PHOTO GALLERY- NO COMMENT - Page 26

I STUDIED in Dhanamal High School, Kandivli (W). We had 70 students in the class. Those were the days when a teacher was capa- ble of handling many students at the same time. I would start howling every time my mother dropped me to school. The other children would start playing after a while, but I would con- tinue crying. When I was admitted to junior KG, I was so paranoid about going to school that my mother had to come right into the classroom to drop me. I would start crying the minute she left and looking at me, all the children in my class would start crying. This became an everyday affair and my teacher found it very difficult to handle the situation. She would keep complaining to my mother and by the end of the year, my mother was fed up with me. I never understood why I did not like school. The teachers were nice. After reaching first standard, I stopped cry- ing but started thinking of ways to bunk school. There were times when I would tell my class teacher that I was going to drink water and then went home directly. After I reached Standard V, I would fight a lot with my classmates and beat them up if something did not go my way. All that was of course in a friendly spirit. I became very serious about studies when I reached standard IX. I was re- peatedly told that the Board exams are to be taken very seriously, so I started preparing for it from Standard IX itself. I used to score well in Geography and Mathematics. These were my favourite subjects. I also became the teacher's pet student for doing well in my exams. I cherish my memories of school. I met my best friend, Parag Re- shamwala, there. I have shared a spe- cial bond with him. I also had a lot of crushes in school. One of them was my Marathi teacher who was very beauti- ful. My first crush was on one of my classmates when I was in standard IV. We had a rotating seating arrangement in class and every time that changed, I secretly wished that she was given a place near me. One morning, she was made to sit next to me and I was ecstatic about it. I treasured every moment with her. But when the seating changed again, I cursed my teacher. Apart from all these memories there are a lot of things that the school has given me. A good education, great teachers and good friends. What more can one ask for? As told to Mauli Buch [email protected]