My Roll number was (still is) 3295, and I joined Sainik School in 1994. Like most SSGians, I spent my most living hours, standing in formations (‘fall in’s). Fallins to PT, to breakfast, to school, to lunch, to prep classes (which doesn’t happen anymore), to inter house competitions, assemblies, for chair replacements, post lunch and dinner punishments. Adorned with a ‘less than average’ height, my position always hovered around the ‘first line’ in all these fall ins, until I got promoted to my XIth class and suddenly height did not matter and it felt awesome to stand in the last line when the school assembly was underway – standing as far away from the dice as possible.
The incident that I am going to narrate happened on one particularly warm evening in my XIth standard. I was the Senior Prefect of Lohit house and Mrs. K. Sharma happened to be our house master. My bed was in room number 2, exactly opposite to that of the ‘door keeper’. A nice smelly dinner, aggravated my sleepiness after a match in the inter house football competition. It was past 10 and I tied my Khaki mosquito net as music played on from the ‘amplifier connected walkman’ inside the ‘box table’ connected to speakers placed above a water filled bucket. The movie ‘Taal’ got released in India a week back and there were a handful of us, who had seen it during an escapade to Guwahati or Goalpara and they were frequently seen with a circle of listeners, eager to listen to the movie’s story. So there was this famous song blaring out from the speakers under my bed. The power came from a half dangling switch board behind my bed.
As I drifted into a mild sleep, amidst the music, a boy came running from the Reading Room (room number 5). The informant said ‘da madam ahise’ (Madam is arriving). Amidst slight laziness, I lifted my hand and just tapped at the switched board from inside the mosquito net and the music died down (any kind of electronic equipments were strictly disallowed in school). And I kept waiting for her arrival.
A little wait of approximately five minutes brought to my ears, the familiar sound of the dragging feet. I flashed my most ‘obedient looking’ smile as I greeted her, from the bed. As expected she asked me, ‘Shisir, could you find out who it was. I heard some loud music’. I flashed a wider ‘obedient’ smile and said, ‘I haven’t heard any music madam.’ She was turning away, when the music came to life on its own, ‘jangal mein bole koyal kukru koo’. A sensation of burning went down my spine and my stomach curled from within. What happens next?
The incident that I am going to narrate happened on one particularly warm evening in my XIth standard. I was the Senior Prefect of Lohit house and Mrs. K. Sharma happened to be our house master. My bed was in room number 2, exactly opposite to that of the ‘door keeper’. A nice smelly dinner, aggravated my sleepiness after a match in the inter house football competition. It was past 10 and I tied my Khaki mosquito net as music played on from the ‘amplifier connected walkman’ inside the ‘box table’ connected to speakers placed above a water filled bucket. The movie ‘Taal’ got released in India a week back and there were a handful of us, who had seen it during an escapade to Guwahati or Goalpara and they were frequently seen with a circle of listeners, eager to listen to the movie’s story. So there was this famous song blaring out from the speakers under my bed. The power came from a half dangling switch board behind my bed.
As I drifted into a mild sleep, amidst the music, a boy came running from the Reading Room (room number 5). The informant said ‘da madam ahise’ (Madam is arriving). Amidst slight laziness, I lifted my hand and just tapped at the switched board from inside the mosquito net and the music died down (any kind of electronic equipments were strictly disallowed in school). And I kept waiting for her arrival.
A little wait of approximately five minutes brought to my ears, the familiar sound of the dragging feet. I flashed my most ‘obedient looking’ smile as I greeted her, from the bed. As expected she asked me, ‘Shisir, could you find out who it was. I heard some loud music’. I flashed a wider ‘obedient’ smile and said, ‘I haven’t heard any music madam.’ She was turning away, when the music came to life on its own, ‘jangal mein bole koyal kukru koo’. A sensation of burning went down my spine and my stomach curled from within. What happens next?
4 comments:
keep up the flame of light alive through yester years cherished growing up years!
great memory,I still remember that the amplifier used cost around 200 ,the speakers 150 and the Walkman ("wingo") cost 300.........but the sound system was great and of course the experience that u have shared makes me nostalgic............
those are the moments which still drive me in difficult times....good buddy keep the good things going........
Jus the name "Sainik School Goalpara".....ignites the hidden flame of every SSGian. Very bit of life spent in SSG is treasure by itself....Punishments like front roll, chair position are the past memories of life.....Thanks Buddy.....for jolting down our past !!
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