SCHOOL IN THE TIME OF CHICKEN POX (PART 2)

We got back to our daily lives after the isolation experience. Players from our school even travelled to another school for the South Zone competitions. Everything was pretty much normal—until bad luck knocked on our doors.

No rocket science here—you guessed it. We were sent back into isolation. Again.

This time, however, the management changed its strategy. Instead of isolating students room-wise, they segregated us class-wise according to the infected cadet's class. The funny part? The person who had contracted chicken pox from our class wasn't even among us when we were sent into isolation. He had already been diagnosed during the South Zone competition.

Doesn't that sound a little funny?

Anyhow, let me introduce you to the only patient who managed to get chicken pox outside the school premises: none other than Anurag Kumar (Alias: Nakka, meaning "Fox").

By now, isolation wasn't exactly a new experience for me. In fact, I had become quite accustomed to it. This time, however, we upgraded our isolation experience with a few new games that quickly became our favourites.

1. UNO

Calling UNO just a card game would be pure injustice from my side. It was much more than that.

Let me take you on a small ride through what UNO meant to us.

We rarely played it the way it was meant to be played. Instead, we formed unofficial alliances, identified a target, and then collectively annihilated that poor soul by dumping as many cards on him as possible.

Man, those were some entertaining times.

Sometimes, a single game of UNO would last for hours. The reason? We constantly plotted against whoever had the fewest cards left. Just when someone was about to win, the rest of us would bombard him with Draw Twos, Draw Fours, Reverses, and every possible obstacle we could throw at him.

Many players missed out on victory because of this targeting strategy.

From the outside, it probably sounds sadistic. But I honestly don't know how to explain the joy we found in it.

Even today, I am ready for a game of UNO to prove anyone wrong about how much fun it can be.

So, are you in or what?

2. Room Kabaddi League

The Room Kabaddi League was essentially a knock-off version of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), created entirely by us.

We shamelessly borrowed team names, copied player names, and even created aliases inspired by real PKL stars.

Some of the names I still remember are:

A. Jang-kun Tats (inspired by Jang Kun Lee) — Vivek Tatkar

B. Tanish Narwal (inspired by Pradeep Narwal) — Tanish Reddy

C. Mohi Mushtaq (inspired by... honestly, God knows whom) — Shaik Mohammed Mushtaq

The organiser, sponsor, commentator, promoter, and umpire of our prestigious Room Kabaddi League was none other than Srikant Raju (Nickname: Slow Motion).

We became so invested in the league that we conducted proper tournament matches all the way up to the finals and successfully completed an entire season.

Looking back, it sounds ridiculous—but we even made handmade jerseys using old T-shirts and wrote our player names on them.

For the grand finale, our chief guest, Mr. Srikant Raju himself, presented awards for Best Attacker, Best Defender, and Best All-Rounder. The prizes? Beautifully handcrafted A4-size certificates made entirely by him.

And now comes the most ironic part of the entire tournament.

The league had only two teams.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Just two teams.

We had very limited resources and an even smaller pool of players, but that didn't stop us from organising what felt like a mega sporting event.

Given the circumstances, I'd say we did a more than commendable job.

What do you think?


Well, that's all for now.

Yes, I know I promised back in Part 1 that this would be a two-part series. But the truth is, I simply can't fit all these memories comfortably into just two blogs.

So no, this isn't the end of isolation.

Let's meet again in another part.

Till then, take care.

Bye-bye.

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