The Nursery days at Delhi
It was about 42 years back in 1968 when we were at Palam, an Airforce station in Delhi and I was about 3 years old. I still remember my first day in school when my parents had taken me to Cambridge foundation school, got me admitted there,and left me with a beautiful young teacher in the classroom. At that time she was teaching about fruit and animals with their images displayed on the charts placed on the easel. As my parents were about to leave I requested them
that I would like to accompany them till the verandah to see them off to which they agreed and so I went holding my mother's finger till there. When they were about to leave from there I changed my mind and refused to go back to the class. My Father then picked me up handed me over to the teacher against my wishes while I cried with full throttle while they left the school. I cried for hours together till my lungs got exhausted and tears dried up. Thereafter I had no choice but to listen to the teacher silently as others were doing.
Soon it was games period and I could see lot of toys displayed all over in the next room . Those beautiful big wooden blocks which were shining with lacquer polish had round and square pegs which were so big that I could hardly hold in my small hands. The teacher was explaining to put the square cross section pegs in the square holed sockets and the round ones into the round hole. This instructions I heard again at the Services Selection Board at Bangalore in 1987 about 19 years later when the instructor at the SSB was explaining the same concept that they are testing the candidates to see their performance to discover the required grey matter they are interested in. He said that everyone is good in their own fields but their endeavour is to ensure that a square peg fits into a square hole and the round one in the round hole ie those who are not selected
are not failures but are fit for some other profession otherwise it would be like fitting a square peg in a round hole causing discomfort both to the cadet as well as the organisation. This is generally said to the rejected candidates so that they do not go back home demoralised.
When the school was over everyone rushed to their respective military school buses and so did I as was happy to go home. I saw my mother already waiting for me in front of the gate who immediately kissed me as I got down from the bus and asked,
”How was your first day at the school?”
“It was fine, but why did you leave me ?” I asked
“Had I not left you how would you have got the experience of the school? Did you see anyone else’s parents there?”
I replied ”No” nodding my head.
Thereafter I started going to school in the bus which picked me up from my house daily in the morning and dropped me back in the afternoon.
The school in which I was studying was basically a play school as had lot of toys. I vividly remember my classroom set up which comprised of small colourful chairs and desks with lot of posters of poems, animals, fruits and vegetables fixed on the easel and some pasted on the walls. I do not remember the name of the teacher but can recall that she had a raised puffed hair cut short, wore a light blue beautiful sari, and was young and pleasing. She was teaching us words of english language with the help of a fruit chart. One by one she discus
sed with each one of us about the fruit we liked and then asked us to write its spelling while looking at the chart in which the spellings were written below the photograph of the fruit.. Some liked banana while the others liked Guava and so on. She came to me while I was still thinking which fruit to select? She leaned over to my desk and with her right hand placed on my back and the left pointing to the fruit chart asked me,
”Which fruit do you like?”
I first looked at her pretty face and then at the chart and pointed at the pineapple which I found it interesting as I had never seen it before.
The teacher looked at the chart carefully and then in my notebook, where I was to write its spelling and said,
“Why don’t you write Apple instead of Pineapple as it will be a shorter and an easier word to write and remember”
I wrote apple against my wish as per her advice like an obedient boy but was satisfied only the day I wrote pineapple.It was like I had won a war with myself as it instilled confidence in me of taking the solo task.
One day the teacher told us that we would be going out for a picnic on Wednesday and everyone will get his tiffin with double the quantity since it would be late that day and she wrote the same instructions on our diaries for the parents to note. I was excited and so was everyone. On the picnic day we did not carry any books but only a small bag full of eatables like cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, butter etc. We reached our school and from there everyone in a single line boarded the big bus in which we all accommodated. It took us to a beautiful place with garden, waterfalls, grassland, flowers and big statues of various animals, I cannot recall the name of the place but it was designed specifically keeping the interests of the children. As we got down from the bus we played on the beautiful grass like that of a golf green. Our teacher played so many games placing a handkerchief kept in the centre of a circle which was guarded by one of us turn wise. The handkerchief was attempted to be picked up by other person who would quickly take it and was chased by the person guarding it till such time the one who picked it reached the circle. We also played “Ringa Ringa Roses” and people watched us as if some film shooting was in progress.
We soon crossed a small bridge over a nallah with little water flowing in it. As we were crossing it one by one in a queue one of us rolled down into it like a log and stopped with a thud at the base but was luckily unhurt. He started to cry lying on his back while we all gazed at him.from the bridge I still remember how he was turning on both the sides left and right but was unable to get up. Since the water was very less it flowed past his sides. One of our teacher immediately went inside the nallah and picked him up. He was then given medical aid and kept in a towel inside the bus with all his clothes removed to dry up. We all were giggling saying shame! shame ! when our teacher asked us to keep quiet by fingers on our mouth. We then turned serious and crossed the bridge silently keeping fingers on our mouth. Later when his clothes dried he also joined and was given special care thereafter, which we envied.
We all had our lunch sitting at various places on the grass, swing, small trees and under the shade of trees. Then started the swing session which we enjoyed to the fullest. There was a huge merry go round, the ferris wheel and the long rope swing. Some were busy catching each other got tired soon after sometime. It was relaxing time now so the teachers switched over to other sitting games kept us busy. The song session was in action in which everyone would come in the centre of the circle and would recite a poetry and then go back to his place. I had my cake and biscuits from my tiffin along with the milk given centrally by the teacher from canter in red good quality plastic glasses. I noticed a peculiar style of holding the tiffin by some of my friends. They would hold the tiffin box with the lid at right angle to it making the food invisible to others. Was it a part of good manners or a style I pondered.
It was then time to go back We all lined up near the bus.. While returning everyone was exhausted, contended and satisfied with high morale. On our way back to school we kept thumping the bus in rhythm taking out our hands from the window singing our school song. On reaching the school we boarded another bus to reach home as the picnic was over so was the day at the school.
At home I had a very close companion friend of mine with whom I used to spend all my day. Her name was Amba .She had small bob cut hair, not very fair and most of the time in her frock. She had her brother, Ravi who was older to me hence I and Amba were closer companions being of the same age group. They were our neighbours. Our house was in a hutted type of accommodation as in those days many officers with families stayed in that barrack type of accommodation which had many rooms in series. It had enough space in front for us to play and also a lot of space at the rear which was mostly used for drying of clothes. There were two more families who had children much older to us in age. I and Amba used to play all day exploring all the area around the house. We played all the games from ‘I spy’ (we called it ‘Ice Bice’ then) to Ludo, Catching the Thief, Tippi Tippi Tap, Corners, High and Low, Cards and what not. When it used to get late we would sit on the bed and try making various things with yellow plastic mechano set of mine having using the big nuts and bolts which I could not find it now when I searched the same for my son in the market. I remember the sunday routine when my mother gave us eatables with milk after washing my long hair and I and Amba would sit inside the mosquito net to play Ludo, Carrom At times Ravi would join us and would sneak out of the mosquito net soon leaving the game in between when his friends would arrive .
One day we both were playing outside in our lawn and we noticed a cat leaping over the fence so we followed her and came out of our garden .The cat meanwhile disappeared into the bushes. While we both were discussing about the opening from where she had entered we saw a gap in the bushes which was wide enough for a small animal to enter. As we approached the open space I saw some white coloured balls of about 2 cm diameter, which were shining and lying in plenty . Amba picked one of it and put it in her mouth and found it tasty to gulp.
“Its tasty”, she said and gulped one more.
Seeing her I also put one in my mouth and gulped it down my throat inspite of it being sour.We both had about 6 to 7 of them. I kept two of them in my pocket for consuming it later on. We carried out playing and soon when my mother called me for lunch I went saying bye to Amba for meeting after lunch. As I reached my room my mother asked me,
” What are you eating?”
I narrated that we had found some toffees which I ate. When she asked me to show what kind of a toffee it was I took out two of them from my pocket and showed it to her.
“Oh my God! Did you eat them?”she asked in a terrified voice.
“What’s wrong in it ?”I asked
“They are naphthalene balls and who else has had that?” she asked with a worried face.
“Amba” I replied.
She immediately ran towards the phone and narrated the same to my father who was in the office at that time and then she ran to Amba’s house and narrated the incident to her mother. Soon she was also in tears and petrified.
Amba and I were wondering what wrong had we done that our mothers are so much worried as we just had toffees of our choice. Within next half an hour my father arrived in his jeep and so did Amba’s father. I still remember that day when we both were sitting behind the jeep facing each other discussing where we were going as we still did not know what terribly wrong had we done. Soon we both were in the Military Hospital on the adjacent beds still discussing about our games and what the doctors were going to do to us. I did not feel any pain or discomfort still and so was Amba fit and fine. We were given lot of salty water to drink which initially we liked as were thirsty but after two glasses when we were forced to drink the third glass I resisted but there were three of them to act against my wishes, the doctor, my father and one more assistant. So was the case with Amba hence not having any choice we both forcibly drank the third glass also. When the fourth glass was forced on to me I started to weep but Amba quietly gulped it with difficulty so I was given her example of to consume it as she had done like a good girl and so should I behave like a good boy and not to cry. I could not do so. Later I found that I was lying on the bed wit a pillow under my head and a plastic tube in my nostril. They were doing the same with Amba and she had also started to cry loudly now. We both faced each other looking face to face and understood that they extracting poison from our body. I vomited due to the heavy consumption of salty water after which I noticed some satisfaction on doctor’s as well as my Father’s face. We both were out of danger but the process continued. I could see the fluid moving out through that transparent soft flexible rubber tube fixed to our nostrils with moving bubbles inside it. It was giving a feeling that someone is taking out something from my stomach. Amba and I faced each other on our respective beds in anxiety and we shared the difficult time together giving moral support to each other through our eyes in tears .This carried out for about an hour. They were not letting us sleep and engaged us in talks. After about two hours when we were stable we were left and returned back home. As I reached home my mother embraced me and became emotional and so was the state of Amba’s mother. We were then told not to consume anything from outside which is just lying on the ground as can be poisonous and the next day all the maids were admonished for throwing those poisonous naphthalene balls outside the dustbin.
I do not know whether Amba would be remembering this incident or not, I also even cannot say whether she remembers me as her friend or not but I can say for sure that our mothers must not have forgotten those moments which they had shared together while we both were at the hospital with our Fathers wondering what was our state in the hospital was every moment as the fear of unknown is the most fearsome fear which one can face.
Amba must be nearing to become a granny today where ever she is on this planet and I hope this story goes under her eyes somehow so that she can recall her oldest friend and the good childhood time spent with me. I have the following to say to Amba:-
Dear Amba,
It was wonderful having a friend like you whose company I enjoyed while at Delhi more than four decades back and shared those moments of happiness and sadness together in our childhood which are once a lifetime gift of God. They still remind me of you especially when ever I see those naphthalene balls while packing my clothes during our posting after every two to three years as I am in the army now. Please take a very good care of yourself, look after your children well and keep them well protected from such dangers which we experienced together (like consuming those naphthalene balls) including your grandchildren if you have them by now.
I miss you a lot and if God desires we would meet again some day may be through facebook or somehow just like that.
Bye with lots of love
Bawa (My name is Rajinder now because I only had a pet name then)
It was about 42 years back in 1968 when we were at Palam, an Airforce station in Delhi and I was about 3 years old. I still remember my first day in school when my parents had taken me to Cambridge foundation school, got me admitted there,and left me with a beautiful young teacher in the classroom. At that time she was teaching about fruit and animals with their images displayed on the charts placed on the easel. As my parents were about to leave I requested them
that I would like to accompany them till the verandah to see them off to which they agreed and so I went holding my mother's finger till there. When they were about to leave from there I changed my mind and refused to go back to the class. My Father then picked me up handed me over to the teacher against my wishes while I cried with full throttle while they left the school. I cried for hours together till my lungs got exhausted and tears dried up. Thereafter I had no choice but to listen to the teacher silently as others were doing.Soon it was games period and I could see lot of toys displayed all over in the next room . Those beautiful big wooden blocks which were shining with lacquer polish had round and square pegs which were so big that I could hardly hold in my small hands. The teacher was explaining to put the square cross section pegs in the square holed sockets and the round ones into the round hole. This instructions I heard again at the Services Selection Board at Bangalore in 1987 about 19 years later when the instructor at the SSB was explaining the same concept that they are testing the candidates to see their performance to discover the required grey matter they are interested in. He said that everyone is good in their own fields but their endeavour is to ensure that a square peg fits into a square hole and the round one in the round hole ie those who are not selected
are not failures but are fit for some other profession otherwise it would be like fitting a square peg in a round hole causing discomfort both to the cadet as well as the organisation. This is generally said to the rejected candidates so that they do not go back home demoralised.When the school was over everyone rushed to their respective military school buses and so did I as was happy to go home. I saw my mother already waiting for me in front of the gate who immediately kissed me as I got down from the bus and asked,
”How was your first day at the school?”
“It was fine, but why did you leave me ?” I asked
“Had I not left you how would you have got the experience of the school? Did you see anyone else’s parents there?”
I replied ”No” nodding my head.
Thereafter I started going to school in the bus which picked me up from my house daily in the morning and dropped me back in the afternoon.
The school in which I was studying was basically a play school as had lot of toys. I vividly remember my classroom set up which comprised of small colourful chairs and desks with lot of posters of poems, animals, fruits and vegetables fixed on the easel and some pasted on the walls. I do not remember the name of the teacher but can recall that she had a raised puffed hair cut short, wore a light blue beautiful sari, and was young and pleasing. She was teaching us words of english language with the help of a fruit chart. One by one she discus
sed with each one of us about the fruit we liked and then asked us to write its spelling while looking at the chart in which the spellings were written below the photograph of the fruit.. Some liked banana while the others liked Guava and so on. She came to me while I was still thinking which fruit to select? She leaned over to my desk and with her right hand placed on my back and the left pointing to the fruit chart asked me,”Which fruit do you like?”
I first looked at her pretty face and then at the chart and pointed at the pineapple which I found it interesting as I had never seen it before.
The teacher looked at the chart carefully and then in my notebook, where I was to write its spelling and said,
“Why don’t you write Apple instead of Pineapple as it will be a shorter and an easier word to write and remember”
I wrote apple against my wish as per her advice like an obedient boy but was satisfied only the day I wrote pineapple.It was like I had won a war with myself as it instilled confidence in me of taking the solo task.
One day the teacher told us that we would be going out for a picnic on Wednesday and everyone will get his tiffin with double the quantity since it would be late that day and she wrote the same instructions on our diaries for the parents to note. I was excited and so was everyone. On the picnic day we did not carry any books but only a small bag full of eatables like cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, butter etc. We reached our school and from there everyone in a single line boarded the big bus in which we all accommodated. It took us to a beautiful place with garden, waterfalls, grassland, flowers and big statues of various animals, I cannot recall the name of the place but it was designed specifically keeping the interests of the children. As we got down from the bus we played on the beautiful grass like that of a golf green. Our teacher played so many games placing a handkerchief kept in the centre of a circle which was guarded by one of us turn wise. The handkerchief was attempted to be picked up by other person who would quickly take it and was chased by the person guarding it till such time the one who picked it reached the circle. We also played “Ringa Ringa Roses” and people watched us as if some film shooting was in progress.
We soon crossed a small bridge over a nallah with little water flowing in it. As we were crossing it one by one in a queue one of us rolled down into it like a log and stopped with a thud at the base but was luckily unhurt. He started to cry lying on his back while we all gazed at him.from the bridge I still remember how he was turning on both the sides left and right but was unable to get up. Since the water was very less it flowed past his sides. One of our teacher immediately went inside the nallah and picked him up. He was then given medical aid and kept in a towel inside the bus with all his clothes removed to dry up. We all were giggling saying shame! shame ! when our teacher asked us to keep quiet by fingers on our mouth. We then turned serious and crossed the bridge silently keeping fingers on our mouth. Later when his clothes dried he also joined and was given special care thereafter, which we envied.
We all had our lunch sitting at various places on the grass, swing, small trees and under the shade of trees. Then started the swing session which we enjoyed to the fullest. There was a huge merry go round, the ferris wheel and the long rope swing. Some were busy catching each other got tired soon after sometime. It was relaxing time now so the teachers switched over to other sitting games kept us busy. The song session was in action in which everyone would come in the centre of the circle and would recite a poetry and then go back to his place. I had my cake and biscuits from my tiffin along with the milk given centrally by the teacher from canter in red good quality plastic glasses. I noticed a peculiar style of holding the tiffin by some of my friends. They would hold the tiffin box with the lid at right angle to it making the food invisible to others. Was it a part of good manners or a style I pondered.
It was then time to go back We all lined up near the bus.. While returning everyone was exhausted, contended and satisfied with high morale. On our way back to school we kept thumping the bus in rhythm taking out our hands from the window singing our school song. On reaching the school we boarded another bus to reach home as the picnic was over so was the day at the school.
At home I had a very close companion friend of mine with whom I used to spend all my day. Her name was Amba .She had small bob cut hair, not very fair and most of the time in her frock. She had her brother, Ravi who was older to me hence I and Amba were closer companions being of the same age group. They were our neighbours. Our house was in a hutted type of accommodation as in those days many officers with families stayed in that barrack type of accommodation which had many rooms in series. It had enough space in front for us to play and also a lot of space at the rear which was mostly used for drying of clothes. There were two more families who had children much older to us in age. I and Amba used to play all day exploring all the area around the house. We played all the games from ‘I spy’ (we called it ‘Ice Bice’ then) to Ludo, Catching the Thief, Tippi Tippi Tap, Corners, High and Low, Cards and what not. When it used to get late we would sit on the bed and try making various things with yellow plastic mechano set of mine having using the big nuts and bolts which I could not find it now when I searched the same for my son in the market. I remember the sunday routine when my mother gave us eatables with milk after washing my long hair and I and Amba would sit inside the mosquito net to play Ludo, Carrom At times Ravi would join us and would sneak out of the mosquito net soon leaving the game in between when his friends would arrive .
One day we both were playing outside in our lawn and we noticed a cat leaping over the fence so we followed her and came out of our garden .The cat meanwhile disappeared into the bushes. While we both were discussing about the opening from where she had entered we saw a gap in the bushes which was wide enough for a small animal to enter. As we approached the open space I saw some white coloured balls of about 2 cm diameter, which were shining and lying in plenty . Amba picked one of it and put it in her mouth and found it tasty to gulp.
“Its tasty”, she said and gulped one more.
Seeing her I also put one in my mouth and gulped it down my throat inspite of it being sour.We both had about 6 to 7 of them. I kept two of them in my pocket for consuming it later on. We carried out playing and soon when my mother called me for lunch I went saying bye to Amba for meeting after lunch. As I reached my room my mother asked me,
” What are you eating?”
I narrated that we had found some toffees which I ate. When she asked me to show what kind of a toffee it was I took out two of them from my pocket and showed it to her.
“Oh my God! Did you eat them?”she asked in a terrified voice.
“What’s wrong in it ?”I asked
“They are naphthalene balls and who else has had that?” she asked with a worried face.
“Amba” I replied.
She immediately ran towards the phone and narrated the same to my father who was in the office at that time and then she ran to Amba’s house and narrated the incident to her mother. Soon she was also in tears and petrified.
Amba and I were wondering what wrong had we done that our mothers are so much worried as we just had toffees of our choice. Within next half an hour my father arrived in his jeep and so did Amba’s father. I still remember that day when we both were sitting behind the jeep facing each other discussing where we were going as we still did not know what terribly wrong had we done. Soon we both were in the Military Hospital on the adjacent beds still discussing about our games and what the doctors were going to do to us. I did not feel any pain or discomfort still and so was Amba fit and fine. We were given lot of salty water to drink which initially we liked as were thirsty but after two glasses when we were forced to drink the third glass I resisted but there were three of them to act against my wishes, the doctor, my father and one more assistant. So was the case with Amba hence not having any choice we both forcibly drank the third glass also. When the fourth glass was forced on to me I started to weep but Amba quietly gulped it with difficulty so I was given her example of to consume it as she had done like a good girl and so should I behave like a good boy and not to cry. I could not do so. Later I found that I was lying on the bed wit a pillow under my head and a plastic tube in my nostril. They were doing the same with Amba and she had also started to cry loudly now. We both faced each other looking face to face and understood that they extracting poison from our body. I vomited due to the heavy consumption of salty water after which I noticed some satisfaction on doctor’s as well as my Father’s face. We both were out of danger but the process continued. I could see the fluid moving out through that transparent soft flexible rubber tube fixed to our nostrils with moving bubbles inside it. It was giving a feeling that someone is taking out something from my stomach. Amba and I faced each other on our respective beds in anxiety and we shared the difficult time together giving moral support to each other through our eyes in tears .This carried out for about an hour. They were not letting us sleep and engaged us in talks. After about two hours when we were stable we were left and returned back home. As I reached home my mother embraced me and became emotional and so was the state of Amba’s mother. We were then told not to consume anything from outside which is just lying on the ground as can be poisonous and the next day all the maids were admonished for throwing those poisonous naphthalene balls outside the dustbin.
I do not know whether Amba would be remembering this incident or not, I also even cannot say whether she remembers me as her friend or not but I can say for sure that our mothers must not have forgotten those moments which they had shared together while we both were at the hospital with our Fathers wondering what was our state in the hospital was every moment as the fear of unknown is the most fearsome fear which one can face.
Amba must be nearing to become a granny today where ever she is on this planet and I hope this story goes under her eyes somehow so that she can recall her oldest friend and the good childhood time spent with me. I have the following to say to Amba:-
Dear Amba,
It was wonderful having a friend like you whose company I enjoyed while at Delhi more than four decades back and shared those moments of happiness and sadness together in our childhood which are once a lifetime gift of God. They still remind me of you especially when ever I see those naphthalene balls while packing my clothes during our posting after every two to three years as I am in the army now. Please take a very good care of yourself, look after your children well and keep them well protected from such dangers which we experienced together (like consuming those naphthalene balls) including your grandchildren if you have them by now.
I miss you a lot and if God desires we would meet again some day may be through facebook or somehow just like that.
Bye with lots of love
Bawa (My name is Rajinder now because I only had a pet name then)
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