Kindergarten

Go on, have your laugh. But lets see how many can recognize me in this kindergarten pic.
I wish I remembered more of my kindergarten days. However there are a few things that do stand out in my memory.

I spent the first three years at "Arya Wonderland". It had one big swing, and I never got a place in it. The bullies used to scare me away.

I had a friend, Sasmita (third from right, bottom row) , in KG-I. We used to share our tiffin boxes. I sincerely wish I could remember more about her and our friendship back then. I completely lost contact with her after joining Std 1 in a boy's school. I met her once on a train journey after 1st sem at IIT, but I couldn't see any trace of my old friend in her.
Somehow, we tend to keep with us the old image of friends we haven't met in a long time. The heart finds it difficult to acknowledge the change a person might have undergone just as we ourselves have changed. Thats why people find it shocking when they hear so and so is smoking now, or so and so has a girlfriend.

I was the shortest in my class (till std 7!) and used to stand at the front of the queue during morning assembly. Few realize that this was one of the primary reasons I couldn't indulge in any mischief in my younger days and not because I was shy!

I was placed 1st in a frog race when I was in KG-I. I don't remember winning a "1st" prize ever again!

Our house had a huge open space adjoining it back then. Half the colony came to play there. My friends ranged from college guys to prep girls. Games we played were just as varied; cricket, footer, lock-and-key, kabbaddi, cooking, making-houses-with-twigs-and-leaves, kite flying and catch-catch. I was horrible at kite flying. That blasted thing never went higher than my head :(

My dad had a Rajdoot (still has! ) back then. I used to envy kids who had scooters. My sole dream for some time back then was to ride a scooter in that space between the driver and the handle where one stands on the footrest. I finally realized my dreams in KG-II :)

I studied three years, nursery, KG-I, KG-II at the same school and it'd be another 3 years before I realize that KG meant kindergarten after I complained to my parents why wasn't I sent to a kindergarten school like everybody else!

Beta kuchh khate kyun nahin?

Discovery is the channel to look out for. If nothing else it'll save me the sighs every time I hear "beta kuchh khate kyun nahin?"
Some scientists have concluded that people can be fat without eating too much or thin in spite of eating normally. Its got something to do with metabolism rate, fat storage, etc etc.... you get the picture. Anyway, no point explaining all this to you now. I am a changed person now. Even I have started eating, hogging on every specimen that mankind is known to digest. As someone rightly said, "If you believe in something with all your heart, the whole world conspires to prove you wrong."

Don't believe it? Well, then read on.

I hear it from my mom almost on an hourly basis. Protest, mild consternation followed by flattery does the trick of calming her vehement protests about my eating habits.

Old aunts invariably start their conversations wondering aloud whether food was a scarcity in Madras, and how on earth am I supposed to find a girl and marry with a figure like that (most of them don't yet know that half the job is already done :P ). In such cases, I just let out a sigh, raise my hands upwards transferring all the blame to the almighty above. Never argue with old aunts, experience speaking.

Then there is dad who starts the topic by saying how he used to be when he was my age. Now I can't remember the last time when dad saw eye to eye with me or vice versa. Now, I have observed that there is a certain age beyond which it feels as if dads say the opposite thing just to contradict you and the feeling is mutual. The chance of winning an argument against your dad is always very alluring, so I try to expalain my views on the subject. Ultimately mom becomes the peacemaker and the debate whether I eat enough comes to an end without any conclusion.

At least one gets to open his mouth and argue with dad. Not so with girlfriend. She goes on and on about what i should eat, how I should eat, when I should eat ad infinitum. By the time I try to get a word or two edgeways she has moved on to another topic (Why doesn't a beautician open her parlour on weekdays in the campus?).

However the most embarrasing one has to be the chat wala incident last night. I had had a big, really big lunch and so was not in a mood to eat any more after having two sweets. But this friend of mine gets two plates of alu tikki chat and I had a tough time finishing it. You'll sympathize with me if I tell you that a dinner awaited me at home five minutes later, and try telling mom that you can't finish your dinner because you have had aloo tikki chat from a thela.

Eventually I had to call the friend for help. The glutton that he is, he had finished his plate by the time I was taking my second spoon! Now the chat wala saw this. "Can't finish it son?" he asked. "Well no wonder, you look like that. Beta kuchh khate kyun nahi?"

Of boys and boys who became girls

In std 3 the teachers had this weird idea of a couple dance for our annual day. You can't call it Salsa, or Tango or anything for that matter. It was like one of those Bollywood numbers, the sort of dance where a girl holds a bloke's hand, and they jump together, sway, spin.... I hope you get the picture. Now, our school being a boys school, you can imagine how inappropriate a boy-boy couple would have looked dancing.

Relationship with Carmel school, the girls school with whom we shared a boundary wall was not friendly. Maybe the kindergarten-kids-of-Saint-Paul's-throw-stones-at-Carmel-injure-girl incident may have something to do with it. Maybe they were plain jealous of our new auditorium. There is also the offhand chance that it might have been triggered by the way we guys from Saint Paul's gape at them during parade, as if the girls materialized from thin air and we aren't quite sure what to do with that. I must mention here that students of std 6 gape with the widest open eyes followed by the 7, 8, 9 and 10.
The gist of all these babble here is that girls from Carmel could not be bribed into partnering us in the dance.

Ingenuity coupled with need led to an interesting solution. Dress up half the boys in frocks. At that tender age there are hardly any visible physical differences between the two sexes, I mean nothing that a touch of rougue and a bar of lipstick can't fix :P

There were some ready volunteers who probably thought they would get chocolates if they became "girls." Then there were some who were enticed into it by a few flattering words of the teachers. Then there were some like me who were just told to become a girl. I am still cloudy as to why I thought protest was not an option! Looking back at it now from so far away in time makes it an amusing incident but I remember how terrified I was initially.

Because of my height, I was the first in line, and the teachers who used to train us would say how cute I was and that embarrassed me to no end. Anyway, there I was leading the group wearing my sister's frock on the annual day. I don't remember who my partner was, but I recall that it was hugely popular among the crowds. The people loved the show happily clicking away the beautiful "girls" with lipstick, rouge, hairbands, colourful frocks, the works!

The makeup was so good that even I couldn't recognize one of my classmates for quite some time.

Beauty in Rourkela

Having spent the first 17 years of my life at this small town followed by 4 years in Chennai interspersed with a few months of Bangalore in between, I can now say with conviction that I love to be in Rourkela more than anywhere else. What appeals most to me is its simplicity.

There are few people, just one main road encircling the town, two prominent markets, good schools, one NIT, and one big hospital. Ideal for an idyllic life.

You never worry which road to take to avoid traffic.

Don't have to worry about where the season sales offers include 2 free with every 3 purchases, and whether 33.33% discount is better than that. Just two markets, so you go to whichever is closer to you.

You don't have to spend an entire day to keep up with your 9 to 5 job! My school used to start at 10. Starting from home at 9:50 used to give me two minutes leeway which i spent fruitfully playing hand-cricket before the assembly began.



Apart from its simplicity, I adore the beauty of this small town. The ring road especially looks charming with its tree lined wide roads.

Lack of good quality restaurants are made up the myriad fast food joints. My favourites are the tangy papri-chat at NAC market and the ghoogni-chat at Gundicha Mandir. Also worth mentioning are the dosas here which are way better than anywhere else, and that includes Bangalore and Chennai.