School Daze!

//Acharya Devo Bhava //

 

Here's a little glimpse of my school days. Although I think every school kid (Indian atleast) has more or less similar things to say, I thought I'd pen down what I was like, back then. My life revolved around school and teachers just like the planets around the Sun. A good thing? I don't know. Lessons at schools; lessons at home; teachers at school; teachers at home (yes, both my parents were, and remain teachers to date). So, those were the days of punishments, homework, competition, discipline, punctuality, slip tests, oral tests, unit-tests, written exams (all kinds of exams, you name it), and more. Sometimes I wonder how did I even make through it! I can not quite recall if there were any fun times. If there were, perhaps short-lived. 

I think  it was in lower and upper kindergarten (LKG & UKG, as we call it), we had a sleeping-period. Yes, we were supposed to sleep in class for about 40 min, which no one did; instead put their head on the desk and murmured, which again led to punishments. I remember how difficult it was to sleep in class back then, and wished we had one in senior-secondary school (Classes XI-XII).  :-)

Visiting my American cousins at school, who live in Maryland, taught me that schooling is entirely a different concept here in US. I also wonder what it would have been like not standing under the sun for an hour (at 40 degree C, talking about India here) when forgot to do the homework, or taking cane thrashes for incomplete  uniform (a school dress with tie, belt, a badge, and shoe- unique to the school) or untidy hair or long nails or even not standing in line for the morning prayer. When I tell my cousins what was it like to be in my school, and they say 'No, they can't do that to you. You should cal 911', and I laugh.

Of all the things I feared the most were exams. Taking an exam every week, sometimes twice in a week, was a torture. And we had, what we call slip-test, or surprise-quizzes too. I think I always did well in languages (Telugu, Hindi, English and Sanskrit) and science, parts of social studies but never on maths. Learning history, both Indian and European, was the worst. Never remembered who fought against whom, why and when. :-/ . 

Did I say too much about the exams/ Perhaps I did. Well, school was mostly about education; if we weren't in the class, then we were in the common room participating in a competition like essay-writing, elocution, music, painting, sports, general knowledge, and dance. The other day when I was watching Harry Potter, I recollected that we had houses too, a total of 6 namely Madame Curie, Jhansi Lakshmibai, Sir Issac Newton, Sir C.V. Raman, Aryabhata, Sir Albert Einstein. Students were sorted into these houses at the beginning of primary school. I was in Jhansi Lakshmibai House. Competitions were loaded with fun when among the students of same house, but always strenuous when between the houses. ;-)

Oh, and  periodic evaluations of  notebooks tested my patience to the limit. So, we had three notebooks- a classwork, a homework, and a fair-notes, for every subject (course, as they call in US). Teachers checked our notes every now and then to make sure we had it all. Handwriting was given a great importance. We had to write and re-write the notes if the handwriting was poor. I remember once my college professor made my friend write the entire book of 'phono-writing for LKG'. Adding insult to the injury, he gave him a paragraph to write on the black board as a test. Now that I think of handwriting, I wonder what my students would do to me if I made them write phono-writing. Or perhaps, I should just be glad that there's 'Word'. :-)

However, I must tell you that though the path was rocky and I tumbled several times along the path, I cherished every moment of my school days. I wouldn't have missed any of it for the world. Why else would I remember every second of it?! I believe it's in those days when I learnt the most in my life; meanings of education, discipline, good manners, friendship, and respect. If I hadn't have had good teachers (including my parents), and wonderful mates, I would have been a complete disaster now. Now that after all these 20 years I began to share my experiences with my friends' across the world, I realized that I was taught a lesson every moment of my life; lesson to choose the right path, lesson to lead a better life in every situation, and lessons of true value of education. 

Every time I go down the memory lane, it's like I live my school days all over again. My heart's is filled with joy and happiness, and eyes with tears. that's when I think I had a life.