The best of School Days….Part I

Ok…so how many schools did I go through? There was this Happy Bells in Delhi where I did my LKG, some home in Auto Nagar (Vizag) where I did my UKG. Then came DAV (Ukkunagaram) where I did my 1st and then came the last of the schools which definitely to me was the best; Bhaktavasalam Vidyashram. It was here that I finished the rest of my schooling (2nd to 12th), a glorious 11 years of my life.
The school was started in 1990 and I too started at the same time.did I grow along with the school or did the school grow along with me? I am sure that for most of my batchmates (chaddi ke dosts) who like me spent 11 yrs of their life in BV would agree that the school grew with us…
It was unlike any other school; we all felt it was more like our college. In fact having gone through 2 colleges after my schooling, I can definitely say the camaraderie we had with our teachers couldn’t be found in any other place.
Hmm, so…..I started in 2C (I hope I am not mistaken). Rani Rajaram was our class teacher. We were a batch full of fun loving (after all that’s what you would find in a 2nd std guys) monsters. There were Vidyashankar, Srikanth, Srinath, Ritam, BK, KP, Naresh, Vinod, Marla, Swapna, Vandana, Rekha, Deepa, Priya……I am very sorry for not being able to remember my other classmates….But fun we had a lot….memories which remain still? Hmm..lemme see….having gone to Vidyashankar’s house to play thru the day…guess his sis was just months old at that time…having chased Kailash and his gang thru out the play ground, then locking them up in the toilet…and later getting reprimanded for that…and then trying to play football (I was pathetic at it…then..and….now) in Srik’s house…
This was followed by 3A…Vandana ma’m was our class teacher…much the same group of students…few additions were there…Bharani, NKarthik, Bhargava, Kaviraj….couldnt remember much about my 3rd…..
Then came our 4A under Rama Padmanabhan ma’m. I remember this about her..she used to say..we are her children….there is one more thing for which I am very grateful to her..will tell you shortly…It was in 4th that we started playing pad cricket. Shyam and Karthikeyan were the masters of making the wonder Ball….it was a great evolution…we started first by just making a hanky into a ball…later…we crumpled papers….followed by taping them with rubber bands….Then…Shyam brought his variety….he soaked papers in water….and then crumpled them and later dried them….This brought out a very hard ball…which could be thrown to a long distance….It was in 4th that I accidentally broke the nose of one of my friend – Shashank….i came back to class expecting a lambasting from our teacher…all she said was….hencforth be careful…..Ohh…..I couldn’t have been more relieved in my life…
Following this we entered 5A. we started with Rajeshwari ma’m as our class teacher, she was succeeded midway by Uma Maheshwari ma’m…It was in 5th that I first started acting in plays…it was Chandragupta Maurya tale under the guidance of Vijiyalakshmi mam and Hema Sreenivasan Mam……it was a wonderful experience..and it made me a drama bug…
In 6A, we had a host of class teachers…there was this Malini mam and then Rajagopal sir. It was also in 6th that our core gang first got split. It was both good and bad experience. Bad - because we had to come out of our comfort zone. Good..because we came to expand our circle of friends. From our 2C group, there was Vidyashankar, KP, Rekha…we also had Sathya, Sriram, Krishnan……in 6th it was a so-so year…the most memorable event being acting in a dance drama as a monkey and then in a dance in Lucas
Then came 7B…Srikanth, Srinath (Varuna), Manja, Naresh, HK, V.Archana, Sindhuja and others…..in our 7th we used to play inside our classroom too. It used to be fun. We had a great Chem ma’m – Annapurna ma’m. She could never be satisfied with anything less than the best of our best efforts. In 7th, it was a drama featuring Shivaji..a hindi drama….The most wonderful drama experience we had was during our project time..it was the Pygmallion/My Fair Lady play….there were Deepak, Ramya, Madhumita, Ravishankar and myself….the last play in the last day turned out to be such a laugh riot that it left Sudha ma’m fuming with rage….
8A was my next class. I really looked forward to it. Firstly because I came back to Korattur after spending 4 yrs in wilderness (Mehta Nagar), hence I could play a lot more. And the other reason was simple…it was from 8th that we could wear pants rather than shorts. It was supposed to be the coming of age. Most of the things I remember about my 8th was the UCO bank ground where we played cricket like crazy. If the group was large, we would go off to Aavin ground. UCO ground..I think I have told about this in an earlier post. 8th wasn’t too good with regard to drama – I just got to play the role of a wrestler in some Shakespeare play. The solace was that the play had quite a few beauties of our times 
9B it was next….Preethi ma’m was our teacher for the 2nd straight yr. Our 9B gang was too much shaitaan and haraami group – we njoyed like hell. Srik left for DAV and then came back. This was the yr in which we watched Titanic in our class, had a great trip to Vedanthaangal (well I didn’t go..it was a diff story altogether)..and as for drama, 9th was the yr of Duryodhana..a sanksrit drama. I had the privilege of having two wives….both were my really good friends…one of them was my sis (irony of India)….other nice stuffs we did was a 11th vs 9th cricket match..a best of 3 stuff in which we came out victors. And yes..it was after 9th that Vaishali left ot Mysore.
10B under Malathi mam, it was a good yr to be in. One which made me realize the importance of not being over confident. This was the yr of Ten Commandments, a play for which Varuna and myself watched the movie umpteen times to get the nuances of Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. Vidyashankar and Srik were in the Sanskrit drama under Padmaja ma’m. It was in 10th that we did a Sanskrit drama – all 4 of us..Srik, Varuna, Vidhya and myself..some play about Durvasa….Srik, Vidhya and varuna were the Trimurtis. Post 10th, we had lot of defections…or rathe ri would say people went in sight of greener pastures. Srik, Varuna, Bharani, BK, HK, Saroja, Sindhuja, Kanchanai, Manja and all….We literally got decimated. But then the fun we had from now onwards was different…and great in its own ways. XI and XII to follow….

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