Chapter 4

Monday morning, me and my sister were ready and waited for the bus to arrive. The bus finally did arrive. It was a red Swaraj Mazda with a little white lines here and there.

“Sunny, tuck your shirt in properly”, my Sis, didi, always keeps acting like Miss Right.
“I’ll do it”
“I’m telling you, you’ll get into trouble if you don’t. Remember what Mom said?”
“I’ll do it”

Now, maybe you wouldn’t have seen the movie ‘God Must Be Crazy’, even I didn’t, but must have heard of it. I think it’s true. God keeps messing with me all the time. And what have I got to show my anger to God? Nothing.

As soon as I got in the bus, there was this almost bald-headed guy who called me up and tucked my shirt in. I should have listened to didi. First impression?

“Ummm…. What is Ooo…your Ke Re? Name?” The almost bald-headed guy asked. I think his English also was almost bald-headed. No, totally bald-headed. Or worse, no-headed!
“Sunny Sawrav,” Remember, Sunny, first Impression, call him sir, “Sir”.
“Which umm… class?”
“8th standard….. Sir”
“You can…. Can you…ummm…. speak Nepali?”
“Not much. A little bit….. Sir” Ok, I think, enough of the First Impression thing.
“I’m your Nepali Teacher” No ‘Umm…. Ooo…. Ke Re?’ this time. Should I ask his name?
“Sir, what is your name?” I’m dead.
“Ke Re?” His right eyebrow raised. Come on Sunny think of something.
“No Sir, just to remember. I have to tell my Mom no!”
“Damodar Dhungana”

I didn’t dare to speak much after that conversation. I was always scared of Nepali, you see. And he was the Lord of the Nepali!

I gave a quick glance at everybody around. There were some small kids who seemed to be of KG or 1st and 2nd standard. Some stared back at me and I looked away. I made my face all grave and pulled my tummy in to give them the impression ‘If you don’t do what I tell you to do, I’ll screw you!’ There were even some other good looking boys and looked graver than me, I suppose. I quickly withdrew my Screw-You look!

Everyone was in uniform but without belt and tie or the badge. Our uniform was white Shirt for everybody and maroon skirt for girls and pants of same color for boys. Typical should-be Nepali school uniform, if you ask me. That’s right, the typical Nepali school uniform is white shirt and Grey pants and skirts. I liked the maroon color because it matched the green mountains found everywhere in Nepal better rather than grey.

The bus took a turn into a gravel path from Chainpur – 4 chowk. It went this and that way round and ended up at the entrance where once me and my father had come for my admission.

We entered the administrative building, the fabulous administrative building and gave our names. That’s for their record. For our record, let’s just know that the building was colored white and had Mosaic all over the floor. Slippery, sparkling, black finish, comfort Sofas, all that you would want here in this office. The director, G.N Thapa used to stay there. On the 1st floor. Oh, and I forgot, the engineers who built this school were hired from Disneyland, Japan! So, I don’t think, you would ever need much explanation about that school!

We gathered in the assembly ground. From here, you could see the Boys Hostel. A black guy was shouting at the boys so loud that you could hear him scream. The boys were laughing. What jerks! I felt pity for that black guy.

“Eh, Sunny!”
I turned towards the person who called my name. I couldn’t believe, it was Avatar, my friend from CEBS.
“Wow! Avatar! So, you are in this school! How come you never told me?”
“Sorry man. Actually, dad’s decision was so sudden, that even I didn’t know. Only yesterday, he came and admitted me. I’m in hostel though. You? Are you joining hostel, or Dayscholar?”
“Dayscholar” He got admission just yesterday? “Wait a minute, did you say, yesterday? You got admitted just yesterday? I mean, what about the Admission Test?”
“I don’t know. Was there a test? Maybe, they didn’t want the test after all then. Just the money.”
“Bastards!” And I was proud for past two days that I am one of the brilliant students who passed the test!

“Get in line!” The black man shouted again.

“Avatar, who’s that black guy?”
“Oh, he’s our HS. That motherfucker!”
“Don’t say so. He’s your HS man.”
“Even you’d say so. He just keeps shouting commands throughout the day.” Then he imitated the HS. “Do this, do that. Give me a break! We are in a co-educational school and not in some military one.”
Suddenly, I felt my joy evaporating bit by bit. I had thought that I would enjoy here, but it seems the World was other way around.

I suddenly recognized a faint voice behind me. As I turned, I saw which I should have seen coming. Didi was speaking to some boy. He was good looking. The girls these days, they always go for some handsome and hope him to be their boyfriend. Even you look at girls here and there! Who said that?
She was just looking around, perhaps searching for me, when she saw me and just smiled. I returned the favor.

“So, what happened between you and Richa?” Avatar asked.
“Nothing. I think… I think we will break up soon”
“Will? You are still going on?”
“Yeah. Why? Aren’t you happy, or what?”
“No..”
“I know you wouldn’t be”
“Fuck you man!”
Now, I knew Avatar very well. He uses this sort of words very often. So, did it have any effect on me? Fuck it!
“Ok. Ok. I was just kidding”
“If you ever irritate me again…” And he lifted his sleeves to reveal his biceps. He could have conveyed ‘I’ll hit you’ message even without lifting his sleeves. But if I wasn’t wrong, then he wasn’t actually showing them to me, but the girls behind me. He had this advantage with him to attract girls to him. Those real good form of muscles in him. Oh, I was so jealous of him just because of this.
“Ok. I won’t”

“Everybody stand in a straight line” A short man on the dais commanded.

All of the 8th standard boys and girls stood in one line. I was standing just behind a beautiful girl. Just then somebody pushed me from behind. I tried to control myself but couldn’t as I was standing lose and my belly had already taken the momentum. God, why did you make me fat? Miserably, I touched the back of the girl. She instantly turned back and glared at me in a ‘I’ll eat you’ way.
“I.. I’m really sorry. Somebody pushed me from behind” And I looked behind. And to make my misery worse, the next person behind me was almost 5 steps back! I turned back to the girl.
“I swear, I didn’t do it” Did you push me God? And for an instant, I was sure, he did.
“All the boys in one line and all the girls in the other line” The same man from the dais commanded again. Shit! Am I the reason for this?

The girl’s stare grew more intense from ‘I’ll eat you’ to ‘I’ll fry you first’.

After the National Anthem and a short prayer, we were off for our classes.