wo sunehre pal :: those sweet days : it happened to me "priyadarshi"

main office, where the boys had just come after having their breakfast, where our story began...

Priyadarshi was busy folding his dhoty that he had left waywardly after he came from the prayers, and had inevitably, given in to sleep - throughout the drill, neatness, and the breakfast time.
“Have this milk and bread. Shakti maharaj nearly caught me off!” entered Anupam, as he handed over the glass of milk and bread to Priyadarshi...

From the adjacent hall, you could hear the noises, which if translated to English, meant that Kanchan was furious with his boys having not done their neatness duties properly. Kanchan da, aggravated as usual, ushered in the room, and started firing questions all around.
“Priyo! Neatness ta korechho?”
“Yes sir, aemon hote pare ki apnaar kotha ti aami shunbo na!”
(Actually, Priyadarshi had done his neatness pretty well; mopping the whole place without having to use broom even once!)
“Shonjoy tumi? Devayon? Onupom?”
“Yes sir we’ve all done it.”
“So Shonjoy, are you in a mood of bunking classes today straightaway?” asked Kanchan da, smiling, in an unusually dramatic way.
Wittingly and grinning, Sanjay exclaimed, “Oh yes sir! Sorry sir! We will be late for the school again! Now please let us dress up, and Priyadarshi you too get ready soon, as you are more than ever casual these days about things like discipline, punctuality…”
“Oh shut up now!” Priyadarshi cut through him irritated.
“Okay, Priyo, now come on and get ready for school smartly. You should look like a smart boy from Turiyananda Dham. And don’t forget polishing your shoes and belt. I should be able to see my reflection in its shine. Look how clean Sonjoy, who is just in front of your bed, keeps his clothes and things,” affirmed Kanchan da.
“Okay sir, you will see it”, gasped Priyadarshi, who unwillingly and sluggishly started polishing off his shoes, giving frosty looks to Sanjay, who had started feeling even more amused.
Nearby, Anupam and Devayan seemed busy putting on their navy blue school shirts.
“Priyadarshi, get ready fast, we’ll be late”, hurried Anupam.
“And you’ve got to put on a polished belt too Priyadarshi,” added Sanjay, while all these times Kanchan da, wearing a ‘thirty-two bit’ smite, was just curiously and intently watching them go on.
“Will you guys keep your nose out of my work!” frowned Priyadarshi, looking at Sanjay, “and why are you so interfering?”
“And why are both of you smiling!” asked Priyadarshi, quite disgusted, looking at Devayan and Anupam.

“Ok Priyo! Now stop that. And you Shonjoy, you go and have a round to see if all the duties are done properly or not. Turiyananda Dham is the most talked about dham concerning its discipline issue, and is seen as the unanimous choice for the ‘best undisciplined dham’. And Devayon, fold your mosquito net fast. How many times do I have to tell you repeatedly ‘bout these things! Among all the undisciplined boys of Vidyapith, all are in my ideal dham!” blurted out Kanchan da.
“And Priyadarshi, hurry up! You are going to be late again and will end up losing points to our dham.”
“Don’t worry at all sir, till Sanjay happens to be our awe-inspiring dham-sewak, no power in this heaven or earth can stop us from being first from the bottom in the coming Annual Dham Competitions!” assured Priyadarshi convincingly, laughing at his own joke.
Sanjay was not amused, “Just some more time, and wait to watch who has the last laugh."

And, after all these unsettling business of dham, there he was: Priyadarshi, shoes shining, collar buttoned (for impressing Secretary maharaj!), buckle of the belt gleaming in the beautiful morning sun, dressed smartly, wearing a smiling, and smoothening his hair by hands, as he moved out of the dham and left for the school building,.

As he moved on, Secretary maharaj, coming from the opposite way, had a look at him. He stopped, smiled and interrogated amusingly, “Kya Priyadarshi ji, kaisha haai? Abhi se school dress pahen ke kahan jaa raaha haai ji!”
In the moment of bewilderment, Priyadarshi, whose thoughts had been somewhere upstairs contemplating Sachin’s last dismissal by McGrath, were brought back to earth with a sudden and unpleasant bump. Slowly, he moved his eyes all around, to notice for the first time, that all the other boys around him, moving towards the school building, were nicely clad. They all were in their proper dham dress!
“Er.. Er.. Er.. I maharaj, I.. Er.. I actually have taken my bath, and intent to study the whole first half in the school itself...,” replied a bemused Priyadarshi, sounding very unconvincing. Secretary maharaj patted him on the back and walked away laughing, to add to more of Priyadarshi’s embarrassment.
“It is a WEDNESDAY today! And the first half of the school is of! Oh Nooooooo…!” exasperated Priyadarshi, who was now laughing on himself, and his condition, heartingly relishing the irony of moment, as he looked around to find himself being the centre-stage of attraction, for the great morning-show.

He turned around, and there they were; Sanjay, Anupam and Devayan were all following, of course in their dham dress, being unable to put a tab on their uncontainable laughter.
On the railing of the Turiyananda Dham, stood Kanchan da clapping his hands and waiving back Priyadarshi animatedly, cheering on the success story of his ‘Wednesday Fool’ directed drama.
He could surely fancy his chances of winning the Annul Drama Competition that year, more than anybody else!