I joined St.Michaels High School Patna in March 1989 as a Standard 1 student . I fared miserably in the entrance test, and wouldn't have got admission but for Sir Raj who got me admitted as a favour to my father (an alumni of the same school ) . Well I am not very sure why I always fared so badly all these years , maybe I never took studies seriously . I didn't too well in my first year at school . Had quite a tough time coming to terms with the new surroundings ( new school , new home , new friends ) . I started to improve by the time I reached 2nd Standard . By the time I finished my 3rd Standard I was 2nd in my class .Only thing that my parents were not satisfied with was the medium of education . For a school established as late as 1858 , it was a big surprise that the medium of instruction in primary school was hindi . To start with ,I had a torrid time understanding some of the difficult technical terms used in science e.g. mand vasa , ayat etc.
In the three years I spent at St. Michaels I managed to make quite a few friends . But somehow none of these friendships have lasted . As of date I am not even in cintact with any of my friends of those days despite the fact that I returned to St.Michaels in Standard 8 when most of these friends were still there ( I joined back in section C , while earlier I was a Section A student . There are 3 sections in St.Michaels ). Dont quite know what prompted me to avoid reuniting with them .
I happened to visit Deoghar with my family while I was still in St.Michaels . And in an unexpected incident we went to see a residential school after the usual "matha tekna " at the holy shrine in BabaDham . I was fascinated to see the school , the limitless extents of its boundaries ... and the next thought that came to my mind was " Boy ! I do belong to this place ." Next we bought the entrance test forms . And in the Autumn of 1991 , just up from a typhoid I decided I would appear in my first entrance test of some repute . The questions were quite mesmerising and I was without much preparation compared to students who get enrolled in special coching classes for getting through these entrance exams . One of the questions that comes to my mind was " Describe a Rainbow " . My answer was " A semicircular arc made up of 7 colors , violet , indigo ... "
I never realised but people I met after the exam said it was truly a great answer for a 3rd Standard student .
One of the first Golden Moments of my life was when my father arrived with a packet of Rasgullas and a letter that said that I had passed the entrance test . That was the first time I had got an admission to an institute without any obligations on my parents.
I decided that I will be leaving St.Michaels , and at the end of 3rd Standard I proceeded to join RKMV , Deoghar . My friends back in St.Michaels were really disappointed and as I learnt later , one of them actually cried after I left . And when the results for the year came out I had been selected for the Academic Excellence Award (given to students securing above 90% aggregate). But unaware of all that , I was aboard Tata-Patna waiting to reach my new home for the years to come . I was about to join RamaKrishna Mission Vidyapith , Deoghar.... (Click here to read further).
