Thursday, November 5, 2015

Kindergarten girlfriends

I was friendly with my cousins during my school days. We got together during vacations and played kiddie games. Then they grew up. So, we stopped mingling much because only they grew up. Soon they were talking about state politics and cracking jokes that I did not understand. I wanted to talk about cats and I wanted to play. It was as if my cousin sisters and brothers were suddenly my aunts and uncles! So, we kinda drifted apart.

Then facebook came. I had a good number of friends - mostly new friends that I had made after school. I did not want to get in touch with my school friends because I assumed they too must've grown up like my cousins.

Then whatsapp came and the chit chat began. An old friend told me there was a school group and that she'd get me added to it if I wanted to. Just because I'd sound rude if I said 'no', I consented. I got into the group and saw all those girls there whose friend requests on facebook, I had left pending. They were talking about old incidents, teachers, students... there was so much nostalgia, my fondest memories of my wonderful school life came flooding back.

NO ONE in that group had grown up. Maybe students of the same school grow in a similar way! We were birds of a feather and flocking together and that was giving me so much joy.

Memories from eleven years of school life, Sr. KG to 10th, came rushing back into my head and I'm going to get it all out into this blog.

But because of my OCD, I want to follow chronology and will first narrate a tiny incident that happened in my nursery school. I was four.

My nursery school, 'Babyland', was in my colony itself. The girls' uniform was a yellow frock with a brown collar and belt and brown pipings. Our teachers were Poppy and Sheela. We called them Poppy teacher and Sheela teacher.

One day, we were being taught how to write numbers and I apparently did something really funny in my book. Sheela teacher started laughing. I did not like her response and gave her an angry stare! That made her laugh more and that in turn made me angrier! I rolled my eyes at her and said very sternly, "I'll kill you!"

WHOOOAAAAA!!! 

Her guffaws only got louder. She went in and called Poppy teacher, "Come here, see what Shruti has to say!" Poppy teacher came to me and said "What did you say?"

My innocent anger repeated in the same stern voice, "I'll kill you!!"
At age four, I couldn't understand what was so funny about getting killed! I don't remember what happened after that. Maybe they told my mother that I threatened them and maybe my mom threatened me never to threaten anyone, but all that just faded away :)