MY SCHOOL DAYS !

My School Days !

Greetings, everyone ! I thought a lot what I should write down as my first Blog… After much deliberation, I decided to jot down the childhood memories of my school days as my first Blog. I hope it is interesting enough.

Memories of Nursery School

As a three-year old, I went for a year to Nursery School which was in the last building in my colony itself. Mostly my Mummy used to walk me to school and after school, would come to pick me up. I remember once when my Mummy came to pick me up, she was told by a little girl who was my classmate; “Today, your baba went to sleep in the class.”

I also remember my Daddy carrying me in his arms and bringing me home from school. One day I was sleeping in the class, he just picked me up and started walking, my head on his shoulder. I woke up with a start due to his brisk pace, wondering where I was !

We kids used to sit in one room playing with toys and with each other. The teacher used to give us scrambled eggs in the afternoon which I hated. So I would hide under a table and not come out at all. She would plead in Gujarati "Bahar aavi jaa...hoon tune chaarvelu idu nahi aapas." (“Come out, I won’t give you scrambled eggs.”) Only after repeated requests by the teacher and after being totally convinced, would I come out ! 

I also remember that during recess, all kids were made to line up by the teacher and taken to the one toilet to pee one after the other. I remember I felt awkward unzipping my little pant and peeing in front of the lady teacher though she would nonchalantly say to each child “Come on, come on, do it quickly !”

My first day in a new school.

I was four years and in KG. On the first day, Mummy came with me to school.  I sat in one corner in the big classroom on the first floor and did not speak to anybody. Mummy was standing at a distance near the classroom window, talking to the other parents and simultaneously keeping an eye on me. I was feeling tensed in a new environment and kept constantly calling her to sit with me. I later understood that she was preparing me to sit alone in class from the next day. I was relieved when the recess bell rang. Mom opened the packet of jam sandwiches which she had packed up. We both had the sandwiches together. That day, I remember I had a blue napkin with a border having pictures of little boys and girls playing and running around. I was so happy that relieved that my Mummy was by my side in the new school on the first day !

Later, I started going by the school bus but sometimes Mummy would herself come with me to leave me in school. After school, we had to sit in a classroom and wait for the school bus which would arrive after an hour. It was called the ‘Byculla-Parel Bus’ and would take another hour to reach home. Mummy would sometimes come to that designated class and surprise me and take me alongwith her !  Even on the days I used the school bus, she would come every morning and stand with me at the designated place outside our colony, till the bus came. In the afternoon, when the bus reached my residence, I would again find her standing there for me !

                                                                      

When I was in KG, the school distributed a gift to all of us at Christmas. It was a long transparent plastic bag consisting of a ball, bat, whistle and bugle, all made of plastic. We were climbing the steps to our classroom on the first floor when a boy of my class told me “The colour of your bugle is nice. Please give me your bugle and I will give you mine in exchange.” Docile and innocent me, I agreed. I instantly opened my gift packet and took out my bugle and handed over the same to him. The boy took my bugle and went away, but he did not give me his bugle in exchange.

I went home in the afternoon and showed the gift packet with the remaining three things to my Mom. I told her that another boy had asked me for my bugle in exchange for his. 

Mom asked “Okay, then where is the bugle which he must have given you ?”  

I told her, “He did not give his bugle. He just went away after I gave him mine.” 

Mom said “But you should have demanded his bugle, when you gave him yours. You should say ‘take this one and give me yours’ ”. 

I was silent and seeing my sad face, Mom consoled me “I will buy you a similar bugle this time, but take care next time.” 

Very early in life, I learnt an important lesson in being street-smart and assertive while dealing with people.

Once in KG, when I was leaving my class to go home, my classmate gave me a plastic glass and told me “Here, take your glass home.” I said “This is not my glass.” But he insisted that it was my glass and I should take it home. I brought the same home, Mummy asked me about it. I told her the whole story. Mummy said “You should never bring anything that does not belong to you. Take it back to school tomorrow.” I said “But I don’t know who it belongs to.” Mummy said “Just put it on the teacher’s table. She will give it to the boy or girl it belongs to”. I did that, as soon as I reached the school classroom, I put the glass on the teacher’s table and sat quietly on my seat. The teacher then stepped in and called out to ask whose glass it was and handed it to that child.

Mummy taught me to be honest always and not take anything that does not belong to us.

When I was in KG, we were given writing work in class only before recess. So some of us would crush our chalk under our feet during the recess as we knew we would not need it in the second half of school. One day after recess, our teacher said “Class, take out your slate and chalk and write down this.” I was shocked not knowing what to do now as I had no chalk with me ! I stood up and shakily said “ Miss, I want a chalk.” The teacher threw a piece of chalk towards me and it fell on the floor under the tables and chairs, I searched a lot but could not find it. Finally the boy sitting next to me broke a small bit of his chalk and gave it to me. I used it and from that day onwards, I resolved to keep my chalk intact till the end of school hours !

These are some of my school memories and I hope they are interesting enough. Thank you for reading.