Inception.

No, parents who are fed up of their children because they are naughty and mischievous, do not send their children to boarding schools. Well, that is not the popular norm. For that matter, I was a well-behaved lad myself. Emphasis on the word ‘was’. Quiet, shy, introvert, a little independent and a little scared but all the more excited for all the new things to come. The reason I had to be sent to a boarding school is rather a boring one. Mum figured I couldn’t get the quality education she thought I deserved in Ghaziabad. I couldn’t stay with her because she was mostly busy for the whole day. I was first sent to Chandigarh. The school wasn’t that great but it was alright. Enough to suffice. The only alumni I know of graduating from St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sec 44-C, Chandigarh is Abhishek Upmanyu (Stand-up comedian) but I also know some people who are like the best people I have ever come across in life. The BEST, and anyways a good school does not decide how you turn out in life but certainly, a proven track record does help build trust and faith. I learnt a lot of things there. I learnt to skate, played table tennis and achieved belts in Taekwondo. I learnt about new cultures, music genres, religions, communities. Mostly Punjabi and Sikhism. Even learnt a little Punjabi. It was a rite of passage, listening to Punjabi music. Also went on to seeing Chhota Bheem all day. Yes, Chhota Bheem. Alright, don’t judge me know. Kidding. I know you are not. But, now you are.

After the entrance, I was not expecting to get in, but somehow I did. I messed up so bad in the Mathematics section but in the end, I evened it out somehow. Everybody was happy and excited at home. The session was supposed to begin 8th March onwards and until the 31st of November. I was not supposed to give my final examinations at St. Xaviers. I did not need to. It was a flex I could afford. I used to stay in the dormitory all day while everybody was busy giving exams. Planning what all to pack and how. I even owe people marks that they lost because of me fooling around all day and night, the time that they were supposed to study for the exams. SORRY. I left the gates of the school on 6th or 7th of March. I had to buy new sheets and stuff and oh, was I excited. I did not know I felt so strongly about the school until I had put all the things I had in the car and drove towards home. I had tears brimming my eyes all along the way and did not say a word, It was clear that you do not value something until you lose it all. But better things awaited.

The book (I mentioned in my previous blog) helped me pass my days of slumber. And then came the day to move upwards towards Simla (yeah, that’s what they called it in the last century). In the evening before the climb, I went to buy my uniform and all the necessities that I was asked to bring with myself. I reach Fashioners (Uniform outlet for many schools in Chandigarh) in sector 17 and was surprised to see a boy buying the same things that I was there for. I did not know then but we will go on to have the most wonderful 3 years of our lives together. We even had the same quilt. YES, of course, that is exciting. I had a quick exchange with him and he told me that he was going to the same school and was going to be in 5th grade just like me. I was happy that I will have a familiar face tomorrow, so what if it is only a day old. I went back home and turned around all night in the bed. Excited and nerve wrecked.

The day began early, very early! It was maybe around 4 in the morning. Got ready, and settled in the backseat of the car. Had a weird habit of sleeping if the car ride was any longer than 15-20 minutes. I fell asleep soon enough, but maybe the excitement woke me up in 25 to 30 minutes and I could not sleep even when I tried to. I just couldn’t calm down. I don’t know whether personality’s change or not but I was definitely an introvert, (I do not know whether I am anymore) and that actually made things worse for me. I could not possibly socialize well enough and for obvious reasons not soon enough. On the way, we took a break to have some tea and biscuits (I vividly remember they were Good Day, cause I really wanted to have one). With this brief break being over, we started climbing again. This time, more grounded. It did not take much time as we reached Shimla by 6:30 and school by 7:00. I was wearing my casuals and was immediately asked to change into the school uniform. The Winter Kit, to be more precise. It was damn cold. Too cold. It must have snowed either yesterday or day before yesterday. It had been some time since I had last seen snow and I could see remnants of it on the ground where our car was parked. Third flat.

As soon as I had changed, I was issued the school shoes (We are supposed to wear the same type of school shoes until class 10 and sports shoes until class 12 and hence both are issued by the school) and was asked to proceed to my classroom, which as I was told was going to be 5A. Good. Not much of a choice anyway, just two sections, A and B. I moved towards my class, 100 meters walk from the dormitory. The name of the dormitory was Linlithgow (after Lord Linlithgow) and it consisted of students from grades 3A, 4A and 5A while 3B, 4B and 5B were housed in Irons dormitory. After changing into the new uniform, I proceeded to my first classroom at B.C.S. I came across the Junior School building and impressed should be the right word. It wasn’t huge and neither did I expect it to be. It was exactly under the dormitories. I moved in and with confusing steps reached the door of 5A. I peeked inside and was surprised to see that class was almost full, the number of students seemed small around 25, I would later come to know that we will be 33 in all. I entered the classroom with permission and the tingles in my nerves. As I walked in, EVERYBODY SMILED but i knew all of them were dead scared of what was to come. Our class teacher, Mrs Melaine Gupta asked me to take an empty chair and desk and make myself comfortable. We were told that we’ll be getting our books, assigned our houses and introduced to each other in the coming 4-5 hours. As soon as ma’am was finished with the briefing, walked in 7 other boys. They were some of the OLD BOYS and were asked to introduce themselves, and they did.

Soon the introduction from the old boys ended and we proceeded to get our books for the academic session. I love this part. Experiencing new books. Perfect. We were put in line and asked to wait in a large hall, the person in charge came in soon and we proceeded to our classroom with a set of new books. Pretty. We were then given half an hour to engrave our names on them and put them in cabinets. I was finished in 20. As soon as I was done, our Hindi and General Knowledge teacher walked in and asked us to settle down as she was going to announce the houses we have been assigned to. I walked out for lunch with CYAN on my brain and RIVAZ (after Lord Rivaz, Governor of Punjab) on my heart. Just before lunch, we were briefed on how the academics will be executed throughout the year and the teachers were systemically introduced with respect to the subjects they were going to teach. Our class teacher was the only who was going to teach us multiple subjects. 3 was the number. Mathematics, English and Sciences being the 3. All this while, mom and others waited up in the dormitory. Putting down my stuff and then going out to buy the cosmetics and other commodities which I had clearly forgotten. As always.

During lunch, I sat at the start of the table, beside me sat a teacher and on the other side a very shy boy whom I had seen somewhere earlier, but I couldn’t place him anywhere. In exactly 40 minutes he is going to tell me that we are in the same class. We had our lunch in complete silence, both nervous, shy and a little afraid. Lunch was great. In variety and taste. Woah, the year was going to be exciting for the taste buds. School being over for the day, we moved up to our dormitories. Mom was waiting. She showed me my bed and cupboards. I looked around, it was time to say the GOODBYES. Never been good at those. Customary advises later and a few almost tear moments, mum left. I looked around again and saw about 10 boys crying, some had tissues and towels. Other sufficed with their elbows. I was damn proud of myself, I wasn’t bawling over the absence of somebody I could run to as soon as I ran into trouble. They couldn’t. After almost an hour of consoling, 8 of them had shut it up. 2 were still straining their tear glands. Left them to the process. We were told to change for sports. We did. In under 15 minutes, we were on the ground. It was cold but sunny. The sun kills up there. It did. We ran around a little and then did a little exercise. Absolutely exhausted. Everybody had shut up after this. Water content in the body had finally run out. We went back to the dormitory, dragging our feet. Regret and pain ran high and was very visible on everybody’s face. We went in for the bath. We have it in the evening there. Except for Sundays and holidays when we have it in the morning. Cold to the bone, dressed in casuals (school assigned). Ran down to the dining halls to have our tea and snacks. I can’t remember well but in probability, we had a muffin and tea. We went to our classes after the evening tea. For once all of us were calm enough to see each other and talk finally. And we did because we did not have any classes in the day, we were entirely free to do as we pleased. In a few days, we’ll come to know this type of evenings are the best we are going to have.

Dinner happened soon enough. Good. After dinner, we moved to dormitories and I began arranging my bed and cupboard. I loved doing it then. THEN, no more. Almost done with the organizing, I thought of engaging in conversations and getting to know others. Before I could find him, Shreyansh found me. The guy who sat beside me in the dining hall. He had somebody else with him too. Vaibhav was his name, it still is. Hoping he isn't planning on changing it anytime soon. Three of us clicked immediately. We knew everything there was to know about each other in another 36 hours. For a start, none of us was missing our homes. This will change as soon as the lights go out. After an hour of talking amongst ourselves and with others. Modi ma’am (our matron) told us to get into beds after brushing our teeth. I skipped for the night, it was too cold to hold my hands underneath freezing water. Just as most were done, we settled in our beds and she switched off the lights. As soon as my rods and cones couldn’t process anything I fell back into a slumber of memories. Home, Xaviers, my friends there and most of all Mum. All of it came rushing back. I let a tear slip. Aalam on the bed next to mine heard the teardrop and those sharp breaths. He comforted me a little and then bawled a little himself. All of us knew that we were going to be all for each other. Friendships had been formed without any of us even knowing each other’s full names. Over the years, this friendship will transform into a brotherhood. A brotherhood, nobody and nothing would be able to break.

With this, I let myself slip into the oblivion. Oblivious to the fact that life was happening.

With love and respect,

Yours,

Yash.

Book recommendation: Chanakya's chant by Ashwin Sanghi.

Song recommendation: Butterflies by Khanvict and Raaginder.

Movie recommendation: Interstellar.

Show/series recommendation: Friends on Netflix.

If you have read, listened to, or watched any of these and would like to talk about it, hit me up.

Want to get in touch with me?

Find me on Instagram @exclusively_yash

[PEACE. LOVE. RESPECT.]