My three years in boarding school
Boarding schools are fun. A young kid might initially hate going to a boarding school mainly because they are so much attached with friends and family, but once they entered the hostel and got some new friends, they will never want to get back. In this article I have tried to share my experience of boarding school as a student.
Why I joined a boarding school?
I am currently living in Kanpur which is one of the biggest city of Uttar Pradesh state. My family shifted here back in 2008 when I left my boarding school. My roots are in a small, backward district of Uttar Pradesh called Basti. My family lived there prior to 2008. I lived with my grandpa and granny in Mumbai till 2005. My father is a civil engineer and he moves from place to place so he is unable to keep his family with him. My grandpa was about to retire so I had to shift back to Basti. I left Mumbai in April 2005 and came back to my home in Basti. I had a great summer vacation. I was 10 at that time. At the end of the summer vacation, my family started searching for an English medium school which is nearby. Unfortunately they found none as we were living in a small village. We have a town called Babhnan nearby, but there were no schools of decent standard. One of my father's old friend told him that there is a school in Harriya which is one of the best around. Harriya is a town 20 km from my village. I went there for admission. I was happy to see the school but soon my happiness turned into sadness as I found that none of the school buses covered the place where I live. The good news for my parents was that this school had a hostel. When I heard this, I was disappointed. I didn't like the idea of living in hostel. I was a kid; I had plenty of friends in my village. I didn't wanted to leave them and neither did I wanted to leave my family and live there.
When we got back home, my father asked me if I liked the school or not? I said that the school was good but I don't want to live in hostel. I pleaded him to find out some ways so that I could avoid hostel. Unfortunately for me, there were no such ways. My entire family including uncle- aunty, mom-dad, granny-grandpa they all were trying to convince me that hostel is good for me and I will have fun there etc. They told me that there are plenty of toys, they go for picnic tours and plenty of such things they told me to convince me. At last I was convinced. I started dreaming about all the toys and picnics and fun. My bag was packed a few days later and I made my way towards 'Calvary Ideal School'. My father, mother, uncle, aunt and one of my old tuition teacher (Who taught me during summers) from nearby village were with me. One of my cousin and my younger sister were with me as well (They too got admission).
We reached the school building in an hour. My father did all the paperwork, mom and aunt were busy in some chat with teachers who were also living in hostel. Maybe my mom was telling them that she is concerned about me and other two as we will be without parents for the first time. I was busy with toys along with my sister and cousin. After an hour or two, my parents were about to leave. I was nervous as well as sad. My 2 younger siblings were crying. Being eldest, I had to show some strength so I held my tears back (And now when I think of it, I smile). So this is how I became a hostel student for the first time.What followed later?
After my parents left, we were sad. The hostel warden, Shabnam man took us to our room. She told us about our beds and lockers and then took us to the staff room and introduced us to the teachers there. She ensured us that we don't have to worry about anything. Soon the rest of the hostel students will join us and we will forget everything and will find ourselves lost in fun. Finally she asked us to come down to the mess and have snacks.
After an hour, another student arrived. Initially we were hesitant in talking to each other. We 3 people were busy in exploring in our new world. Suddenly that new boy asked me my name. I told him my name and asked him about his. He introduced himself as Pramod. I found out that he will be my classmate from next day. We became friends in no time after that. He was my first friend in hostel, and still we are in touch even after 8 years of leaving hostel.
As the days passed, some new ones as well as the old ones who were on summer vacation joined us in hostel. The number grew from 4 to 40 within a week. We started our course. Initially I had problems to adjust with quite a few things like taking early bath and getting up at 5 AM (I was lazy since birth). Our tuition teacher Neetu mam was very strict. She banned us from playing cricket every time we fail at a task given by her. We were happiest people for a few minutes when our parents visited us for the first time in hostel just after a week. I still remember how my sister hugged my mother and started crying and insisted to take her back home. The first exam
The hostel students were top rank holders in their respective classes. I was a lazy student and really had more intention of fun than any study. As the exams arrived, I found myself in trouble. As I have already mentioned that my tuition teacher Neetu mam was a very strict teacher, she often punished me for my mischievous activities. I mostly found myself holding my ears and standing in a corner. My granny and grandpa loved me so much so they never made my life tough either as a kid or student. But now I was in a different world. Neetu mam openly told me that she will become my worst nightmare if I failed to secure my name in top 10 ranked student of my class.
I was left with no chance but to study. I was from a middle class family and my parents paid huge fee for this school. I was there to study and I had no other job to do. I realized that soon. I started working hard and started to focus on my studies and in the meantime I got rid of some of my bad habits like sleeping late in the morning and avoiding bath. It was all tough for me initially but I got a habit of these things soon. In a month, I turned myself from a mischievous kid to a determined one.
Finally the first exam came. I was nervous as I had to get my name in top 10. I was demoralized by the fact that no one knows me here. The only reputation I had in the class was of a backbencher who was caught sleeping a few times. I had no such belief that I can have my name there in top 10. But I promised to myself that I will do my best and not care about result at all. I did what I promised to myself as I worked hard and never really thought about what will happen.
So finally the exams came. The days got tougher and tougher. We had a subject called moral science in our school. It was a story book which had a motivating line in the end of every chapter. Those chapters motivated me a lot during exams. I started to study as late as 1 AM and then again I use to wake up at 4 to study. I got obsessed with studies. Most of my exams went well. I had no idea about what rank I will get but I had a firm belief that my marks will be good. We got Dussera holiday after exams, and when I came back from home, the first day in school bought me one of the best news of my life. My class teacher Gupta sir came to the class. He had a bit of fun with students, and then started announcing the top 10 students of the class. After each name, the students who got the rank, stands up and gets clapping from rest of the class. I was not nervous as I knew that I am not in top 10. Most of the names which usually got their places in top ten were famous like celebrities in class. I was thinking about how will I prepare in next exams, but suddenly I realized that Gupta sir announced my name. I was shocked. Everyone around class were shocked as well. I secured 7th rank. For a few seconds I thought I was dreaming. Gupta sir said "Come here son, take your report card" and then he said "Give a big hands to new star of our class". I was on the top of the world. That was probably the best day of my life so far. I informed about result to my parents and they were shocked too. They initially didn't believed it until Shabnam mam told it to them.First Holiday
After the exams were over, the Dussera holiday were announced. We got 4 days off. My uncle came to pick us from hostel. We were going back home after almost 3 months. I was pretty relieved after exams especially because it was the best one of my life. Although the results were announced after the holidays, I knew that I will be giving good news to my parents for the first time. On the way to home, I was thinking about past three months as well as how I will enjoy the upcoming 4 days with my old friends.
As I reached home, my grandpa came running to me and hugged me. I am sure he was waiting for me since my uncle left the house to take us back. I remember that happiness on the faces of everyone. My mother and aunt had prepared delicious foods especially for three of us. We enjoyed the home made delicious and then went out to find our old friends. I went to the same old cricket ground near to my village. They were all very happy. I played cricket with them after three months and playing this game with oldies, is one of the best feeling (Ask any Indian). During this holiday my father promised me that if I did well at studies for next three years, he will let me choose cricket as profession.
The worst thing about living in hostel is that holidays get over as quickly as Bermuda team's inning against a top class bowling attack (You can replace this example with many others). The four days passed like 4 minutes. We packed our bags again and headed towards hostel with uncle. The difference this time was that we all were in smiles and were excited to get back to the business. We got used to those early morning study tables and bath with cold water. Transformation from a backbencher to top student
As I have already mentioned earlier that how I emerged in top 10 students of my class from nowhere, it was not the end. The fairytale continued for me. I got a passion of hard work and studies. After getting 7th rank, my class teacher changed my bench and placed me on second bench. I befriended Chandramani Verma. He was the guy who got the first rank. He stayed in hostel too and soon I started to pick different things from him about how to become a champion student. We together solved many problems and sometimes we ask the maths books of higher classes from our seniors and solve them. We developed a friendly competition, and soon I realized that I am out there among best students of my class as well as hostel. I had answers to almost every question in the class. The glory continued for me as I secured second rank in half-yearly exam. From there I became a known name in school and I started believing myself. Everything became so easy for me. The questions once I thought that I cannot solve in dreams, became walk in the park job for me. I got first rank in 6th class for the first time (And maybe I became one of those specialist students who have got first rank from both ends).
Cricket became one of my inspirations for studies and to get better in the life. I kept my father's promise in my mind (I mentioned earlier). I named my subjects as cricket Teams. Australians were best back then so I called maths as Australia. Similarly I named Science as South Africa, Hindi as West Indies, English as England, Moral science as Bangladesh, Computer as Sri-Lanka and so on. I made a table of how many marks are equal to how many runs and I made sure that I score most marks in order to keep my average (Virtual batting average) over 80. Every half yearly exam was a champion trophy and annual exam was world cup for me. It was a unique method of mine to create interest in studies and it worked so well for me that I kept first rank for two years without even being dethroned even in a unit test. It ended only when I left school.The toughest goodbye
When I got first rank consistently for 2 years, I reminded my father of his promise. He gave me permission to play cricket. Now the problem which aroused was that there were no cricket academies in my district, not even in surrounding ones either. My father was planning to shift to Kanpur for higher studies of all the kids. In 2008, I finally left the school. I still remember the last day of my life in CIS. I was happy as I was about to start a new life as a semi professional cricketer soon. I told my friends. They insisted me not to go. I will remember those last few hugs from my friends forever. It was the prize distribution day. I was presented with the last trophy of my student career. Later I exchanged numbers with a lot of my friends. That was a really emotional moment.Moments which I will remember forever
There were countless good memories from that school for me. I cannot write all of them here, but here are 3 them, which I will never forget:
We had our cricket ground 30 meter from the building where we stayed. All the boys from class 5th to 10th use to make their way to the ground everyday 4 PM. Initially I had to be a spectator there as I was new and young but as the time passed, I became captain of one of the teams. We desperately waited for 4 PM everyday and get out there to play the game we all love. We forgot all the worries about homeworks and all for an hour or two.
Most of the parents, whose kids were in hostel, use to be present outside on the school on last day of class before a holiday like Holi, Diwali, Christmas, summer or winter vacations. In the case our parents were late (Which they usually were because coming from our village was a pain due to poor roads), we use to stare at the road from railing of the building (Our hostel building was on highway). I still remember that how tough it was to pass even seconds while waiting and now whenever I remember those days, I smile.
I was cricket crazy since my childhood (Isn't it a birthright for an Indian?). During the ICC cricket world cup of 2007, I use to go down from my hostel room, silently stand by the window of Shabnam mam and watch the match. Her husband was a cricket crazy guy too. He used to watch the matches of even Canada and Bermuda. One day I got caught red handed as my principal mam saw me in compound and I got punished. She thought I am there to steal question papers (Exams were going on at the same time). That was not the end of the world cup as I bought a radio to listen commentary. Later my radio was caught too.Friends Forever, Best teachers
During these three years, I made plenty of friends. Some of the peoples are still in touch with me. Akhil Singh, Pramod Gupta, Vasvi, Radha, Divyanshu,Shadab, Shubham these all guys were best of my friends. I reached top of the schools from bottom only because of my teachers. Raj Sir, Amit Sir, Seema Mam, Shabnam mam and most importantly Sujata mam, all these played a huge part in my emergence as a student.
I learned a lot in those three years. I became a hard worker, a passionate student and I changed my bad habits into good ones. I will remember these three years as best ones in my life.