Down the memory lane (I)

It is almost a uniform belief that school days are the best days in one's life. I do believe the same, and one of the vital reasons for that belief is, those days were really free from the tensions and boredomI face now. Today morning, I thought of writing about some incidents of my school life. There are numerous events which I can recall, most of them are still very much alive in my memory. These are the events which I like to cherish the most, so I have decided to blog them from time to time.

NICKNAME : In school, almost in each class, the boys have a nickname which is more famous than their original names. I dont know about the girls, although our school was a co-ed one! According to our teachers, our batch was "notorious yet brilliant". That is really a unique description I have ever heard of. Nevertheless, we had some out-of-this-worldnicknames, and I would like to list a few of them: Amartya : GaNtu , Mainak : Oshur(Demon) , Samrat : Lali , Prithwish : Latka , Sandip : Bile/Boyoshko(old)/ Rat-tat , Anirban: Pant , Dibyendu : Biri(this guy have never smoked in his life yet!!) , Souvik : Godol, Soumik : Krishno/Boudi , Shantangsu : Keshto, Animesh : Chasha, Subhankar : Kochi, Suman: Kathi(for his one-dimensional figure!) , Tamojit: Tommy, myself : Badam, Sumonjit : Kaku das , Pradeep: Danob/DeNto/DaNtal and so on.

Why Badam???? One day, while returning from school in a bus, it happened. We usually used to board a bus in a group of 4 or 5 friends. From the bus-stop near our school, a hawker used to board the bus too, and he used to sell badam(nuts) and candies. On that day also, as we took our seat, the hawker boarded, and started calling : e badam e badam, ek taka packet, lobenchus takay 6 ta ! I don't know what occured to me, I too started calling : e badam, e badam!! To my misfortune, Siddhartha was there with us, and he and Mainak were responsible for all the nicknames I have mentioned. Hearing me, Sidhhartha said, " Array, tui to or thekeo bhalo bolchhis re!!! Ekdom professional badamwala r moton!!!!!!!!" Then obviously, he proposed that I should be nicknamed as badamwala, which the other boys found no reason to oppose. Thinking a while, Sidhhartha said, " Nah, naam ta boro hoye jachhe. Ok badam bolei daka hok".

For obvious reasons, all the other guys supported him, and the nickname Badam was unanimously accepted. The next day, as I entered the class, Mainak yelled, " Array Badam bhai!!!!!!"

I have left school 10 years ago. But still now, school friends call me "badam". Earlier this year, we had a get-together, where we were meeting with each other after almost 8 years. Seeing me, Mainak shouted, " Array badam bhai, koddin baade dekha?" Hearing this, the scene at the private bus came in my memory. Those sweet old days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. : I tried to write the conversations in english, but did not get the feeling. So I wrote them in bengali to keep the tempo intact.