Chapter 7: Nayi Dishaayein… Nayi Aashayein…

I am in the first standard now; my life has just started to move.

I made a new friend called Rakesh, he was the boy of an industrialist and was the one who always had fancy rubber caps for his pencils. He always used to carry fresh new pencils every other day and used to show it off. He was popular with the guys and the chicks alike for his flamboyance whereas I was better off know to the class as the ‘Topper’.

Rakesh managed to get to me too, he was a nice person to know, his interests included apart from showing off expensive eraser tips, drawing, cricket and an occasional indulgence called Panty peeking (if the name isn’t suggestive enough, it was supposedly a game in which he used to take a sneak peek at the girls unmentionables without them getting to notice him) how he had inculcated such a refined art at such a tender age I don’t know. I for once tried it at his instigation and that was partly a reason for us to shift the second time.

I was a good student when in the first standard, reason being that I used to stay at my grammys and there were no children of my age to play with, so most of my days would be spent at school or doing homework or tending to roses and chatting up my grammy. That gave me a certificate of a scholar in the making and no one complained.

My grampa expired during the time I was at my grammys, it was a sad day. Don’t remember much, as I chose to forget it. But soon after my dad decided it was time to take a flat and to move on…

My dad bought a flat in Chembur, with the finances that were put together by his savings and a little help from his brother. We officially owned a home. We moved into the new home during my summer vacations.

My results were declared and I stood first in SIWS and passed on the second standard. Now that we were in Chembur, there was no way I could continue going to SIWS, so we started to look out for good schools around the area, and this was when I entered into Fatima. The school was called “Fatima High School” was set up in Vidyavihar and was a Prime catholic school, well renowned for its capacity to churn out state merit list holders, and it naturally became a choice for my parents to try for my admission there.

We filled the forms and I was groomed by my elder cousin who used to go to the same school for an interview. When my name was announced we went in hoping for a good grilling session with the “Father” of the school (Principal in school equivalent to Father in Catholic schools). The then reigning father was Rev. Oscar, he took one look at my results and asked my parents to pay my fees and get me admitted. Never before was admission such a breeze.

So I started my crucial journey in a single room kitchen, chawl in Chembur, and trudged along my education at FHS.

Never did I realize I would learn a valuable lesson of life here.