When I knew only laughter....

Life can't get better than the one I had at Jawahar Vidyalaya. It was, in fact 'better than the best'. Precisely, I made the most of my last four years at JV that is from my 7-10th standard. They were, and will definitely be the best phase of my life where I used to enjoy even the smallest things happening around me and now, when I think of it, feel blessed to have made friends around me happy.Before penning down that wonderful journey, I would like to thank all my friends without whom this article would never have been made possible.

Seventh standard was to me what a spark plug is to an engine - initiated the fire or rather kicked off that wonderful journey of mine. I used to be a very quiet boy, face ebbing with innocence, being too circumspect at times with a not-so-friendly attitude. What brought about the change in me was unintentional but something that just happened and I feel that's what they call GOD. What really surprises me is the fact that I never knew I was changing but was thoroughly enjoying and there never seemed to be a dull moment at school. Even those numerous art classes when I was chucked out were warmly welcomed with a smile or rather laughter. The lack of concentration in class just because I was busy planning for my next dig at teachers thankfully didn't hamper my studies. I was very successful in maintaining a consistent score of 80-85 p.c and to my utmost satisfaction, got a higher rank than my close pal Shriram almost every time. This was a key factor in me not compromising on the fun part at school. Another pivotal role was played by my cousin Divya who never disclosed any of those mischiefs to my parents at home though she knew most of them. The tallest of all - when I was caught of malpractice in that f***ing IT paper ( details of that incident revealed later in the article). I'm very thankful to her.

I loved school so much that I missed just half-a-day of class in ninth standard to attend the 13th day rites of my grandfather. I still remember that day- I pushed my mom to get my lunch done fast and rushed to school in my Hercules MTB cycle to attend the second half to make sure I've cent percent attendance in the ART hour. First of those funny incidents was in seventh standard when I misplaced my friend Sreeja's pen which had a photo of Sai Baba. I was so perturbed that I started making fun of her and refused to search for that pen. She ended up in tears, won my sympathy and I had to compromise and thus offered her a pen which my friend R.B had with a photo of Vinayak. She was in no mood to accept and wanted that Sai Baba pen alone. I got so frustrated that I shouted 'Podee Baba' and a few around me burst into laughter and eventually she was nicknamed Baba. This incident will always remain etched in my memory- her weep and those moments which really tensed me and R.B. Being an innocent boy, I was afraid if she would complain etc but things ended up on a good note and we found her pen just behind her chair. She stopped weeping thus bringing my pulse rates back to normal.

Eighth standard was just perfect when all the french students merged and I should say, we really gave the teachers a run for their money. I had become a boy sans fear - Come what may, I was ready to face it and nothing could be done at the expense of the fun we had. I still remember the day during one of those math periods when the six of us ( myself, Shriram, M.B, Rakesh, Vignesh and Murali) teamed up to cook up a story with all teachers in an amusement park. Though I don't remember what exactly the story was, it was that day when we all got together and the intensity of our laughter was just too (three) much. It was also the year when I learned all those filthy words and found pleasure in using them even when situations didn't demand. The best was my verbal dual with Arvind Raj on one of those days during lunch hour ( I don't want to get into this topic any deeper just to maintain the decorum of my blog space). These funny incidents had no boundaries...to name a few more... those Mane Mane cherche lines in our hindi classes, Taj Coramandel matter, By the by My name is Damayandrui (craft), the extent to which Shriram and I laughed when I copied during a hindi test...those funny conversations Kutty Sriram, MB, Murali and our class teacher used to have among themselves almost every day...the art hour when Vignesh and I hit chalk at our Sir and ran away. Art hour used to be unique in a way that it was supposed to be the only class where I had fun from outside the class. In a sense of exuberance, on most days, I never used to bring the Art note just to irritate him. The friendly cricket matches we used to play during holidays deserve special mention here ( Rakesh, do u remember the reverse shot we used to play). It feels nostalgic to remember those days when we assembled by 7 in the morning and played till the sun took the toll on us. Almost all matches were nail-biting finishes.

Ninth and tenth had tough moments as well.... juuuust and ssssss ( our sincere efforts to imitate our geography and history teachers) were part of almost all the conversations we made... Another notorious incident worth reminiscing was when Shriram and I burst into laughter seeing UPK Ma'am take the podium to conduct the morning assembly and almost all students scowled at us with disgust as they were tired of our laughter. We feared if we would be pulled out and taken to task by one of the teachers present . Thankfully, nothing unfortunate happened but our laugh was instantaneous as we were astonished to see a fat lady adjusting herself between two doors. There was not a single class when I failed to get away without rebuke from my history and geography teachers. The situation worsened one day when my history teacher left the class in disgust as i jacked her left, right and center. She found it so insulting that she left the class saying, I quote "I will not take history classesssss for you peepul (people), horrible classss, alwaysssss loghing (laughing) and making fun of all teacherssss. One idiot (myself) startssss loghing and the whole classss followssss him. All of you keep standing and no one should sit...keep standing". After she left, I murmured to myself ' Who the f*** is she to make me stand... F*** off '. That was the only day I actually wept in school. Mrs. Shantalakshmi had complained this act of mine to the class teacher and the latter asked us to stay back after school hours. Our class teacher entered and in an angry tone said " Except Rajesh, all of you shall sit". I felt like a stranger stranded in a jungle. She shot back " What an audacity you have!!! Who do you think you are?". I was lambasted verbally in front of all the 42 students. I knew, I was the sole reason for having made the entire class to face the axe. After we dispersed, I found a group of my class girls standing outside the gate having a private conversation and I was very sure they were cursing me. I felt so bad that soon as I came back home, I went straight to my room upstairs and wept for nearly an hour. Another terrible incident was when I used a red pen to add a few marks in my IT paper and complained the teacher of totaling error. I admit to the fact that I was not smart enough to use the same ink she had used. She was bustling towards the principal room when I stopped her to plead guilty. That evening, my pulse rates soared as I had to meet the principal but thankfully the principal had left school little early and the VP was kind enough to let me off saying "You thought you can fool her every time? Today is her chance to win over you."



Excursions added spice to the fun and fortunately we had two outings in ninth standard ( thanks to Divya Ma'am for arranging a trip to the Chennai harbour ). The bus journeys were just great. We leaned out of the window, made fun of fellow motorists but the fun inside was kickass stuff...imitating the way Anuja sings and her apple polishing attitude, Sukanya's Oonjal matter and of course we had Kutty Sriram who was always made the scape goat. Dolphin City and Mahabalipuram made for two great places of visit that year and we had a wonderful time.

On the whole, JV life was where I made ' FRIENDS FOR LIFE ' and it's a special feeling when I see myself in touch with almost all of them even today. The time we all spent together are great memories, which might better find place in a book.