Down the memory lane....

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...

Posted in: General