VI to X (end of Bhiwani)

VI marked a change. I was moving from being seniormost in junior school to juniormost of Senior branch Halwasiya Vidya Vihar.... can't say it was an improvement in terms of social status, but there were many things to cherish- Bigger playground, new teachers, school closer to home and most importantly many new babes got into the class :D.

Library was one of the best libraries I have seen till today. All kinda extra-curricular activities ranging from Yoga, Drawing, Athletics, Football, debates, dramatics, olympiads, quizzes (both scientific and religious) found me involved somewhere and I love their memories even today..

Academics took a new role in my life... Till now, it was a challenge, from here, it became my passion... With the brightest faculty there and enormous facilties, I used them to the fullest. Saurabh Sharma, a senior of mine, used to break all previous records and set a new target for juniors like me.... More than getting at top, I always had an eye on this target (as I knew both are almost equal), suceeded too for four years while succumbed in X. I thank all of my colleagues for providing me the right atmosphere of enormous amount of challenge... I can recall how each one of us fought a Kalinga- level battle for every half mark (half mark meant two ranks!!)

While I am writing about the golden days of my past, memories keep on coming from so-called unconscious mind. Even now, I can see Mrs. Anup Khaneja throwing my notebook on the first day of VIII class due to bad handwriting and then only due to her efforts, I got III in School hindi-writing competetion. Mr. Ghananand Shastri telling me in IX that he could see me breaking sanskrit record, The day I achieved this feat, he was the first person who came to my mind to congratulate me. Principal Mr. Narendrajeet Singh Rawal saying in prayer there is a person who got full marks in all subjects and I was on top of world. Mr. S. K. Halwasiya trying his best in extra classes for us to qualify NTSE, I still feel scholarship comes through him, while receiving. How I said to Mrs. Gogia, Social Studies teacher, that you have done partiality in checking and then, had to bear her blunt anger... How whole of class complained to principal against Mr. Malhotra, IX science teacher... later on realised those things couldn't have been taught in a better way.

My first meeting with Mr. Malhotra is also worth-mentioning... On the first day of IX class, he came a bit late in class, before he entered I was playing football with friends and as he entered, ball left my foot and striked him leading him into anger which converted into 4-5 slaps on my face (Face was innocent. whole fault was of legs!! There is injustice everywhere :-(.. He started, "IX is a very tough class... even toppers of VIII struggle here, people like this stupid fail.... and few more similar comments.." Last question was "Who is topper of VIII?" Seeing me standing in front of him evoked arbitrary reactions in him (in me too!!).

English was a language I always feared... I hesitated to speak in english, somehow (I don't know why) I wasn't able to convince myself that I can speak inspite of doing well in written English. And I always had a special place for people well in english. I thought to balance this inability for english by excellence in Hindi... the day I met Aastha, my quest for Hindi had started... Mrs. Jyotsana Sharma, Mr. Ramakant, Mrs. Anup Khaneja helped me boosting it and library helped me a lot... I chatted with Munshi Premchand, Ramdhari Singh dinkar, Mahadevi Verma, Maithilisharan Gupta, Manish and many who couldn't leave their imprints in my mind. Though life became busy after X in preparation for JEE, but a hindi poet and writer was born in me at those times...

Bal Sansad (found by Mrs. Adarsh Malhotra) was also a good concept in school. People, given various portfolios, represented very much like MPs in our parliament, and National parliament also felt proud when Bal Sansad visited it, with Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman Mrs. Najma Heptullah extending our visiting time just to show us how a bill gets passed in houses of parliament to become a law.

These 5 years VI to X gave me a lot of friends: Aastha Sidhanth, Jyotsana, Riju Sikri, Ekta Dhamija, Jyoti Jain, Preeti Devpura, Rahul Bhardwaj (this is a long list...) people whose names are not here, don't feel offended, you have a different space. One of my dreams is to make a school where same knowledge can be imparted to students.

All timeframes can't be recollected, All collected can't be written down, All written frames can't be understood by someone who has not seen them..... So, I have listed main features of my school-life and this is a brief record of my memories.... I needed to write it here as I fear an epidemic of Amnesia in old age..