Me........ My Adolcent age

High Schooling

After getting a First class in 7th Std(For the second time in my entire schooling till then), I shifted from Nivedita School to Acharya Patha Shala Boys High school (as other schools had no place for my kind of scores). This School was very famous as " THE SCHOOL" to all the Notorious elements of the area. A few of our class mates had tested the back Benches for over 3 consecutive years. In short it had a superb reputation as "the degraded school" of the Era.

When I look back Twenty five years ago at my school, My opinion on the school is now entirely different. Its type cast ,was predominantly due to the School management having a Generous Philosophy of providing education to the underprivileged.

On the Contrary to the type cast, there were Excellent teachers, with commitment & trade mark teaching style. Their connectivity to students was one of the best I've ever come across till now.Till date, I still do a bit of Heart to Heart with a few of them.

Learning to be "The Best Among the Worst" :

Since I had an English Medium Middle schooling & a great teacher in my Grandfather , training me at home , I was understand & communicate with teachers in English better than Other classmates. The Command on language, improved & increased my proximity to our teachers. This Proximity launched me onto a new platform which was never mine in my Nivedita school days.

This new Privilege Empowered me to test the teachers skills & knowledge & at times I would even get into testing their patience too.

This School offered me a platform to check my Man management skills. I was made the Class's second Monitor in 8th Std & was the 3rd Monitor in the 9th & 10 stds.

Sports was there too, Played for both Foot ball & cricket teams. In cricket, We did manage to enter the Bangalore under 13 Quarter finals, but lost it there.

More than Playing, I was the one Whom our PT teacher entrusted with Cash management like bus tickets, Lunch etc for the entire team. I was more like a Team's Financial manager than the player of the team. All this.... Courtesy Our PT teacher who happened to be our "Neighbour".

In short this School taught me a lesson of my life time. It was easy Being the "Best among the worst". A literal short cut to fame.

Marks :The Poor Run .........Continues

My run on poor marks did not stop at the previous school. It still continued here too. Poor hand writing this time around was complimented a wavering mind.

When in 9th Std, a Teacher by name M.G.Shashi Rekha (MGS as we called her) ,Who had a very positive approach to every thing in life, called me aside & Suggested that I could score better if I improve my handwriting Skills. This, she said would improve my score in the 10 std Public exam. This probably was "the call" that was needed, Probably a very valid reason to improve, An Awakening to change.

I went back in time, Picked up Copy writing books practised hard to improve my skill. In all I picked all the 6 volumes of the Copy books sold & then Switched over to 4 line book & then on to two line, before finally landing on the regular single line book.

The Prankster at Large:

The Prankster inside me only grew up disproportionately to my age.

When in High school I started to accompany my father to all the technical lectures delivered by him. Thes lectures gave me some knowledge which I would classify now as HALF BAKED & theconfidence to Experiment with Vehicles in style. I felt Empowered!.

Once Madam MGS Threw me out of our class, for listening to Test Match cricket Commentary.On my way out of the school, I as usual pulled my small tool kit out from my bag, opened the spark plug of her Moped & Increased the Plug gap.

Having known that Madam MGS had a bit of Hands on DIY Skills, I did Pulled the HT coil input wire out of its location & Ensured that It would never start with out professional Attention.

From What I understood from my friends , Madam MGS pushed her Luna from the school that day & her DIY skills could not save the day. I am sure When Madam MGS does get to Read this blog, She would know what transpired the otherday.

The Seed of Success was sown by Madam MGS & a few Other Teachers changed me & they are lessons which I would never forget in my life time. Motivation to Change was out up as a necessity I came back to pick up copy writing book & started to write in proper cursive style. Over a period of time Along with my handwriting, My thinikng style improved too.

A major incident that changed a few thing inside me:

I did decide that I would enter Automobile Industry. I did want to get a Diploma Like my father & thought that I could change the face of Automobil Industry. Since the only good Institute for Diploma those years in BLR was SJP, Getting into it had only one way... Good marks. Though We were eligible for a Specific classification under the Reservation list, Father declined to be Certified the same saying " We would be Denaying a Seat to a worthy candidate".

I was put under my father's cousin a High school teacher for my 10 preparations. a Typical day in 10th would begin at 7.00 am with classes then back home at 9.30, rushing to School by 10.30 till abt 5.00pm. Get back to Tuition's at 6.00pm till 9.00pm.

The Waverly mind had to get into action, work hard, Which I had never done in my life. These sudden changes, mounted excess Pressure on me personally.With Just about a month to go before the Final Exams, The Pressure became unsustainable. I could no longer handle it. Emotional Burn outs & tempers running high all around.

One Fine day, I said enough!! after Evening Tuition's in the spurr of the moment, "I called Quits". In this decision I decided to say "good bye" to schooling. Once on the bicycle, My vague plan was to get out of Bangalore First, Then think of the next later on. I was searching for peace, No! to pressures.

The Destination was still unknown & kept peddling....At 9.00pm, while crossing the Town hall, the Temporary destination was Decided. I thought I could spend the Night at my Aunts (Mother's Elder Sister) place at RT nagar & then decide the course of action on the next day.

Communication via phones a Luxury those years. My Aunt's place did not have one. Confident of not being traced, I had dinner with my cousin Rajeev & went to sleep at around 10.00pm. A Knock at the door cane in from distant neighbour around 12.00Am & He had an Urgent message /information to be passed on. The info was about the desperate search for me. He was sort of trying to ck my whereabouts.

CAUGHT....

All this Due to some smart thinking of my Uncle Ravi (mother's youngest Brother).Aunt went onto answer the call & came back to express the panic at our place in plain simple words. The message from my home was to "stay back at RT nagar" untill picked back .Ravi came in after 3 days to pick me up.

I had lost my face to get back home. All the way on the bus, I was pondering on the answers to the questions that I would face. All In all I was mentally getting prepared to an action packed Evening. Through out the 60 min bus journey, I was figuring out ways & means to counter the arising questions.

Once at home, Every thing looked normal, Every one tlaked to me as usual except my mother. She came in front of me just dropped a few tears from her eyes & walked back. Not a word about my absurd behaviour was uttered.

This left me shell shocked. More than my Running away from home, the magnanimity & forgiveness at home was some thing which I had never experienced. My Elders were just there till then.This incident changed from "They're there" to "They're Alway's there". This was the begining when I started to respect them for what they were to me.

There was a Sudden Feeling of "Being Indebted". I had to return this favour back to them in some way or the other. The only route which I felt lay ahead of me was to Study hard & get a good score, may be some thing more than what was expected of me.

With the exams only 25 days away, I put in lot of effort to the preparation. Finally, When the Reasults were announced, & I scored a first class, Every one was happy & proud that I finally had achived some thing. This was the Third time I had scored a First class in my life time. The Icing on the cake was being the Class topper in Mathematics with a Score of 91/100.

The learning I had was " Forgiving the Crime" would be the biggest Punishment for for those who are sensible.