NEW DUDE!!!

Well, I believe there are no strangers in this world. All are just friends whom we have never met. Life gives you a rare opportunity of finding someone suited to your frequency (for I loved Physics then) and a probability (Maths too) to make it the best union to be celebrated for all days to follow.

It was one fine June morning I set off to Carmel Garden Mat. Hr. Sec. School (Something unusually long for me to recite...) totally unaware of what and where… and my first day of Shoaling began with a Shock- The so called CGMHSS was a BOYS SCHOOL!!! OMG!!! Some force in there attracted me totally ready to accept me as a student for long. I controlled my emotions (though embarrassed) and rushed to the two storeys building in the extreme right and some spirit guided me to the first floor. Class room XI A …

“Hello! Can I know where the Computer Science classroom is? I am a new student.”I put all the 14 words and the 3 punctuations out in a single breath to a spectacled boy (obviously shorter than me) and the only other person in the corridor, dressed in brown checks... that was my school uniform for my info. And there he donned the sense of attitude of a 12 year experienced Carmelite holding a small blue munch box. (Later he revealed he was school second with a 95 in Tamil!!! Something I was terribly bad at!!!)

“Go check in the list put up in both the classrooms” a peculiar accent of CBE English commanded me and I rushed inside. No it’s not in G then??? Okay, here it is R.Gowtham- second language Hindi. I settled on the second bench of the middle row behind the only other bag found in the tiny classroom with 13 huge four-seaters, and it was his. (Later I got to know from his good-old-friend that it was usual for both of them to arrive early on the first day to reserve themselves the first berth.)

I kept a mum, difficult for me though, till everybody arrived and a set of boys teasing me for replying to them in English. There I had acquired a new tag- PETER which I’m still holding in college. Mr. Tube light reassured I’m Gowtham, R. Gowtham.

Time 9.00 a.m. a mass exodus into the classroom following the bell. Everybody had something to say except me.

“Here Mr. (?) I’m school second with a 475.” (And the same, almost empty box in front of me)

“Oh! Congratulations”

“How much did you score?”

“466.” Followed by a shot smile.

“Which school?”

“Navy Children school, Goa “(Shorter than the present).

“GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?????”

“Yes. My Dad has got transferred here.”

Shhh… Prayer time.

He stood with his hands folded. So did I. I had got a new friend Hurray!

I waited for him on the roll call. ”Roll no.25 Shankar Giridhar V” .So he is Mr. Shankar. Why does he show so much of attitude? He acts as if he knows everything. Everybody recognizes him. Must be some big VIP in class. My senses took me back to Goa where the new students would have felt the same for me.

Every period commenced with an Intro session and he turned back and admired the same all 7 times.

“Don’t you know Tamil?” My silence end raised eyebrows gave him the answer.

And at the end of Day one. My observations had:

SIMILARITIES:

·         Both of our sense of SCENE.

·         He was a Foodie too.

·         Whitener- for few called it white paint, we were addicted to it.

·         Handwriting- Later he made me complete his Maths Homework

MISMATCHES:

·         He remained in the class for Tamil I travelled to the Hindi class.

·         Mouth wide open in class. I kept mine shut avoiding any comments.

·         He knew to use the log tables. Me??? He taught me.  A Thank you today.

·         His habit of picking his nose. Me??? No way.

Hence started a new era of Buddyship. Roll no.25 and roll no.40 were the best buddies in town. A typical day started with a Good Morning… 9:05 filling in the work done register in turns. Chem. classes were full of laughter. Maths hours were totally ours. Physics was dead silent only we both giggling at the drooping heads. English Ma’am was like “ Today Shankar/Gowtham is absent” Let’s have a period off( mourning our separation for a day or half).

I remember… Once when Shankar confidently read out dysentery as “DIE- sentry” with the whole class, except a few dumbos, bursting into peals of laughter. In another case he was asked to spell ‘diarrhea’ ( hope I’m right now) he stood up with two a’s and a ‘y’ somewhere. He never learnt it till one dinner meat left him with a fix next day in school.

Time 11:00 a.m. Break Time. We ran to collect our VIP newspapers subscribed through school and then he would start “ Pasi uyir pogudhu Gowthaandi” (Hunger was killing him, actually my pocket!). There two spring rolls, Rs. 7 each and his topped with the whole bottle of tomato sauce and we got the daily  fierce look of the canteen owner FREE. He would have completed his by the time I started and okay!!! Shankar… have mine too lest he snatched it away. We were the most known faces on the corridors for we bunked with our superior skills of buttering the way. Lunch!- one sided- almost half of my tiffin into his tank leaving me contented with the innocent humor.

Celebration time was the best of all. With Mr.Joker reading out an informal welcome address as a President’s oath and running for the snacks when we knew everything was under our custody. He knew to play the keyboard, only Happy B’day and the National anthem. And he, Mr.Vandumurugan exhibiting his stupid arguments in front of Justice Gotham Peter. Well, I forgot to tell you – Uncle is an advocate. Once the two proud hosts of the Annual Day needed his coat. Both boarded bus 7 from Sungam and forgot to ask for a ticket until they reached the stop and narrowly escaped a public ‘Podhumaathu’ and sneaked into the Court. Shankar ordered the most humorous ever Thayir Vadai .Thanks to uncle he sponsored for the two empty pockets. Why tension??? No tension??? One could bid one’s entire lifetime for his mouth.

Exam nights were never stressful for he would text at 2:00 a.m. “I’m learning kinematics now. Will I Pass tom???”. I reply with  a blank for the mere coincidence. People yelled the K-word and the P-word. And the KP-word too. But seldom did he use. Once when I asked for an explanation he termed it too high for my knowledge.

 Journey by 7 for us was like a travel in Mercedes. I got down first and he would push himself out of the narrow window and bid me bye all through a 100m following a turn. And people here would stop and gaze at the ‘waving crack’-Me.

Dates flew, Winds blew. Seasons changed, relations remained. We had given our Boards. And guess what Shankar was all ready with his BENZ and it was all party time thereafter, treats-movies-drives and an occasional FRANKEE at Nilgirs down Avinashi Road. His 2 mins meant 2 hours. Irritated, I call to hear a sweet voice…

“Hellooo” .

“Hello Aunty. Shankar irukaana?”  ( Actually is that crack alive???)

“Thoongittu irukaan pa”.

Idiot… he’s sleeping :@!!

Another surprise was that Mr. Car-proud had selected the same college and I had no words to express.

Tides changed, External influences played, distant drums sounded sweet. The HE had no time to spare for the ME I yearned to live back those days but my calls unanswered. Yet I look up to him today and all I have for him is …

S H A N N N K A R R R R R!!!

Friend waiting

Gowtham