Just School Stuff.

"Recess" as we used to call breaks in school meant so many things; here are the top 5 highlights from the cooling off periods from my school life!

1. Hogging food

Not from your own lunchbox, from everybody else's and definitely in an uncivilised way! The usual drill was to finish off your own food during the initial periods slyly and attack others in the recess- worked like a charm. If there was something good in your meal, there would be a mini-stampede approaching you!


2. The canteen

Our school's canteen was famous for its 'iconic' samosa-sambar. It's been a long time since passing out and it's a craving to go back and have that dish one more time. Then there was the hotdog/burger guy everybody stole from. (:P)



3. Games

Chor-police, cricket with a pad and a ball made of a stone & handkerchief, pakda-pakdi, hand cricket, arm wrestling and PEN FIGHT! (I miss this one a lot!). The pens were weaponized with extra caps and grips. As much as it sounds silly now, it was a serious affair back then!

Pic only for demonstration

4. Terrorism in the washrooms

One of my locality friends was denied the possibility of admission in my school after his father had walked into the washroom and witnessed the graffiti by our in-house artists heaping praise on the teachers. Firecrackers, 'Wanted' posters of the faculty etc all kinds of things have happened!




5. Slogans

This was just plain crazy. The cries for an half day at the smallest cue of rainfall- 'halfdayyy halfday-Lday' or 'D D D D D D D'Assissi boys....Francis boys are ...!' for no reason whatsoever still reverberates in my mind when I think about school times!

If you know what I mean :D

A blog written by another Franciscan I just came across!

I'm sure I have missed on other stuff, care to comment?

(Batch 2008-09 - We rocked the Lonavala trip, didn't we!)

Library-goers, assemble!

Not everybody can go and do time-pass at a library! Aayyy mean study.. Nevertheless, it’s not every tom, dick & harry’s cup of tea. People can give all kinds of weird reasons for not entering a library. Even your best friends in crime might resist this ONE crime for reasons only they can fathom. The mujhse na ho payega reverberates in all anti-library-goers. Here’s how it actually is to be a member of this elite tribe:-

MIDC Library

 1.         Second Home

The first few days can be awkward, just like any new place. Once you’ve made your mark, fixed your seat (or seats for different seasons!) and spend more time at the library than your actual residence, congrats; you’ve just acquired a second home! Some hardcore personalities can only study in a library and nowhere else. Period.




  

2.                  Second Family

A family is what separates ‘home’ from a ‘house’. With second home comes a second family. These are the guys whose presence in the library becomes a necessity after a while; warna jug suna suna laage re. These are the guys who will sit far away from you (to not disturb you!) but are the closest to you.

3.            The Librarian

It is that authority which provides security and maintains sanctity of the library. They can talk amongst themselves and put on phones on loud, we would be criminals to do so. “This is a library, not a garden” is what they are taught to say at every Librarian B-Schools. Does that dialogue not have an expiry?! Yeah we know we should be maintaining silence and all but doubts solve karte waqt chalta hain reee.

4.              Breaks

The most silent people inside the library become the loudest outside of it! There are mandatory breaks like lunch time and evening tea. And random hunger-break. And because you are bored-break. And because (s)he is bored-break. And kitna padhega be-break! Here’s the truth - We don’t take breaks to study better, we study so that we can take breaks later!

5.               Veterans

Remember Lucky? Well there is always one in every library. When you start your library journey, (s)he is there. When you finish your curriculum, (s)he is still there! Maybe Lucky’s stars are not favoring him/her. Or another perspective would suggest (s)he is taking up additional courses just to be in the second home with the second family, make peace with the librarian and take breaks! Just saying..    

P.S – There is a lot of under the table smuggling of candies and toffees. The bottle pockets of the bags are the deemed dustbins.

Personally, I get THE most sound sleep in a library. Time just slows down like craaazzyyy! 

Chal Nanda Patkar Road

As part of a Rotaract initiative!

So what strikes your mind when you want to hangout in Vile Parle? Probably the areas in and around Juhu Beach, that street where NM and Mithibai College is or anywhere else but Nanda Patkar Road! So where is it exactly - You know the petrol pump near the highway near the dominoes, in Vile Parle east? Yes, opposite that petrol pump lays the street rarely explored by people not staying in Parle east.

There is nothing hi-fi about this street, just a couple of restaurants that are not worth going in to. What is absolutely worth it is a roadside misal wala and a chai tapri! Being very close to my college (M.L.Dahanukar College), it was pretty much our ritual to have the "Gabheri misal" almost every day possible. With ample parking space, it was all about getting there, parking the rides, lining up on the counter, spicing up the misal with that extra curry and a cold drink later on to cool down - it would seem like going to college was after all not a complete waste of time!  

A lot of college memories of that place embedded in our minds! Marching over there in large groups, non-stop chattering, friendly leg pulling sessions, blah blahing and the moment the food is in front of us - complete silence, just the occasional "aur do pav dena"! Unlike many other streets where you could have multiple options to eat (Confusion too), this street has one unique thing that others don't - it is surprisingly quiet and aloof from the main roads. 


It's been some time since graduation, but still Nanda Patkar Road is often the only reason for me to go to Vile Parle East.