"Teachers!"

The rest of the day went off pretty comfortably!! There were seven classes in a day with a short snack break after the second period and the lunch break after the fifth!! The snacks and the lunch were served on the first floor where long tables and benches were arranged in rows for the students . There was a glass of flavoured milk served with the heavy snacks both of which I enjoyed thoroughly! I noticed that after finishing our meal, we had to say, “Excuse me please!” to the people sitting around one before departing. I found this really unusual and rather nice! During both the recesses, in the time after we had finished our meals, I explored the school with Pari who  was only too happy to enlighten me as we roamed around. There were many classes on the first floor too, along with the chemistry and the physics lab. There was also a fine library which I was impatient to explore as soon as possible! Above it, on the terrace there were three rooms – for Music, Art and Dance. The smaller building had the junior classes from 4th to 6th and the senior classes were in the main ‘castle’ building. The junior school (where my mother worked) was located in another area of the town called Dhar-kothi and there, classes from KG upto the Third grade  were held!

We reached the grounds, where students were playing or sitting and chatting. I came to know that the enclosed, dusty fields which I had seen earlier were the hockey fields!! In my previous school, we were never made to play sports and games! As a result I had never even touched a basketball or a football (leave alone a hockey stick!) ever before in my life and here to my absolute horror , I learnt that we had compulsory sports periods twice or thrice a week where we were made to play every sport, even cricket!! There was no option of getting out of it! The thought of myself making an absolute fool of myself in front of everybody, made my stomach recoil!

Many of the teachers did not start any studies on the first day but just got to know the students and played games with the classes in their respective periods. Our English teacher was a prim and a proper Bengali lady with short hair cut and conspicuous, round cheeks.  Everything about Mrs. Ghosh, from her neatly folded handkerchief tucked in the sleeve of her blouse, to the last pleat of her crisp, starched Tangail saree was perfect and in place! I had met her once previously during my entrance exam and she recognized me instantly ! After making the class meditate for a minute (which I later discovered was her ritual!), she made me stand in front of the class and say a few lines to introduce myself! After I had finished, she asked the class if they had any questions for me. A bossy girl sitting in the front row raised her hand and asked me, “Why did u left your old school?”

Mrs. Ghosh  interjected , “Pratisha, it’s- Why did u leeeave your old school, not left!”

I answered her question, but apperently this Pratisha had already lost interest in my previous school and was staring right out of the window, squinting at a faraway passing truck! I resumed my seat and heard Mrs. Ghosh revising the basics of grammar with the class.

The other lessons went smoothly as well and mercifully no other teacher called on me to introduce myself again. Mrs. Pandey came to take the double math class and picked out the students to recite the tables at a fast pace. I had always detested Maths and prayed hard that she would pick me before the table of 12 . But as my luck would have it, she picked me for the table of 13 and I apprehensively started..13...26...39...52...ummm...52...she told me sit down and advised me to learn all the tables till twenty. So, not a very good first impression, I thought to myself!!

 Hindi was taken by a humorous, entertaining,  short male teacher with a dark complexion whom I recognized immediately as Mr. Arun Singh as he had taught me for a year at my previous school in the second standard ! He did not recall me obviously, but after enquiring my name, he asked me if i was ‘Swati ji’s daughter’ and said-“Aapka humare school mei swaagat hai!”, making me feel welcome on my first day!

The last two periods after lunch were library periods .After my library card had been made and a new page had been assigned to me in the  register by Ms. Sanghi, a frail, stern looking librarian in her late fifties, I busied myself exploring the books on the different shelves and immediately got two newly published Nancy Drews issued in my name. Library seemed to be a relaxing time for the class. Students were sitting around on the long desks and holding whispered chat sessions with their friends throughout the double period till the last bell of the day rang. Sitting in the bus with Pari, on my way home, I wished that I would soon settle down and get fully moulded as one of these, laughing and joking children sitting all around me!!

"Assembly"

“  Good morning class!! ” Mrs. Pandey said, “It’s good to see you all back!!We are your class teachers and welcome you to the eighth standard!” There was an uproar of “ Thank -you Ma’ams!!” from the class.  “Shall I take your attendance now!?” One by one, she called out the names of each student to which the latter answered-“Present Mam!”When my name was called out and as I squeaked -“Present!” ,Mrs Johri said, smilingly-“ Well! We have a new student with us this year. Mallika Bhandary.”(A few heads turned in my direction and away again) “Be friendly with her, all of you!”  “And..” ,Mrs Pandey added, her eyes twinkling towards a couple of boys sitting in the front row, “I hope this year I can expect very sensible and mature behaviour from some of you!” The boys in question rolled their eyes and laughed aloud!

As the first bell of the day went off (  it was an electric one and I wondered to myself what was the traditional one there for ), students started getting up and forming a line. It was Assembly time!! I got up and walked to the door. Standing behind a couple of shorter girls,I smiled to myself! I had finally arrived at Pride Education, and fortunately, without a bang too!!

Assembly was held outside in the large porch  under the covered walkway that connected the ‘castle’ to another building. The students stood  class wise, in long, horizontal lines. The junior most class was stood  right at the front just near the stairs leading to the smaller building. A vast landing on top of the stairs was also adorned with plants . A small table on the top of which sat a harmonium, was at its side! The senior-most class was right at the back, almost reaching the steps of the foyer at the other end of the porch! My class was quite far back too as ours was the next in seniority. Pride was not an old school. Our seniors were to be the first batch to pass out from school. Thus, even the strength of the school was smaller than most other schools. I knew that it was a deliberate school policy to keep the strength of each section to a limited number. That explained the close-knit environment of this place!

Gradually, the buzz of the Assembly hall subsided as the headmistress- Mrs. Lila Bhan came out of the main building and proceeded towards the steps below the landing, facing the children. Even now, I just need to close my eyes and I can see Mrs Bhan striding along the side of the assembled students, her hands behind her, her face breaking into a lovely smile from time to time, as she spotted  familiar  faces. As she passed by us, I caught the waft of her perfume for the first time! It is still one of the best fragrances I have ever inhaled! Till date, if my friends and I come across a familiar fragrance, we immediately become nostalgic and yearn to get enclosed, once again, in her warm hug which was once the safest place in the world for us to be in!

As she finally reached the platform and stood smiling, just with her index finger on her lips, not saying a word, I carefully took in Mrs. Bhan’s appearance! She must have been in her late fifties, then, and was quite tall. She was dressed gracefully in a light, sky-blue cotton saree. My mother had told me that she was a Kashmiri and she absolutely looked like one with her very fair, milky complexion! She wore dangling, silver earrings, and several silver bangles clinked as she moved her arms. Her black hair was casually tied up with a matching blue clip and her black eyes twinkled as she shook her head and gestured towards a particularly naughty child to be quiet! This very image always pops into my mind whenever Mrs. Bhan is mentioned or when I think of her. Her entire demeanour and expression showed her loving devotion for children and I instantly  felt an inner tug towards her.

As the last of the voices eventually died down, Mrs. Bhan looked at the young, very dark teacher standing amongst his colleagues  , who taking two steps at the time, jogged and reached the platform to take his position behind the harmonium. “What are we going to sing today, Mr. Gajendra?” Mrs. Bhan asked him, and after hearing his softly whispered reply, said-“Children! We will sing “Hum bane Mahaan!”

Mr. Gajendra struck a low note on the instrument and tilting his head upwards a bit towards the students, began to sing the hymn. The students, taking the cue, joined in unison and the whole place boomed with the synchronized singing of the song!

I obviously did not yet know the words to the hymn, so I stood silently with my head bowed, occasionally joining in the song whenever the chorus lines–“ Hum bane...Hum bane...hum bane Mahaan!!!..”! were repeated . After the song , Mrs. Bhan thanked the young music teacher who bashfully bowed in return before descending the steps.  She faced the students and said- “Goodmorning children! Its wonderful to see all of you back after a long and relaxing summer break!” She spoke in a  pleasant sounding English. “Now, I  understand that u will all take a couple of days to settle down again to the school routine.l look forward to your settling  down soon and working really  hard and participating in the other activities of the school! Okayy???  Now, as it is only the first day of the new session, I don;t think I have any more announcements to make.. so off u go!! Enjoy your first day back !”.

One by one, the teachers started leading the children back to their classes. As we retreated to our class-room, we passed an elderly person standing at the entrance of the foyer, with both his hands on his waist, his mouth pressed into a thin, straight line. He nodded curtly as the students wished him “ Good-morning! ”  He had the kind of salt-and pepper hair I had seen recently in a Hollywood movie with the same moustache to match and the immediate impression I got when I saw him for the first time was that he wasn’t the person whom I would want to get in trouble with! “Who’s he?” I asked my only confidante, Pari.

“That’s Dr. Bhan, he takes  our reasoning lessons. He is Mrs. Bhan’s husband and they both look after this school.” Reflecting my thoughts, she added-  “You wouldn’t want to cross Dr. Bhan ever, haan!! He is really, really strict!”

 I greeted  him along with the other students and hurried towards the classroom to attend my first lesson!

The First day!!

Having asked several people for directions, I slowly made my way to my new classroom. Right outside the main building hung a huge brass bell which I guessed must be used for announcing the end of the lessons. The first thing I noticed, upon entering the main building, was a magnificent staircase! It was very wide with a gleaming, polished and stylish wooden banister on both the sides and grey coloured steps. As it rose, it split into two directions, both leading to the first floor . There was a huge landing in the middle from where the stairs divided. A large aquarium was placed on the landing behind which a large painting hung proudly on the wall. I saw that all the white walls of the building were adorned with beautiful paintings by various artists   and also, the pots of green plants kept at regular distances besides the wall gave the interior a pleasant and a lively look. Two corridors on the either side of the staircase had the entrances of numerous classes open on to them!

The bag on my back swung rhythmically as I hesitantly wended my way towards my classroom amidst the swarming students. I stooped for a fleeting moment at each doorway to read the board above each class to find the one in which I belonged. Then, right at the end of the east corridor I finally found it!!-  CLASS-VIII! This was it! I felt my heart pound as I pushed aside the curtains covering the doorway and entered the class! The classroom was large and the view from the windows delightful! There were wide, dark-blue desks each with four matching blue chairs. The blackboard was not black at all but a pale shade of green. Half of it was plain and the other half had squares like graph paper-  obviously to be used for mathematics. A long, steel chest with shelves, which were completely empty at that moment, covered most of one side of the class! I was fascinated by a little round enclosed area diagonally opposite the door, which I soon discovered  later was the gift of the castled- shape interior to the four classes situated at the each corner of the building! 

The class was filled with chattering and laughing boys and girls who were creating a racket in the temporary absence of a teacher. Some boys were playing with a small ball made of a handkerchief. As I gingerly stepped in to this scene they all noticed me and stared as I passed them. I felt like an alien from mars whom earthlings were looking over to  assess ! I recognized one face .That of a dusky girl from my bus! She came over  to where I was sitting  on an empty, secluded chair. “Hi!!”, she said “ My name is Pari ! I saw you in the bus and wondered if you were in our class. What’s your name?” Some of my tension subsided as I answered her questions. She took the chair besides me and started enquiring about my previous school. The rest of the class had gone back to their previous activities, occasionally turning their heads to steal a glance at me! I was grateful for Pari’s company and soon got into a comfortable banter with her. I also greeted another girl  ,Ankita Banerjee, who had been my classmate in my previous school years ago!! We greeted each other and eventually, I began to relax. My “ fearful” phase was over! I had found my class, made a couple of acquaintances and had overcome all the “that’s - a -new- girl!” looks without any mishaps.

The arrival of two teachers immediately lowered the noise level of the class. There was an instantaneous scraping and screeching of the chairs as all the students took their seats! I sat down with Pari and she showed me how to place my bag in the cubby-hole of the desk. As the class quietened down, I studied the two teachers who had come to the front of the class! One of them was tall and slender and had a smiling face. She seemed to be in her early forties and was dressed in a pink and orange salwaar-kameez! The second teacher  , who had on a bottle green salwar kameez, was a plump, rosy faced lady. She checked the attendance register ,not using her glasses which were comfortably perched on top of her head. Pari whispered in my ear-“The ma’am in pink is Mrs Seema Johri. She takes Geography and the other one is Mrs Sandhya Pandey! She teaches Math! They must be our class-teachers for this session!

The Beginning!!

The best way to figure out why something has happened to you is to imagine what it would have been like, had it happened the other way round! Thus, we are reassured that somethings in life have no reason at all, they are simply just meant to be!!

 I am not sure why and how I ended up being a part of a place called PrideEducation. What matters most, however, is that now, I just cannot make myself imagine how my life would have been without my alma-mater. I do not exaggerate when I say that it would have been completely hollow! It was there that I emerged from a cocoon and blossomed into the independent, confident person I am today! Yes, most people will say that it was just another school amongst the thousand others in the city and each student must feel his or her school is best. But that is precisely why I want my story to be told! To tell everybody that something about this particular place was truly Magical !

Standing by my window, as I look  at the kids waiting for their school bus at my old bus-stop, it feels just like yesterday when I, myself stood there early every morning, revising for a review or chatting with a junior student, as I waited for my school bus. I really feel overwhelmed when I think that it has been three years since we left school !Even after such a long time has elapsed, today also I just have to close my eyes to hear the distinct sounds associated with  that place. The tip-tap sound of the collected rain water pattering down through the openings in the terrace wall noisily meeting the pool of water below, which  we could hear during the silent assemblies. The sound of our fighting over who should be pulling the rope to ring the huge bell which hung just outside the foyer, while Gopal bhaiya attempted to hush us and unsuccessfully tried to scare us by saying he would tell on us ! Our long sessions of chatting and laughing sitting in the huge, dry drains which ran from the entrance gates of the school right till the football ground on both sides of the road. And the soft and pleading voice of our prim and proper English teacher saying -“Children...one...two...three...Meditate...” at the beginning of each English lesson. These sounds and memories flood my sub-conscience and I yearn to return to the time when my incredible journey had once begun! And even today I continue to feel its warm glow inside my heart as I think of the pleasant, carefree days spent there!!

I arrived at Pride in the summer of the year 2001 to join the eighth standard. My mother, who was a teacher in the junior section of P.E  had been very keen for me to get an admission there. She was keen that I studied in a school where things were approached in an entirely “different manner”! Thus, on the second of July, I was on my way to P.E for the first time, dressed neatly in crisp, white t-shirt (with P.E’s logo on it) ,blue denim jeans and white sports shoes! I boarded the bus and spotting an empty seat at the back, sat down with my bag on the lap. I could feel students looking at me and nudging each other, obviously wondering which grade I am here to join! As the school-bus entered the gates of the campus and I got the first glimpse of my new school, I remember that the first word which had come to my mind was-“Wowww!”

 The school’s building was constructed in a shape of a pale orange coloured castle. The walls which constituted the building, I noticed ,were not smooth but consisted of the embossed, brick texture which gave it all the more ancient and ‘worn-down -with- time look’. The curtained windows were protected by round, stylishly -shaped grills and translucent glass window panes. If I would have read the Harry Potter series at that time I would have definitely compared it to the castle of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in the book! To the left of the road on which our bus was moving, there was a beautiful and a well-maintained garden. Ahead, almost adjacent to the lawn, was the main school building. There was a smaller building on our right too and a grey, covered passage connected them both to each other. Right ahead, at the end of the road I could see the green stretch of land and two goalposts standing on it around which many students were hanging around. It was apparently the football ground! And right next to it , was the basketball court! There were also a couple of small dusty areas enclosed by the short, concrete grey coloured boundaries next to the basketball court but I could not imagine for what they must be used for!

After getting down from the bus, I looked around and tried to take in the surroundings of my new school. I saw that all around me, students and teachers were hugging, exchanging news with each other and laughing delightfully. My first impression of this place was that it reminded me of the re-union of a large family! Everyone appeared to know each other well , regardless of their age. The only way to describe the atmosphere here was- ‘Personal’- it struck me as most unusual to see such harmony! I wondered to myself whether I would ever fit in with these people. If I would ever be part of their happy circle!