Std 2

Shifted my residence to Rangarajapuram, which was pretty much an under-developed area then. I had a cat when I was in west mambalam, even though my father dint want me to. I dint know the reason why he hated cats. Later only I got to know that he loved cats and had kept a couple. But ever since one of them got stolen, he somehow got averse to cats. I used to feed it with milk n stuff. And it even used to sleep with me at night in the same bed. I used to love it a lot. I cried when we left that behind while shifting. I felt it was really unfair. I learnt later that the cat kept on roaming without food or water for 30 days purring and one fine day, was found dead. I felt really helpless and was not consolable. I learnt friendship n faithfulness.

I had to write an entrance exam for PSBB. I was told a lot of tell-tales about the new school, most of which were meant to scare me. One such story I remember is that one kid who got admission into PSBB but later was caught playing in the school playground was expelled from the school. Sounds ridiculous now, but even then I just listened to it and carried on. Never really thought anything about it. I remember it as I had a question mark about the 'incident'. The written test was comedy. I answered all questions but forgot the name of any flower. Then I asked the guy next to me to name a flower and he said jasmine. Dint know that guy will turn out to be my best friend in school. And then I dint know that that was copying! I was pretty bad at colors, so my parents were tensed about the interview. That was the first time I saw Mrs. Balambal, the revered headmistress of primary sections. She seemed friendly and offered me her hand which I promptly shook thinking why not the questions first. I heard that I got 12th rank among the 72 students who took up the exam. Mrs. Balambal said its good but I felt its bad and wanted to do better. Then I answered some names n stuff and finally the dreaded colors! When I saw the things, I was pretty happy, it was only the basic colors. She asked me only the colors but I told her the shapes also. She seemed pleased and admitted me. And thank god they dint have any green stuff then! Also, on that day, my father got me a silver chain, which I refused to wear. I never had a liking for jewellery. So then, he got me a black thread with a ganesh dollar. I wore it till the end of my 11th when I was coaxed to wear a silver chain.

I was in 2H and I remember that they grouped students according to their academics. So, E was the most sought after section. I was pleased to be elected the Class Leader on my first day in a new school. I was not shy of making new friends, and I am willing to take up responsibilities and I guess that helped. I dont remember the name of my class teacher, but I know she was my science teacher as well. I used to be pretty pro-active in class, though I was a bit silent in the week in which the parents used to sit in the class and observe. I never am my best when I am being watched. I remember a few guys from 2nd. To name a few, ramprasad who lived next street to mine and used to come in the same bus, Noor Mohammad - who was the rowdy of the class and somehow I managed to become friendly to him. And ofcourse sakthi kumar, though we dint really become close friends till secondary.

Now, onto some things that happened at home. Since I shifted to a new flat and there were lotsa ppl around my age, it was fun. We used to play together in the evenings. I used to finish my homeworks in the class itself so that I can come back from school and play with them. Boys and girls used to play together and we had quite a nice time. There was RamKumar, who just lived below me and my batch, though he was in hindi section. He was my closest friend for sometime.
I remember that I used to carry all my books and notebooks properly. My sister used to put all the covers for my notebooks and books the day before school opening for a small sum from my mother or a big favor from me. This carried on till the end of my secondary school. I was chided for being such a baby and doing such childish things like covering my notebooks and books, but I was never bothered. I used to be totally careless. Everyday I used to lose something or the other. So much that my mother used to keep track in a notebook about what items I carried to school and back. Even then, I used to lose so many things from pencil boxes to money to notebooks to jackets and umbrellas. My mother was instrumental in making me sincere in my studies. She always made me aware that the end of my primary was the deadline for me to become independent in studying. She used to assist me in all subjects except english in which I used to ask my doubts to my father, whom I thought had a strong command over the language.