At times it becomes so hard to remember the name of a childhood friend. I curse myself for forgetting those childhood days. Recently, I met a very old school friend in a mall in Bangalore. I had last met him in school. Since then, 6 years have passed, but somehow I remembered his name. (Thanks to ORKUT FACEBOOK). What a moment that was!!!! I was back in school days. We were not great friends at school, but I couldn’t help thinking about my school days.

The very first moments that I recalled were the oldest ones that I can possible remember. It was my first day at school. Actually, it was my first day in a new school. I can’t tell if I was scared or nervous. I was very shy then. We had shifted to a new house, and I was admitted into a new school, where I studied till the 10th. I ll try to remember some details.

I was admitted to Class 1. On the first day, all dressed up with my new uniform, (they wanted to me to wear a tie also, which seemed to be the weirdest things to put on a man), Papa took me to the new school on his scooter(Bajaj Super – We still have it). It was a long ride. Papa was telling me that it was the best school in the city and some other details( don’t exactly remember though). I was nervous, can’t remember the reason. Don’t really remember what was going in my mind then. Finally we reached there. The size of the campus terrified me. The school to which I had been before this was so small as compared to this castle.

There’s another thing I would like to share:
Before joining this school, I had completed my UKG in a SMALL school called “Dream Diamond”. What I mean by small, might really surprise you. I was the only student in UKG in that school. the only other class in that school was LKG with around 10 students. So, I was the senior-most student in the whole SMALL school. My classroom was the principal’s office and my teacher was The Principal.In all my exams, I came first. I was the Monitor of UKG, LKG and the school as well. I still have around 20 certificates from this school, for sports, quiz, painting etc, almost all of them mentioning “First”, except for Dance. I was pathetic at dancing then.

So, after spending almost a year in this SMALL school, I thought I I wouldn’t be able to adjust with so many classmates. I was told that there will be around 40 other students in my class. I had no clue what it would be like.

We entered the gate and walked to the principal’s office. Papa had a very short talk with him and then we came out into the corridor. There was a row of benches just outside his office for the visitors. Papa asked me to sit there. He also sat with me. With a smile, he looked at me and said :

“You are in UKG. Just wait here. I will be back in 10 minutes. “

I was relaxed to hear this. He wasn’t going to leave me alone, i thought. So, with the bag on my shoulders, water bottle hanging around my neck, that TIE around my neck I was waiting for him. There were noise all over the place. Everybody seemed happy. A person came to me and asked which class did I belong to. I told him that I was with my father and he will be coming back soon. He went away.

But he didn’t come. I must have sat there for 30 minutes now. The bell rang, and suddenly everything was silent. I could only hear roll calls in the nearby classes. I looked at the gate, but he wasn’t there. I didn’t cry. I was tough…..

I kept waiting. Another bell rang, still no sign of him. No crying yet. Another bell, the campus was lively again. We had break after every two periods. Still no crying. I had so much patience then, even now also. After this two more rings either made the school go into the silence or crazy. Then I heard another one. This time, I saw something different. This made me cry. I could see children running towards the gate with their bags. The classes were over for the juniors. All the tears that I was trying to hold up, started pouring out. I hadn’t moved an inch from the place, neither had I unloaded my bag from my shoulders. I had never wanted to see Papa so badly and he wasn’t their yet.

I cried and cried and cried, kept my eyes on the gate with the hope that he might be there, testing my patience. But no sign of him yet. I must have cried for 10 minutes, and then finally I saw him. I got up from the bench and ran towards him, and clung to him. I don’t exactly remember what happened that day at home, but I was told later that Papa was supposed to take me into the class, but he thought that somebody will come and take me.

This is all I remember from that day. I don’t remember how I reached my class the next day, but I certainly remember the first friends in my new school. Deepak and Hara….Middle Row, First Bench….Hara on my left and Deepak on my right.