Lately, I have rigorously started writing stories daily. Yesterday, I was writing about a school love story, all inspired from my own school days. This exercise took me on a trip down memory lane and I was slowly reminded of some of our naïve acts that held immense importance in our lives at that time. So, I decided to write about 6 such activities before my brain erases them completely. Are you wondering how I came up with the idea of recounting exactly 6 activities? Because it’s been 6 years since school got over! I guess I just felt like continuing my naivety for the post.
Birthday celebrations in school
Celebrating birthdays in school was a lot of fun! One of the only days we could dress up the way we wanted, wear accessories and apply makeup without getting punished. The other days of course being parties - Children’s Day or Christmas or Diwali party. Birthdays were given a lot of importance by one and all. It would be sad if one’s birthday fell on the weekend as they would miss out on all the special treatment.
When it was someone's birthday, the class teacher would call that child to stand in front of the entire class. The class would then clap hands and sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song in seeming unison while the birthday child blushed and felt overwhelmed with all the attention. After that, the real fun would begin! The birthday child would select their best friend to help them distribute chocolates to the class and the entire school! That best friend’s role was to basically hold the tray containing chocolates. Every child had an obvious tie-up with their best friends for each other’s birthdays. They would get to ‘bunk’ the class to give chocolates to all the teachers and staff in the school. Now that I think of it, there were differences in the kind of chocolates distributed too! Small toffees for the class while medium sized chocolates for the teachers and the biggest chocolate for the school Principal! Of course, all the extra chocolates left after distribution would go into the best friend’s pocket!
Slam books and others
Slam books were a trend during our time in school. For anyone who does not know what a slam book is, it is a book with various questions which we would get filled from our friends. The questions would vary from the person’s interests and hobbies to their relationship with the slam book’s owner. Almost every child in school owned one of these books. It was a great way to collect memories and everyone liked knowing what their friends thought about them. Also, it was that time’s social validation like in today’s time, it is social media. I possessed a slam book as well even though I did not collect responses from many people.
Apart from slam books, I had a phase where I wanted to collect everyone’s autographs! I owned a small unused pocket diary which I found at my Nani’s house in Ujjain and decided to keep it for myself. I took my friend’s autographs and am sure it made them feel special! Once, I also asked Sonal miss, my PT teacher to give me her autograph and she actually put a lot of effort in writing a sweet note for me!
L to R: The cover page that I made using colourful sketchpens, my cousin Parth's autograph, Sonal Miss's autograph, my friend Aakshi's autograph, my friend Kruthika's autograph and my little brother Gaurav's affirmation (Didi is a Good Girl)
Being the teacher's pet
I loved receiving attention from the teachers in school. Since I was infamous for being one of the most talkative in class, mostly every other teacher noticed me. However, I was also responsible. I think. Therefore, teachers used to give me certain tasks to perform and that made me feel superior. In seventh standard, Raut Miss, who taught Hindi and Marathi was our class teacher. She loved having a new quote written on the blackboard everyday and I, being the tallest, had been given this responsibility by her. I used to write the date and the quote beside it daily, after our school prayers. I don’t remember what all I wrote but yes, it was certainly fun to do so.
Our English teacher, Rachana Miss used to give her duplicate cupboard keys to her favorite student, whose role was to fetch whatever she wanted during class, like notebooks or chalks or duster. I don’t think I ever entered her list but I clearly remember this.
Another role that a few children strived for was the class monitor. Although, everyone hated the monitors because they were always putting their classmates into trouble. The monitors were given the tag of a ‘complaint box’. They would take over the class no sooner did the teacher leave and write down names of the kids talking in class on the blackboard. Those kids would get annoyed and talk more in return. Then the monitor would continue to put an ‘X’ mark in front of their names. The more they talked the more the number of X marks they got.
Vaibhavi XXXXXX
Tanisha XXX
Farhan XXXXXXXXXX
Saee X
I never wanted this role but it was fun to enjoy the power sometimes!
School Canteen
Our school canteen used to sell really yummy vada pavs! Every evening, many kids and elders would crowd in front of the small canteen counter to buy vada pav. There was absolutely no queue, everyone would try to push their way ahead as if lottery tickets were being sold. The poor uncle standing behind the counter used to have a distressed look on his face, finding it hard to handle so many people shouting numbers in his face.
“Uncle, 2 vada pavs.”
“Uncle, 5 vada pavs”
“Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!”
To be honest, I never tried buying vada pavs in such a fashion. My mom had made a funny rule that I could eat vada pav only on the 'last day of exams' and on ‘result days’. But whenever I did, it was finger licking good; the round yellow deep fried potato stuffed in Mumbai’s famous pav (bun) along with spicy red garlic chutney. My mouth is watering as I am describing it.
Apart from our school canteen, we used to have a special canteen every one or two months. For that, a day before the canteen, we used to receive a pamphlet with the menu and the prices, so that we could choose our pick and our parents could provide us the exact amount for the purchase. That day our mothers would not have to worry about our lunch boxes. A food item that I distinctly remember eating in the special canteen is the ‘Chocolate Swiss Roll’. So far, it has been the best Chocolate Swiss Roll that I have eaten. I used to love it so much that I would buy 2-3 extra rolls and enjoy them with my family in the evenings after going back home. My brother, being 5 years younger to me, was still in school when I passed out. Luckily, the same Chocolate Swiss Roll was still sold during their special canteens and I would always ask him to get them home for me. Now that he also finished his school studies, sadly, I will never get to eat the same Swiss Rolls ever again.
Bunking
In 6th standard, a few of us from class had formed a group called ‘SSL’ or ‘Shinde Miss ke Ladle’ which means ‘Shinde Miss’s favourites’. Shinde Miss was our class teacher and also taught us Marathi. As a part of the SSL, we used to plan many ‘secret missions’. One day, our mission was to bunk the AV class (I think it was AV or some other lecture in which we had to go to another classroom). I don’t remember the reason for bunking but I remember 8-10 of us hid under the benches until the entire class left. Then, we went to the staff room to meet Shinde Miss to request her permission for something. But, she was not very happy to know that we bunked class and sent us back. I think we overestimated her leniency with us.
The next time I bunked class was in 8th standard. Our friends group stayed back in class when it was Western Music period. Our French teacher, Mr. Minocher Bhatena walked in the class to find the few of us nicely sitting and chatting. Minu Sir as we addressed him, was my favourite teacher and I had developed an infatuation with him. I thought he would join us because he often did that but once again, I think we were proven wrong. He in fact punished us and asked us to walk on our knees till the Music room which was 1-2 floors below ours. I remember struggling on the stairs but to be honest, it is an amusing memory.
Crush
As growing girls, my friends and I used to secretly admire some of our classmates or seniors. We would discuss who we like and why and tease each other when our love passed by. I used to prefer tall and bad boys. I found unruly, unkempt, disobedient boys extremely sassy but I rarely interacted with any of them. My friends and I used to discuss ‘hot Hollywood actors’ and other celebrities as well. As far as I recall, we used the words ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’ the most. My very first Hollywood crush was ‘Jake Gyllenhaal’ and I won’t deny, I still admire him for his looks and acting. Once, I had secretly printed his photos when my parents were not home and surprisingly I still have them with me!
That is super hot and sexy Jake Gyllenhaal!
I am not sure how much of this was relatable but I hope this stirred up some memories of your school days!
Vaibhavi
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