Wanderlust: School.. The beginning..

Dear Ninni

It,s been a long time I,ve been thinking of doing this blog...but have i been busy..well not really ..with your grand parents here and you spending lots of time with them leaving me alone mostly. Yet with the frequent visits to markets and several other places with your grand parents have been kind of busy. So this is about the first school we put you in. You and me when we came back from Barapani , by todays,s standards you were late for school as you were about to be three.

So it was obvious we would put you in the play school near our home run by my office as it was going to be hassle free and you did not qualify for nursery yet.First we took you there , me and your pishi you were so ready for school.. and the principal asked to bring you after three days and you started wailing. We were at loss but the strict principal won,t let you in...

Then finally you started the first day of your school and a milestone in your life. School was a small one and since run by our office organisation frankly i have seen no one taking it seriously and nor did i. You did not cry a bit, the teacher told me after i waited for two hours outside your class along with other two anxious moms. Did not know whether i was happy or sad.. happy because you did not make any fuss in your first day at school.. sad because you did not miss your home or your mother.. may be home was not an attachment for you like others..but anyway these thoughts were redundant as i took you victoriously to home.

So school days started.. great brainstorming sessions over your lunch and at last we settled for puri and tomato ketchup since you are such a fussy eater but somehow your lunch box returned home empty and we had severe doubt if someone else had it.. and somedays we would catch you with your mouth stuffed with puri which you would spit under the tree outside as we brought you outside the class room...

Complaints from your teacher your reluctance to hold pencil.. and the tussle with making you scribble your first line..Then started home works.. o my God..what a mammoth task.. i could make you write one ' A' but how o make you scribble fifteen 'A',s , you were bored to death and so was i...we began finishing your home works after being defeated badly in the battle with you..and your pishi would also try her hand at her knowledge of English alphabets...Then one fine day your lines began to take shape, pencil hit the paper with the right force and we breathed a sigh of relief. But still lots of coaxing cajoling to make you scribble all the letters. Soon school lingo pricked our ears.. ' Chaanta maru.. pitaai karu'!!! this much to your father,s desire of you learning phonetics and English!! On top of that since you had a South Indain class teacher ( i really loved her so pretty and friendly) no one could stop you from murmuring wana twoah ( one two)!!

But your vocabulary and sentence framing improved and we could hear lots of hindi words each day may be from school or Chota Bheem.. It was fun to hear the school prayer from you..you caught the music but the Sanskrit of Gayatri Mantra and Bengali of national anthem stumbling from your tiny mouth...Lots of hindi rhymes.. and the first PTM we attended.. your teacher told about you opening up but with lots of B+es in your report card and an A in Maths!! ( may be wana twoah worked..:) )

You were a messy Radha in Janmashtami...and we were very naive make up artists

You were a princess in the fancy dress competition..i agree total lack of imagination in my part...

Then came the normal ' i- won't-go-to-school phase' ... some how drag and drop you to school doorstep..until you made your first friend in school ' Arya' . Then you would want to go to school so that you can hold Arya,s hand while returning and then not come home and got to Arya,s house with her mother. So began the regular drama.. lots of high drama and you packing off to Arya,s house most of the days and again high drama at dragging you through stairs to home!! Talk of fussy irritating toddlers. In the mean time another PTM and me and your father held our heads high as teacher spoke highly of you.. reponsive, sincere , talkative and will A+es this time. Another habit had caught you up colouring and with your grandpa you would sit in the wee hours of night sometimes beginning to colour so that we all got pretty exasperated.. So when the teacher showed your colouring antics to parent of another kid saying ' This is how Adrita colours' and co teacher telling me that your ' colouring' is superb i could not be much pleased remembering the craziness at all odd hours....

Soon the third PTM , sports meet and the last day of your first school. So near to home..we sent you there sans any tension and stress and was glad at your progress and the fun you had. As we wait now to send you to the first proper 'big' school you will go to Gurgaon from our new home..we would always love this first school of yours.. simple , least expensive, no embellishment.. love and care from your teachers and Geeta Didi.. they would tell not to give you noodles which you stuff inside your mouth and not chew or gulp, to help you drink more water, not to make you wear low waist shorts ( sorry sorry i did not realise..)

The best part for me to catch those new things you learnt..i began with what you learnt at school today to which i got a fairly good reply without ' Arya' fever catching you up. The fun was to catch you unaware at night ' maine veer pratap singh ka tiffin kha liya' Whaaat .. was it tasty..' Sujana madam ne daanta' Why... ' I nibbled the chain of my jacket' !!! ' Sab bacche khade ho jao'...And one day ' deep jalao deep jalao aaj diwali hain' with a twist of waist and then one had to work hard to get the whole rhyme out of you with actions.. ' fly an aeroplane.. fly an aeroplane...'

We enjoyed your first school as much as you did...and i bade goodbye with a heavy heart..and now as we are waiting for the new one.i have this old...this-is-life feeling and perhaps you would know it far better than i do as you adjust to new places and new people in your life rapidly.

I assembled the pics as far as a clumsy absent minded mother would..

Love
Yours Ma