mother of yesteryears

The entire school seemed to buzz with activities as the annual day approached. The primary wing was all geared up for putting up a show,the first ever of its kind "yesterday,today,tomorrow"
I accept., I used to be the 'mother hen' types in school those years but least did I expect that I would be playing the role of a mother with 2 kids. I was to be that typical mother of yesteryear's who pampers her son and ill-treats her daughter. I remember my first son was arjun( he was in class 1 guess) and aswathykutty( a police commissioner's daughter). As part of ill treating my daughter I had to slap the poor kid. And all excited about performing my best, I actually slapped my daughter and she started wailing. yes!!!!!I did it, what an element of reality. Wearing an expression as if i am on cloud nine I looked in the direction of shobha ma'm whose face seemed merged with the contours of laughter and anger. As a 9 year old would think," ya ma'm is impressed or did something go wrong somewhere?". Just then I felt someone nudging me and lo Mary ma'm says"Hey Josmy, you needn't slap the girl, just act as if you slap her".For the umpteenth time in my life I repeated"YES MA'M". Practice sessions were fun..here I recall some of our batch mates and their roles.
anju and kalyani-the bride and groom of the present day
arya and uma-the bride and groom of yesteryears
neethu- her very famous muqabla number
aswathy-the modern woman..Chodo kal ki baatein
nikhil singla- bhima
shruthi jacob- the pilot
govind balachandran- robot
and many more..(long term memory loss)
The d'day came. My mom couldn t be there because she had some important work. I was wondering, "How am i gonna wear this sari?". Clinging or rather coiled in a 5 yard cloth, I was tripping and falling all over the place, the result of my first attempt at draping a sari when I was just 8 years old.
My teachers pity me and somehow with dozens of safety pins pricking all over my skin, I managed to dress up as the "TYPICAL MOTHER OF YESTERYEARS"
The programme was a huge success.But my motherly affection seemed to grow,as days passed by.
I always felt jealous of all those classmates of mine, whose elder siblings used to come looking for them during lunch hours.And as we moved on to higher classes, they used to go to their younger siblings classes. Being a single child I used to vie for an opportunity to show off my 'responsible sibling attitude'. Now was my chance, I have to look after my kids Arjun and Aswathy. There were days when i would go and enquire if they had lunch,if they had any problems, if other children bullied them etc. There was an incident when i almost missed my school bus coz i had gone to enquire if my daughter got into the auto.Thus, my motherly role started to extend beyond the stage.
The following year, we had to perform again. Arvind,Yamuna ma'm s son replaced Arjun.
Bad luck again, my mom couldn t be there this time too. She decided to dress me up and send me to school. Imagine the embarrassment when i travelled all the way from sreekariyam to pattom, clad in a sari,on a scooter. Tears streamed down my cheeks, by the time I reached pattom,after seeing the strange looks and smirks people had given all along the way.
The repeat telecast was over and we were all beaming with pride, when our show was labelled the best in the history of K V pattom. All my embarrassment, the pain and sorrow seemed to vanish into thin air when I heard this.
The three women, Shobha ma'm, Mary ma'm and Lathika ma'm , the masterbrains behind that scintillating show, the efforts they put in, still stay afresh in our memories..
These 3 teachers would always hold an important place in our hearts, those of us who were blessed to spend the entire 12 years in K V pattom

Barber Bro's

XI C...Padmaja Madam or oul 'bloved' Puppy enters the class.Some fellows in the front bench and gals stand up as a mark of respect others make a big loud yawn and pretend as if searching 4 something .While some are trying to hide under the desks,some say good night to each other.somehow everyone finds themselves settled at a predetermined place.Puppy with a "nee okke ee kanikkunnathinu walladuthhum ninnu padichhoolum"expression clear cut on her face looks towards the board and seeing it full of signs of self expression made by some of the desperate intellectuals of the class shouts out.."Class monitor"..evrybody starts to look at each other as if enquiring"who is the class monitor"..a few minutes later the monitor with a "oo athu njaananelle look" appears on the scene.Puppy orders "clean the board".The poor guy tries his luck wid a duster saturated wid chalk powder,,puppy wid a"ninne okke enthinu kollaam look"..tells to return to his seat.The guy cursing her in minds returns..Finding the windows closed Puppy in a very animated way..and in her typical stretching style yells out"open the windows let life be colourful" the guys siitting near the windows open them with an expression "ivarinnu gulika kazhichillenna thoonnunne"Puppy somehow with a sigh starts the class"use of optical fibres" suddenly Yusuf Khan frm the back bench realisinng where he was yells out "yes ma'am".Puppy astonished '' eeh?ivanu piraanthaaya?"look tells him to sit down.Again when she says"use of....",yusuf finds himself repeating the same reaction..satanding up and giving a startled "yes ma'm".Everbody laughs out and Puppy explains that she was talking abt "use of..."and not "yusuf".The calss went on wid only the buji gals interpreting atleast the topic being taught.Just as the period was about to end there was somebody at the door wid a big packet...kurachu koodi aduthu ethiyappo mansilaayii it was Sophia Ma'am.HMM why is she here wid a packet of laddoo ?Is she transeferred?Bhagavaane nammal rakshapetto?A ray of hope...But no ithu athonnum alla..she is here wid the report cards ..she has to get them filled by the class.Puppy gave a half hearted consent "ivarkku were pani onnum ille" and wentout.Angane oru shalyam ozinju..the report cards were distributed .and some of the intellectuals of the back bench had a very serious doubt "what shud be written in the hobbies coloumn" the marks coloumn were blank..the coloumn 4 books that were read frm the library was also blank..card fill cheyyan enthenkilum wende?..ini enthu cheyyum?Angane kure peeru jeevithathil kanditillatha cycling , music okke ezhuthi.But the writer in a must state of mind said"eda Shankare(.....Raju) enta hobby..shaving"enthaanennariyilla Shankar liked shaving as a hobby very much(kulathozhil aayirikkum ..inheritence)in short time it reached two other geniouses JK (Kumaaran)and Kannan(Pedali/World bank/forest) pinne parayyanundo?all three of them wrote shaving as their most sought after hobby...and with a satisfaction of getting an opportunuty to express themselves returned the cards..athre ollaliya!!kollaam machuu great!!But the writer himself didn't get the time to write shaving as a hobby,Sophia ma'am grabbed the card and was off.Next day ,same class ,same period..somebody noticed that Shankar's father was in front of Principal's office.Shankar cudn't blieve his eyes"oru pta meetinginu poolum warathha aalu dee princiide officil..hmm ennoodulla sneham kaaranamaayirikkum"A little bit latter JK's dad as well was seen"ehh?innu case onnum ille?ooh athallenkilum illallo."surprisingly Kannan's dad was also there in a moment..the 3 people Kannan ,JK and Shanku were happy 4 themselves"nookkaliya our frnship is being reflected in our dads as well"Just as Puppy was starting to take the there was some kind of black and white figure on the door.Black frm top to bottom wid a streak of extra white clr in the middle "ithenthaa kodimaramo wid a white flag?"Ayoo ithu nammade Shivaanandanalle(cycle)..As he approached the teacher there were some yells frm the boy's bench(cycle ,cycle).As he left Puppy in a very monotonous way said"Shankar,JK and Kannan r required to meet the Principal now".Aliyaaaaaaa desp!!!
Kannan and Shankar in a very casual way walked out.JK was a bit frightened it seems..Any way just as they were at the limit of visibility Puppy said to the whole class"Is ur report card a place for writing rubbish?It is something that reflects ur personality.Dont write any rubbish there"A frightenning electric shock ripped thru the heart of the writer."Ippozhale kaaryam pudi kittiyathu..chummathalla terriffic trios's inte dads ithra orumayoode scoolil wannathu.Bhagavane..ab mera kya hoga ?."The writer's heart began to send out alarm signals.Its the writer who gave them the idea."bachao bachao koyi mojhe bachaao".A little bit later as expected Cycle arrives to tell that even the writer is required by the Princi."innu aarude thirumoontha aano entho kani kandanthu,hmm?njaaninnu kannadi nookkikkondalle wake up cheythatthu?werutheyalla!!"As the writer entered Princi's(Rajamma Kurien) room wid shakin legs and sweating hands ,he saw the terrific trio's fathers sitting there with each of their sons standin at the back. Princi asked "Are u trying to mislead people?".the writer in a feeble,trembling voice"I didn't try to lead anyone .I was just joking and didn't intend to write that".To the astonishment of the writer Mrs Rajamma told him to go back to his class"bhagavanee ithenthiru marimaayam".Pinee ee writer thirinju nookkkathe classileekku jeevanum kondoodi.Interval aayappo terriffic trio's thirichhethhi with"OOO pinne awaru olathhum"look flashing bright in the face.Rajamma weruthe aale wadiyaakki.Oru warning koduthu paranju wittu.Pakshe tension ellam weettukaarkkayirunnu.It goes like this that Kannan's father didn't allow him to close his room's door that night and had slept near him fearing that his son wud do some "bhudhhimoshams".Poor father! doesn't know that his son is a real Kandamrigam(aliya ninakku wan tholikkatti thanna).The really cool Kannan hadn't any regrets.Angane aa diwya diwasathee anubhawathodu koodi terrific trio's Barbers enna peeru kondu ariyappedan thudangi.(Barber Raju,barber Kumaran&Barber kannan)Princi ude roominakathhu nadanna wedi kettukal ethenkilum oru barber publish cheythaal nallathaayirikkum.Angane KV pattathhile kuree tense moments Kazhinju kitti.

THE WEDDING EXPERIENCE!!!

Here's one of my old memories in the great institution...err...this is a bit embarassing...but i hope you will spare me considering I was a kid then!!!I was in my 4th std when my beloved primary teachers came up with a unique programme for the school annual day ceremony.It was called "yesterday,today,tomorrow" juxtaposing the various differences between the past, present and future. We were all excited as most of us had a part to play.Then I see shobha madam coming up to me and saying,"now we got to find a groom for this lady".I was shocked because until then I just knew that I was participating but had no clue as to what my part was.So after that there was the selection process whereby she was searching for the person best suited to be my groom.My part was that of the present day bride.On the outset I was excited but then I started getting scared about it,because to me,marriage,that was something big.I went home that day with a heavy heart and thought that my parents would discourage me from getting "married".Well I was too young!!!But they seemed to want a demo version of what i was going to do on stage and I had to perform that play in front of them too.They didnt seem to mind it at all eventhough i was getting fidgety about it.
The teachers found the suitable guy in Visakh,someone who was in 'C' division then and she said we made a good pair.I was shocked and embarassed.Then the practice sessions began and the teasing session from friends too which continued upto 12th.We were all set to perform.I felt so clumsy,wretched and stupid throughout.The day before the event, his parents came to see our part and they disapproved of my costume saying tht it was not quite apt for a marriage.This screwed me up.I seriously began to doubt that i was a goner because why the heck should they comment like that for just a play.and to top it all my parents seemed least bothered.I was flustered but decided to go along all the same.Anyways everything went smooth and after the big event the guy started greeting me whenever we met and me, the embarassed pissed off lady couldn't take it anymore and avoided him as much as I could.
Life was moving on smoothly when in the next year there arises the proposal to repeat the event due to its grant success.Shobha maam again picks up on me.I heaved a sigh of relief when i heard her say that my last year partner had gone on tranfer and that they would have to search for someone else.This time thankfully(err...dont misundrstnd me) they come up with a girl who would be dressed up as a guy,maybe considering the sullen countenance i had maintained throughout the affair the year before.So i had a girl called Neethu as my partner(as trail) and Kalyani for the event...hihihhi...So once again through the ordeal, I had gained all the experience needed to get married and the unceasing teasing from friends too accompanied the same.Anyways I wasn't the sole victim to such embarassment.There are many more.Jo had 2 kids in her part..hihihhi...hope she will enlighten you with her experience with two kids at the age of 9!!!
But needless to say that was the best programme ever in the history of K.V.Pattom,atleast in my 12 years there.Hats off to shobha maam n mary maam.The effort and imagination that went into it is unsurpassed...

This blog

Since the age is of blogging.. Here is a platform for all of the KV Pattom 2005 passout batch to blog about their experiences in school, in their new college, about whats new in their life etc..in short this is a blog for posting about anything under the sun related to u, my friend.. Keep everyone posted on the serious incidents in your life and also the silliest.. i request everyone to pitch in n keep this blog alive.. for further details on how to become a member in this contact me..

Sindhya