At school, in class eight, a whopping 30 marks of internal evaluation hinged on weekly tests. Ms. Rita Fernandes was our class teacher. (Happy Teachers Day, Ms Fernandes!) She was also the apple of our eyes; we Hero(ian) worshipped her with all the loyalty that ferments in fiery, adolescent hearts .
"Miss" had one constant crib against us: why didn't we spare ourselves, and her, of the pre-test fish market that we created every week, why didn't we just relax before a test?
As it turned out, we did oblige, we did behave ourselves, even if it was just for once. And on the day we did, Ms Fernandes quietly penned this in half an hour and stuck it to the class notice board:
To My Girls 11th Jan '90
Thursday dawned fair and bright
Yes, it was the day of the "Test"
I dreaded entering my class
For fear of encountering
Commotion, confusionand last minute revision!
I tip-toed into the class
Ready to shield myself from the onslaught.
Nearing, I felt something amiss
Was I in the right room?
Was this reality?
For,
As I entered
All my little darlings
Joined their hands to wish me
The prayers were said calmly
The answer sheets were ready
The pens, full of ink, by their side
Then, what was missing?
Why,
The commotion
The confusion
The last-minute revision
And the "Miss - please wait!"
I'm now probably as old as "Miss" was back then. I've lost all connection with the other fish mongers (as miss called us!) but Ms. Fernandes comes back whenever I chance on a yellow, frayed sheet of paper - the poem in original, in her own hand! (Umm... I had quietly plucked the sheet from the notice board when no one was looking! ) And then it dawns that, indeed, the best things in life are "free".
When Anne Frank's family were in hiding from the Nazis, birthday gifts tended to be simple: a jar of yogurt, a hand-made brooch or a poem from Dad to Anne, written when turbulent storms brewed in and around the teenager.
My Dad too had written a lullaby for me. And as daddy grows old and all the gifts that my parents have showered me with keep getting lost in wardrobes or tumble into junkyards, I realise that this one's special - my song, solely for me, written at a time when I used to clench my little fists into resolute cotton balls!
Watched "Kabhie Kabhie"? One of my most beautiful moments from the movie is the song that Amitabh writes for his new-born daughter - "Mere ghar aayee ek nanhee pari" It makes a little pink bundle a queen for life!
Check out Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter". You'll find the mp3 here, but what did me in was the heartbreaking lyrics.
"Miss" had one constant crib against us: why didn't we spare ourselves, and her, of the pre-test fish market that we created every week, why didn't we just relax before a test?
As it turned out, we did oblige, we did behave ourselves, even if it was just for once. And on the day we did, Ms Fernandes quietly penned this in half an hour and stuck it to the class notice board:
To My Girls 11th Jan '90
Thursday dawned fair and bright
Yes, it was the day of the "Test"
I dreaded entering my class
For fear of encountering
Commotion, confusionand last minute revision!
I tip-toed into the class
Ready to shield myself from the onslaught.
Nearing, I felt something amiss
Was I in the right room?
Was this reality?
For,
As I entered
All my little darlings
Joined their hands to wish me
The prayers were said calmly
The answer sheets were ready
The pens, full of ink, by their side
Then, what was missing?
Why,
The commotion
The confusion
The last-minute revision
And the "Miss - please wait!"
I'm now probably as old as "Miss" was back then. I've lost all connection with the other fish mongers (as miss called us!) but Ms. Fernandes comes back whenever I chance on a yellow, frayed sheet of paper - the poem in original, in her own hand! (Umm... I had quietly plucked the sheet from the notice board when no one was looking! ) And then it dawns that, indeed, the best things in life are "free".
When Anne Frank's family were in hiding from the Nazis, birthday gifts tended to be simple: a jar of yogurt, a hand-made brooch or a poem from Dad to Anne, written when turbulent storms brewed in and around the teenager.
My Dad too had written a lullaby for me. And as daddy grows old and all the gifts that my parents have showered me with keep getting lost in wardrobes or tumble into junkyards, I realise that this one's special - my song, solely for me, written at a time when I used to clench my little fists into resolute cotton balls!
Watched "Kabhie Kabhie"? One of my most beautiful moments from the movie is the song that Amitabh writes for his new-born daughter - "Mere ghar aayee ek nanhee pari" It makes a little pink bundle a queen for life!
Check out Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter". You'll find the mp3 here, but what did me in was the heartbreaking lyrics.
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