July 17,1996 : My first day in Bengali Sr. Sec.School , class 9th.A class 9th student have no fear about schools teacher places etc.But, in my case it was totally different.Reason, it was first my first day in a school which is Bengali and so far I rarely listened any Hindi words from any of my fellow mates in the school bus.It was totally different world for me and I started feeling like an alien in the bus itself.But keeping the B+ve attitude I thought it will not be the case in school.
After reaching the school I tried locating my class which fortunately I did without any help.Now the student started pouring in large numbers.Very soon I was being stared as an alien who have falled in some distant village of south africa.One more disadvantage I had was that there was only one new admission in the senior section and it was me.Very soon I started hearing these two words - "nutan choele".I didn't tried too much understanding this keeping it for some other day,but by this time I started realising my tough days ahead.
As my mind was busy consoling my heart, just then the morning bell rang and soon everyone was lined up for assembly area.Soon the principal started the morning, first thing she said "Shubprabhat", i heard it as "shukrabar",I questioned my self, it should be "budhbar" wednesday, but I decided to let it go.
I was hopeful that the medium of education will be English .After the assembly we headed for our classes.Reaching the class I saw that my bag was being tossed like a basket ball and saw it finally landed on the ground not even a seat.The general type of reaction that any new admission get to face in their new schools. But my class teacher was kind enough to make me sit in the second row, which was a kind of blow to the basketball (my bag) players .
In a class of 80 student and my roll number being last, I was almost about to sleep when my turn came, but just before some other student was caught sleeping, and that acted as a alarm for me. Now slowly the pressure was building up as by this time I have realized that the medium is going to be Bengali only and
everything was going above my head.
Amidst all this I noticed a weird pattern, every time any subject teacher would enter the class and ask something looking at me, there used to be 4-5 replies "nutan choele".Now by the 7th -8th lecture, and without being able to understand a single word, I decided to take this word head-on little stress on (artifical) intelligence started in my mind for searching the meaning of this word "nutan choele". My internal search engine returned with two answers : Nutan - the bollywood heroine and Chole as in Chole Bhature. But could not relate these two to my situation, so decided to close it.
Now my mind started looking for all possible options like quitting the school, going back to my hometown, going back to my old school and every possible solution that could have broke into my pressurized mind.
Finally the big relief came in form of last bell and we ran towards our bus, this was the most awaited thing that day and I really wanted to consider my decision to study in Bengali school.
to be continued ............
============================================================================
Part 2 continued
Reaching home I tried to convince everyone to let me change my school, but I was given a big time goli - that I will get to learn a new language and that Bengali School is the oldest one established in 1872, which surely it is.
With all the discussion at home , I finally decided to take this as challenge.I devised a strategy to learn Bengali language in roman, writing a sentence in Hindi then asking for its Bengali version and then memorizing it.
Second day at assembly, same start with "Suprabhat" and me again very uncomfortable with this.I just tried to confirm it from my classmate - "bhai kal bhi sukrabar aaj bhi sukrabar" aisa kyon bol rahi hai madam.Then he laughed at me and before actually telling me the meaning he spread the word in entire assembly and then replied to me that Suprabhat means 'good morning'.Lesson learnt : don't interpret on your own instead ask for meaning.
Then again I heard this word 'Nuoton Choele', this time I decided to confront the person- "choele kyon bol raha hai bey". Someone from behind - abey 'nuotaon choele' matlab 'new admission'. Second doubt busted.
Spending couple of hours, I learned few sentences in roman-Bengali and that boosted my confidence to survive in my new school.After couple of days one more thing I came to know was about roll number depending on ranks - that means roll number -1 the topper and so on and my roll number being 80+ so this
projected my image as someone who spent 2-3 years in 9th class itself.
As time passed by I got good friends ,great teachers and then I enjoyed my every day in Bengali school.And yes, Bengali school is surely a very good school.
After reaching the school I tried locating my class which fortunately I did without any help.Now the student started pouring in large numbers.Very soon I was being stared as an alien who have falled in some distant village of south africa.One more disadvantage I had was that there was only one new admission in the senior section and it was me.Very soon I started hearing these two words - "nutan choele".I didn't tried too much understanding this keeping it for some other day,but by this time I started realising my tough days ahead.
As my mind was busy consoling my heart, just then the morning bell rang and soon everyone was lined up for assembly area.Soon the principal started the morning, first thing she said "Shubprabhat", i heard it as "shukrabar",I questioned my self, it should be "budhbar" wednesday, but I decided to let it go.
I was hopeful that the medium of education will be English .After the assembly we headed for our classes.Reaching the class I saw that my bag was being tossed like a basket ball and saw it finally landed on the ground not even a seat.The general type of reaction that any new admission get to face in their new schools. But my class teacher was kind enough to make me sit in the second row, which was a kind of blow to the basketball (my bag) players .
In a class of 80 student and my roll number being last, I was almost about to sleep when my turn came, but just before some other student was caught sleeping, and that acted as a alarm for me. Now slowly the pressure was building up as by this time I have realized that the medium is going to be Bengali only and
everything was going above my head.
Amidst all this I noticed a weird pattern, every time any subject teacher would enter the class and ask something looking at me, there used to be 4-5 replies "nutan choele".Now by the 7th -8th lecture, and without being able to understand a single word, I decided to take this word head-on little stress on (artifical) intelligence started in my mind for searching the meaning of this word "nutan choele". My internal search engine returned with two answers : Nutan - the bollywood heroine and Chole as in Chole Bhature. But could not relate these two to my situation, so decided to close it.
Now my mind started looking for all possible options like quitting the school, going back to my hometown, going back to my old school and every possible solution that could have broke into my pressurized mind.
Finally the big relief came in form of last bell and we ran towards our bus, this was the most awaited thing that day and I really wanted to consider my decision to study in Bengali school.
to be continued ............
============================================================================
Part 2 continued
Reaching home I tried to convince everyone to let me change my school, but I was given a big time goli - that I will get to learn a new language and that Bengali School is the oldest one established in 1872, which surely it is.
With all the discussion at home , I finally decided to take this as challenge.I devised a strategy to learn Bengali language in roman, writing a sentence in Hindi then asking for its Bengali version and then memorizing it.
Second day at assembly, same start with "Suprabhat" and me again very uncomfortable with this.I just tried to confirm it from my classmate - "bhai kal bhi sukrabar aaj bhi sukrabar" aisa kyon bol rahi hai madam.Then he laughed at me and before actually telling me the meaning he spread the word in entire assembly and then replied to me that Suprabhat means 'good morning'.Lesson learnt : don't interpret on your own instead ask for meaning.
Then again I heard this word 'Nuoton Choele', this time I decided to confront the person- "choele kyon bol raha hai bey". Someone from behind - abey 'nuotaon choele' matlab 'new admission'. Second doubt busted.
Spending couple of hours, I learned few sentences in roman-Bengali and that boosted my confidence to survive in my new school.After couple of days one more thing I came to know was about roll number depending on ranks - that means roll number -1 the topper and so on and my roll number being 80+ so this
projected my image as someone who spent 2-3 years in 9th class itself.
As time passed by I got good friends ,great teachers and then I enjoyed my every day in Bengali school.And yes, Bengali school is surely a very good school.
