For simplicity I am dividing my student life thus far into the following stages :-
1) Pre St. MIchaels ( before Class 1)
2) St. MIchaels - Part 1( Class 1 - 3)
3) Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith (Class 4 - 7)
4) St.Michaels - Part 2(Class 8 - 12)
5) IIT Delhi ( 2001 - Present Day)
Pre St.Michaels
I was born on 29th May , 1983 at Ranchi , Jharkhand (erstwhile Bihar ) . My mother delivered me in Rajendra Medical College and Hospital , Ranchi ( dont know if this is true , but this is what I have been told by everyone else and since I dont have any memories of my delivery left so I guess I'll have to accept what they say ).
I dont exactly remember when I was forced to go to school , but my first school was Dimple Public school (not quite sure why they chose to name the school ) . As of present the school doesn't exist anymore :( .
Dont remember any particular incidents except that as soon as the school used to close , all the children invariably used to run towards the bus which was supposed to take them back to their homes . And on one such occasion , I got myself badly injured . I actually ran as fast as I could (used to be much more athletic during those days) and collided with the gate . My forehead started to bleed and I got 2 stitches as a result .. must say had a real tough time while the doctor stitched my bleeding forehead . Still have the marks of the wound intact .
Next school in my long journey of changing schools was St.Xavier's Ranchi . That was the first reputed school I attended and though I was there for only about 3 months , I really liked the school .
Then with the transfer of my father to Dhanbad , I was again made to change my school and I ended up being at DPS, Dhanbad . Somehow the level of teaching there had a big gap to what I was being tought at my previous school , as I was never able to understand what they tought . I fared miserably in the only test I appeared there in a short span of 3 months .There are two incidents that come to my mind instantly when I think of DPS Dhanbad . One was my first day at school and I was supposed to board a bus back home . While returning from the school on the first day the bus stopped at a place that was across the road to where I had boarded the bus in the morning . My intuition(read innocence) prompted me to think that the bus will come back after taking a U-turn and drop me at the exact place where I boarded it . But my intuition was sadly mistaken and the bus never took a u-turn and soon it was empty . The driver of the bus was a kind man, so when I narrated my problem he got me some samosas and said that he will drop me back at my destination . My intuition was not wrong , the bus actually took a U-turn .
On way I found my parents in their car who were frantically looking for their lost son . Though I am not a congenital liar , I thought giving out the actual details would mean loosing self respect (I thought people would really find me silly if I divulge the truth ), so in a glib manner ,I concocted a story that I was fast asleep and so I missed my stop .
Another incident was when I was slapped by a classmate in the classroom . And the worst thing was that I am still hard put to understand why was I slapped so hard . It happened , so that at school we used to sit in small circles and one of the boys sitting alongside me just stood up and slapped me hard on my face . I guess I have always been the peace loving ahimsavadi types , so I never retalliated back . By the way if by any chance the guy who slapped me happens to read this ... just drop me a line as to why you did slap me .
Continuing with my ordeal .. the next destination was Biharsharif (Nalanda) . It was amongst the best times I've had because for 3 months I was allowed to live without having to attend school . And I managed to use all this time really well . And by that I dont mean to suggest that I did something creative . All my time was used up doing weird things like playing in the mud , playing cricket even gulli-danda a few times , and ofcourse my favorite past time for years to come - playing RP .Since the name actually cropped up , I wouldn't mind disclosing more about this game . RP stands for Rubber - Pencil . Sounds Bizzare ? My parents were of a firm belief that by providing any toys to their children they would be damaging the future of their children . So NO GI-Joes , no toy - trains .
In this situation of desperation , I decided to make up for the toys by using watever I had . So there they were born ... my rubbers and pencils substituted human beings and I could actually play without having toys at my disposal .I went on to develop infinite variations of the game . Must say it was really addictive , (I got out of the habbit of playing RP only lately its now been substituted by computer games , though I guess given a chance I wouldn't mind having another shot at RP ), but the level of imagination I could reach with RP was phenomenal . Something which increased my ability to visualise manifold.
The only school I attended at Biharsharif was some DM School . On the first day we were being taught some hindi to english translations , like "what mane kya " , " why mank kyo " and similar sounding stuff which never sounded as they should have .. what was bhat and why was bhai .
Anyways the next day , everyone was supposed to come with some homework done which I was unaware of . And I wasn't the only one , many of the students had come without doing the homework . What followed scared me to death .. those who hadn't done their homework were being beaten badly and that too with dusters . The first time I saw such scenes . Though I was spared being a new student , as soon as i got back home , the verdict was out , Come What May ..... I am not going back to this "SCHOOL" . And incredulously my parents agreed without much delibration. Though the actual reason for the agreement had more to do with the fact that they had a better school in their mind . I was about to join St.Michaels .... (Click here to read further )
