Saturday, July 18, 2009

A Remembrance : My Childhood

I always feel my childhood could have been better for reasons known only to me. But on the day of my Optical Fiber Exam I was remembering my childhood memories more than ever! I jotted down some incidents on the question paper, at 4.30 pm. I had finished writing the exam soon, thanks to the difficult questions.

I remember I had got a zero in my first ever test in 1st standard. Yes it was a big ZERO! Our class teacher was absent on that day and a PE teacher had come to give us the test. Ranga Sir was his name. Funny how I felt that since its a PE teacher I shouldn't write my test, and I gave back the test book with nothing written in it. Needless to say I got a Zero. My mother freaked out and complained my teachers. I was taught that whoever is the invigilator, I have to write down the test. I still laugh seeing my report card.

There, that was my 1st std report card, oh, it says 2nd test.And ironically it was in english!

I wonder why it looks like a minus zero.

Also, in the same year, I had eaten a guy's lunch who used to sit beside me, thinking it was my new lunch basket and new lunch box. How could I just assume that! I reckon that guy's name was Naveed. And because I stole his lunch (well mistakenly, of course) he started crying and his mother came and gave me a nice scolding the next day.

Moving on to 3rd standard, I was one big ardent fan of Cartoon Network. Scooby Doo, Popeye, Swat Cats, Powerpuff Girls, u name it, I would have seen it. Bugs Bunny was my most favourite in those days. And I, didn't have a bugs-bunny-type teeth (fortunately). And only to look like bugs bunny, I had made hard efforts to get its teeth. I would always keep my front jaw on my upper mouth, so that miraculously some day, I thought, it would start protruding like bugs bunny! I am so thankful that, that miracle did not happen.

I guess in 5th standard, it so happened that I was given the role of a princess to enact in front of the class. It was a lesson from our English textbook apparently, and my classmate Rajath was the prince, and another classmate Kavya was given some role if I remember properly. I couldn't express how happy I was! I was always considered as an ugly duckling among my family and friends, this small incident brought a big smile :)

I was an avid reader from my childhood. Reading is something I can never give up in my entire life. And so we friends thought of a small library among ourselves. We would exchange books and comics and return it the next week. The library was formed in the 'katte' that joins the road from my school to cftri office. This road is certainly memorable for we used to play almost all the games there. Be it tree-to-tree, juutaata, I spies, sharap-current (Correct me if the name is wrong).

Oh, and how can I forget my gooseberry fascination! I used to steal gooseberries from a house near my school with a friend named Parvathi. I had even got caught by our teacher Saraswathi Aunty (CFTRI school is known for making their students address the teachers as aunty and not as miss or ma'am). Saraswathi aunty known for her wickedness, glared at me and I'd frozen on the spot, when she had seen us stealing. I still remember her glare in those watery red eyes. Brrrr.

Come 7th standard, I got a computer at my place. Pentium 1 processor, 20gb hard disk and 16mb RAM with VSNL internet connection. Connecting to the server was one helluva job. I remember clearly that trrrrr-ti-ti sound when I would start connecting. I don't remember what bandwidth it had but it was painfully slow. I never had any idea technology would improve this much in the coming years. Having this technology made me like some proud owner of a big company! My friends would ask me to explain about my computer and they would wait for a chance to come home and play Prince of Persia. 7th standard after middle term, we got computer classes in our school and I was relieved of all the pestering :)

GOOD OLD DAYS :) But don't ask me why all these memories came rushing in the exam hall. I don't know the reason too.

In the end, I would like to thank my beloved CFTRI school for having given me such good memories, and a big thank you to all the teachers who guided me in one of the most crucial phases of my life.