d Missing Friend
Copyright2013 Vishnuvarthanan Moorthy
It was a pleasant morning and around 7.30 am, the breeze was blowing gently and the sun was climbing up above the hill, the scooter was running at a speed of 35 miles per hour, in between the two hands of the rider, the boy was standing with lots of excitement. He kept opening and closing his mouth to swallow the cool breeze and he felt his teeth were getting chill and he was very happy to continue that. His eyes were excited to see the greenish lush farms and ponds with full of water. There came few houses on the side of the road and immediately the scooter took a left turn and went for another 400 hundred meters, there were only few huts and few single floor houses and after that some empty land, then the scooter stopped in front of a gate. When will we reach our town? the boy asked, and the rider replied that, this is the place, this is our house and it’s not a town, it’s a village.
Nimmu the boy, he was lean, Indian colored and normal height, had just shifted from a town to a village! His father got transferred to a new town, so they decided to stay in the nearby village, as Nimmu’s aunt stays in that village. Nimmu was still excited as he was now, moving to 6th grade, which means he would join in a high school. He had a proud feeling that he became a bigger boy. Nimmu has an elder brother and he is 4 years older than him. He used to play with Nimmu to a good amount of time and now his brother was getting in to adolescent age, so Nimmu need to find his own friends.
His parents had rented a house which was nearer to school, hardly 10 minutes walk. Nimmu feels, he could cover the distance within 6 minutes as he assumes himself as super fast. Sometimes Nimmu thinks he can float also… The village has one school each for boys and girls, and the boys school capacity is larger than 2000 students, in fact it’s nearly half the population of that village. The students were from various nearby smaller villages, and they come by bus, trucks, van and so on. The first day in that village, Nimmu went to his aunt’s house, and they served some colorful drinks in plastic packets, he did enjoy it a lot and then he played and slept in their house. The next day was important to him, as he would be joining the High School.
Nimmu’s parents took him to the school and they spoke to the Head Master and asked him to recommend the best teacher for their son, so that he would study well. Nagaraj, he was the best teacher in the school for 6th grade, and as per the Head Master’s recommendation he was sent to “C” Section and his parents went along with him and introduced themselves to the teacher, Nagaraj. He must be in his 40’s and strongly build, black in color and has rough voice. Till 5th grade Nimmu was studying with lady teachers and most of them liked him and he was always a pet for them, now looking at Nagaraj, Nimmu really got scared. Nimmu’s mother told the Nagaraj, you don’t need to hit this boy under any case, just if you look at him angrily that’s enough, he will start crying!
Nimmu, he fears for everything, but imagines himself as superhero, and he uses his pen to say “ I am the master of the universe” , but in reality he never gets any power by doing that! Now, he may really need that power. Nimmu could see nearly 50 students were sitting under the tree and it was not a surprise for him, as in physical training activity class, even in his previous school they used make them sit in ground and explain the activities. Nagaraj the teacher told nimmu to go and sit in the class and nimmu was thinking how to find the class room, and then his teacher again repeated the sentence and told him to sit in the class room anywhere. Now nimmu understood that there would be no class room other than the tree shade. He went and sat in the last row as he needs to get his own place. His parents left and Nagaraj came back to the class and called a boy and asked him, why he never attended the class for last 3 days. The boy told he had to work in the farm, that’s why he never came, but nagaraj told him, that his parents came searching for him to school, the boy refused to accept but again told he was working in their farm. Nagaraj took his thin bamboo stick and hit him 6 to 7 times, the boy was reluctant. Nagaraj hit him in the head, and blood started to flow, then the other bigger boys in the class ran to help the boy and nagaraj took him to nearby hospital with blood all over the shirt. That was a warm welcome to Nimmu in that Village High School!
Quarter One:
Nimmu came home in that evening and he started crying to his mother, that he saw the teacher beating a boy with stick and blood flown in the ground. He told his mother that he will not stay in that class and he wants to change to a different class and to a different teacher. His mother listened to him and told it will be alright, the teacher might not be aware that it would happen. She pacified and switched on the television and made him watch it. Nimmu was very fond of television; there was only one channel freely available and that to, the Government broad casting channel. Nimmu like to sit and wait till the first program starts in the evening, though the programs are in Hindi (Indian Language) and he don’t understand one word out of it , as his language was Tamil (another Indian language), he like to see the opening music in that broadcasting, and just watch anything but not to switch of the television. His parents allowed him to do what he wants, but with one condition, that nimmu should score First rank in the class. Let it be 20 members or 60 members class, nimmu has to come first in the class. His father always tells him, that they belong to middle class family and they don’t do any business and unless nimmu studies well, getting a salaried job will be a dream. That day evening his father returned home and told nimmu, that he has arranged evening tuition additionally for him to ensure that he studies well. Nimmu was only thinking about his Television viewing time reduction, but still he asked where should he go for tuition? His father told him, that he would be going to Nagaraj teachers’ house. After hearing that, Nimmu never heard any sound for another 3 minutes. He told his father that he would read in home for the same amount of time, but his father rejected that brilliant idea of nimmu, because he knew, nimmu was good in watching television than anything else. Nimmu requested his father that he would go from next week beginning and he bought some time for his mind settlement. His father had purchased a nice shirt and pant for him, because his birth day was nearby, nimmu tried and it was a perfect fit, but his mother rejected that, as she claimed that nimmu will grow in another year, by that time he could no longer use. He was very upset as they decided to return it back, because he wanted to take a nice photo with that dress, the last one he took was three years before!
The next day Nimmu went to school, and he never got his place, in fact the last row senior students was not ready to accommodate him, so he sat in the side of a row, but by column wise he was the only one. Ramesh, the pupil monitor who was the tallest in the class and senior in that class, told nimmu to move in. Finally he made students adjust and gave him a place. Nimmu asked the student who was sitting next to him, that how come the last row students were so tall and look like big boys, and he got the reply, that they are seniors of the class, as they study 6th grade for the last 3 years or so and have proven track record of failing.
The tree class has a border and entrance made of soil hump and every day one student would take the responsibility of watering the ground, so that the soil is intact and no dusts come out. Nimmu has subjects on English, Tamil, Science, History & Geography and Mathematics. He has seen all the teachers in those two days, but has no clue on the students who were with him. In the evening before he started to leave home, he had nice crow shit, it’s no surprise as they were sitting under the tree. The next day, nimmu was looking at the tree and started monitoring the movement of crows, in fact sometimes he was trying to push others and move his body out of the line. Nagaraj noticed in his class, that nimmu was keep moving often and he warned nimmu not to disturb the class. Then nimmu decided not to do that, and asked the neighbor
to tell if any crow was sitting above his head.
The seniors in the class were pretty much afraid of Nagaraj (the teacher), however they were also pretty mischievous. They don’t want any of their fellow students to be bookworms, to ensure that they will suddenly dig the ground nearer to the other students and they would let the earthworms to come out. Nimmu was very much worried about them, and he was ready to do anything to avoid that.
It was the first surprise test, on mathematics conducted by Nagaraj had helped nimmu a lot. Nimmu in fact got 90% of mark and was topper in the test. Now he got some reorganization in the class. The next day Aarib came and sat next to nimmu. Aarib the boy who was short, having some feminine characteristics, inferior mind set and from poor family, he introduced himself to nimmu. The other side of nimmu, there was another boy Malik was sitting, the one who was looking strong, decent and talkative. Aarib offered nimmu black plum and told him that he would be his friend. Nimmu was happy that there were some wants, to be as his friends. With malik