The worst things that can happen to a school girl!!!

PART 1: AUTO TALES

Hi all! The recent school get together I went to has played a huge role in me writing down some of the many memories I have about school. And you get no points for guessing- they are silly! And trust me, this would be the silliest of the lot :D

As we always say or as we all know, school days are the best days of one’s life. Thinking of it now, even I agree that those were the most carefree days of life. That time of life when mobile phones were something which big people or rich people possessed and internet was something which held answers to all your project related questions. Both of the above had no connection with each other and both didn’t qualify as necessities and “Things you cannot live without”. My life was much simple and was not spent in whacking my brains thinking, “Which would be my next FB profile pic ” :P

As a student, the main concerns I had included getting good marks or as my grandma terms it, “Be first in class and show them.” “Them” being the superset which includes all those who hurt me! Then, hurt meant, making fun of me, not waiting for me to eat lunch and many more similar serious concerns :P One more advice Mummy gave me and still gives me is “Make the class topper your best friend.” I find it extremely funny when she asks me to choose friends based on the weight of their marksheets. But her whole intention is good and the idea behind it is that, you do what your friends do and if they are studying and have goals in life, even you will end up like them.

I was this short and fat girl who had a very heavy school bag(now I know the reason behind my stunted growth :P I studied in an all girls school and was a nerd. But a very talkative nerd. I used to talk to anyone and everyone and even the teachers were not spared ;) I’m proud of my achievements :D

I was least bothered about the way I look, even though at times I used to feel why God has been stingy to me in the looks department, coz with or without makeup, I looked like I was just out of bed ! Thanks to those scary and bushy eyebrows and teeth which never stayed inside a closed mouth and was visible even when my mouth was closed :P I participated in off-stage items like essay writing and also drama. I really had a passion for acting and writing. I was never selected for any dance programmes and if you have guessed already,it is the height factor (ie., you do not get many girls who are as “tall” as me and so “You are not selected Gayathri”

One of the worst things that could happen to a school girl is being in the bad books of the auto driver or auto maman as I called him. As you must be knowing(if you remember my previous posts) I went in the same autorickshaw to school for 12 years! Every single year my Dad paid him well in advance for the repairs of the auto (Talking of my auto- IT WAS A MOVING MASS OF RUST!)Like the new gen bikes, which announces of its arrival with the irritating sound, (which the Yoyo dudes riding the bikes feel is cool)my auto made a lot of sound. It contributed to air and sound pollution and for the Malayalis out there- It reminds me of Dileep’s bus in Parakkum thalika. And it would also run on kerosene! How’s dat?

 Every single year my auto maman exchanged his auto for a “new” one. The new auto would be a replica of the older one, giving it competition be it in rust, or sound ;) He also had a lot of friends, mainly ‘girls’(Those 40+ women would be so happy at this usage :P )and they always got free lifts in our auto. He used to dislike me and the main reason was that I did not know what being punctual was. Of the 12 years, maybe at max 10 times I would be ready when he arrived to pick me. I’m like this only :P

So I get scolded by him and his friends who get free rides also get angry and shout at me! I am late to work all because of you! (Excuse me Madame? Do you know my Dad, who pays this auto driver MONEY unlike you?)So auto maman, his girl friends and all the other auto drivers who park near our auto also scold me! Howzat? Am I a chenda? (drum)Any Tom, Dick and Harry passing by can just scream and walk away?? Cool!! Cheetha kelkan Chanduvinte janmam iniyum bhaaki!

Next problem, automaman had a favourite every year. There is no criterion for selection but I was never even nominated :p These favourite kids get a few privileges.

1.              No scolding in case of late entry

2.             School bag and lunch bag(kit as we call it) would be carried by auto maman.

3.             Good behaviour which includes a smile on greeting (Yellow teeth!)

4.            Not addressed by name, but with Mole- which means daughter in Malayalam.

HOW RUDE!

People like me- who have been there right from three years of age in that rusty auto are looked at with anger and hatred. (But he loves my Dad- advance fee paying factor and my Dad always supports him when he complaints about me.)

So I had a gang of gals who got similar treatment and we suffered from acute  jealousy. I was not the leader of the gang and I rarely talked rudely to him (Reason? I was scared :P What other reason could be there ;))We took a silent oath that all his favourite kids would be our enemies for life and we expressed our hatred through bullying :P This included stamping them and never give them place to sit ;) So these autos have two seats, one being the main seat found in all autos and the other being the makeshift one. So to be sitting on the main seat is like an honour. Not everyone gets selected to sit on that special place. Either you must be among the oldest in the auto or you must have special recommendation from automaman himself or any of the usual main seat people. The most prestigious of the lot was the side seat near the entrance/exit where the senior most member sat.

I still remember each  and every kid I bullied(Maybe I should go find them and apologise like Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno :P )It was cruel but we gave what we got ;) We were bullied by our seniors. We threw stones at girls walking on roads, pulled automaman’s hair when he was driving and you wouldn’t believe it they even made up eat bubblegum! (What if we accidently swallowed it and died? :O ) So how I ended up being a” daada” or rowdy had a story. How I got the violent streak :P

There was one guy, who was about 7 years older than us. He had a younger sister who was in the same auto and when he ruled, she was treated as a princess and inspite of being in LKG, she always got to sit in the main seat. This guy was a real rowdy and went to a school well known for its naughty and dangerous guys. We were all soo scared of him that we always agreed to do whatever he wanted us to do. And we got paid, a small piece of bubble gum- Big Babool!. Wow!

One of my friends who was constantly teased and who ended up crying coz of this guy wanted to take revenge (Std III)and so soon as he “graduated” from the auto, we targeted his sister. Due to the lack of guts I did not play the main role, I was the sidekick. We made her cry and went home with a happy heart. But I ended up crying as her dearest brother called me up and started threatening me! Life of a bully is not easy folks. Moreover my automaman used to pinch me for each and every of our pranks- Why me? (And he had such long nails. Like witches. And the present state of my nails reminds me of his nails ;) )

But once I left the auto or rather was conveniently forgotten and new kids(4/5 LKG kids) admitted instead of me, Automaman really started behaving well to me.He had that affection. Afterall he was seeing me right from when I was 3 years old. Now he is old and sick and when we met last year he complained to my Achan that because of me he always got late! After all these years...hehe ;)

PART 2 : FAT AND SHORT

The next worst thing is being short and fat at the same time. I have never ever won a running race in my whole life! Even if I run with the fattest girl in class, SHE WINS! How unfair!

I still remember pleading to the girls and asking them if I could win just once. But girls being girls never let me! Also came the ego factor where they would look inferior in the eyes of our PE teacher if they lost to a fat girl with short legs. They were not ready to keep their marks and image at stake! Maybe this is the reason why I do not enjoy any sport !

When I was small, I used to be pushed and trodden upon often. When the bell rings after the break girls run and I do not come in the line of sight, I’m pushed, I fall down and get stamped. Life’s not easy people!

 PART 3 : TOUCH-ME-NOT

Another addition to this is an oversensitive girl who had an abundant stock of tears :p I was so obsessed by the idea of best friends. I was soo silly that I believed in one mantra- Everyone should have a best friend and he/she belonged only to you. Now I know that this applies for love and not friendship. You have only one lover at a time and that person is exclusively yours (On second thought, thats not really true. In the 21^st century we get to see people easily handling more than one gf/bf at the same time. With advancement of technology, where you have phones which handles multiple tasks and even human beings have become multitaskers. :P )

So I would like to apologise to all my unlucky best friends from school. I didn’t give them space and each and every one of them was soo suffocated that they deserted me. Each one of them took about a year to understand what they have got themselves into and they leave me for someone better(Do I sound like someone who just had a break up? :P )

I still remember this silly story. My “best friend”of some class got new friends when we got promoted to the next class and I was still writing her name wherever they asked for the name of your best friend(I’m not joking people. Slam books, essays, letter writing: everything asked for ur best friend’s name) One day, I went over to her class and asked her if we could have lunch together(we were in different sections)and she was like, “You go. I will come” That was enough to cut her out of my will.

This obsession started at a very young age. When I was in 2^nd std., we were asked to write an essay on “My Best Friend” and my best friend was the most popular girl in school. Did she know about it? No! Who cares? I had my own reasons for making her my best friend. Like,

1.              She was fair and pretty

2.             She had a car, driver attached :P

3.             The driver carried her bag to class and she sat at the back seat of the car all by herself! Wow!

4.            She spoke good English with zero grammatical errors  (Not that I knew anything about grammar)and she spoke in English to her Mom too :O (I used to hate my family for that. All of them spoke fluent Malayalam. How cheap! )

5.           She was always chosen to play the main role in plays.

My Mom read this essay and almost died laughing. She didn’t know that if I was her best friend, then it would be my passport to fame :P My cruel mother edited the essay and wrote about my real best friend who was a normal girl.

1.              She was normal looking and had a dusky complexion

2.             She travelled in my auto, driver attached.

3.             She carried her bag to class

4.            She spoke English which would have given Shakespeare and Wordsworth heart attacks :p and most of the time it sounded like Malayalam (Did  I mention that I spoke similar English?)

5.           She was never chosen for any plays and when she was it was for blink and you will miss her roles (Just like me ;) Refer “The Performer”)

So school life was filled with friends. My close friends and just friends were safe, they were not burdened with the responsibilities of friendship and they liked me. The poor souls, my so-called best friends were the ones in danger zone, who were over loaded with love and affection and care and possessiveness.

Gradually my brains started functioning and I understood that you cannot force people to love you like you love them. Or you cannot expect them to take your name and crown you best friend, just coz you consider them your best friend.

As someone said, if you love someone let them go. If they love you they will come back and if they don’t , they were never yours! The same applies  to friendship too. You should never suffocate someone with your love and friendship. You should give them space. They do have their own life to consider and all what matters is will they be there for you when you really need them and that doesnot include accompanying you to the wash room :P I got back to my senses and then started being happy with anyone and everyone. I had absolutely no belief in the concept of friendship as a few of my so-called friends started discussing behind my back about how silly I am and this made me look like a joker L  And towards the end of school life I gained one great friend who is still there for me in all my good and bad times and the same  God was generous enough to rekindle my belief in friendship and gave me three “best” friends for life, GADS, who taught me to trust again and love unconditionally) I still keep contacts with all my friends from school and these silly things hold no meaning anymore :D

 PART 4: TEACHER’S PET. IS THAT YOU?

Next comes TEACHERS. You shouldn’t be in their bad books and you should never be in their good books too ;)

When I was in the seventh std. I was very stuck up. I was made the class monitor and I used to be first in class. This made me think that I have conquered the world. I was the class teacher’s pet and even our Malayalam teacher liked me a lot and all this contributed in making me Ms. Arrogant. Then when I got promoted to std.8, I took a small portion of my arrogance with me and the same teacher ended up being my English teacher. I loved English and Maths and when I got 48 marks after Test 1, I wasn’t very surprised. I really worked hard on that paper. But the second highest was 44 marks and also I did not have extra ordinary marks for my other papers. Moreover many scored less marks for English. That was the beginning of the best days of school life. Everyone started saying that the good marks on my paper was because the teacher was partial to me and that I was roaming around boasting about my marks!  Many went with complaints to the teacher and someone went as far as complaining to the Principal(I still duno if this is true!)The teacher who should’ve been stern and asked the girls to shut up, went on giving explanations to anyone who asked about my marks. Some stupid girl went as far as stealing my answer paper which didn’t have the sheet which had 10 marks and the complaint which resulted was “There is some counting mistake. Gayathri has only 38 marks!” Hello people, I have the last sheet with 10 bloody marks, ok?? I was shattered when the teacher finally asked me, “Doesn’t anyone like you? All of them are complaining about your marks, instead of being happy for you.” Those were some  of the worst days of life. The silly and childish teacher started insulting me in public so as to prove that she was not partial towards me. She asks a question in class and even if I am the only soul to raise my hand, she would ask “Anyone else?” (Excuse me lady? Are you blind and deaf? I know the answer!) Then I stopped answering, I got bad marks for test 2 and nothing happened after that.

Then comes the story of the teacher I loathe!I’ve been taught by some of the best teachers in the world, in all senses and this lady doesn’t even deserve to be one. A teacher should be a mother, who forgives and forgets and corrects her students and not someone who will wreak vengeance and lives purely on ego! This teacher was a living example of ego and she still remains a nightmare. She was my class teacher in the 9^th std. and due to certain misunderstandings, my division got changed and I was put in another class and this dear teacher was under the impression that I asked for a change. I’m sure it hurt her ego, coz once I shifted divisions she started treating me differently. The misunderstanding story is as follows. My then “best friend”{she really deserves a Nobel Peace Prize because I literally suffocated her with my love. The feeling of friendship and care was not mutual and therefore, I kept complaining about our friendship. Thinking of it now,  I really pity the poor girl.}was in a different section and I was shattered. Divided by “divisions”! On meeting the teacher behind the shuffling, I complained and she took it seriously. I was joking and for the first time in forever someone took me seriously. A staff room discussion about Gayathri being unhappy in her new class and Gayathri wanting to shift classes due to the above reason paved way for my great few months at school. The villain of my story, like a hurt snake, was waiting for the right chance to pay me back and she started off giving me bad marks for an English exam, I did extremely well in. In the history of English literature, for the first time a teacher told the student, ie me, You should write minimum sentences in bullet points! And she said that she lost my answer paper which was submitted for re evaluation. Great!!

Then she constantly made fun of me during class and had this evil look about her. Once in class I was stting in the last bench and looking into my friend’s text book. I usually talk a lot but that particular day I was attentively listening to her. She accused me of talking and made me sit on the floor. Last bench to ground. After class, in Rajnikant style she told me something which implied, “Don’t mess with me”

The same teacher asked two other girls to sit on the ground the next day and they didn’t do so. Then why did I? Why was I soo obedient? I was not the only one who was targeted and hurt. There were many others too. And that included demotivating words and insults!

After few more months of similar insulting events, God got bored and sent in a Sister to teach us. That was the end of this teacher and  one of the best things I could ask for. Maybe it sounds silly, but such people don’t deserve to be teachers and she would also spoil the name of the entire teacher community.

[Got a bit emotional. Even now the sight of her just increases my blood pressure.I hate her! Phew!]

PART 5:PERKS OF BEING INVISIBLE

When in school, as you already know, I was a plain Jane with no talent. I was a nobody, a really talkative nobody. I am very sure that all the girls in my batch knew me because I did not spare a soul. I never dressed impressively and no one bothered to look at me twice.So we made it our duty to stare at and comment about all the good looking and well dressed girls in school and even those who dressed to show off. We ended up being style critics and this gave us soo much pleasure that we never were interested in guys.With so much to do and so many activities, no one really cared about or missed the presence of guys around. I swear it is not the sour grapes story and I am sure any girl who studied in an all girls school would agree with me here. School was heaven and I would never exchange it for co-ed

For about months after their classes start the students of Std 11.wore colored dresses to school. A friend of mine and myself made it a point to devote 10 valuable minutes of our day to observation, analysis and conclusion about the costumes and attitudes of these girls, in the morning and the same continued in the break time. We had a personal favourite who wore the weirdest clothes in town and even age and experience hasn’t changed her. Even now she dresses to show off and things which she considers as stylish would surely bring tears to your eyes. I know because we still stalk her on FB ;)[Jobless!]

I would be deeply indebted to this friend of mine-my partner in crime who was there for me always, mainly when I needed to pass a comment about someone or something or just giggle for no reason at all. Being the giggly duo got us into trouble many a time but we continued to “Pinch n; see”things, pinch being the signal passed :P

PART 5 : IF YOU GIGGLE TOO MUCH?

The story goes like this. Eighth std. marked the beginning of a very beautiful friendship which is still going on. We giggle for anything and everything and the very sight of the other person also makes us laugh. The reason behind this is a mystery.

So our class teacher had spies in the class who would report of the discussions going on in class. We had absolutely no idea of this. One fine day, when we took a break from giggling, we somehow ended up saying each other’s addresses and then pincodes and from then onwards, when we felt like commenting, the secret code would be the last number of our pincodes. So the tone went 851 and we laugh. For an outsider this would look so silly and Im sure people would start doubting. But only we knew about what was going on :p

Then the day came when we were called by our teacher who said that she received a complaint stating that we were talking in code language (Tell me people. 851 is all we said. How many meanings can it have in the same code language?)We were shocked. She told us that she expected great things from us and we should not spoil our future. (By saying 851? :O) The report was submitted by a spy who said that we have gangs who spoke in code languages (And smuggled animal skin!! How silly people can be!!) The spy is unfortunately the same girl who went over to the teacher saying my English answer paper has 10 marks less that what was actually written on the paper . I hate her!) And the best part is that both the girls who were with me in the 851 scam are now doctors and I myself am an engineer. So we didn’t spoil our future by saying 851 ;)

PART 6 : BOYS: SCARRIEST CREATURES ON EARTH

When you study in an all gals school, boys are always aliens to you. Not a single person who knows me now would believe that there was a time when I was literally scared of guys. Believe it or not. Till about 10^th std. I rarely talk to or even look at boys (So rare that I can still list down the names of all those who I talked to) Being very frank, no guy used to talk to me and one poor soul who actually came up to me and said “Good morning” for the first and last time because the shocked expression I gave only suits a question like“Will you marry me?” from him.

I was soo scared of guys and over the years and there was no reason for this. Over the years the plates have changed such that now boys are kinda scared of  me and my non-stop chatter attack.(Sadly.some guy somewhere is destined to bear this cross. Let us all maintain a moment of silence and pray for him :p Even I am scared when I think of the guy who would be ready to take up the risk of marrying me.)

PART 7: LOVE

According to my gang, loving a guy is unforgivable. Love is for girls who don’t study. That was something we held close to dear life.You fall in lovethen you are bad. Studious gals don’t fall in love and we  condemned every single girl who had a boyfriend. We never befriended anyone with a lover. This attitude made it extremely difficult to survive in college as there every other person had a lover or fell in love from college. Initially i had a really tough time accepting this. How can you fall in love? And the most depressing thing was people who had lovers got the best marks and topped the class. That’s not fair!On falling in love, guys do change a lot. They get serious about studies and strive to clear off their backpapers. Also you observe a considerable change in their attitudes and character. Wow!! Love is magical.

I improvised my principles- “Its okay to fall in love iff you will marry the other person.” I never expected myself to say such a thing even in my wildest dreams. I started supporting lovers and my closest friends had lovers. What a change :O

School life is really heaven. Most of the things we believe in, later in life has its  foundations in what we learnt at school and our experiences there. Some wrong things or bad experiences leave a mark forever but sometimes better things happen in life which helps you change entirely. Some of the things you believed in or thought formed the foundation of your very existence maybe the silliest and most absurd things ever heard of!

You gradually become open to change and looking back I laugh my head off as that Gayathri PK was someone totally different from the person i am now inspite of the current me having streaks of the old me.

Even though I am improving day by day and getting sillier and more talkative, my attitude and outlook towards life has changed a lot.I am still possessive about the people I love, but I do not suffocate them anymore. I am getting crazier day by day. But that’s me

I am like this only!