Idyllic Days

Rolling of dice. And you know what? We got what we hoped for last time — “Trip to INA (Part 2)”. Just wait a sec, that’s the result from another parallel world. According to the latest news, in this world, we got “Prep Time” for the roll of dice. By definition, Prep Time (short for preparation time) is considered the sacred time to do all kinds of activities — mainly mischievous ones — under the supervision of some teachers, or if we were lucky, none at all. We used to be in different states of excitement, working on various things. Initially, in our 6th and 7th classes, we were quite sincere compared to our higher classes. We just sat obediently, studied diligently, and seldom did we talk aimlessly. Moving on to our higher classes, 8th and 9th standards, I made it clear to myself to just chat with whoever was available, on numerous pointless issues. Prep Time felt like only a few minutes to me. In the later stages, Hari Prasad Sir (our English teacher) would come to any of our classes...

Today, let's cut to the chase — the dice has been fixed and voilà! Our topic of discussion is “TRIP TO INA (PART 1)” (and yes, to be clear, it’s going to be five parts). After the chicken pox episode, the cadets of Section A and the majority of Section B were allotted for the INA (Indian Naval Academy) trip, which was held from October 21, for a span of three days. The remaining Section C and the pending minority of Section B cadets were going for the NDA (National Defence Academy) trip. The first leg of our journey was to reach INA, located in Ezhimala, North Kerala. We travelled by bus to Katpadi, Tamil Nadu, where we boarded the train to Payyanur, the nearest railway station to INA. We were scattered around the train with other passengers. At every major station, we bought snacks. The problem we faced while buying them was the language. We didn’t know Tamil or Malayalam to communicate, but with us, we had the man — Amith S. Kumar (nickname: Amith Ass Kumar) — a Malayali in our c...

For a change, why don’t we not roll the dice this time, huh? What do you say, guys? Never mind—just sit back and relax. Today’s topic: “School in the Time of Chicken Pox.” We’ll be diving into an era where, I’d say, we got a firsthand preview of what the world later experienced during the Corona times—but with a whole lot more fun added to it. And I’ll say this right at the start: this one’s going to be divided into two parts. It was during my eighth class (academic year 2016–17), right at the beginning of it. I don’t remember exactly who the first person infected with chicken pox was—but I do remember that it wasn’t taken as seriously as it should have been. And so, it began its hunt for the less immune cadets, ensuring its survival. As time went by, the number of infected students increased, and the management took drastic measures to protect the rest. The solution? Isolation. The rooms with infected students were completely sealed off. I remember this precisely—ours was among the fi...

Are you ready for the roll of the dice, guys? Dice rattling. We got “CULTURAL COMPETITION.” Let’s begin. Those were the days when our school was under the command of Vice Principal, Wing Commander Vijay Singh Dangwal. This was a party phase in the timeline of our school. We were taken to exclusive places for our trips, and the school budget was focused on schemes that made us jolly. And one such scheme was the cultural competition. Okay now, getting back to the job at hand — the cultural competition was held between the four houses, competing for the Best Song, Best Dance, Best Skit, Best MC, and Best Special Category Event — in which anything different could be performed, as per the houses’ choice. The house that scored the highest points across all these categories got to be the champions, lifting the cultural trophy. Sharma Sir (our Social Studies teacher) was spearheading this competition. Man! He was one hell of a tensed person. As soon as the announcement was made, every house go...

There are a lot of crazy things we do with friends, and this was one of those times. Ours was a military school, and we had strict rules. Curfew was 10:30 PM sharp. No one was allowed outside the hostel after that. But, of course, if there were rules, we had to break them. Otherwise, where was the fun? We were kids back then, and we had a tradition: the birthday boy would get a proper beatdown at exactly 12:00 AM on his birthday. And we took that tradition very seriously even now. This story is about one of those birthdays. Our friend’s birthday was the next day, and we were all set for his midnight “bash.” But every birthday came with its own escape plan, and he had his too. What we didn’t realize was that there were traitors among us. He had bribed two of my roommates with Dairy Milks to protect him from the massacre, and they were loyal to their sweet deal. Around 11:00 PM, they vanished. The birthday boy and his chocolate-sworn protectors were determined to avoid tradit...