Down the memory lane(3)

I still remember the day when Boyoshko brought a football along with him in class. We were in class 9 , and generally we did not have that leather sphere till then. Rarely we were permitted to play with the footballs the school possessed, and those days used to come once in a blue moon. We were satisfied either with tennis balls or rubber spheres, much smaller than the actual ones.

So, on that day, all of us were overjoyed. Fortunately, we had a Games period that day, right after the tiffin break. I remember all of us finished tiffin in rocket-speed and jumped out of the classroom into the green playground. Due to the games period, we got more than one hour of non-stop playtime. As the games period was over, the bell rang, but none of us were willing to enter the classroom leaving the playground. We continued playing for about more than 10 minutes, when we saw Mita teacher approaching the playground. It was her geography period (one of the most barren subjects to me!). Reluctantly, all of us came back to the classroom and were about to take seats, when Mita teacher, in a very sarcastic tone, said, " This is the third time I called you. Why don't you listen to us? Why not you go back to the playground once more??" The last sentence was the only one which we heard, and quite obviously, all of us left the classroom once again, and went to the playground!!! Mita teacher was so surprised that she could not utter a single word, although the classroom was nearly empty by then.

Two full periods of play simultaneously!!!!!!!!!! We were literally flying with joy. At last, we came back to our classroom after the bell rang. Ohh, i forgot to mention about the rain! It was raining heavily that day, and the ground got muddy in a little while. So when all of us entered the classroom finally, it was a real scene!! Almost all the white shirts turned muddy, the hairs looked as if someone has pulled them ferociously, water falling from the head in drops! The entire classroom and the benches got wet. Mita teacher, meanwhile, informed our teacher-in-charge(Ghosh teacher) about our "non co-operation", and she , along with Thakur Sir(He was very strict and arrogant), came to the classroom.

After the usual scolding(as everybody does!), Thakur Sir, with an evil grin, told," We will not punish you, Nature will punish you! You people played for two hours in the rain??? Huummm, we'll see how many of you come tomorrow!!!" Tomorrow came, and the good thing was, the attendance was more than normal!!!!

I would like to finish up stating one more incident. We used to play in the morning also, just before the beginning of the classes (from 9:20 to 10 atleast!). One day, due to overnight raining, the ground was muddy, and the match was in its full momentum. Ghosh teacher entered through the gate, very neatly dressed. As she was passing by the ground, Kaku Das (most probably) punched the ball. It was a grounder, and carrying a lot of mud with it, the ball went out of the ground, and hit Ghosh teacher lightly! The physical injury was none, but there were 3-4 "beauty muddy" spots on her saree! All of us stood standstill. Ghosh teacher, with a very peculiar tone (a mixture of sorrow, anger, frustration, and may be many more), told, " Tomraa e ki korle???? Aaj school committee r saathe meeting chhilo!!!!!!! Ekhon ki hobe????????????"

I still remember these words , and the expressions in her face! All the memories might get wiped out, but this particular one is very difficult to fade away.

Rain rules

It is raining here for the last 2 days, sometimes heavily, sometimes light drizzle, what in bengali we call as "ilsheguri bristy". In Wichita, we do not get much rain, in an entire year, it rains only for 10-12 days. Back home, I used to enjoy rain very much. I still remember the days when the streets used to get water-logged , and while returning from school, I , walking in the water barefooted, with the shoes in hand,and occasionally splashing water to the passers-by, and quite naturally did not care at all about what remarks or curses they used to bestow upon me.

But here, since the rainy days are very few, I do not get those good old days. Also, here the streets do not get water-logged, so the splashing business is out of question. The only thing I can get here is to drench in the rain. It is really a great pleasure for me. The walk from my apartment to the department takes about 10 minutes, and when I reached the department today, I was totally wet, and on entering the office, the carpets got wet as well. One of my office-mates, in a not-so-pleasant tone, asked me " Don't you have an umbrella? " I , reluctantly, replied," Yeah, I do. But I did not bring it. Its great walking in the rain without an umbrella". Hearing this, he looked at me in a such a way that he is looking at a lunatic or a totally insane person, and as if I have committed a crime or something of that kind.

For Bengalees, Khichuri and ilish machh bhaja are synonymous with rain. I cannot, or more precisely, do not, try khichuri(specially after the spinach disaster), but ilish is very much available here. So, yesterday night, as it was raining outside, I had a delicious dinner with rice, daal and ilish bhaja. I hope to repeat the same thing today. A peg of Bacardi Gold with coke, accompanied by some soft instrumentals, will create the perfect friday night ambience required. So am finishing off today, and intend to return some other time with some new information.