While growing up in my teens, I used to read Enid Blyton books about sleepy little towns by the Scottish coast. Since then I have always dreamt about going to such a place. Unfortunately lady luck never favoured me. My first tryst with the sea(happened to be in early spring season in Santa Cruz, CA) was not a happy one. Next was in Goa. But Goa being Goa, sleepy is not a adjective to be used with a place high on partying.
So this fall, when the idea came to visit to karwar, I thought I was on the verge of living my dream.
A little trivia on Karwar:
Karwar is the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, India. It is a seaside town situated on the banks of the Kali river which is on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent. The town lies about 15 kilometres south of the Karnataka-Goa border and 519 km north-west of Bangalore.
Rabindra Nath Tagore once famously said about Karwar:
"The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realise that the beauty of Nature is not a mirage of the imagination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it. Where the universe is expressing itself in the magic of its laws it may not be strange if we miss its infinitude; but where the heart gets into immediate touch with immensity in the beauty of the meanest of things, is any room left for argument?"
Back to the trip:
On the 8th of november, we 3 roomies boarded a KSRTC Rajhamsa bus to Karwar. The journey as a whole was uneventful except for the experienced driver testing out the speed-limits on the potholed road...his swerves on the ghats section at dead of the night were a hair raising experience for me. Finally by 7.30 in the morning , we were in the Karwar bus-stand.
The bus-stand was next to the centre of the town (if I can call it that) and only a couple of hundred metres away from the Karwar beach(also known as Tagore beach, made famous by Rabindranath Tagore, who got inspired for his first play while seeing the beach). We first went to the beach and found a hotel near by. After freshening up and having our break-fast of idli-dosa in a road-side shop, we hired a cab for a tour of around karwar.
Our first destination was Devbagh beach , with its desolate surroundings and fishermen's boats cum nets. In the noon sun, the beach was damn hot. Certainly not a pleasant weather to sit down and watch the sea. Next we planned to goto til-matti, a supposedly desolate place used as a picnic spot by locals. The place can be reached only by climbing a hill. The beach is supposed to consist of black-soil. Considering the heat , we thought it to be a wiser decision to give it a skip :-) . So we turned back, and went to the bridge which goes over the river Kali. This bridge stands at the confluence of the river Kali and the Arabian Sea. Sadashivgad fort, a fort of historical importance, is located here.This was a lot pleasant experience and we end up frollicking for quite a while under the sun. Not to mention, we managed to get the soles of our feet cut by corals and ended up swearing on everything during the initial pain.
Soon we made our way back to Karwar and to the place where can have a view of India's largest naval base. But this being a security risk area, we could barely manage to wait for more than 5 minutes or so, and soon were going downhill, back to Karwar. Lunch time, we hogged on the local Karwar cuisine consisting of what else, but fish curry.
Post-Lunch, we managed to get ourselves the tetanus injections from a no-smiley doctor and went straight to hotel for a snooze so that we could catch the Karwar sunset. 5' o clock , and time to get up and make our way to the Karwar(Tagore) beach. In the evening time, the beach looked quite pleasant (the sun having lost much of its intensity). The sunset was a joy to watch. Had some chaat and juice by the beach. Evening/night time was spent in sitting by the beach , having a turf war with the crabs swept to shore by the sea. On being surrounded on two sides by the crabs, we had to fight back with our WMD(Weapons of Mass destruction) i.e carpet bombing with sand. The unsuspecting crabs had to beat retreat with our Shock-and-Awe policy.
9.00 PM, and time for dinner, we again went back to the town which was by now booming with the burst of bombs and crackers(did somebody say diwali is the festival of lights and not sounds?). The town itself comprised of mostly the market centre and houses encircling it. On the outskirts were villages. Karwar port was just outside the town.
After dinner, went to the hotel and again came for a night stroll on the beach. Around 12, we made our way back to the hotel and soon tiredness got the better of us and lights were off.
Around 9 in the morning we got up and after having our bath and breakfast, we made our way towards the bus stand to the party capital of the east "Goa" and bade adieu to Karwar.
Places of attraction:
1. Tagore Beach(forms the main beach of the town)
2. Naval museum(on Tagore beach)
3. Devbagh beach
4. Tilmatti Beach
5. Sadashivgad fort
6. The Bridge on the river Kali
7. Boat rides (starts from below the bridge)
Anshi National Park is a little distance away from Karwar. A must-see for flora and fauna addicts. For Trek enthusiasts , there are a few good routes here of easy-moderate grade.
Language compatibility for a backpacker:
No problem, Konkani is widely spoken. People understand Hindi/English.
Not to be missed:
The local fish dishes especially Bangada fry(Macarel fried in masala and something called Semolina).
How to get there(from Bangalore):
1. Bus (519 Kms from Bangalore, KSRTC Volvos, VRL sleeper buses etc.)
2. Train (Konkan railway from Mangalore, with a stoppage in Karwar).
3. Flight (nearest aiport is Dabolim, Vasco)
Miscellanous:
Beaches still seem to be devoid of noisy Indian families and booze-guzzling litterers.
Thumps up to Karwar.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Hajo - Land of pilgrimage
Hajo is an ancient pilgrimage centre for three religions: Hindus and Muslims. It lies on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, 24 km from the city of Guwahati in the Kamrup district of Assam, India. The area is dotted with a number of ancient temples as well as other sacred artifacts. The Hayagriva Madhava Mandir is the most famous temple of Hajo. "Puwa Mecca"(meaning Mecca of the East) is also located in Hajo on the top of a hill. Hajo is about an hours's drive from the main city centre, Paltan Bazar.
During the winter of 2006, I had been to my Guwahati, my hometown, for three weeks. Now 3 weeks is a long time, and with such an amount of time to kill, I decided to pass my time by making short trips to places nearby Guwahati. The first place which came to my mind was the small town of Hajo.
Now, I first heard about Hajo when I was in 2nd grade, in one of those school textbooks. The chapter was based on the plurality and religious camaderie prevalent in Hajo. Hajo is mainly famous for 3 landmarks: Madhav mandir, Kedarnath and Puwaa Mecca(translated in English as 'East Mecca', the holy shrine of the Muslims). The beauty of all this is Hindus used to serve on the board and participate in the activities of the Muslim shrine and vice-versa. I don't know if this still holds good in this polzarized world. Wish it does.
So, on a wintery morning, I set off for Hajo. First I took a mini-bus, which incidentally is the chief mode of public transportation in Guwahati, to ride upto Basistha Chariali and from there took a bus upto Jalukbari, via NH-37. I alighted from the bus in Jalukbari and waited for a bus or jeep(known as 'trekker') or anything that will take me to my destination. I was lucky in that I barely had to wait for 15 minutes or so. I felt lucky enough to get the last available seat in the trekker. After paying my fare, I made myself comfortable(or so I thought then) in the seat, preparing myself for a 90-minutes journey.
The trekker had a seating capacity for 11 -people excluding the driver. The trekker looked one straight out of a junkyard, with rusting windows providing crucial visible evidence. I had occupied my seat in the rear portion of the vehicle, which was occupied by 3 rather religious folks, singing hymns and rhyming verses. They had a first look at me, and seemed unanimous in their disapproval of my looks with my aviator sun-glasses and dangling ipod. Soon, the trekker started off from Jalukbari, but before it reached Saraighat bridge, it picked up 4 more persons on the way. 3 people standing on the footpedals and rods behind the jeep. The jeep soon picked up speed, and sped across the bridge , negotiating each twist and turn, both forced and unforced, with great dexterity(as the driver would like to put it) or sheer luck(as yours truly would like to put it). The vehicle already resounding with holy songs seemed on the way to hasten up our tryst with the almighty. Luckily, my experience came to an end about half-an-hour later
when the trekker stopped near Madhab Mandir. I alighted from the vehicle and made my way towards the temple.
Madhab mandir was built some centuries back in remembrance of Madhabdeb, one of the pioneers of Vasihnavite culture in Assam. The temple has a big pond, where huge turtles abound. Locals say that these turtles are very holy and all tourists/devotees who throng this temple, make it a point to feed these turtles, after or while washing their legs/hands. Nevertheless, I bought some Puja items from the local shop and offered Puja at Madhab temple seeking blessings for myself and near-dear ones. It took me 5 minutes which probably gives an indication of the size of my family :) . Had a chat with the local pujari, who went through the history and incidents of the temple. Like all tales of locals, this chat also had quite a fair-bot of interesting tit-bits. After bidding adieu to the Pujari, who quickly flaunted his visiting card along with his mobile number, I made my way towards Kedarnath temple.
Now Kedarnath was up a hillock kind of thing, and I had to make some ground before I reached that. On the way I stopped near 'Bhimor Kahi'(translated in English as "Bhim's plate"). It is rumoured to be the plate from where Bhim once had his lunch. It was almost noon before I reached Kedarnath. Being a weekday, the temple was devoid of any visitors, I being the lone one. After offering puja at the temple(there are 3 temples incidentally), I entered into a chat with the local pujari, to get another dose of histories and tales associated with this place. After coming down the steps at Kedarnath, I enquired with the puja-item seller regarding directions to Puwaa Mecca. He pointed me to a hilltop, it looked quite far away, and with no sign of any transport near Kedarnath or thereabouts, I decided to rely on bus no - 11 :)).
After coming out of Kedarnath premises, I saw a long winding path up the hills, which seemed to lead towards the hilltop, where Puwaa mecca is, and as usual it aroused my interest to climb up and see where the path leads to. It was a path made of red-soil which has both been cut from the hills and swept away a little by water gushing down from the top, during rainy season. I made up my way, and while I was halfway up I heard the sound of vehicles. Pleased at being on the right path, I took some rest and admired the Hajo landscape, dotted with a few hills and thick forests between them. In another 15 minutes, I was on the road. By this time, I was gasping for water. As luck would have it, some local wood-cutters were on their way down that road. Seeing me, they inquired about me, where I came from, maybe not used to a person coming solo to a town like Hajo, appearing out from the woods and yeah with a aviator sunglass and a banging ipod to boot...After being reasonably satisfied with my answers, they offered me water and soon they were on their way down the road.
Meanwhile I wondered aloud on whether to continue in the sweltering heat with my dwindling energy reserves or to beat retreat. I chose the latter and went back on the road. Crossed the wood-cutters in the middle and continued on my descent down the snaky path. It took me another 30 minutes to get down the hill, this time along the proper road. As soon as I came down the hill to the main road, a local ricksaw-wallah came along and was very keen on taking me wherever I wanted to. I mumbled "Guwahati" , and the ricksawallah sped fast away from me, quite possibly assuming me to be a mental case.
After a wait of about 15 minutes, the government bus came and I was back on the way to Guwahati. It was indeed a tiring day.
Places of Attraction:
1. Madhab Mandir
2. Kedar Nath
3. Puwa Mecca
For trek enthusiasts, don't take tar road. Climb hills and make your own way.
Other Advice:
Be wary of ricksaw-pullers doubling up as touts. They will charge a premium if they know somebody is not from Hajo.
During the winter of 2006, I had been to my Guwahati, my hometown, for three weeks. Now 3 weeks is a long time, and with such an amount of time to kill, I decided to pass my time by making short trips to places nearby Guwahati. The first place which came to my mind was the small town of Hajo.
Now, I first heard about Hajo when I was in 2nd grade, in one of those school textbooks. The chapter was based on the plurality and religious camaderie prevalent in Hajo. Hajo is mainly famous for 3 landmarks: Madhav mandir, Kedarnath and Puwaa Mecca(translated in English as 'East Mecca', the holy shrine of the Muslims). The beauty of all this is Hindus used to serve on the board and participate in the activities of the Muslim shrine and vice-versa. I don't know if this still holds good in this polzarized world. Wish it does.
So, on a wintery morning, I set off for Hajo. First I took a mini-bus, which incidentally is the chief mode of public transportation in Guwahati, to ride upto Basistha Chariali and from there took a bus upto Jalukbari, via NH-37. I alighted from the bus in Jalukbari and waited for a bus or jeep(known as 'trekker') or anything that will take me to my destination. I was lucky in that I barely had to wait for 15 minutes or so. I felt lucky enough to get the last available seat in the trekker. After paying my fare, I made myself comfortable(or so I thought then) in the seat, preparing myself for a 90-minutes journey.
The trekker had a seating capacity for 11 -people excluding the driver. The trekker looked one straight out of a junkyard, with rusting windows providing crucial visible evidence. I had occupied my seat in the rear portion of the vehicle, which was occupied by 3 rather religious folks, singing hymns and rhyming verses. They had a first look at me, and seemed unanimous in their disapproval of my looks with my aviator sun-glasses and dangling ipod. Soon, the trekker started off from Jalukbari, but before it reached Saraighat bridge, it picked up 4 more persons on the way. 3 people standing on the footpedals and rods behind the jeep. The jeep soon picked up speed, and sped across the bridge , negotiating each twist and turn, both forced and unforced, with great dexterity(as the driver would like to put it) or sheer luck(as yours truly would like to put it). The vehicle already resounding with holy songs seemed on the way to hasten up our tryst with the almighty. Luckily, my experience came to an end about half-an-hour later
when the trekker stopped near Madhab Mandir. I alighted from the vehicle and made my way towards the temple.
Madhab mandir was built some centuries back in remembrance of Madhabdeb, one of the pioneers of Vasihnavite culture in Assam. The temple has a big pond, where huge turtles abound. Locals say that these turtles are very holy and all tourists/devotees who throng this temple, make it a point to feed these turtles, after or while washing their legs/hands. Nevertheless, I bought some Puja items from the local shop and offered Puja at Madhab temple seeking blessings for myself and near-dear ones. It took me 5 minutes which probably gives an indication of the size of my family :) . Had a chat with the local pujari, who went through the history and incidents of the temple. Like all tales of locals, this chat also had quite a fair-bot of interesting tit-bits. After bidding adieu to the Pujari, who quickly flaunted his visiting card along with his mobile number, I made my way towards Kedarnath temple.
Now Kedarnath was up a hillock kind of thing, and I had to make some ground before I reached that. On the way I stopped near 'Bhimor Kahi'(translated in English as "Bhim's plate"). It is rumoured to be the plate from where Bhim once had his lunch. It was almost noon before I reached Kedarnath. Being a weekday, the temple was devoid of any visitors, I being the lone one. After offering puja at the temple(there are 3 temples incidentally), I entered into a chat with the local pujari, to get another dose of histories and tales associated with this place. After coming down the steps at Kedarnath, I enquired with the puja-item seller regarding directions to Puwaa Mecca. He pointed me to a hilltop, it looked quite far away, and with no sign of any transport near Kedarnath or thereabouts, I decided to rely on bus no - 11 :)).
After coming out of Kedarnath premises, I saw a long winding path up the hills, which seemed to lead towards the hilltop, where Puwaa mecca is, and as usual it aroused my interest to climb up and see where the path leads to. It was a path made of red-soil which has both been cut from the hills and swept away a little by water gushing down from the top, during rainy season. I made up my way, and while I was halfway up I heard the sound of vehicles. Pleased at being on the right path, I took some rest and admired the Hajo landscape, dotted with a few hills and thick forests between them. In another 15 minutes, I was on the road. By this time, I was gasping for water. As luck would have it, some local wood-cutters were on their way down that road. Seeing me, they inquired about me, where I came from, maybe not used to a person coming solo to a town like Hajo, appearing out from the woods and yeah with a aviator sunglass and a banging ipod to boot...After being reasonably satisfied with my answers, they offered me water and soon they were on their way down the road.
Meanwhile I wondered aloud on whether to continue in the sweltering heat with my dwindling energy reserves or to beat retreat. I chose the latter and went back on the road. Crossed the wood-cutters in the middle and continued on my descent down the snaky path. It took me another 30 minutes to get down the hill, this time along the proper road. As soon as I came down the hill to the main road, a local ricksaw-wallah came along and was very keen on taking me wherever I wanted to. I mumbled "Guwahati" , and the ricksawallah sped fast away from me, quite possibly assuming me to be a mental case.
After a wait of about 15 minutes, the government bus came and I was back on the way to Guwahati. It was indeed a tiring day.
Places of Attraction:
1. Madhab Mandir
2. Kedar Nath
3. Puwa Mecca
For trek enthusiasts, don't take tar road. Climb hills and make your own way.
Other Advice:
Be wary of ricksaw-pullers doubling up as touts. They will charge a premium if they know somebody is not from Hajo.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The Conoor trip of 2005
Once during the spring of 2005, I had been backpacking to Ooty/Conoor. In one of my solitary sojourns, I decided to goto to Dolphin’s nose which on a clear day is supposed to give a clear view of the plains of Mettupalayam. I got down at the Conoor bus stand and took a rick to that place with the idea of coming back on foot and enjoy the pristine nature of the Nilgiris. As the rick snaked through the narrow streets, I could find the roads getting worse. In about an hour, lo behold I was in that place.
Dolphin’s nose is situated inside a private tea garden. The owners apparently decided to cash in on this popular attraction and had put up a couple of tea stalsl where you can both buy and drink tea. Nevertheless, the entire area was engulfed in a sea of green leaves and the air was filled with the smell of tea leaves. After this little digression, let me come back to the Dolphin’s nose itself on that day. Apparently I missed the prime time viewing slot, and the only thing I could see was the mist engulfing the plains in the distant background.
After a few minutes of stretching my iris and trying to focus on the distant objects, I came down and had tea at one of those tea stalls. Need less to say the tea was pretty refreshing and in such a backdrop of the mist slowly engulfing the tea gardens with the tea pluckers engaging in their daily chores, the tea tasted even more good. Meanwhile I was just beginning to moan inside about the arduous task of going back to Conoor town on foot and regretting that I had paid the rick and let it go.
Just as I was a little lost in my thoughts, I saw the tea bags carrying van coming my way. After a little bit of pestering, the driver allowed me in and said he would drop me on the main road while he was going towards the tea factory which was in the opposite way for me. FYI..the main road was at a distance of 4 km from the Doplhin’s nose. After reaching the main road, I got down and squeezed ten bucks in the palms of the driver and continued on my way to conoor main town. After walking for around two miles, I made a quick assessment of my vitality levels and realised that trudging on foot for another 9 miles will result me in having blisters on the foot for the rest of the summer. All this while there was not a soul on the road and I was beginning to wonder whether I had taken the correct route. I stopped near a tea stall for some more tea, what else?
Meanwhile I tried to stop a couple of buses coming along that way, but in futility. As I trudged along, a jeep came along and stopped near me. The driver asked if I wanted a lift to which I quickly agreed for a sum of 30 bucks, not a bad deal at that moment. I got up at the rear end and saw some 7 persons already sitting there. As the jeep started, the persons were very inquisitive about me walking alone on the desolate road. They asked me if I was doing this for world peace or something, but to their disappointment I replied in the negative and said that I just felt like walking for some distance. Quickly they introduced themselves and I did the same. They were 9 persons in total from Nasik(Maharastra) on a south India trip. They told about all the exciting things they came across and knowing about me being from Bangalore, they inquired more about the garden city. We soon were indulged in a friendly banter where each of them introduced himself. Pretty jovial bunch of guys I thought.
Maybe God was pretty angry with me aroud that time, because the jeep broke down with some 5 miles still to traverse. So we were left with the task of dragging/pushing the jeep uphill/downhill towards a garage mechanic shop. On the way, we saw both the sides of the road lined with tea gardens. A layer of green spread all over the area with the mist slowly beginning to cover parts of them- an experience I have never forgotten till date.
Meanwhile we came across a garage and the mechanic said that it would take another hour to repair it. So i paid my fare and bade adieu to my co-passengers and I soon got into a rick and made my way to Upper conoor bus stand.
That night as I was resting in my room in Reflection’s guest house, I was wondering about the famous lines from Robert Frost
“Two roads diverged into the woods, I took the one less travelled,
And that made all the difference…”
Friday, May 4, 2007
Its not cricket
I always wanted to write something about this topic ever since 2003 world cup in SA, but either did not time or was disinclined. But today on a holiday, I have decided to pen down something on this topic.
If you had been seen the cricket coverage of 2006 champions trophy, then please do read ahead otherwise its your call. Since 2003 when Sony Max decided to mix masala with cricket by putting Mandira Bedi sitting alongside the cricket legends and some cricket motor-mouths(like krish. S), analyzing and preview/reviews of cricket matches have been reduced to a farce. If that was bad, in 2006 we have this guy called Rohit Roy thrown in and who argues with ex-players(who have 6000+ test runs under their belts) on how the dew factor would affect the moisture content in the good-length area of the pitch.
C’mmon u f*****, get a life…Then we have these celebrities thrown in which just distract the knowledgeable and avid cricket lover…If you want to see movie-stars, then a cricket match is not the time or place, stick to the big screen guys…All of them starting to dicuss about hindi movies in hindi, are nothing but sort of insulting the ex-cricket legends sitting in the studio for whom hindi might be a alien language…If that was not enough, then there is that empty rhetoric and chest-beating of how the Indian cricket team is gonna wipe out the Ozzies…Freak…These new anchors then start defending their favourite Indian cricketers(another thing that they have not performed for a long time)….
Then there is this blue-billion thing..ooh aah India… they r showing this ad even after India exited the trophy :-))…
All these above is an insult to the 100crore+ Indians…for whom cricket is not just a game of sport you watch and forget…cricket has been their religion..right from the days they use to play with a rubber ball and a cricket bat indigenously carved out of a wooden-stick…They still look upto cricket to provide them succour from their daily lives..when team India wins they are happy and when the same team loses, they are sad…
So SONY Max guys, if you cannot bring Harsha Bhogle or Sunny Gavaskar, please also spare us from Rohit Roy/Srikanth kind of folks who all come with a myopic view and lcak knowledge of the cricketing basics or thinking….Maybe they came also spare us from the celebs and concentrate solely on cricket and instead of searching for the blue-billion indian and asking him to dance/sing, focus more on what is going wrong with Indian cricket and the remedy for it…
Make no mistake friends, Indian cricket is dying…and it needs to be saved…We Indians are not world champions in any sport nor can we hope to be for another generation..but cricket we have the potential to be…Lets save Indian cricket…
As someone famously put it..
“The only good is knowledge, the only evil is ignorance..”
PS:- I dont mind Mandira in thos lovely dresses that she comes…;-) and her cricketing common sense has also gone up several notches…Monday, January 15, 2007
Last day @ School
My friends say that I have this incredible talent of remembering old incidents and penning them wonderfully well which enables them to revive their nostalgia…Even then I would say its pretty difficult for me to re-collect events on a particular day, after more than 8 years …
Well from where should I start with?…Ok..our pre-tests were scheduled to be held from the mid september time-frame…so it was decided by the school authorities that september 7th would be the last day for the class X students of the HSLC batch of 1998, allowing them one week of study leave to mug up the courses learnt during the almost 2 years of studies.
I was very happy hearing this….We don’t have to get up early and come to school every morning..we don’t have to wear school uniform …we dont have to sit in a class-room for 6 hours each day…
September 07, 1997:
The day began as usual with me reaching school before the morning assembly. But that day I noticed that the guys who always used to be late for the assembly or classes had come much before me. As the assembly dispersed and the students of class X trickled into the room, the ever constant chatter that was present before the class teacher used to come for the first class was absent that day. That day, it was replaced by a hush of silence.
First the roll-call happened which incidentally was the last one in school and Anjana madam summed up the social studies course and wishing the students best of luck for their futures. It was then that a sense of voidness began to creep in me that my very last class of social-studies(which i by co-incidence liked so much) was over.
Then came maths and advance maths. Achyut Sarmah in his typical nonchalant style gave two problems to work on and went back to his momentary comatose with eyes wide open.
Then came Baruah madam and her english class. She had already finished the course long back. That day we could see her moist eyes and a sense of grief at seeing one more batch off from this school. I have seen her exhibit this attachment in case of previous batches also. The normally dragging english class seemed very short that day when the school bell rang indicating the lunch break while at the same time waking up me from my recursive thoughts.
Unlike other days when we used to finish tiffin early, we took a little more time in finishing off our tiffins and went around the school campus, which was basically a structure built around the lovely pond, even with the widest stretch of imagination. The basketball court brought back the memories of the school week when there used to be intense rivalry for the inter-class matches, the kabbadi matches :-))…and what not!!!
The afternoon session started with the assamese class where eleven students went, rest stayed back for hindi. Speaking about studying assamese , i still remember the terrorizinf effect Saikia madam managed to influence upon the students of assamese class. Her favourite targets were Chandan and Nabarun….Even that day she did not spare either of them..and made some sarcastic remarks…but that only manage to make us laugh even more…
Soon, the Grammar class taken by Bagchi madam commenced. My favourite madam who used to love her students like her own children…After the class, Subroto madam and Bagchi madam both gave a farewell address to the students…and soon the clock struck 2.45 p.m….the time had come….
The time had come to depart from the confines of the class-room and go out into the outside world…The time had come to leave for home…
We don’t have to get up early and come to school every morning..we don’t have to wear school uniform …we dont have to sit in a class-room for 6 hours each day…
But instead of joy and happiness, we felt a sense of null and voidness that have crept into our lives… the same students who used to rush out not wasting even a minute when the clock struck 2.45…remained in the classroom till almost 45 minutes after that…
The same Topu who was deemed as a bully in school burst into tears and touched the feet of Bagchi madam…some others followed suit…meanwhile the girls had already created puddles of saline water by then…slowly everybody started venturing out of the school gates for their respective destinations…..destinations which were divergent and may not converge again in their lives…
As I was coming back from school to home, even I felt the goosebumps…but felt that life has to go on…
October 18, 2006:
8 years later, when friendship has been reduced to online communities like orkut, yahoogroups and unknown people chatting with each other….I felt like writing this blog..as a tribute to my class-mates from that batch, some of whom I talked with and others including the girls of my batch, whom I never talked with….You guys rock…we may not come again across each other in our life…but if you happen to see this blog..and wondering after seeing the familiar names, who this author is , I am Pranjal Choudhury, Roll number-002,HSLC 1998 Batch,St Stephens EnglishHigh School, Christian Basti, Guwahati-781 005….
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