Nostalgia 3 - I too had a rank story!

Until my 4th standard I was a very ordinary student. I used to get on an average 75% mostly, at times crossing the 80% mark. During those times, we used to form groups or teams in the class. The members of these groups used to sit together or close to each other. I also had a team consisting Sanjay Kumar and Shahid Khan other than me. Later on, Prashant Shukla also joined this group. Prashant was new to our Model English High School at that time. I realised that he was better than me studies which did make me feel a bit jealous. Oneday, the students were rearranged and I ended up on the same bench with Prashant which meant we had to sit together for the whole year. Initially, I didn't like his company but gradually we became good friends. We started studying together and this helped our friendship to flourish further. The final exam of the 4th standard concluded. I got 74% marks as average which I was not happy with. I was now more serious about studies, thanks to Prashant's company.
Our vacations ended and we were now to enter our 5th standard. I was very excited about it as we were now entering the Secondary section and also we will now onwards be using full pants instead of the half pants we used until 4th standard. The only sad thing was that we now had to get up early in the morning. Prashant and I decided to sit on the first bench this time so that we will get more attention from teachers which as a result may boost our studies. However, our class teacher (Vijayalakshmi teacher) brought in the rotation policy according to which we had to change our bench every week. However, we did study seriously and completed our first exams confidently. After a week of the exams, the D-day (results) arrived. I was happy with the 78% I received as it was better than what I got last year. Prashant was magnificent with his 86% and it was a sure bet that he would be the first rank holder in the class. As there was no official ranking system, we students ourselves had to find out the top 3 rankers. It was confirmed that Prashant was first when the marks of the students were compared. Now the hunt for the second rank holder had begun. During those days, Ruchir Kemnaik, Diran Shetty, Manoj Jadhav, Dipti Patil, etc. used to be the regular rank holders in our class. So, I thought they maybe the other rank holders. Suddenly, Prashant came to me and said, "Congrats Jithin." (Jithin was my name at that time).
Me: "What for?"
Prashant: "You are second."
Me: "What? Kuch bhi."
Prashant; "Arrey, seriously."
Me: "What about Ruchir, Manoj and Diran then?"
Prashant: "Ruchir and Purvi are joint third, they are 1 mark behind you while Diran and Manoj are not even in the top 5."
Me: "Are you sure about this?"
Prashant: "Damn sure bro. Its official, you are a rank holder Jithin."
It was like heaven, a dream come true. Before that I never even imagined that I will ever be even in the top 10. It was a great encouragement as well. I started working harder after that and it did pay off as I got first rank in the next exam with 86% marks leaving Prashant and Ruchir behind. During those days, rank holders were respected like superstars. Now, a new superstar had arrived. I compared my rise to the rise of Hrithik Roshan in Bollywood. He had just arrived into movies at that time but was already my role model. It was during this time that I got contact glasses which gave me a scholar look. In the next exam, most of us crossed the 90% mark although I finished 2nd behind Prashant and followed by Ruchir. The final exams also concluded and when the average marks came out, I was second again which meant I would receive my first big prize from my school. I received the prize for 2nd rank at the annual day celebrations of the school that year. It was a Little Oxford English dictionary which I still have with me.
However, in the 6th standard I became overconfident and a bit arrogant too. Also, my friends group had changed. I started declining in my studies gradually and soon everyone including me forgot that I was once a rank holder.

Nostalgia 2 - My First Charity

When I was a child, my understanding of God was completely different from what it is now. The large number of deities and goddesses in Hinduism did confuse me a lot. I used to think that if I worship one deity, the other deities may feel jealous or sad. So, whenever I visit a temple, I made sure I prayed to all the deities in the locality. Frankly speaking, I wasn't much interested to visit temples except during exams or for any other wishes. The other instances when I used to visit temples were when my parents force me to accompany them to the temple or when my mother compels me to visit them. I would be given some 2 rupees or 1 rupee coins to be put in the donation box (daan peti - am not sure what its exactly called). As a proof that I had visited the temple I should not have those coins with me when I return home. Ofcourse, I could have spent them on vada pavs or anything else but I had a good chance of getting caught if I did so. So, I  usually avoided that risk.

One such day, out of compulsion I visted the nearby Durga Mata Mandir alone. I think the Navaratri festival was going on at that time, so there was a decent rush at the temple. I didn't want to join the rush and stayed outside the temple and offeres my prayers at the three small temples within the main temple compound, dedicated to Lord Dattatreya, Lord Hanuman and one more about whom I still have no idea. I had two 2 rupees coins and one rupee coin with me that day. I could have placed them at those small temples and that was what my decision was until my eyes caught a sight. I saw a group of beggars sitting besides the temple gate. I used to see them daily but always ignored them as I never had anything to give them. Whenever, I used to see someone giving such beggars alms or food, I used to think that someday even I would feed someone or provide them money. Till that day, I never got an oppurtunity to do so or that was what I thought. However, that day as I stood before them with 5 rupees in my hand, I thought my turn has arrived. Now, the problem was that there were many of them in that group and I was confused who deserverd the money and how much. Most of them were old and handicapped but they seemed to be unhappy with eachother arguing for space. the angry expressions on their face made me lose some of the pity I had for them.

I moved my face a bit and I saw a small boy who I was sure was younger than me by atleast 2 years i.e. he would have been around 6-7 years old. His clothes hinted me that he too was one of them although I had never seen him before unlike the others in the group. Maybe he had just joined them. I guessed he wouldn't be getting anything as he would mostly be bullied by the elders in the group. So, naturally I felt more pity for him and decided to give the money to him. However, I can't give it to him in front of them. Somehow, I managed to get those coins to him. His expressions were heartening, He accepted the money eagerly and showered blessings on me in whichever words he was comfortable in. I felt like an angel, really. I just patted his shoulders and walked back like a proud donor. I had just made my first charity. I was about to cross the temple gate when I heard a scream. I turned back and saw two boys who looked older than me holding the collar of that small boy. I guessed they were trying to get the money from him. I was shocked to hear the quality of words coming out of the boy's mouth in defence. I couldn't believe he was the same boy who just praised me with the purest words I have heard in my life. I felt more sad when I learnt from their conversation that they were his brothers. I really wished to save him. However, the fact that those two boys were elder and stronger than me made me walk. I felt sorry for the boy but I had no other option. I walked back. Thus, celebration of my first charity was shortlived.

Nostalgia 1 - The Pen Cricket Game

I have been going into flashbacks too often lately. Many childhood incidents which seemed to be very serious at that time are now remembered with a tinge of smile. Nostalgia....... a word as beautiful as it's meaning. There have been many moments in my life which i love rewinding again and again. Most of them have been situations where i have failed in one way or other. i can say with confidence that all of them have taught me some lessons. These lessons are the ones which have crafted me into what I am now. Every experience, failure or success teaches us something, only we have to keep the windows of our mind open. We will observe mostly that we learn more from failures more than from success. As I told you already, there have been a lot of such experiences in my life. So, I will just randomly pick some experiences and share it with you all (ofcourse, for my own pleasure, obviously).

Lets go 10-11 years back when I was jaust around 10/11 years old. During those days I was an ardent cricket and WWE fan. However, what i loved more was playing the cricket and WWE trump card games. Other than the usual trade game, I had a unique way of using those cricket cards. I used to place them according to standard cricket fielding positions on my bed which was my cricket field. the cap of a pen used to be my stumps while the pen itself was my bat. For the balls I had paper rounds. My left hand was the bowler while the right hand was the batsman. One of the main rule is that after the ball is hit if it falls on any of those cards and stays within it the batsman will be declared caught out. Also, if the ball hits the thumb, its a LBW. Other common rules being bowled, fours, sixes, etc. also apply. The last pages of almost all my notebooks at that time were full of scoreboards of those matches. Crazy, right? but let me tell you that all these matches were played very seriously indeed.

There were some of my friends who shared this interest. My mother used to get puzzled watching me so engrossed in this strange thing. At first, she may have thought that I was doing some research on a new kind of horoscope or tarot card reading. However, she wasn't much amused when she found me playing this stupid game during my exams. My father also found it too childish. Even my brother who was too small then seemed to be more grown up than me while I used to play that stuff. No doubt, its an idiotic thing but I enjoyed it. It was a great stress buster or something which cooled me off. It also managed to console me whenever I felt down. Plus, there is no expenditure on this game. My imagination could create my own world and I could control the players I admire according to my wish. Also, I credit my ability to calculate quickly to this game, where my mind is always on numbers, counting the runs and overs.

However, with the advent of video games and computer games, it lost its popularity in my mind giving space to EA cricket and other games. Then came the era in my life where like all boys of that age, playing games on computer was the most interesting thing in life. However, powercuts or loadsheddings, whatever you call them, managed to keep that unique pen cricket game alive in me. It was the inverter, which killed it completely in me. With the arrival of inverters, I had to spend the powercut period too in studies, which was initailly treated as spare time. Moreover, with time I was getting more serious about my studies and spending time with friends and family. Computers, television and even radio occupied my spare time. gradually, I almost forgot about that pen cricket game.

Years passed, I was then doing  F.Y.J.C. (not literally - I was a serial bunker) at CHM college, Ulhasnagar. It was actually a depressing period in my life. I had stopped meeting people except a chosen few and it had been months since I had smilled from my heart. One day, we (me & my family) visited a relative's house. I had accompanied them against my own wish to avoid emotional blackmail from those relatives. My parents were busy talking to the elders of the house. I prefered to visit the garden nearby where I saw some youngsters playing some serious cricket. I kept observing them and calculating their scores without their or my own knowledge. Suddenly, my eyes caught a sight which attracted me there. I saw some small boys playing some kind of a game nearby with some small stones placed here and there within a small circle. I thought it was the 'Gotti' game. However, when I went near to them, I found myself smiling. What I saw was this - one boy was holding a minute bat made of rubber between his fingers and another one was bowling to him a very small ball. They also had a stump set - very small - equal to the bat. Those little stones were the fielders. I suddenly remembered my old pen cricket game. I couldn't stop smiling. Suddenly, I saw the ball hitting the stump and I exclaimed 'Out'. The boys looked at me surprised. They smiled and I smiled back too. I asked them, "Can I join you?". One of them replied, "Yeah, But after this match, till then you can be an umpire for this game." I agreed gladly. It was the first time in many months that I had smiled or rather laughed openly.