First day after summer vacation

The school reopened after a long summer vacation, it was a great joy to meet friends but also saddened many of us…the same mundane routine ..uff... After the assembly we were herded to our class and we felt like caged. Short term freedom could be tasted only during the recess now. Sister Juliana, the geography teacher, entered the classroom and we all stood up and welcomed her in a sing song manner..”Gooooood Moooorning Sister…”

“Good Morning children. Please sit down” said Sister Juliana good- naturedly.

Sister Juliana seldom punished or rebuked her students; she had her own affectionate ways. But, we took her kindness as her weakness and an opportunity to unsettle the class.

“Please take out your holiday assignment” She instructed.

“Assignment???” many of us spoke in muted hum while I exchanged glance with Vishal in disbelief. Most of us were suddenly reminded about the assignment when it was supposed to be shown to the teacher. All the days during the summer vacation geography assignment never crossed our ‘now’ sad minds. While we were lost in constructing some easily believable excuse Sumitra stood up with a winning smile and walked towards the teacher’s desk with the completed assignment. Sister and Sumitra got busy with the assignment leaving the rest of us with good time to catch up with each other. Some of us became adventurous enough to travel to other’s desk to have some fun. It was a complete freedom except for the occasional “Children! QUIET” from Sister Juliana.

Few minutes later when Sumitra was walking back to her desk with a triumphant expression the teacher asked “Who is coming next”

The class fell silent, all heads down, no one wanting to be identified as the dud. The teacher had figured out that we have collectively forgotten about the assignment. At that precise moment I was away from my desk and was slowly moving towards my desk. The teacher turned towards the backboard giving me enough time to sprint towards my desk but on the way back I pulled the chair of Sumitra’s desk a little away. We had separate desk with independent chairs. While everything seemed to be going smoothly Sumitra in her happiness came and sat on the chair which was not there. She fell with a terrific thud. The entire class turned towards her and few came running to her rescue. The injured girl moaned in agony while I froze with guilt and fear.

The otherwise docile teacher turned ferocious looking at the magnitude of my devilry.

“Get out of the class” commanded Sister Juliana.

“But Sister…it’s not my fault” I tried to make excuse unconvincingly. The whole class knew who the culprit was. My excuse did not cut any ice.

As a final measure, I pointed out towards Vishal . Oblivious of the mayhem, Vishal was fast asleep with his head peacefully resting on the heap of notebooks on his desk. Many heads turned towards him generating suppressed giggles. Vishal was my best friend and having him out of the class with me would have been great respite.

“Let him sleep, at least there is some peace in the class” retorted Sister Juliana.

I walked out of the class and waited fretfully for someone to join me outside the classroom. In no time Sanjay and Rakesh walked out. I was never so happy to see them; they were not in my list of ‘friends’ but appeared like angels now. Once outside the class, we had our freedom but we had to be careful of a lurking risk. Sister Sophie, the principal, often came out for rounds and her cane did the talking for the wayward.

Sister Sophie had a thin and small frame but could instil remarkable fear. She had yet another skill of effortlessly pulling the chin of the erring child leaving one writhing in pain. We tried copying this act with many but the outcome was way below than the one she produced. We couldn’t master this skill till we left school!

Rakesh proposed that we go to the adjacent field to mitigate the risk of Sister Sophie spotting us. We happily sprinted towards the field with a tinge of sadness for our classmates who were to deal with the ‘ study of features of the earth and atmosphere’. We on the other hand were having a brush with the natural flora of the field. In no time it started to rain and in our high spirits we got drenched. Our escapade was abruptly halted by the ringing of the bell marking the end of the period. We hurried towards the classroom like snipers hiding from the watchful eyes of the principal. But we had a run of luck. At the final corner which would have led us to the classroom, we came face to face with Sister Sophie.

Whack!!! Whack!!! The cane made more impact on the wet bodies.

We entered the classroom like wounded soldiers feeling proud that we didn’t shed tears despite the severity of the punishment.