As It Comes To Mind

Teepi K and Teepi A were best friends and classmates too, if they got lucky. The school they studied in had a policy of mixing up the students at the beginning of every academic year, and consequently, the students had no choice but to mingle with new classmates and make new friends every new school year if they ended up in a section that their friends were not in. None of the students liked it and every year in April when school reopened for the new academic year rows of students could be seen crossing their fingers and fervently praying that they could be with their friends in the new class. Teepi K and Teepi A would be seen doing the very same thing and they would be glad about every opportunity that they got to be together in school if it turned out that they were not in the same section. If, on the other hand, they were in the same class then they would be inseparable and would gleefully celebrate their good luck by buying the 50 paise vanilla ice cream from the ice cream seller ...

The great Indian South-West monsoon dawned a trifle lazily at first, but soon picked up momentum as the wet and wild month of August came with its typically heavy showers that spanned almost the whole of the Indian peninsula. Most of northern and central India receives the bulk of their annual rainfall during this month. And rather fittingly the festival of Janmashtami or Sree Krishna Jayanti is observed and celebrated with much fervor across the country.  Monu and her friends loved the rains as any Delhi-ite does and used to have races in the pouring rain. It was during one such race that something unexpected happened that the children would remember with amusement for years to come. It was a Sunday morning and the neighborhood was rather silent with not even a hint of any movement or sound. Being the weekend, the younger children would be sleeping late while the elder ones would be engaged with household chores. For Radha, Shree and Neeba, weekends always meant that they were ...

It was the middle of March in the year 198_ and it seemed as if all of Nature was conspiring to make one feel as sleepy as possible. Actually this kind of climate would start about the last week of February and continue for about a month before summer took over, claiming its right to bake everyone and everything in sight rather like a ready-to-roast kiln. The weather was getting warmer by the day and Monu’s exams were inching towards closure. There were only a couple of exams left and Monu waited in patient anticipation for those to get over and the vacation to start. The holidays would last about ten days before the new academic year began and all the kids and their parents got busy with school reopening. Monu had been busy studying for her exams during the day that had been a study leave. As evening fell she looked out from her window towards the bustling main road beyond the red brick wall. She could see the vehicles big and small that ran fast and fearsome towards their destinat...