A Retrospection
Memories are like a sudden gust of cold breeze; they leave you shivering as they pass by the moors of your mind. A retrospection can take you to the good moments which you cherish and the bad ones which you would not want to remember again, but, nonetheless, they do appear without you being conscious of them. You cannot avoid a recollection, whether of joy or agony or thrill, it just hits you and then goes away. I have many such memories which I want to share because I think that is the only way by which I can live those moments again. But to find a potential listener is a huge ask, therefore, I decided to jot them down here. One such incident, which I think was one of the most thrilling of all, is what I am describing here. It still leaves me trembling with fear when I am reminded of it.
This happened when I was in 11th standard. We were a group of four; one of the most famous clans in the the school, and infamous as well. We were like four wheels of a wagon-a wagon on the roll, driven by the horses of joie de vivre. Everyone of us was unique (like everyone else!). Saurabh was a very good athelete...I am saying 'was' because he has quit atheletics. But there was a time when he was a district level record holder in 100m heat and high jump events. He was also our personal bank; used to give away loans to all of us when in need, and leave alone the interest, we rarely paid him back the basic. He was the first one to have a bike in our class, though by 11th standard we all managed a two wheeler each, mine was a bajaj chetak schooter which we used during emergency. Two bikes were enough for four of us and we loved biking. Lavesh, a cousin of Saurabh, was a vital part of the setup because of his facility in making female friends. We just stood and stared how easily he used to mix with the opposite sex, how coolly he talked with them and be pals in a few minutes of conversation. He was our passport to the world of the fairer sex. (He's still the same but I am using the past tense in order to have some continuity and uniformity). Not only this, he was also a good athelete and a very cheerful person. Neil was truly unique...he was esoteric! I can write a whole new blog if I have to describe him from whatever small knowledge I have about him. Though we'd been together for just two years then, he was like the friend for life to me. He was a very good writer; he would have, probably, written this one more readerfriendly than me. He was special in a way that my words cannot do justice to his persona, nonetheless, I would like to introduce him to a wider world. So I would rather leave it for now...maybe in my next blog. And last but not least, the final wheel of the wagon, me. Well, now that I have given a brief introduction, or an adoration, so to say, of the other three, I would tell about myself. Not what I am now and my hobbies and my ambitions...I would rather tell what I was in the clan. I was their maths teacher and used to take heavy treats for giving fundaes before the exams. I was a very good student in the eyes of the teachers unlike the other three...Neil was average and the two cousins were below average. Not only this, I was an active participant in other school activities which made the teachers wonder how I could probably be a part of them. I was like a bridge between the two extremes.
Ok pals! Enough of this introduction part, now goes the incident which I had set out to narrate. I and Saurabh lived in the same colony. Our houses were quite close, while the other two lived farther; though close to each other. I always accompanied Saurabh to the school...this dates back to the days when we used to go on cycles...but now we used Saurabh's bike. Neil used to come on Lavesh's bike. One fine morning we decided to bunk school, after we had left from our homes. This was the first time when after leaving for school we were going to bunk. So, obviously, we were excited about it. The problem was, however, that we had to spend more than six hours outside, somewhere where we could not be tracked, and we could'nt decide the place for half an hour. During that time, somewhere between 8 am and 9 am, we were at a bakery shop having our brakefast, for the second time, just in order to keep away from the eyes of anyone who knew us and could see us in the school uniform. That was the ideal place to decide on our next step. Someone came up with an idea of going to a place called Mowgli Water Park which was quite a distance from there at the outskirts of our city.
"That would be a good place as it is very far and no one in their dreams would come there and see us. Moreover, we can have a lot of fun there. I can't think of a better place, dudes", suggested Lavesh.
"But its not as easy as it sounds. There is only one road which we can take, and our school is in the way...and we are in school dress, cant even go back to change. If by any chance anyone sees us on the way, we are dead. That fatty will take us by our ass. She'll call our parents and then god knows what will happen...my dad will kill me, surely.", I said.
We used to call our principal fatty, though she was'nt that fat. No one had thought about this. The plan was in the drain. Then Saurabh came up with another idea.
"Why dont we go to Lucknow? No fear of being caught, and we can have a lot more fun there. We can go to Rave (multiplex)!"
He had a wide grin when he said that and everyone knew why. Rave was a hotspot; girls, McDonald's, movies, Pizza Hut...everything was there. But to go there was a big ask, that too on bikes...it was more than 60 km and we had never done that. The idea seemed wilder because we had only till 2 pm in our hands and it was already 9. Only the journey would have taken some two and half hours. When nothing could be finalised till 9 Neil suggested that we must stop thinking about going anywhere and go back to our places.
"What will you say to your mom?", asked Lavesh.
"Nothing. I'll say the school was closed due to unfortunate death of fatty's father-in-law.", replied Neil, though he was'nt sure he'll say the same.
"Aah...very nice! You know one thing, my father is a very good friend of fatty's husband. As soon as he gets the news, he'd visit them to console them. Then what?", I said in a certain disgust.
Now you people must be thinking that I could have told some other lie to my parents, but that was a thing we never dared to do beacause our parents all were of the same inquisitive type. And all were good friends among themselves. Any inconsistency in the stories we told would definitely be tracked down by them. It was a sort of a tacit agreement that each of us would tell the same thing to our parents to keep it consistent. After saying all that, I must also admit that I did'nt want to go back home after all this. We finally decided to go ahead with our initial plan. The idea was that it was already well over the opening time of the school and no one would be there outside the school to watch us. It was 9 when all four stood up at once, paid the bills and set out for the journey. I was sitting behind Saurabh and Neil behind Lavesh on the bikes as we whizzed passed the school gate and, to our comfort, no one saw us.
Saurabh was a very good rider too. By good I mean he was very fast. Lavesh was also good but not better than Saurabh. Saurabh had already suffered some minor road accidents, one of which was a little serious in which he lost him mobile phone and a small chip of his canine teeth, but he never slowed down. With every hiccup he became more and more confident and as a result, faster. Initially when I had to sit with him on bike, my pulse rate used to become higher and heart beat louder. But not anymore. I became more than accustomed to his way of riding; I started enjoying it!
We were flying past the petty vehicles now, in the fullness of all the hues which the world has to offer to a person who has just been released from captivity. The highway road ahead of us was like stretched arms of the proposition called freedom, calling us to give a deep hug. I never preferred driving when we were together for I was awefully slow for them, and for myself. Our destination was some 15 km from the place we started and it took no more than 10 min to reach there. We were there by 9:20 am and, to our disgust, the water park was to be opened at 10. The place was on the highway road with no mark of any locality there. Some vehicle repair shops, a filling station and a dhabba was all we could see. We decided to sit at the dhabba for the time being. But, again, simply sitting there wont do, we'd have to order something and we were already more than full. Still we had no other option. At the dhabba we ordered three cool drinks, Neil did'nt want one. We sat there and pondered over the day so far, and the story it could make of us if we were to be caught later on. Nothing much was said but we all were thinking.
Finally the watch struck 10 and it was the time for the park to open. We purchased the student discounted tickets, Saurabh paid as usual, and we went in. It was deserted inside with no one but us four and a few workers moving here and there in commotion which was quite expected. Afterall, they had received early visitors. The pools were awefully beautiful; water clear as crystal. This was a wonderful time for all of us, a time to forget all the agony of attending classes and listening to those boring moral lectures by the parents, a time to be free. The best thing was that the authorities there provided the swim suits.
We danced and laughed and slid on those twisted water slides. Neil knew swimming...he showed us some of his skills. We just sat along the edge of the pool and watched him. After some time had passed a few more people started coming in. By 11 we had more than ten people's company, two of them were pretty girls. The scenario became even more fantastic. Time passed by in a blitz and before we could even gather our breath, it was already 1:00 pm. We were feeling extremely hungry after all the energetic activities that we did. There was a restaurant within the water park. We had lunch in there and now it was the time to leave; athough we did'nt want to, we had to, inevitably! All of us did'nt say anything but I know all were feeling same as I felt.
Nonetheless, we set out on our way back. All of us was extremely pleased, and for sometime we had forgotten the school, the teachers, the books. In the same high, both the cousins were driving...at high speeds. I was again behind Saurabh. Our bike was a ahead of their's for a moment and the next moment they overtook us, then again we whizzed pass them. This continued for sometime until Saurabh saw a lorry in front which was moving in our direction. A bus was coming from the opposite direction. At that moment we were a few meters ahead of the other bike. Saurabh slowed down in order to let the bus cross the lorry, thinking Lavesh would also slow down. But, to our amazement, he did'nt. He went on with the same high speed, overtook us and tried to overtake the lorry before the bus could reach parallel to it. This was crazyness! I cried from behind and asked him to slow down and let the two vehicles cross as he was still some distance from the lorry but he did'nt listen. I saw Neil too saying something to him but still he did'nt stop. Our heart beats grew louder and sweat oozed out from almost all the parts of the body. In a moment, Lavesh's bike was in the middle of the lorry on the left and the bus on the right. The space in between was just enough for the bike and even a slight lateral movement or a small angle from the vertical would bring disaster. I closed my eyes...Saurabh could'nt afford to. As the two vehicles completely crossed each other, I took a deep breath and looked up. Lavesh and Neil were not in the view. I asked Saurabh to speed up and overtake the lorry. As we were going passed the lorry, we saw both Neil and Lavesh standing by the roadside with the bike alongside. We took a deep sigh of relief that nothing had happened to them. Neil was smiling but the smile was'nt just a smile, it had the nervousness of a man who has just escaped a major accident by a whisker, to say the least. Lavesh was as serious as a dead man. He was looking in the void, thoughtful or thoughtless, I dont know. As he saw us coming, he gave a short gaze to us and again went back into the void. No one spoke for a while...all were mum. After a while, the silence was broken by me when I just said "Lets go!".
Driving back home all were still silent. I took Lavesh's bike and made Neil sit behind me. Lavesh was behind Saurabh. He was still lost. We drove back home at the slowest speed I had ever driven. As we came in front of our school, it was already closed. A few staff members, who usually left the school late, were seen outside the main gate. We had reached just on time or maybe five minutes late.
We changed bikes and went home. Back home no one asked us anything and neither did we tell anyone anything and the story is still within us four, well, till now!
This happened when I was in 11th standard. We were a group of four; one of the most famous clans in the the school, and infamous as well. We were like four wheels of a wagon-a wagon on the roll, driven by the horses of joie de vivre. Everyone of us was unique (like everyone else!). Saurabh was a very good athelete...I am saying 'was' because he has quit atheletics. But there was a time when he was a district level record holder in 100m heat and high jump events. He was also our personal bank; used to give away loans to all of us when in need, and leave alone the interest, we rarely paid him back the basic. He was the first one to have a bike in our class, though by 11th standard we all managed a two wheeler each, mine was a bajaj chetak schooter which we used during emergency. Two bikes were enough for four of us and we loved biking. Lavesh, a cousin of Saurabh, was a vital part of the setup because of his facility in making female friends. We just stood and stared how easily he used to mix with the opposite sex, how coolly he talked with them and be pals in a few minutes of conversation. He was our passport to the world of the fairer sex. (He's still the same but I am using the past tense in order to have some continuity and uniformity). Not only this, he was also a good athelete and a very cheerful person. Neil was truly unique...he was esoteric! I can write a whole new blog if I have to describe him from whatever small knowledge I have about him. Though we'd been together for just two years then, he was like the friend for life to me. He was a very good writer; he would have, probably, written this one more readerfriendly than me. He was special in a way that my words cannot do justice to his persona, nonetheless, I would like to introduce him to a wider world. So I would rather leave it for now...maybe in my next blog. And last but not least, the final wheel of the wagon, me. Well, now that I have given a brief introduction, or an adoration, so to say, of the other three, I would tell about myself. Not what I am now and my hobbies and my ambitions...I would rather tell what I was in the clan. I was their maths teacher and used to take heavy treats for giving fundaes before the exams. I was a very good student in the eyes of the teachers unlike the other three...Neil was average and the two cousins were below average. Not only this, I was an active participant in other school activities which made the teachers wonder how I could probably be a part of them. I was like a bridge between the two extremes.
Ok pals! Enough of this introduction part, now goes the incident which I had set out to narrate. I and Saurabh lived in the same colony. Our houses were quite close, while the other two lived farther; though close to each other. I always accompanied Saurabh to the school...this dates back to the days when we used to go on cycles...but now we used Saurabh's bike. Neil used to come on Lavesh's bike. One fine morning we decided to bunk school, after we had left from our homes. This was the first time when after leaving for school we were going to bunk. So, obviously, we were excited about it. The problem was, however, that we had to spend more than six hours outside, somewhere where we could not be tracked, and we could'nt decide the place for half an hour. During that time, somewhere between 8 am and 9 am, we were at a bakery shop having our brakefast, for the second time, just in order to keep away from the eyes of anyone who knew us and could see us in the school uniform. That was the ideal place to decide on our next step. Someone came up with an idea of going to a place called Mowgli Water Park which was quite a distance from there at the outskirts of our city.
"That would be a good place as it is very far and no one in their dreams would come there and see us. Moreover, we can have a lot of fun there. I can't think of a better place, dudes", suggested Lavesh.
"But its not as easy as it sounds. There is only one road which we can take, and our school is in the way...and we are in school dress, cant even go back to change. If by any chance anyone sees us on the way, we are dead. That fatty will take us by our ass. She'll call our parents and then god knows what will happen...my dad will kill me, surely.", I said.
We used to call our principal fatty, though she was'nt that fat. No one had thought about this. The plan was in the drain. Then Saurabh came up with another idea.
"Why dont we go to Lucknow? No fear of being caught, and we can have a lot more fun there. We can go to Rave (multiplex)!"
He had a wide grin when he said that and everyone knew why. Rave was a hotspot; girls, McDonald's, movies, Pizza Hut...everything was there. But to go there was a big ask, that too on bikes...it was more than 60 km and we had never done that. The idea seemed wilder because we had only till 2 pm in our hands and it was already 9. Only the journey would have taken some two and half hours. When nothing could be finalised till 9 Neil suggested that we must stop thinking about going anywhere and go back to our places.
"What will you say to your mom?", asked Lavesh.
"Nothing. I'll say the school was closed due to unfortunate death of fatty's father-in-law.", replied Neil, though he was'nt sure he'll say the same.
"Aah...very nice! You know one thing, my father is a very good friend of fatty's husband. As soon as he gets the news, he'd visit them to console them. Then what?", I said in a certain disgust.
Now you people must be thinking that I could have told some other lie to my parents, but that was a thing we never dared to do beacause our parents all were of the same inquisitive type. And all were good friends among themselves. Any inconsistency in the stories we told would definitely be tracked down by them. It was a sort of a tacit agreement that each of us would tell the same thing to our parents to keep it consistent. After saying all that, I must also admit that I did'nt want to go back home after all this. We finally decided to go ahead with our initial plan. The idea was that it was already well over the opening time of the school and no one would be there outside the school to watch us. It was 9 when all four stood up at once, paid the bills and set out for the journey. I was sitting behind Saurabh and Neil behind Lavesh on the bikes as we whizzed passed the school gate and, to our comfort, no one saw us.
Saurabh was a very good rider too. By good I mean he was very fast. Lavesh was also good but not better than Saurabh. Saurabh had already suffered some minor road accidents, one of which was a little serious in which he lost him mobile phone and a small chip of his canine teeth, but he never slowed down. With every hiccup he became more and more confident and as a result, faster. Initially when I had to sit with him on bike, my pulse rate used to become higher and heart beat louder. But not anymore. I became more than accustomed to his way of riding; I started enjoying it!
We were flying past the petty vehicles now, in the fullness of all the hues which the world has to offer to a person who has just been released from captivity. The highway road ahead of us was like stretched arms of the proposition called freedom, calling us to give a deep hug. I never preferred driving when we were together for I was awefully slow for them, and for myself. Our destination was some 15 km from the place we started and it took no more than 10 min to reach there. We were there by 9:20 am and, to our disgust, the water park was to be opened at 10. The place was on the highway road with no mark of any locality there. Some vehicle repair shops, a filling station and a dhabba was all we could see. We decided to sit at the dhabba for the time being. But, again, simply sitting there wont do, we'd have to order something and we were already more than full. Still we had no other option. At the dhabba we ordered three cool drinks, Neil did'nt want one. We sat there and pondered over the day so far, and the story it could make of us if we were to be caught later on. Nothing much was said but we all were thinking.
Finally the watch struck 10 and it was the time for the park to open. We purchased the student discounted tickets, Saurabh paid as usual, and we went in. It was deserted inside with no one but us four and a few workers moving here and there in commotion which was quite expected. Afterall, they had received early visitors. The pools were awefully beautiful; water clear as crystal. This was a wonderful time for all of us, a time to forget all the agony of attending classes and listening to those boring moral lectures by the parents, a time to be free. The best thing was that the authorities there provided the swim suits.
We danced and laughed and slid on those twisted water slides. Neil knew swimming...he showed us some of his skills. We just sat along the edge of the pool and watched him. After some time had passed a few more people started coming in. By 11 we had more than ten people's company, two of them were pretty girls. The scenario became even more fantastic. Time passed by in a blitz and before we could even gather our breath, it was already 1:00 pm. We were feeling extremely hungry after all the energetic activities that we did. There was a restaurant within the water park. We had lunch in there and now it was the time to leave; athough we did'nt want to, we had to, inevitably! All of us did'nt say anything but I know all were feeling same as I felt.
Nonetheless, we set out on our way back. All of us was extremely pleased, and for sometime we had forgotten the school, the teachers, the books. In the same high, both the cousins were driving...at high speeds. I was again behind Saurabh. Our bike was a ahead of their's for a moment and the next moment they overtook us, then again we whizzed pass them. This continued for sometime until Saurabh saw a lorry in front which was moving in our direction. A bus was coming from the opposite direction. At that moment we were a few meters ahead of the other bike. Saurabh slowed down in order to let the bus cross the lorry, thinking Lavesh would also slow down. But, to our amazement, he did'nt. He went on with the same high speed, overtook us and tried to overtake the lorry before the bus could reach parallel to it. This was crazyness! I cried from behind and asked him to slow down and let the two vehicles cross as he was still some distance from the lorry but he did'nt listen. I saw Neil too saying something to him but still he did'nt stop. Our heart beats grew louder and sweat oozed out from almost all the parts of the body. In a moment, Lavesh's bike was in the middle of the lorry on the left and the bus on the right. The space in between was just enough for the bike and even a slight lateral movement or a small angle from the vertical would bring disaster. I closed my eyes...Saurabh could'nt afford to. As the two vehicles completely crossed each other, I took a deep breath and looked up. Lavesh and Neil were not in the view. I asked Saurabh to speed up and overtake the lorry. As we were going passed the lorry, we saw both Neil and Lavesh standing by the roadside with the bike alongside. We took a deep sigh of relief that nothing had happened to them. Neil was smiling but the smile was'nt just a smile, it had the nervousness of a man who has just escaped a major accident by a whisker, to say the least. Lavesh was as serious as a dead man. He was looking in the void, thoughtful or thoughtless, I dont know. As he saw us coming, he gave a short gaze to us and again went back into the void. No one spoke for a while...all were mum. After a while, the silence was broken by me when I just said "Lets go!".
Driving back home all were still silent. I took Lavesh's bike and made Neil sit behind me. Lavesh was behind Saurabh. He was still lost. We drove back home at the slowest speed I had ever driven. As we came in front of our school, it was already closed. A few staff members, who usually left the school late, were seen outside the main gate. We had reached just on time or maybe five minutes late.
We changed bikes and went home. Back home no one asked us anything and neither did we tell anyone anything and the story is still within us four, well, till now!
Comments
come up wid more.. blog daily buddy..