The Medical Room.

BASED ON TRUE EXPERIENCES.

“Ouch,” I exclaimed.

“Oh my God! I am so damn sorry…I mean I didn’t know I would hurt you or something!,”Raagini kept saying.

“Okay! Stop! It is okay.”

“Can I take you to the medical room or something?”

“Or something! I can go by myself, thank you.Atleast you saved my legs.”

She frowned. Okay so I’d hurt her feelings. But it was all her fault. Nobody asked her to throw the ball at me when I told her that I wasn’t going to catch it.I fell down and I’d hit myself in the head and I’d hurt my hands badly. A lot of blood was pouring out! I walked slowly to the medical room. I could feel Raagini’s gaze behind my back.

I knocked twice at the door.

“Come in!” said a stern voice.

“Good morning ma’am.”

“What are you here for? Can’t you see I am busy?”

She’s got to be kidding me. She was on her laptop and she had ear phones plugged to her ears.

“I’d hurt my self during P.E.I was wondering if you could just do your thing.”

“All right!” she sighed.”Meha!” she called out.

Meha entered the main room. She wasn’t happy to see me.

“Sit down there.” I sat down on the couch.

The lady who I first saw,came towards me and gave me “Vicks”.

“Umm…Ma’am.I’ve hurt my self. I don’t have a cold or something.”

“Are you teaching me what to do?”

“No I was just telling…”

“Shh! Okay wait here.”

Meha came back with an album in her hands.

“Remember these, Anjali? The marriage photos.”

“Oh yeah!”Anjali said.

They were looking at the album for 3 minutes. And then I got irritated. Blood was pouring out and they were looking at their memories!

“Ma’am, my hand and my head?”

“I know! I was going to come,”Anjali screamed.

Meha went into the store-room while Anjali looked at the album some more. Meha reappeared with a wet towel.

Anjali went to her. They were whispering. But I could hear each detail. They had to improve their whispering skills.

“Meha! Wet towel! Her skin may peel off.”

“I know but so what? Who cares?”

“Okay yeah you are right.”

“Umm…I heard what you said. I cannot allow you to do that!” I exclaimed.

They looked at each other.

“We weren’t going to do that anyways,”Meha said nervously.

They went into the store-room and got the things which were right.Anjali came closer and put that spray thing on my hand.OW OW OW!

It’s burning.Ahh! Finally it is better. They gave an icepack for my head and pushed me towards the door.The bell just rang.

“Go,Go to class!” Meha and Anjali said in unison.

“How do you feel?”Raagini asked as soon as I’d reached outside. She must have been waiting for me. I wanted to describe my horrid experience in detail.But I decided to play the good girl.

“Super!” I said.

Ennui

How is it that everything in the world is appealing and fun when you’re revising and once you’re done, so is the fun? I mean, I’ve been home for 4 days and I’ve literally done most of the things on my ‘fun stuff to do when the torture ends’ list..and I thought I was good at keeping myself entertained! It makes you wonder: is work part of the recipe for fun? No high without the lows?

There’s about a million genres of music..how can you be bored with every single one of them? Don’t want to go out, don’t want to doze in the sun, don’t want to watch tv, don’t want to learn anything, don’t want to watch a film, will hog books from the local library but will not read them..ennui is back in town, and it got here with a bang!

Here’s a list of the symptoms  (i’m being true to the medical student-type): boredom, feeling fat (like you’ve had a meal weighing half your body mass which, if you knew me, you’d think was quite possible), feeling frustrated (when you actually feel something other than boredom, that is), wanting to reach out and just pick up that remote but not being quite able to as you lay collapsed on the couch in a comatose state (this is the final stage and requires medical intervention- failure of immediate intervention can lead to loss of will to live)

Medical scientists all over the world are deeply interested in ennui and its complications. Some believe that research into ennui could help answer some fundamental questions about human nature (there are so many bored humans in this world). In an effort to better understand this phenomenon, researchers entrapped a human in the near-fatal comatose state (he couldn’t really defend himself, so it was remarkably easy to achieve this). They proceeded to conduct experiments on him. This involved holding his eye open and trying to poke him in the eye in order to ‘elicit a response’ (in their defence, they were bored themselves). This remarkable ground-breaking experiment established what researchers had suspected for years: the human being relies on intellectual stimulation as much as on water to live.

So, I’m off to try and find some stimulation. I shall first warn my family to call the ambulance if they find me collapsed on the couch for too long, unless they find me asleep, that is.

Caste System In School

India suffers majorly due to different castes prevailing.But let us not talk about India.I am talking about the caste system prevalent in school.I was new to “Delhi Public School,Bangalore.”As every other new student I wanted to fit in,be popular.My first day….”Good Luck”,my parents said in unison.

I entered my class,gave the slip with my details to my class teacher and took a seat.Thirty student eyes stared at the new girl.I squirmed on my seat uncomfortably and gave a feeble smile.The classes went on uneventfully.It was during the lunch time I decided I would spend 3 days with the 3 castes in my class.The names of the three castes are- “The Rich”, “The middle-class” and “The poor”.And i don;t refer to the finacial status of the students by giving the groups the respective names.I refer to their kind of behaviour in school.

The next day I tried talking to the rich.They were pretty welcoming to my surprise.But the only problem was that their topics seemed oblivious to me.Their talks moslty consisted of,”OMG!My dad got me this awesome new mobile yesterday.Nokia N91.It is so cool.” Then this other talk,”This guy in my tuition is so cute.We talked for so long yesterday!”Not to forget,”Did you notice my lipstick?Cool isn’t it.” I decided to mute them out.I didn’t belong here.But one another advantage the rich have is that they are pretty smart.They hardly study and spend all their hours on facebook or the phone but somehow they get good marks in exams.The day with “The rich” was hectic and embarrassing.Especially when a girl asked,”So who was your first boyfriend?”My reply was genuine.”I didn’t have any till today.”They laughed so hard that a teacher came inside the class to see what all the commotion was about.Well day 1 was over!Tomorrow is the day with the middle-class.

The next day I realised that the middle-class were perfect.They liked to make their parents happy.They were intelligent and got very good marks.They were good friends and teacher’s favourites.But they had the jealousy drawback.If a teacher praised one student from her group,the other would not talk to the girl for the rest of the day.Pretty stupid!The middle-class also consisted of those kinds of people who don’t share their lunches,fought for the smallest issues.Well day 2 wasn’t so bad.

Then the next day with “The poor” turned out be good and odd.They were complete nerds who even studied during the “Physical Education” period and ”Library”.Worst of all,”Lunch time”.But you can’t hate them.They are very generous and sweet.They are the ones who get full for every test.They are smart and intelligent.Their talks with me made me feel like a complete loser.One asked,”Which formula of trigonometery do you like the most.”I answered the first thing that came to my mind.

“sin(A-B)=sinAcosB-cosAsinB”.

Then sadly they had a discussion on trigonometery which bored me to sleep.The very next day i contemplated on which group to be with.They all were good in one way.And awkward in another.But I realised that they all shared a common feature.None of the groups would interact with another for any reason.They lead their school lives in their own groups.That is the reason I call it the caste system.I’d better sit and watch all three groups a while more.Wise choice!

Stage Fright

You know, according to me, one of the toughest things in life is to speak in front of an audience. I’d enrolled for pick ‘n’ talk (commonly known as JAM) in my school. Wait! I was forced to enroll for pick ‘n’ talk in my school. I suppose all of you have heard of it. It is a competition where the contestants have to choose a topic from a box and will have only a minute to prepare for it. And a minute to speak for it!
“You’re up,” said the teacher in charge to me.
‘Don’t remind me,” I said under my breath so that she had no hope of hearing.
I moved to the box with the topics in it. I took the first one I saw. Please be a good topic! ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover” said the paper. WHAT?! I’m going to embarrass myself.
After introducing myself I’ll talk about what the topic means. Then I should refer to vanity. I’ll also talk about where it was first seen. No, that’ll seem too nerdy. But what else can I say about the topic which was annoying me now? Time up!
“Good luck. You’ll be the best!,” said the teacher with a smile.
‘Thank you,’ I said with a smile. I really wanted to believe her. I walked on stage and the first ones I noticed were my friends. They made funny faces to make a laugh. Some friends! I adjusted the mike according to my height. I thought of the old “Stage fright” tip. You have to imagine the audience in their underpants. But that only made me more nervous. “Good evening everyone!”, I said cheerfully. Wait! It was a morning!
“I mean good morning everyone.” A few seventh graders were giggling at my mistake. A bad start definitely…. “The topic given to me is ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.”
“The phrase means that you must not judge the personality of a person based of his or her appearance. This phrase refers to the vanity of certain people. It was first seen in an African journal in the year 1944.” I sounded like a nerd. Not good! I saw a girl yawning! How boring am I? What else should I say?
“Umm…just as how a boring looking book would turn out to be interesting and an interesting looking book would turn out be boring, the human being is also judged on that basis. A beautiful person from outside may not be a beautiful person from inside.” I still had thirty seconds left.
“Umm…Um.. I’m sorry but I don’t know what to say more on this topic.” Did I just say that? Suddenly the entire auditorium looked at me like as if I was a museum piece.Oh no!
“I’m sorry but I got a real rotten topic. Wouldn’t you agree?” I stared at the students. Suddenly everything was a blur. Teachers told me go back inside.
“Thank you.” My voice quivered. I went back inside. The teacher came to me and glared at me.
“What was that about?,” she asked reproaching.
“Sorry but I was just so nervous,” I replied nervously. She glared for a few more seconds and went back. After a few more participants the judge came to announce the winners. She may mention me for bad behavior. Great!
‘The third prize goes to Niharika Suresh,’ she said happily. The crowd cheered. “The second prize goes to Amritha Pillai.” More cheering. “Now the moment we’ve all been awaiting for.The first prize goes to…..any guesses?”
I heard many names being called. I couldn’t hear a particular name being called properly.
“Andal Srivatsan.”
What? Did she just call my name? I’m the winner of this year! I went on stage with an expression of disbelief on my face.
“You know why I chose you?”, asked the judge.
“I was hoping you would tell me that. I’m shocked.”
“Don’t be. A true speaker should not be afraid to voice his or her opinions out. And that’s why you were the speaker of the day.”
I smiled at her. What a day this turned out to be!

The stranger on the roof

I stood there peering through the edge, while wondering how this visit to the empire state building would be any different. The last time I was here was 9 years ago, that was a family trip, this part of a conference. I watched as the people ran from side to side taking pictures of themselves and their loved ones, a proof that they had once been at the top of the tower. Some stood there in awe admiring the beauty of the city from this height, while others bought gifts and curios at the gift shop inside. What people failed to realize though is the fact that anyone could have bought the same items they did at shops anywhere in the city, for half the price.

Empire State Building

Then I noticed him, a frail old man standing at one corner. Dressed in a shirt that was much too big for him and holding an old bag that seemed older than he was, this man wasn’t running around taking photos, or glancing at the city or even buying curios. He just stood there gazing. Then suddenly he looked in my direction. One look into his eyes and I felt something different. Why I do not know but I walked up to this strange old man. “Good Morning!” No reply. I then thought to myself, “Why do I even bother?” and was about to walk away, and just I was doing so I caught his eyes once again. There was something wrong, and so I ventured once again “Is anything wrong?” and again no reply!

Just as I walk away “Its just….nothing.” I turned around, there was something about this old man that filled me with sympathy even though I had hardly seen him. Was it because he could barely walk? Or was it because of that innocent yet deep look in his face? To this day I do not know. “If I can help you, I’d be glad!” at this point the man almost broke down. “I came here with my daughter-in-law, we had a fight and she left, I don’t have any money to get home.” I’m never a sucker for such stories, and yet this time it seemed so different. Someone tapped me on my shoulder “Hey, time to leave man, we have to be back at the pick up point if we want to go with the group on time!” Being on my own I didn’t have much money myself, but after digging around my bag, I handed the man $5, “That’s all I have right now, hope you can make it home with that!”

And with that I left for the place where the bus was supposed to pick us up. I felt within myself great happiness, I may not have solved his problem, but I had done the best I could. There the bus was long; apparently it was caught in traffic. The bus came and the group got on. I found myself a seat by the window! The bus was inching forward in the traffic jam. I glanced out the window and saw the old man walking. I watched to see what he would do. I watched in awe as he walked into the bar!