I ll remember the year two double O six for a lot of reasons, with my school-life exploits taking center stage. It was just the beginning of the academic year and everyone was deftly working to get into Anna or PSG. Students started going to Tuition centers en masse, some of which had pupils even more than Schools! There was also this parent-pressure, who expect their offspring to either become a State first or atleast a School first! My initial 12th grade life was slightly sabotaged by these effects too but i still managed to stick to the routine School-home-gaming-tution-Orkut-gaming-sleep-school everyday and occasional inter-school extravaganzas made sure we were living life as it was meant to be.
After about 5 months of sitting through boring lectures, irksome cycle tests and sunday special classes(for entrance exams which never transpired), one fine evening i started homewards after barely staying awake through Ms.Archana's P6 class. (Does she know the subject in detail or is she one of those teachers faking it out there like she knew.. I never found that out till the end.. maybe i should have asked her favourite student ;) )
Anyways, Vishal agreed to give me a lift in his Dad's Innova on his way home. I was seated right behind the driver and Riaz, Natraj hopped in beside me. We had Pepsi at Raj's(still in our uniforms) and were cursing life now tat LOSA was over and QUEST was out of bounds as we had our public practicals. We started moving and then the suddenly out of the corner, Princi's Bolero swiftly took a turn. Already being warned umpteen number of times not to go around in groups(especially in uniforms!) Gabbling and Gossiping, which might be a disturbance to the residences, thereby endangering the school's reputation, we were hoping out of hope that she hadn't seen us.
The next day.. As Mr.KRG was on another of his students-recruiting speech for his private tuition. "I ll finish the portion by September End ma"
Its already October sir! and we are surely not gonna finish before another month!
Word came that the princi is coming in her usual rounds pausing then and there to shout at staffs/students and to give away the recent cycle test papers. She walked into my class as i desperately tried to stay out of sight.
Uh oh! too late.
"Vishnu.. come here for a moment please"
What now.
I moved to the center of the class and everyone was looking at me as if i had just been sentenced to Azkaban. "How much did you score in your last cycle test?"
Err... 85.. no.. 79.. no.. "71 Madam" squeaked Mr.KRG.
Ahh yes that i got bored of writing and finished it in a haste.
"Hmmm if you go around driving Big cars with your friends everyone how do u expect to score high?" the principal bellowed at me.
Me? driving? What the ****?
"Havent i already warned you for driving Vehicles?! Werent you driving on the wrong side of the lane once directley towards my car?!?! "
Ah that was 10th grade and Again I wasnt driving! Now the whole teaching team had entered the class. "See Banu, how we are striving hard to produce good results for the School and Parents and people like this make all our efforts go in vain.", the Princi criticized to Mrs.Banu, my XII class incharge. "Hmmm i even saw him once getting into a Speeding train maam and he is always talking and is highly impish in class" added Mrs.Jayshree, who has never handled a single class for me.
The train was just moving!
"Yesssu Maam he iss highlly talkingg in myy class tooo vu" complained Mrs.Lalli, my maths proffy.
Errrr ok this is true. But who doesnt speak in her class!
After accusing me as the most arrogant, not so good, headstrong, sardonic, sarcastic student she had ever come across in her life,
I tried to squeeze in a "Sorry Maam" she wasn't there for it anyways..
"No! thats it Vishnu , you will have to bring your parents to come and meet me. No other go?!? this can't continue"
What is going on to continue.. "Send a letter to his parents informing them about this issue. Cos this had to be stopped. He is a good student in acads and one such thing could spoil the whole career. they just dont realise it.. blah blah blah"
And i got this by mail the next day.
Dear Parent,
We wish to inform you that after a continuous assessment on the work done by your child with guidance and motivation givn by the teachers and strict supervision by the co-ordinators your son Vishnu Gowthem.T of Class XII-C still falls behind the class in the following areas..
1.Disobedient.
With the above mentioned setback there is a deterioration in the scores and we are in a difficult position to assure you of his academic progress. blah blah
We request you, parents to look seriously into your child's work and visit the school on the third saturday of each month to monitor the work done by your ward.
We earnestly look forward to your co-operation in this regard.
Senior Principal.
Car la lift ketatha oru thappa da!!
