How I met my friends....

Happy Friendship Day girls !!

We've come a long way indeed ! From tying friendship bands, writing snail mails, writing e-mails and finally blogging!

I am taking up Prasanna's tag and writing about how I met each of you ( if I can remember)...and since its all ages ago...most memories are quite hazy. Forgive me for any thing left out. In chronological order,

* Farrah - She is first person I met from our gang way back in 5th std. She was new to school and we hit it off immediately. We were classmates for many years after that. We took part in a Mahabharatha skit where she was Arjuna and I was Krishna (LOL). She is one cool person and I wish there was some way by which I could get in touch with her !

* Tina - I guess I knew Tina even before 5th std...but I don't remember. She was in my class in 5th std. Tina was always cracking jokes and a great person to be with. She has always been the tom-boy of the gang. She was the only one who could whistle loudly. She was always into sports. Tina was always different....and she continues that trend even now with her job...we are all so proud of you girl !!!

* Prasanna - The first time I met Prasanna was in the branch school bus stop towards the end of 5th std. She used to take a different bus and I din't know her all that well. In fact I think she din't even like me that time ( how things can change). I bumped into her here and there after that. Then in 7th std, we were in the same section and we started hanging out. No looking back since then ! We've always done so much mischief together...its been a riot ! We both are extremely lazy when it comes to studies and were always looking for ways to avoid it..and I think that was the basis of our ever-lasting friendship ! LOL .

* Kavitha - I met her in 6th std I think. Not very sure. She was my bus-friend. Kavitha was a fun loving person and was just like me in many ways. Our birthdays were just a day apart. Going back home in the bus was never the same without her. In 7th std, we were in the same section. She used to sit in front and I used to sit at the back - whenever the class was boring, she would sneak back and we would all have fun writing 'crazy stories' or other games. I loved the food she used to get for lunch ! Now K is busy with her own family.....sure hope to bump into her and talk about old times .

* Subha - 'Prasanna's best friend'....for a long time that was Subha's identity. I met Subha in 7th std as she was in my section too. Subha has always been the 'perfect/ideal' student. She always looked neat. She was the most studious in class. She always got the first rank !! She was the teacher's pet ! She was very calm and controlled all the time ! She was the class leader which worked like a charm for us ( no one can punish us now). She was the balancing force in a gang of crazy people. She would seem like a quiet person...but thats till you know her...then she yacks quite a bit too ! We both had a craze to goto Vitan and buy stickers, junk jewellery and other trinklets !

* Archana - She was the new girl to school/class in 7th std. She was asked to sit at the back as she was tall and thats how we became friends ! I still remember that we were playing some silly game on her first day and asked her to join in. She and I had so much in common - reading, music, ideas, bus and we both owed allegience to the same bank :) . We studied together only in 7th and 8th std. After that she left to Karur and we kept in touch through snail mails written religiously. I think we were partly responsible for Postal Service's revenue for a few years. We were in touch over the phone after we both came to US for higher studies. Its good to eat you head ever so often !

* Mani Megalai - She was the last person to join the gang. She was the new girl to class in 8th std and was sent to the back bench as she was tall. And we all hit it off at once. She was always very well behaved and sweet. Mani had one of the most beautiful handwritings and used to draw biology diagrams so neatly. She loved to talk and so the back bench was always full of chatter.She was very fun loving and fit right in ! We studied together for 2 years after which I moved to a different city. She is one nice friend to cherish !

Phew ! There ends my narration.

Here are a few things I realised while I was writing .... many ppl from the gang were 'new' to school ! Looks like 'having fun' was the basis of our friendship. 7 of us were in the same section in 7th std...and our gang was pretty much formed by the end of it. In 8th std, the 8th person joined the group; the eeki-kiki gang was in action. That was the most fun filled year of my life till date ! If I had a time machine, I would go back to that year and re-live every moment !

We've all come a long way since our crazy childhood. Without you all my life would have been very dull ! I hope our friendship continues for many years to come !!

Cheers to our friendship !!

Archu

Ok now that friendship day is here, as promised to Archu this is a post dedicated to her.

I have known her for 10-15 yrs now (wow! Gives me goose bumps!!!). I met Archana if I remember right in 7th std. She was this tall, thin bespectacled girl from some town unknown to me that time. Shilpa was the tallest in class till Archu’s entry – so we all sat in the last bench. Even though she was quiet in class, she gelled well with us and very soon became part of “gang of girls”. S and A had a great time bullying me. I actually enjoyed all that, it was more like I was always getting their attention. We all traveled in the same bus, had common interests and most of all loved to laugh our heads off.

It was actually 8th std when our friendship and fun was in full form. Archu was always good in studies, though will not call her studious like Subha. Her language skills were good even when she was in school and used to write great essays. I remember our English teacher calling her out specifically to read out her stories/essays aloud in class.

We were together in the same section till 10th std and then parted in different streams to pursue our interests.

One striking thing about our friendship is even though we meet once in a year, she can carry out a conversation with such ease and comfort. We met recently almost after a year in S’s wedding and perfectly tuned in.

Ok now that I have written such a nice post ;-) , will pass this on as a tag to S, A and others who have managed to get an invite to this blog. You should write about some other person in the gang or u can choose to write about all of them.

P.S. archu, did I make up for the goof up?

Bus No.5 Part 2

And just to add the parts that were left,

We used to have these walking races from school to the bus stop. It was probably half a kilometer but used to be so much fun. Kavitha use to zoom, followed by shilpa and I use to Huff & Puff behind them...LOL!

Even though K and S could take another route, they always preffered to take Bus No.5 and I always missed 19M and would make up stories that it was crowded to join them in 5.

Bus No. 5

No story from school days can be complete without mentioning our dear old PTC Bus...or watever it is called these days.

Its quite a coincidence too think that all of us ( except Tina, Mani and Subha) used to live on the route of the same bus - Number 5. I can still recall waiting for hours for that stupid bus. Mornings used to be fun, many times all of us would board the same bus at different stops, starting with Prasanna from the bus depot to Kavitha in SIT colony. And ofcourse we always made a big racket in the bus.

Returning home used to be awful. The buses would be so crowded and we had to board them with our heavy school bags. Some lucky days, the back seat of the bus would be empty.

Sometimes, while on one bus we would spot another emptier one behind and would make a run for it...do u guys remember ? This was true when that rare 4C made its appearance.

Here is a funny incident from the bus ( must hv occured sometime in 1992). The conductors used to be quite chalu and would not give back the change. Once, all of us had boarded the bus as usual and had bought our tickets. For some reason, the conductor did not give back Prasanna's change. She got very annoyed and asked him to give the amount. He was being a smartass and started arguing,
(Translated from Tamil)

P: Give me my change ( which was like 25 paisa)
Cond: Why are you arguing for such a small amount ?
P: You are supposed to return the money.
Cond: What will I do with that amount ? I cannot even buy a cup of tea !
P: U cannot buy tea but u can surely buy kadalai urundai !! ( donno its english eqv)
Cond: Dumbstruck ... gives the money to P.

Everybody in the bus started LOL.

Ribbons

One of the favorite pranks we used to play during the eight standard was "hide the ribbon". Ribbons used to be a part of our school uniform and not having them on could result in a fine. Hence pulling it off someone's hair when they were not watching was a sport. Shilpa and I could practise this sport with great impunity as both of us had short cropped hair - which meant neither of us had to wear ribbons - which meant we had nothing to lose!

Poor Prasanna, who used to wear two pig-tails, often used to be the victim. Shilpa and I used to be towards the end of the line of students of our class during assembly as we both were tall compared to most of our other classmates (I think I was tallest in class, I don't remember exactly). Prasanna, though shorter, used to pretend to be otherwise so that we could all stand together and yack :-)! She mostly used to stand just in front of Shilpa and taking away the ribbon was a piece of cake.

So one day, after doing the usual ribbon-snatching, Shilpa and I came up with the brilliant idea that I should tie the ribbon to the nail at the top of the window when Prasanna was not watching. So, during the lunch break, I climbed onto the desk (yes, it was not possible to reach the nail otherwise) and tied it to the nail. Then S and I sat down again and waited for P.

Sure enough, P discovered the loss of her ribbons and demanded where they was. By then, the Chemistry class after lunch had already commenced. Both S and I said innocently swore that we did we did not have it with us. Obviously, P was skeptical and prodded us some more. Finally, we both burst into silent giggles and pointed towards the nail with its ribbons!

Now, P was in a mad mood that day for some reason and wanted her ribbons back immediately. Before we could blink, she had marched up to the Chemistry teacher and asked her whether she could get her ribbons. The teacher who was checking something in the book absently said yes.

So Prasanna, returned to the back of the class and before our amazed eyes, climbed onto the desk and started reaching for the ribbons. Which was when the chemistry teacher looked up. And practically shouted "Why on earth are you standing on that desk?"

P coolly said "You said I could retrieve my ribbons".

So the Chemistry teacher went "Yesssss...but I did not say you could climb desks".

P reasonably said "But I can't get my ribbons without climbing the desk" and pointed to the ribbons hanging on the nail.

S and I knew what the next question would be. Sure enough, it came from the Chem teacher "Who on earth put those ribbons there?". Our throats went dry as S and I waited with bated breath.

Gathering up the most innocent and artless of all expressions on her face, P said meekly, "I don't know ma'am. But I recognized them as my ribbons."

Beaten, the Chemistry teacher said "Fine. But you can't climb the desk now to get them. Get them later."

Haven't I mentioned before? S, P and me were (and still are) good friends! And good friends don't tell tales :-)!

P did retrieve them later - I still can't believe she actually clambered onto a desk in the middle of a class. I can recall the image in my head still :-))!

Weird Teachers 2 - Saroja Miss ?

Name : Saroja ( not sure actually...guys help me out)

Subject : Chemistry

Standard : Hmm I think she taught in 6th and then 9th std ( I don't remember)

Saroja Miss was an old teacher. I am very bad with names. So pls confirm her name !

She was a hyper-active lady, always running late. She seemed to scurry all the time. She used to miss classes often. She had grey hair. Was she the one who used to put henna ? She had a funny way to teach and pronounce.

Here is what I remember, once while explaining some experiment where particles are bombarded, she called two girls and promplty banged their heads ! ROFL !!! She wanted to show how collisions take place ! LOL !!
Obviously, no one ever voluntereed again.

Once while I was half asleep taking notes, she was suddenly talking about ' elephants' being bomarded. I woke up puzzled. Hmm am I in the wrong class ? Elephants in Chemistry ? I peeped into the neighbors book and realised that it was ' elements' being bombarded. LOL.

She was one crack-pot !

Weird Teachers I - Radha Miss

Per Shilpa's idea in the comments of the previous post, here is my first entry.

Name: Radha (don't know last name)

Subject taught: Geography

Class: Eight standard

Description: Well, I remember that the other teacher (Vyjayanthi ma'am?) went on maternity leave and Radha miss was our subsitute. I do not remember too much about her teaching skills. But I DO remember her wonderful dressing sense.

Radha miss had the most amazing collection of salwar kameez suits. One day you could spot her wearing a green kameez, red salwar and a yellow dupatta . The next day you could spot her wearing a pink kameez, orange salwar and a white dupatta. Basically, everyday she would look like a riot of color.

Since the clothes would have coordinated a whole lot better if only she had laid out all her clothes and then picked out what to wear, speculation was rife among the students that she had three huge pots - one filled with kameezes, one filled with salwars and the third filled with dupattas. And that she just pulled out one piece of clothing from each pot at random every morning.

I think we used to torment poor Radha miss the most in eight standard. She was one of those silly and giggly kind of teachers - and hence a perfect prey for us. Yeah, I know, we were mean ;-)!