magnetic substance in the soil. We found quite a lot of small particles and by chance one of us found some iron nail. That inspired us to search more junk and soon we were on a junk search and every morning we searched with around our class and nearby, with a magnet to see what we would find. Within about a week or so we found a plastic full of rusted nails, pieces of iron etc, etc.. We had planned to give it to the junkyard and share whatever we got from it. We had kept it in the cupboard only to forget it. During exam time we remembered it but then we decided we would take it on the result day. Again it was forgotten only to be remembered when we got to know that it was thrown out, the next year…
Yet another year passed within no time.. It was a sad moment to be leaving.. One thing was that I was leaving behind my favourite part of the school, the old building block and also our class teacher was leaving the school…But then there was a new year to look forward to, new adventures to be faced..
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I donno whats got me writing this. I was reading something and all of a sudden out of no where I just felt like writing about coffee and as a result, out came this poem, a cup of coffee and its journey into me… Am not a poet so bear with the mistakes, if any.
I have a free hour, I can’t wait to get going.
I am out as soon as the bell rings permitting me out.
I walk down to my favourite place,
And in a few minutes I am sitting at a cafe,
having ordered my coffee, waiting dearly for it.
After a small wait it is ready n willing to be fetched.
I lift the cup to savour the aroma it emits,
inviting me to the world of cafe which I gladly accept.
Following the aroma I enter deep down into an alley,
an alley leading to a different world.
I sip in a ml of the piping hot coffee
and it gives me a sense of eternity..
I am lost in a whole new world,
where time is outbound.
After long minutes which seemed like a few
moments, the piping hot coffee, now normal,
It holds only a little of what it once did and is
all set to get to its final destination- the bin.
I am all set for another cup of coffee,
yet another journey into eternity..
-Nocturnal poet
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
It is really an awesome feeling to be recalling all the old memories and it just takes you deeper and deeper into it, bringing out new dimensions to the already fixed memory. I was completely blank when I started with this series but now the images are clearing…
Year 99-2000
We had Janet teacher as our class teacher. I still remember her birthday ka din, when we had all planned to wish her and give her a surprise. We had prepared a card for her and kept it on the table. But when the period started and she dint come, everything went out of way. Soon everybody in the class started shouting and it was like a market place come alive. She came about fifteen to twenty minutes late and she was all fumed up while coming as the noise created by our class could have been heard until the staff room. We could see her coming down the corridor. Seeing her temper we got scared and took back the card kept on the table, rubbed the happy birthday written on the board.. As soon as she got in everybody got a solid lecture!! We planned to surprise her.. But she gave us one… Her voice had the ability to keep anybody listening and the power to induce fear to anybody who was being shouted at. Actually even if you weren’t the one being shouted at, you felt the fear going down your veins..
The moment every student feared in her class would be when our answer books were given back after a test was conducted. One never knew which way she attacked. Once a few days after a class test, she called a few students and got all the books brought to class from the staff room. Once she came to the class she asked everybody to stand up. We had to catch our books as she threw it from the table.. It was a moment when the student who hadn’t done well just knew what he was going to face… In fact, hearing her, you would get a doubt about your performance, even if you thought you were sure about it a moment ago. But then she always appreciated those who did well. I guess that was one reason she never lost her temper at me. If you were good, she would be gentle with you, else you just had it…
Annanu madida galipata
bannada haleya galipata
neeliya banali teluta sundara
balangoshiya nanna pata
Bidirina bettiya galipata
bedarada bettada galipata…
…dharava jaggi
dhooradi baggi
balangoshiya nanna pata
It was the first poem we learnt and I used to keep telling it very often. Soon our test arrived and we had to write the poem by heart and the practice was the teacher used to write the questions on the board and we wrote the answers in our answer book. Of all things, I failed to notice the question on the poem. I donno how I missed it, but I dint notice it and realised it only after I had submitted my paper. I got B+ in that particular test as I hadn’t written the poem. After that incident I always watch out for the question on poem first. Its been about 9 years now, but I still remember a little of the poem as a memory of the incident…
Year 2000-01
Padmavathi teacher was our class teacher. She was a very stern teacher and just her presence kept a class under pin drop silence. She had squint eyes and that increased to her sternness coz one never knew where she was seeing. You thought she was seeing the other way but oh! no.. she was looking at you. From three years I was watchful enough to escape from her but escaping from your class teacher was going to be a tough job… Anyways there was also the gentle side of her. She had a very good practice of teaching poems. She took up Kannada and since we had to by heart poems, before starting a poem she would first tell each line and make us repeat it. Once that was done she would put in a tune for it and then repeat the process again. That way we knew the poem and wouldn’t forget it easily.. Then she used to explain it.. I still remember the poem classes of hers. They were so much fun.
The year also marked another memorable event for me when I was selected for a state level drawing competition to be held at Manglore. One fine afternoon, I was called from the class and was told about the competition. It was first of its kind for me back then and that itself was a great sense of achievement… The competition was conducted by, “The Hindu” and I was proud to be among the few, representing our school. Two were to be selected from senior group and one from junior. So that was one of the reasons to be happy about. I was also happy coz I was among the likes of Uttam Bhat and Swathi C Prabhu who were the top artists in our school, back then. I still have the participation certificate with me, serving as a witness to this memory…
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Year 97-98
In my first standard I had change of class teachers quite often.. Like they changed every now and then.. Initially we had Sharada teacher and then there was a change twice before Revathi teacher came in finally. Coming into the higher primary our classes were in a different building. It was like we came into the outer section of the school.. The most wonderful thing about Madhav Kripa are the corridors. They run about the stretch of the building and i can never forget those times when we used to run along them and skid having so much of fun..
We once had a dictation test and just before the test my bench mateasked me whether I knew all the words which were supposed to be knowing and I said I did. He then said that he didn’t know and hence had written them on a paper and he would copy from it whenever he wasn’t sure. The test started and the fun was the teacher went on telling words and he dint know which was which!! He was totally confused and finally gave up seeing the sheet and just went about writing what he knew. Its funny to see the simplicity of his behaviour. He thought it was easy to copy down but didn’t think he would have the difficulty of recognising what he had to write..
Our class had four rows and hence there were four leaders appointed and I was one among them. There was a chubby girl in our row and every now and then she used to pull my cheeks!! It used to irritate me so much.. I could control the entire class but for her. Couldn’t stop her from pulling my cheeks.. I remember that when I would be the most irritated, I would complain to the teacher that she was disturbing me and the teacher would ask what was she doing. The first time when I said that she was pulling my cheeks, my teacher pulled my cheeks and asked like this??
Later on she just used to smile every time I complained about her.
Year 98-99
We had Nagaratna teacher as our class teacher.. Thank god my cheek puller had left the school!! The reason how I knew most of my classmates was that I was the class leader.. Among other things like minding the class, I was also assigned to see if others had completed their notes and I remember one particular incident where in of a few who hadn’t completed their maths notes I was assigned two students to see that they completed everything and they had to sit outside the class while completing.. They were so dumb and lazy that most of the things were incomplete… Every second problem or so would be incomplete… Finally I guess I got them finish it..
Our environmental studies teacher, Uma, used to make us read out the lesson every once in a while. She used to ask a few to read a para each or so and would give us marks out of five based on our reading. It was a proud feeling to be the highest scorer.. The other thing about her was that she had a unique way of calling out one’s name.. That was something I liked the most about her. Even today when I meet her she first calls in the same way as she used to do when I was her student…
We used to have a class test every month. For English we had to by heart poems and once during English test I wasn’t able to recall one of the lines.. I was a little confused about it and so I was just thinking about it when the girl sitting next to me, seeing me concerned, asked what happened and I told her that I dint know a particular line of the poem and she promptly asked me if it was….. and told the line. Icouldn’t resist a smile when I realised that she had already seen my paper to notice the missing line.
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Every child has a special affection towards his school not only because he studied there but more due to the special memories attached with the school. It is due to those special moments that you will never be able to forget it. Here is an effort to bring out a few of my memories down the lane in “Times @ Maddy kripa” a collection of moments at Madhav Kripa.
Year 95-96: My first year at school, the first step in the journey. I don’t remember much of the admission and other things but I very well remember my classroom, those cute little chairs and not to forget my favourite place. We had four sections in L.K.G and I was in the C section and our class had an adjoining room where we had the provision to keep our bags. I still remember those days when many of my classmates would go in there every now and then to check if theirtiffin box was safe..
Coming into the second year I was into the A section and most of my friends were in my class. So it was better than Lkg wherein we were all in different sections. Our building was such that in the centre there was a hall and from it you could go to any of the classes. Lkg was in the same area as the hall but to go to the Ukg you had to get down the stairs which led to a lower area than the hall. We used to gather in the hall every morning for prayer before the classes began. I still remember the day when during the prayer time one of the teachers came to me, pulled my cheeks and gave me two coffee bites:) We had our headmistress, Mrs.Kusumavathi, as our class teacher and she was such a lovely and sweet person that anybody who studied as her student would never forget her…
Unlike the first year, we had full day school in the second year but we were supposed to sleep in the noon. We had a caretaker to ensure that everybody was asleep. Usually for our class Shakuntala aunty would come and she used to sit at the back of the class with a wooden scale in her hand. I never had the habit of sleeping in the noon and I would pretend to be asleep and wait for her to fall asleep. Within a little time she would fall asleep and the scale in her hand would fall down. That was a signal for us that we were free. There would be a few who wouldn’t sleep and so we used to play while everybody else slept. On the days when everybody was asleep I used to go up to her and pick up the scale and play with it. Sometimes we even played throwing it here and there.. It was usually the evening bell that used to wake her up. Everyday she used to try her best to make me sleep but never to succeed…
Once it so happened that due to some reason we were asked to sleep in another class and the caretaker there was strict. As usual I dint sleep and was playing with a rubber band which I had attached end to end thus making it a flexible rope like. She noticed it and got it confiscated… I was very sad about it as it used to be my proud possession. A few days later I was summoned to the Hm’s cabin and when I went there I found that my favourite possession was lying on the table and my favourite teacher was smiling at me seeing the happiness in my face. She then gave it back to me but after that day I dint take back to the school again..
Another memorable day was when we had been taken for a movie at video Cinerama which is situated near TC. I dono how the whole lot of students fit in the school bus. But we went there in a bus. The place is not very far from our school, walkable distance actually. The movie was 101 Dalmatians:) We had a wonderful afternoon watching the movie, enjoying and savouring each moment…
We went on excursions every year, the place usually being T.A.Pai farm for nursery students. It was a day of fun and I soon learnt that I would wait for it and think about it even days after it was over…
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
The first thing that comes to one’s mind on hearing to the word ‘Board exam’ is uncertainty. Now whats so special about it that makes you speak so much about it is something to wonder. It is a simple difference between a normal exam and the boards that gives it all the fuss and attention. Normally you write an exam and the day you finish your examzzz you will know how you have performed. But not so with the boards!! It has got the unique ability to give you surprises, very huge ones, which comes right out of the dark, hitting you square and hard knocking you off the ground. And if you aren’t prepared for it, which is most likely the case, you will find it tough to regain your composure and balance. It also has the ability of giving you pleasant surprises. But for that you got to be lucky, very lucky. There are instances of people getting way beyond their expectations even after performing poorly and vice versa. A silent tear goes unnoticed in the crowd of happiness. That’s boards.
Here is a small little story that might be of some interest. There was a student who was hardly serious about studies. He wasted time instead of studying by watching TV when he should have been studying, etc, etc.. Days passed and his exams came by. On the day of his language exam minutes before the exam was to start, he was arguing with his mother that he would not attend the exam as he hadn’t prepared for it and didn’t know anything. In the end after a lot of persuasion he agreed to go, and wrote the exam. When the results were out there was a surprise!! He scored 100 in the subject which he dint want to write!! Now whats more ridiculous.. Is it that fact that he scored 100 in a subject he hardly knew to read or write or is it that there are even such valuers who don’t even bother to think that the future of a student is in their hands.
Its as a result of such careless valuers, that many students have to suffer. Now the student might rejoice at scoring such good marks, but another student who really worked hard but falls a prey to such people will feel really bad about it. In some cases the genuine student tends to falls back. This becomes a serious breakdown for him/her. Everybody will console them telling that its not the end of everything, but the true emotions and feelings that they go through is known only to them…
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
No matter how hard you work or whatever efforts you have put in, it becomes secondary to what your fate has for you. All said and done in the end what you get is what is in store for you. Time passes on, incidents are forgotten, but the feelings of the unfulfilled desires stays on forever reminding you that you couldn’t achieve something you wanted to. No matter how much ever you achieve, you truly think of yourself only in rare moments and those are the times when you need somebody to judge your thoughts and give you the feeling that you are not as bad as you thought you were.
Kabhie khud pe hasa mein, kabhie khud pe roya…..
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
“A person earns 1.5 lakhs a month”.
This is a normal statement and might make one wonder whats this about. This would be the first thought. Now I say that this post is about one such person and your immediate thinking about the person would be as a professional. If not for recession many would have been dead sure I was speaking of a software professional who worked hard to achieve this. But if these were the thoughts that crossed your minds then you were entirely wrong. Speaking of a software professional would also remind the long days of work, busy schedule etc.. waiting in the the store. Now the person I am speaking off happens to be no such professional, but a simple layman.For people who have thought of a professional life to be the way to earn here is a small story, no an example set by someone would sound better I guess, to show that innovation and creativity can bring achieve wonders.
I am speaking of a place at Manglore wherein there is a simple sandwich stall. Its nothing big and dashy, but a normal stall. The stall opens up at four in the evening and by five thirty at the max the stall is closed as the products are all sold out (I believe the timings are right). The style with which he goes about preparing it is a sight worth watching. He does it with such simplicity which I am sure if we tried, would either lead to some injury or else we will mess up everything. I am sure anybody who watches it will be impressed. The quality is just too good to speak about. At the first glance it looks as simple as the stall but have it and you will realise you were wrong.
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
It is often fearful to be reassessing a situation which we have already been through.It keeps us wondering as to how we managed to get through, and at the same time gives the feeling of what if it happened now?? Would I be able to handle it in the same way?? I guess we tend to find it easier to face the unknown rather than the known. The impact of facing the unknown, though more threatening than that of facing the known, is easily foreseeable than otherwise.
This incident occurred when I was in fifth standard and it was the month of March which meant exam time. My exams were going on and I was down with fever. I was taking medicine but it dint subside. It is a usual routine that whenever I am down with fever I was given some medicine which we had at home and if it didn’t subside even after two days, we would go to the doctor. It was my maths exam that day and I was feeling so weak that I couldn’t sit properly. Due to my illness I couldn’t go in my auto and dad offered to drop me and he had also arranged that as soon as my exam was over I would be dropped back home. My class was in the old building, and I distinctly remember that I was seated in the first row, third bench in the middle. The speciality of the old building classrooms was that it was in a row at the right side and there was a lot of space in front of it where the autos used to be parked when the school left.(The old building is now demolished and you can now longer see the space that was once a play area, once the school left, for us) Our car was parked in front of the classroom and there was quite a lot of time before the exam was to start yet. I was feeling very tired and was sweating very profusely. We had a cooler in the car and even in that hot weather it felt like ac for me and I can still recall the relaxation I felt. However the exam began and I wrote and finished it with great difficulty. I was the first to finish the exam and when I gave the paper fully exhausted the teacher’s response was,”Check it once again. There is a lot of time”. I just said I was done and came out. Once I came back dint get up from the bed. I had done my blood test and the reports were out the next day. It said I was suffering from high jaundice!! Thankfully it was my last exam. Of course the drawing exam was left and when spoken about that, my class teacher had praised my art and said it would be no problem if I dint attend the exam, only to mark me absent in the end. Anyways I was asked to strictly take rest and follow themedication and soon enough I was fit and healthy. My results were out soon and it so happened that I was the highest scorer in maths scoring 97. A matter of pride in something worse that happened.
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
This took place during my vacations after finishing my 1st year at college. There was a cricket tournament near my place and after it I was inspired to initiate one too. Then, I surely din’t know what I was up against, but was determined to do it all the same. It was decided the tournament would take place in two parts, taking place on twoSundays. The banner was made for the advertisement, but then it was decided that the prize amount was far too much and would be difficult to handle. So the prize amount was reduced(thankfully i was sensible enought to do it!!). That was the first obstacle to come up and it never stopped.
The first leg was up and the arrangements were sloppy. I can rather say that I considered them to be stable but was mistaken. The day arrived. Early morning the sound system was setup and the first match was supposed to be starting at eight but it was half past eight and the teams never showed up!! A second mistake… Should have taken advance from the teams willing to participate but over looked the possibility of failure. Then came a time wherein there was a thought of cancelling everything and just inform others about it. Would have been a great decision to do that but once again there was another way to escape and it seemed easier. Make up for the mistakes in the second leg. It looked as the only way to overcome what was already done.
The second leg was up and the arrangements were done more cautiously. The teams were registered(but of course, without advance payment because the possibility occurred only once it was finished). There were more teams willing to come and the time managementbecame a problem. Even then it was adjusted and the fixtures were set. It looked like it would be a grand success and would end up on a positive note. It did go that way but only until the day arrived to take it all away. Half the teams never turned up!! And the revenue due by them which would have led to a profit and also a success ultimately, turned it around fully. There wasn’t sufficient funds and that was the only problem… A big one…
This event is a reminder of how things can turn all of a sudden if you don’t have things under your control. One moment you think everything is going well but the next moment you find you are completely. Its like when you are surfing for a moment you will be riding high on a tide but if you are not alert the next moment you will find yourself overruled by the wave.
They say learn from your mistakes and I definitely have!!
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
This, I believe is going to be a slight drift towards philosophy. Kindly forgive any opinions expressed wrongly.
How often have we been satisfied with what we have?? We always seem to want something thats a step ahead of us, like in out of our reach. We work our way towards it and get it. Then?? The funny thing is most often we dont even take time to cherish and enjoy what was just gained,but rather find that there is a new want on the horizon, there is a new desire… And so the process goes on and on.. We are seldom contained with our current positions and the wants never seem to end.. Of course they don’t. But then we must learn to be happy with what we have gained, even if its momentary. Its not wrong to keep chasing wants but if we don’t have time to enjoy them then whats the use of it?? Why the mad rush?? We should be able to derive a certain amount of joy from whatever we do and whatever we have. Past is a history and future, a mystery. So its only the present thats with us. Each passed moment, be it good or bad, is gone forever. So cherish each moment..
It is a momentary glimpse I caught, that triggered all these thoughts into my minds. I had been to Manglore recently and while returning, was lucky to find a window seat..(Not that I board a bus if I don’t think I will get a window seat) Its my customary practice to study the surroundings while travelling. It fulfills two objectives. One, I wont be bored and the second, I will find a lot of interesting things that fascinates me. Now there is a fly overbeing constructed and somewhere near Surathkal they have piled up a lot of cement bags. It looks like a small mountain since its almost twenty foot high and ten foot wide. Upon it a young man of around twenty years or so was lying with his head head supported on his hand. He was almost dipped in cement dust. It was his expression that kept me spell bounded. He looked so happy despite the place he was in, a busy traffic infested roadside. There was such a twinkle in his eyes that gleamed of happiness… I just couldn’t get my eyes of him. I believe he is a worker of the fly over and has to work in the scorching heat all day. But at the end of the day he had the look of the happiest man in the world. I donno the reason for the happiness in him, but then it kept me wondering… If a person working in such a state can be so cheerful, am sure we all can find a lot of reasons to be cheerful too.
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
This incident took place on 12th december, 06.
The previous evening I had been for a prize distribution function of the competition conducted by Rotract Club, Kadyali. Two parents sitting in front of me were speaking of the arrangements their children’s school had made for them to go to the competition and that took me back to a small conversation that i had just a few days before when I was informed about the competition.
I was called to the staff room by our art teacher, Aruna kumari and she informed me that there would be a on-the-spot painting competition, which would be conducted by Nandini milk federation. She told me that it would be held at Manglore and the prizes would be 5,000, 3,000 an 2,000 respectively I believe. She also told there would be a bumper prize of 30,000 for the best painting of the whole lot and our hindi teacher, Jayshree, said if I got that 30k I was to give her a share in it 🙂 😉
Back to the day. Woke up early. Wasnt feeling much. It would be a competition like any other. The competition was to start at 9am and hence I started at 7 in the morning. Myself and Sachin were goin together. We reached our destination at about 8.30(the roads were excellent then, so the journey was beautiful), got our names registered and waited for the topic to be announced. At about 8.45 the topic was announced and it was,”Role of white revolution in the development of rural areas in south kanara”.The first thing I did was call Prasad sir an ask him his idea.His reply was,”madana.. sawlpa danagalannu madu. oorina janarella halu vattu madi koduvahage torisu..matte swalpa nandini avarannu highlight mada…”.And thats precisely what I did.
Here is a brief description of the painting I did as I don’t have a pic of the painting to put up… I picturized a village scene, showing two houses and also a village square where an old man is sitting and smoking a beedi. I depicted his thoughts for the development.
I must say I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. When I finished it was about 12pm. They had provided us wid some lunch but i could hardly eat it. I had an apple that mom had given me and filled myself wid it. We din’t know what was where, and we decided to go to adlabs to watch a movie. So we went out an asked a person, how far was adlabs and guess what?? he directed us to an adlabs studio nearby 😀 Then we took an auto and reached Bharat mall… Dhoom II was playin then, and we got tickets for it. When we went in the first song was going on… Enjoyed the movie. It was at four the movie got over an we went back to the place of competition. There was supposed to be a formal function for the prize distribution and there was a very huge crowd. We got to know that about 5000 children had participated in the competition… We were standing outside and that was when we saw a person with a list, of prize winners’ names, in his hands. When we checked out we found that neither of our names was there and hence decided to head back home. I called home and said, I would be returnin home as I hadn’t got a prize. So mom said, “You have waited this much.. why not wait a little more.. Finish the programme and come”.
We went back to the place and again took our former place. It was then, that the first surprise hit me. The man wid the list, was speakin to someone over phone and in the end he mentioned my name!!! I was fully surprised coz I wasnt in the least expecting a prize as it was a state level competition. But I wasn’t sure that I had won something either. By then the function started and after the various usual speeches the prize distribution started. The prizes of the various groups were distributed and then the master of ceremony said, “Now for the most awaited part of this evening. The winner of the bumper prize. The second prize winner is…(It was won by someone from Kundapur) He gets a digital camera, and other things with the total worth of 12k”. By then I was sure that it was due to mistake that my name was mentioned or most likely it wasn’t me at all… but then the mc announced that the bumper prize was won by Manoj Kini:-) I was outside the hall and had to wade through the crowd to get in. By then my school name and place was also announced and the crowd was cheerin so loudly…Yet I still couldn’t believe it was me. The walk upto to the stage seemed never ending:) will never forget it in my life… I went over to the stage an recieved my prize.It was announced that I had won a computer set among various other things. Then they asked me to speak a few words. Here are the words I spoke quoted exactly the way I spoke them.”Nanu helbakadaddu enuilla adre nanu helalu istapaduvdu enendare, istavaregu nanu sadarana yella chitrakala spardegalalli bhagavahisidene adare ondusala kooda intaha prize nanage siglilla. So ivattu yarigella bahumana sigalilla avaru besare padade punaha punaha bhagavahisa beku. Thank you”. The applause I recieved still brings a smile on my face everytime I think of it.
After the ceremony I called home and informed about it an everybody was delighted. The people there asked me how I had come, so I told them I came by bus. Hence they offered to drop me back home. On the way back I got to know that the judges had liked my work very much and the moment they saw it, they kept it aside on the top. That’s one thing I wont forget for a very long long time…. when I reached back home it was almost 9 in the night..I was fully tired but was really really happy 🙂
I think this ll be among the most cherished moments of my life…
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
I am sure every child will be affectionate towards his/her mother.Itsbecause its the mother who takes care to see that all the needs of the child is satisfied and fulfilled. She is the one who understands what the child needs even before the child learns to speak and expresses its needs.
THIS IS TO MY MOM TO SAY, “I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU”.
Well this incident dates back to the time when i was only a kiddo of about 2 years or so…It so happened that a day before this incident mom had asked dad to get oil used for lamp and he had forgotten. That day morning when he went to light the lamp, he found that there was no oil and asked mom. So mom told him there was no oil and also the oil used for cooking also was almost empty. I was there listening to all that as i always liked playing with the door of the prayer room. Mom was in the kitchen and when she called me out, she got no reply. So she assumed I had been to Fatima’s house (who was a worker who used to stay nearby and I often went to play there). But even after sometime when I had not returned she got worried and asked Fatima. She said he never came here. Then mom suddenly realised that as I had overheard them speaking about oil, I must have gone to the shop. So she immediately asked dad to go and checkout. The shop is around 300 yards away from our house. But the more interesting thing is that the route from our house to the shop includes a right, a left, again a right and then again a left and then yet another right!! When dad reached the shop it seems I was standing besides the shop leaning on the door. Then the shopkeeper who is a well known person to us told what had happened. It seems I went and stood there and on being asked what I wanted, I said, “Amma tela jhai” (mom wants oil). So he asked where my father was to which i said he was at home. On being asked where mom was, it was the same reply. Then he realised that I must have come out without the knowledge of my parents and so he decided to drop me back home and by then dad came there. It seems when I was going, on the way one the persons there asked me where I was going and I never replied 😀 just kept going..
Its almost 15 years since that but I still remember it vividly….
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
