NURSERY DAYS AT DELHI

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 discussed 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)

Saved thy legs

SAVED THY LEGS
The place was IMA : Indian Military Academy at Dehradun where discipline and soldiering is drilled inside the human body. Those coming from Military schools and colleges feel they have boarded a reserved compartment and have a smooth go while those afresh to this new way of life feel themselves imprisoned at least for the first six months and later sail in the same boat . The first six months end with an Exercise where one goes to forests in a mountainous regions to put into practice what all is learnt in theory for comprehending the subject better.
Everyone was on their heels on the morning of 12Dec87 collecting their packed breakfast for it was too early to have it at 0600h in the shivering cold. The packs were half hanging on everyone’s shoulder as had to be taken out after boarding the trucks and buses which were lined up properly for embarking them. There was a long queue to withdraw weapons from the kot (place where weapons are kept safely) and some were fixing the rifle slings so that it could be carried on the shoulders easily . Soon there was a long whistle and all the GC’s (Gentlemen Cadets) stood in a ‘fall in’. The Under officer gave the report to the DS (Directing Staff) who asked everyone to clear the rifle chamber by cocking the rifle and firing in air to ensure safety that there is no bullet in the rifle chamber, gave some important instructions and said, ”Mount.”
Everyone rushed into the vehicles to get a good seat and the buses started off. One behind the other there were 8 vehicles full and soon we were in the outskirts of Dehradun into the thick jungle after about 2 hrs of the journey. The area was at the piedmont and hence more or less plain as it was the start point from where we were to proceed further by foot. Everyone dismounted after reaching there and were busy fixing their packs on their backs by helping each other. The load was enormous comprising basic requirements and a bedding to sleep at night .After dismounting soon everyone was in their respective groups. The area was distributed and I along with 10 GCs was busy digging out the defences which was a hard work of about 3 hours.
“Gentlemen your breakfast timing will be dovetailed in your working hours so carryon and be ready for the next task by1200h.” Said the DS
We knew what would happen if our defences are not ready by 1200h(We would not be able to sleep the whole night) so we were on it. I had a toast of omelette in my mouth and was looking at others while they carried on digging and the same was done by me when the others had their toast in their mouth. But we had hot coffee together from the canter placed in the vehicle. Soon we were seen huffing, puffing and sweating back to work. Our clothes were mingled with mud and the soil grains could be felt under our socks. We rested in turns and after about two and a half hours we expected that we would be able to finish our work in time and thus would be able to sleep today. Soon the whistle blew and we all were again standing in a ‘fall in’.
“Gentlemen you may rest for about half an hour , do your administration work and then we are going in for a raid” announced the DS.
“What? A raid during daytime ? Is he out of his senses ? “I said to my friend, Deepak.
“No not the actual one, but for practice which we will be going in the night” Deepak said to me in a whispering voice standing next to me.
The raid meant going at least 8km and after killing the mock enemy return 8 km.
“Since this will be a mock raid so we will go only about 3 km.” Said the DS as if he was doing a favour to us.
But still 3 km in mountains up the slope was too much as we had to go again in the evening for the actual raid. We some how got ready with our packs and started off in the desired direction up the hill. We were hitting the stones with our shoes enroute, got scratches on out faces from the thick ‘Sarkanda grass’ which has razor sharp leaves. The packs were heavy and with the weapons a lot of stress on shoulders could be felt to which we soon got used to it. There was no water in the complete route so only our water bottles were the source which could help us fight dehydration and I made sure that not more than one third will I consume till the time we reach midway so that enough reserve is left for the return journey. We reached midway after sometime and were tired due to which everyone sat like a dropped sack and was not ready to move inspite of repeated requests made by our team leader. But after frequent requests one of us took the initiative and joined him in motivating others to raise them on their feet and after lot of persuation managed to succeed. We did a drill of killing the mock enemy and after this had to return.
We started back but reached early due to the descend down hill. It was 1600h and we were already late for the lunch .The vehicle containing our hot food was waiting for us with the complete catering staff. We had the delicious lunch and were to attend a debriefing class on conduct of raid after this.
“What did we do now and why this class after conduct of the raid, it should have been taken before we went for the raid practice”, I said to the DS.
“10 front rolls and after that I will answer your question”, the DS said to me.
Tuned to roll on DS orders with out thinking I started off rolling and quietly sat down in my seat on the ground to listen to what he had to say further.
“Gentlemen this raid was done the way it was not supposed to be. Now one by one you will speak out the mistakes made by you ”
“Then what are you meant for?” I said to myself but did not ask him this time.
The points were given by all of us one by one. I wondered how everyone was able to answer when pressurised and if they already knew the answer why did they commit the mistake at the first place itself. I dozed off in between.
The lecture rather a discussion finished after about an hour and we were broken off for another 2 hours after which we were to give our detailed orders one by one in the night and thereafter then were to go for the actual raid after dinner at about 2200h and return by 0200h next day ,this time on a different route and 8 km one side. Our minds were numb. It is this time which actually matters as the degree of difficulty is much more and we were to be assessed on it. We were busy preparing the orders for its delivery before the dinner and finally be prepared for conduct of the actual raid. We carried on like this all night and finally returned after carrying out the raid by 0330 h.
We were then in our areas not to rest but to be prepared for the enemy attack .The DS was away about a km far from us and we were all scattered in our respective locations. Our eyes could hardly open as were sleepy .our legs had already said,
” Thank you! I am sorry but I cannot carry you anymore.”
Our brain however kept us alive and was repeatedly saying,
”Never give up you are under test now.”
In order to have a bit of good night sleep we selected a place in between tall ‘Sarkanda grass’ which was about five feet plus in height and dry. No one could make out what was lying below the grass at the ground level and if some one would attempt to approach us the noise of the dry disturbed grass would wake us up from sleep thereby giving us enough time to move to a safe place inside our trenches which we had dug just nearby about 5 -10 m ahead where we were actually supposed to be present. We lined up for sleeping one by one in parallel positioning ourselves laying our bedrolls in between those tall Sarkanda grasses and covered ourselves with the blanket and were dead logs thereafter. No amount of disturbance could now wake us up so easily.
At around 0200h in the night I felt some vibrations in my body. These were external vibrations and not emanating from inside. The soil grains vibrated so did my body cells on the epidermis. I overlooked it and went to sleep again. Again it happened for the second time, this time with the greater intensity. I felt a bit uncomfortable longing to know what it was due to so I got up and could see a flash of light on the top of the sarkanda grass for a second, this happened 2 to 3 times so I got up and saw the area around over the grass top. I could see two bright truck lights facing me and this time the lights hit my pupils straight and I closed my eyes with my hand over my face. I then realised it was advancing towards us with its right wheels straight on to our legs and was at a distance of about 20 m from us. The speed was slow since it was advancing through the uneven field. I immediately pushed Arun who was sleeping next to me to get up as the truck was heading towards us. He said that it will not as it would turn to other side when it comes near us and dozed off again. I tried to wake up Akshay also who also acted in the same way and did not show any interest in getting up. The time was less and the truck was now getting closer. I immediately advanced towards that truck with both my hands raised up .The driver saw me and halted as I approached the vehicle from the co driver’s side by stepping on the footrest of the truck with one leg on it and the other hanging. I asked the driver,
“Aapko pata hai ki aage kya hai?”(Do you know what is in the front?)
The driver replied ,” Khaali ghaas hi to hai”(Its only the grass)
Now I was convinced that he did not know that there were 20 live human legs lying parallel to each other on the ground to be crushed at one go within few seconds had this driver not stopped. I apprised him of the fact and he also was shocked to know of this as a result of which he immediately turned his truck to the left. I got down instructing him to carefully see and drive the vehicle to which he agreed and went away thanking me.
I returned satisfied to my place on the ground and wanted to share the good work I had done but everyone was sleeping to glory so I did not think it correct to disturb anyone at this time to inform what had happened. I sat for some time thought of what all happened and then lied down on my bedroll to complete my sleep but was not feeling safe due to this incident which could have happened had I not been awake more so as we were not visible from anywhere outside the grass. I was thus half sleep and soon the chirping of birds gave the message of outbreak of dawn. I asked Arun to get up but he avoided it . After sometime a whistle was heard and everyone got up, turn by turn quietly rolled their bedrolls and proceeded towards the trenches to take position in them before the DS arrived to check our presence there. After we were in the trenches I narrated to Arun what all happened .
“You did a great job but keep it to yourself only as it would reveal our secret and you know what will happen if the DS comes to know of it “he said and probably he was right. I also convinced myself as it would have harmed more than the praise I would have received so kept quiet.
We finished our exercise and came back to Dehradun in one piece intact . This was the price I received for which I am thankful to God forever and have a great sense of satisfaction that I could save all the legs including mine that day on which we are walking today.