I was just passing by a church
this weekend which reminded me of my childhood days. I have spent a year or so
in a convent school. In such a short
span of time I have lot of memories attached but few of them are unforgettable.
Our regime was fixed for six days
of week .Sunday being a holiday used to be different and special. Special because
we used to get Non Veg on Sunday. Though I am a chicken and fish lover, I used
to eat egg since someone said they used to serve beef in name of chicken. Later
I left eating egg also since it used to be quite big in size than normal ones. One
day while wandering in the campus we found some ducks and turkeys being reared
in one part. So, we figured out the source of eggs. All was not bad we used to
get to watch movies on Sunday.VCR was in boys hostel so you could find girls in
their best attire even for that matter borrowed one also could do .After all
you were allowed to go in the restricted zone. All was not bad .In evening we used to get samosa
with bun .They used be really yum. On other days, we used to get up early
around 5:30 .Sister used to do the rounds with the hand bell ringing across to
wake up the girls. The round was done twice and in second round if somebody was
found sleeping she used to use her cane on the sole of the sleeping beauties
.After getting up we were supposed to make our beds properly. The last step of
making bed involved using the bed cover to cover our bed. Some girls who
thought they could save time by just ignoring the previous steps and jump straight
to last step used to get canes because
sister used to do other rounds to check the beds :-).After completing the
morning rituals our day used to start .some girls used to ditch bathing to get
that extra 5 minutes of sleep .Here sister used to never catch us because girls know all means to look pretty :-P .By
6:00 we used to form a queue with half eyes closed to go to chapel .This was mandatory.
We like zombies in half sleep used to just go and sit on floor. Some enthusiastic
girls used to sing the prayers.BTW we used to have evening practice session for
these songs. I don't remember a single day when I was awake for the entire
duration of the prayer. Usually I used to get up after everyone was given the
bread and the wine (I guess its called Communion/Eucharist). One fine day I was
awake just at time when this was happening .I could see few (to be specific 2)
of my class mates also in the queue and I observed they were getting something
to eat. Oh!! How could I miss something to eat..I just stood in the queue to
get my share. I was standing just ahead of my warden .It was a long queue .I
was getting impatient. I thought of asking the warden what was being given .I
am little selective in food matters :-).I turned around and asked her Mother
what is it that we are getting to eat ?As soon as she saw me she was speechless
,dumbstruck. After a fraction of second I heard , Runa,Just leave .Her face was
red with anger. I couldn't understand what had happened and what wrong did I do
?After everyone came back from church one of my Christian friend said that only
Christian can have that holy bread and
wine .And when non Christian get converted they take the first Holy Communion
.In short she said I would have got converted to Christian (rolling eyes).
I was very fond of playing
football but I could never convince any girl to play with me they used to say
its Boys game. So I thought better I will play with boys.Inital two days were fun.
On third days I was called by the warden to warn me that girls are not supposed
to play with boys. You will hurt yourself .You have so many girls in your
hostel why do you need to play with them. Now i couldn't understand when we can
study together why can't we play together.Anyways, I stared playing with the
girls some stupid games like business,pitto(seven stones),chupan chupai (hide
and seek) or where you catch others
being blindfolded. Since this involved some running I was kind of
ok.Anywyas, I had no choice. Our hostel had some walls with gravels engraved
for design. So we were playing the blindfolded game .Pallavi was blindfolded
and we were running suddenly she ran towards someone and that someone escaped
and she just banged her face on the gravel engraved wall. Gosh!! blood started
oozing out from her lips.we had to take her to hospital she got stitches but I
just asked mother(our warden) one thing you said that we will hurt our self if
we play with boys, even playing with girls is not safe .I didn't get a response
just a blank and angry stare.
The worst part of any hostel is food.
We used to get pathetic food. We were forced to eat 3 chapattis with watery
daal and beans.
Only on Sunday this combo used to
change. Our ritual was just go round the table singing sapera bean baaje bean
baaje ..then fold the bean in chapatti hide it in our pockets drink the daal go
out and throw the combo across the back wall. Now you will think how we were surviving.
We were smart. There were lots of techniques. We used to get some snacks form
home.Haldiarm Bhujia became my favorite from hostel days. Then we had good
friends among boys who used to jump across the hostel wall to get chaat(mostly
churmur chaat/pani puri). Best technique was ,we had got empty lunch boxes from
our home. we had only lady teachers in our hostel .Their mess was in our hostel
itself. Their food was too good .so we had come to a state of beg borrow or
steal. we used to fill each lunch boxes with the food from teachers mess after
they were done with the dinner.
Living in hostel had made me more
methodological in some things .I used take bath very early .I used to keep
everything clean. We used to get our clothes washed every weekend. Clean our
white shoes. Polish them after drying them up. Keep the black shoes ready every
night with the set of clothes to be worn next day. Make your bed as soon as you
get up. Arrange your book shelves every weekend. Ensure that books and note
books are covered properly and if torn replace with new one immediately.
Amongst all these things where was the time to study? But who cared? Parents used to get the mark
sheet that too in psotcard.i can understand how embarrassing it would have been
for my father to receive such a postcard at his bank address (Sigh!!).
Thank god I didn't stay for long
over there otherwise I am not sure academically what i would have done.Anyways,
when I used to go back home i used just pick things lying arounf ehre and there
telling my mom you should keep the place clean.Poor mom used to just listen .Then
in evening she was actually shocked more than surprised when I had lit a candle
instead of agarbatti and called my sister along with me to sing Pita hamare jo
swarg mein hai..On hearing this mom just screamed that what are you singing...I
couldn't understand her reaction at first then later realized the problem and
told her that this song is referring to Jesus as pita ...
Always, since I was going nowhere
being in that school mom and dad decided to pull me out and then they decided
to put both me and my sister in central school so that any such damage could be
avoided .Since my dad was in bank and transfer was inevitable so central school
was best choice .Do you guys have any similar childhood stories? Please share.
It is fun to go down the memory lane...
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