Saturday, December 5, 2009

My Aussie friend

Sitting at home and nursing my injury, my mind wandered to my school days at Don Bosco. Those beautiful days filled with nostalgia., I never ever can forget. For posterity’s sake, I decided to pen these today.

A close friend of mine Mr.V , now in Australia, was the leader of the mischief pack. The lunch boxes of a few students would be empty before lunch time and V along with a couple of close friends like me would be the beneficiaries. Their mothers made awesome food and we were very selective in choosing such lunch boxes. He was short and had the unique advantage of moving below the benches and come with these prized boxes. He never was caught in any of his mischief.

When the teacher turned to the black board, V would throw a chalk at the teacher, or suddenly make a weird noise or at least whistle. Those of the few sitting around him in class would be aroused to laughter, and would become the target of the teacher’s wrath. V, of course, always wore a cool innocent look.

In a particular lecture, he had brought with him a box full of marbles and at an appropriate moment chose to dispense with the contents of the box. The sudden jingling sound and students leaning forward to pick the marbles had the entire class in splits. The entire class had to write a particular English chapter five times by way of punishment.

V was curious by nature and always experimented with one thing or the other. There was a particular teacher who always wore a blue shirt. V sprinkled ink on his shirt just to find out whether the teacher changed his shirt or if he had several blue shirts.

V came to my house last week to invite me for a function. I heard him talking to my daughter on various career options. He told her that while making decisions in life, there would be confusion and anxiety. He beckoned her to look closely at these since the solution lay in the confusion itself.

It was in wonderment that I listened to my once upon a time mischievous V doling out perspective and wisdom to my little daughter.

6 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What a fun look back! Interesting how we all manage to grow up into responsible adults in spite of a mischievous childhood, isn't it! And as a former teacher, I could relate in more ways than one!

Hope you're continuing to recover from the surgery! Have a lovely day!

Sylvia

Debra Lynn Shelton said...

This is a great example of how people are unpredictable and complex. We tend to peg each other as this or that, when really, we are filled with contradiction. Human beings are indeed fascinating creatures!

nsiyer said...

sylvia as always your comments are inspiring. What transformation in V.

nsiyer said...

Debra, the writer, thanks for your comments. It counts a lot to me.

Kavi said...

The most mischevious ones in school are the ones that have gotten ahead.

And when i was saying the above lines, a mischevious classmate that i was meeting after many years later...said : 'the studious serious types dont get better than becoming HR managers' !

Food for thought. For me sir !

Get well soon !

Samyukta Ganesh said...

Hello Sir! ... It was so much fun reading your post. The description was so vivid and interesting. How are you doing now? Pl get well soon...my namaskarams to all at home