Back To School!

Just before returning to Mumbai after Diwali, I managed to pass by my school in Adayar,Chennai (Bala Vidya Mandir)
Hand Cricket Wicket- The Cement block next to the temple was our stumps, where three lines were carved way back in 1993, when we started playing hand cricket. Some of those lines dont exist, but if you observe closely you could see a few straight lines. The temple was built around 96-97 and that restricted the place we had for cricket. Our dressing room was the tree and behind the wicket


The serene Jungle gym has given way to more cemented structures. Sad they couldnt maintain the jungle gym. That was one lovely place for a lunch with classmates with beach mud and trees all around. I guess we did play hand cricket there also. I guess thats where I started giving commentary bytes aping Tony Greig, Brian Langley(Of Prime Sports Fame), Ranjit Fernando and Micheal Holding.

Our school auditorium and the erstwhile Jungle gym were bordering the Gandhi Nagar Tennis court. Secretly most of the boys were hoping that some of those gleaming fluroscent yellow tennis balls would bounce of the court and we would get to keep some of those tennis balls. COSCO was the brand, we amateur gulli cricket players loved owning. I guess we played 7 stones, football and catches also with the same ball after school. Those days were so simple, with modest ambitions and time for everything. The fresher yellow colour of the COSCO ball was a sign of your status, and ofcourse if you had a spare ball, at a time when guys just lost a ball, in the midst of a interesting game, your status grew by leaps and bounds.

My school auditorium flooring seems to have changed, apart from some architectural modifications. I owe this auditorium for helping me make the transition from a guy who couldnt address a crowd, to a guy who went and hosted inter school quizzes.

The auditorium now has AC rooms and proper control rooms unlike the messy wires that were all over the place earlier. I remember a play in class 7, when I had a small role as a son, who was eating. Now when you get free coke and cake to eat, and you suddenly realise that your play is about to end, I thought the free party was about to end a little too soon, and I ended up gorging myself with cake and coke, and ended up ruining the play, as everybody's attention was on me.

It was good rewinding memories, 8 years after I passed out school.