Back to school... not quite ...

Song for the mood: Jaane Kahaan Gaye Woh Din - Mukesh

"Well, you were the reason..."

Today when talking to Gooth I was for some reason reminded of a certain little conversation that happened about 5 years ago, a conversation about an even earlier incident that happened in school. Aah ... school! I loved school, no doubt about it. We all tend to have fond memories of school, and so do I. All the same I am sure, everyone from my school who was ever in my class will have a little something to say to me, "You were such a bore!".

You know that little voice inside us, which tells us what to do when things seem wrong? Well, in my case it was a public announcement system and it had an announcer living on a severe overdose of righteous consciousness. I was the little kid in the moral science textbook who can see no wrong ... hear no wrong ... do no wrong. I was every teacher's 'ideal' student - the value education teacher's for sure, damn! I came first in that subject every time! - and for these great reasons I was the class monitor, 4 damn years in a row! I must have gotten every other kid punished for some reason ... to me things always seemed wrong.

"Do you by any chance remember standard 8th year report collection day?"
"No ... not really ..."
"You should dude. You were the class monitor ... as usual ... and I was the kid crying in the corner of the classroom with his mother and the teacher towering over him, discussing the kids potentially bleak future ..."

I was the kid you loved to hate, in school. When I think about how I was in school, I prefer lying down and telling myself, words like, "Life is very long ... let the past be the past ... things change ... we all go through difficult times ... control yourselves ..." I was a prick! You know those things that teachers say because they have to: "All of you sit quiet! Hands folded and a finger on you lips!" ... "Stand in a straight line! Everybody ... stand quietly!" ... as far as I was concerned they were life commandments. I had to do everything the way it seemed right. Probably the teachers realized they could exploit my over-eagerness to become the Poster Boy so they thought 'let this fool do all this for me' so I was always entrusted the prestigious responsibility of class monitor.

"Oh! Was it that bad? I am sorry ..."
"You should bloody well be!"
"Huh?"
"Well, you were the reason ... that I got screwed that day! You were such a bore! Teacher's pet ... 'look at Sagar! Such a nice boy, such values, such discipline, learn something from him ...' (add a nasal tinge and a possible mockery of your school teacher to this last sentence)."

This was the conversation that I had with an ex-schoolmate over a cup of tea, 3 years after school was over and done with. And he remembered every single detail. Such episodes you don't forget easily, do you? Well I apologized to him, and to myself ... I still do sometimes. My popularity among my school friends can be judged from the fact that the last time I sent a social networking invite to one of them, he rejected it.

Then I guess, I was just meant to be that way. When I say this I am reminded of these golden words I read somewhere - No matter how bad you are, you are not totally useless ... you can always be used as a bad example.

Good night. And before I sign off, if anyone from my school ever happens to read this ... the f*** I'm sorry! You had a lot of fun in school because of me ... whether you admit it or not! :-)