Hoppingo/ Battingo!!!

Do any of you remember the incident when I played Hopping/ Batting on Deshmukh mam?

I was one of her fave students. Uske saamne solidd acha studnet tha...
behind her I used to do lots of hera pheri...

During one of her classes, i was hiding behind the class room door and when she entered... I just went behind her back and hit her on her back saying "Hoppingo!" She was sporty enough and resorted back to me with "Battingo" and the whole class were rolling down on the incident laughing and giggling...
Immediately she composed her self back and then stormed out of the class to inform the principal...

You guys might recollect upto here... here's what happened later...

Read along...

I was called to his room where I was interrogated... a la Hollywood style...

Here are the excerpts..
Princi    : Whats your name?
Raj       : Rajan father... ( I was almost close to peeing on my pants)
Princi    : Why are you here?
Raj       : Errrr... hmmmm... I... I...
Deshmukh mam: Tell him what happened?
Raj       : I... I.. hit Deshmukh mam (So weird it was???)
Princi    : What???? (He almost jumped from his seat)
Princi    : Why?? Why did u hit her?
Raj       : I was playing hoppingo/ battingo with her father!
Princi    : Do you know what you have done?
Raj       : (A very pavam, bechara look from me... almost crying situation)
Princi    : I need to meet your parents tomorrow...
Deshmukh mam: Yes father! These kids these days i tell you ( I mean
those days guys!... for all teachers its always these days)
Raj       : OK father I am sorry father (I said OK, now i need to source out
my father to meet this princi)

That day I was doomed to be expelled from school....

I went home. I didn't have my mom then. My dad was working in the middleast and all I had for myself was my grandpa... So it was kind of easy to convince him of my endeavors!

I pretended I was sick and tried doing shivers in front of him so he would think that I have fever and that way I can skip my school next day. Wow great idea that was... I went to the bathroom and out of fear cried like crazy. when I came out my eyes were red and swollen. My grandpa wondered what happened and took me to the doctor...

I was the happiest person then... Good I thought... I can fake the doctor with my sickness and get to be at home tomorrow, I thought! But who can fake a fever to a doctor?

My doctor (Dr. Padwal) interrogated me like crazy as if he were an FBI agent. After many many Q's he finally took it out from me... (Still remember that moment)

I finally had to spill the beans... "Dr I actually played a prank on my teacher and hit her on her back"

You cannot imagine the kind of laugh he had that day... Atleast I brought a smile on your face, I thought.

He didnt charge me any fees (Ya he was very good doctor)

He told my grandpa not to worry... "Your potha has nothing, he is all well and he just needs you to go to school with him tomorrow to meet the principal".

Then I had to narrate the whole thing to my grandpa. He was actually cool about it. He would support me on anything I guess. So, it was pretty chillled out! Not everyone gets a grandpa like mine! Yeah, I am lucky to have had him...

The next day was pretty cool at the princi's place. My grandpa promised him that i will not get into any such acts later...

I kept my promise... I mean this time onwards I ensured I was more careful... not to get caught...

Wow! It is so fresh in my memory even today... Good I am sharing this all with you...

Guys, please let your kids be kids. Let them do lots of masti. Let them have a ball. Don't interrupt them. Just ensure that they study well. Thats all. There is only one lifetime, one childhood... Give them those moments!
Baaki sab okay hai yaar... Don't care about others

Hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I loved writing it!!!!

Good to be back :-)

I have been on a roll!

A real big one actually. Mostly after the X results were out all of us went out and away searching for our dreams and somewhere down the line we just carried on with our lives. Living and chasing the dreams.

Went to different colleges, then came work and more work and more work... and then it was all just a memory of the distant past.

I have met so many people after that fateful day. So many... some friends even until today and some just mere acquaintances. So many people. Tired of counting them.

But what really stuck with me are the memories of school. Imagine from LKG until X std you study in the same school. Grow up with friends. fight with them. Eat with them. Hang out with them. Play with them. When  it comes to being trashed by the teacher, bear with them...

My son has already changed around 4 schools since his LKG in 3 years. But then that's probably the situation these days.

I wish everyone has good memories like I do. Great friends. The list is way tooooo long to be listed here. But yes, they will make some appearances as we talk along. They have been the most important part of my formative years. My friends I cannot forget.

Just to name a few and this is how all this started...
I suddenly felt the urge to connect with all my former batch mates and I kept searching the web. This was way back in 2001. Internet was still in its infancy (Atleast in the middleast and I was staying in Saudi Arabia)
I had to start somewhere and so I started  searching for so many friends (Ramesh, Sandhya Iyer, Amol, Ashish Bhide, Suhas Kundargi... etc etc this list is really long)

Then I manage to get some 35 email i/ds of Ramesh Srinivasan and I pasted all those i/ds onto my email message and sent a bulk mailto all those addresses. To my good luck, Ramesh responded and he was in Caltech (I think the name is correct) doing his PhD in Computer technology. God! how long will he study i wondered. And we all friends are most proud of his achievements.

I tried many other searches from that day onwards but none was fruitful.

I am a strong supporter of embracing new technology since it has made the world smaller and brought long lost friends closer. It is more easier to get in touch with long lost friends than it was a decade ago!

Thanks to social networks, all of us can stay online manage our profile, meet friends and stay connected.

I cannot thank my stars more to help us friends have a reunion of sorts.

We now have a good group of around 20+ old batch mates and we are connected with each other.

More than 18 years has passed since we all left school. We all just feel like going back in time in our beige uniforms wearing or house ties (Nehru-Green, Gandhi-Blue, Tilak-Yellow and Tagore-Red)

And it just feels good to be back....


Coming up next the times and best school moments...

Welcome to XavieRights!

Hello friend,

Welcome to this blog about our good ol' days of school.

This blog was designed keeping you in mind. About the times we had, the times we shared and all those wonderful moments.

The classes, the recess, the sports day, the PT period, The art period, the annual day.... I mean everyday was such a wonderful day!

We were so naiive, innocent compared to the kids these days. One look at my son and I feel like new born in front of him. I mean, I used to wonder "Was I like this during my days?"

My five and half year old son can sort my iPod collection in one go. He can play the video game with his little finger and he has a gmail i/d today so that he can send his pictures to his Aunt! Wow... we were buffalos (As Damodaran sir called me once, I reckon) during our times.

But you know what, besides what life has to offer to us today, we still feel privilged to have been part of this wonderful place called "St. Xaviers High School, Powai"

The very thought still brings such vivid memories to my mind and suddenly I feel so good for myself.

Hence this whole thought of collaborating with you so that we can all reminiscize the best times we have had for ourselves.

Come on! We've known each other since our UKG days!

Wow!

Remember atop dockyard colony in the mountains where there was a church. I can still smell the freshness of the dew laden grass and the breeze where little flowers used to dance tenderly to the tunes of the swaying wind!

I want you to tell me, tell our freinds what happend during our school days,  what happened to your life after that. And everything in between.

You may post a note. Put a picture. Anything that comes to your mind.

This is the place where all of us will meet in virtual reality and be happy and proud to have known each other.

When our kids grow up... they will know that we were raised well and we have so many stories to tell...

Go on we are listening...