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After getting admission to class six, the first challenge was to adjust to the school and communicate with new students. And to be honest, I don’t like to communicate with people because the reason is simple: not all people respond to your questions the way you ask them.
This is one of the reasons I don’t make too many friends. So, on my first day of school.
I was ready to go to school and reached the bus stand, and everyone was looking at me as I was a new face. Some people asked me questions, like where I was from and all.
We were living in BSF Quarters, so all those who have been to the Army, BSF, or any defence forces area can relate.
The truck arrived instead of a bus, with no seats at all. We had to hop in like soldiers by holding the rope. And there was no fight for the seat because there weren’t any seats in the truck.
We had to hold the roof of the truck. Those who couldn’t reach the roof had to hold the sides of the truck.
It was altogether an amazing experience and a glimpse of how my father might have felt while serving the nation. We had to bear this challenge for around one hour to reach the school. In that time, I managed to find one person from my class, and I asked him to guide me to the class, as my school was quite big, and I had to find Class 6D.
I reached the class, and I remember most of the faces I saw that day.
Everyone was surprised to see me as a new face. Some tried to communicate and asked my name and other questions. Somehow, I managed to survive all those questions, and then we had prayer. After prayer, the class started with a basic introduction and so on.
As I had joined school very late, the half-yearly exams were near, and I had to cover the syllabus. My class teacher, Bindu Ma’am, introduced me to the topper and suggested that I take her help to cover the previous syllabus and take notes as well.
To do the work and all, her name was Ritu Chauhan, and she helped me with everything and guided me about homework and the previous things that had been finished.
I remember my first day at APS Bikaner, and it was awesome. Because all the people were good in that school. I can say there was no villian in my life because I didn’t find anyone bullying me or doing any other kind of wrong stuff to me by other students.
There were just pure vibes, or I was too innocent at that time; I don’t know, but my class was awesome. I still have some friends from my school whom I met in Class 6.
Note: I don’t know how to write a book. These are my pure memories that are still in my head.
I remember the faces with whom I never had a proper conversation, but they were there, and they are also part of my journey.
The journey is awesome in itself because you have crazy memories that sometimes motivate you to do things in life, and I guess school is a place we miss sometimes. I will not say for all, but some memories are really good.
Sometimes I feel like I want to meet my class again, at least a few people. I could hang out, or maybe, if I get a chance, one day I will call out their names on stage, and we might meet. This is a whole other story.
I remember the teachers and their behaviour towards students. The story of different learning at the school. Only the very basic differences are how you treat others and how others treat you.
There are always questions in my head. Why does this happen to some people, that some are treated differently and others are treated differently? This was the first lesson that I learned from my observation at a very early age in my school.
When I see my school memories, I can see physical experiences like playing, fighting, pen fights, lovely conversations, and playing odd-even, along with so many other good things and experiences, along with the differences that were there and easily visible.
Should I say that today? I can say that your parents’ status matters everywhere in society. What your father does always decides how you are going to be treated in society, school, or any other place you go.
And I think everyone can relate to it, but the question here is: don’t you think it’s wrong, and it should not be like that? Because school should be a place where equality must be introduced to students. They must not be aware of any kind of differences in terms of inequality and equality.
India has always been a place of differences when it comes to caste, creed, and all. It’s been going on throughout history, which seems okay, but discriminating against children on the basis of their father’s status is not a good idea at all.
I know things can’t be changed, but I feel these things, over time, are killing the nation, and we don’t realise that our differences are the ones that are stopping the entire nation from developing.
Countries like China and others, which have now become developed countries, have tried to eradicate these differences at the school level. That’s the reason these countries are much more successful.
But when you realise these things in your school days, you feel bad, but kids don’t care much about things. It’s like me — I never thought about these things. But today, I am a part-time teacher, and when I see my students, I try to educate them as if they are all equal to me. I try to keep all kinds of differences away from them.
This is how I learned about differences at a very early age in my life.
Chapter Zero: The Journey to Find Myself | Chapter Zero
Chapter 2: Faded Memories of Childhood and School Life | Chapter 2
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