Dhoni aur meri kahani (!)
Mahender Singh Dhoni and I were batchmates at school. I discovered that he too passed out of DAV-JVM in 1999 after reading an interview of his. But then there were 5,000 students in that school and I was there for only two years so I never saw him (after all he had neither long nor coloured hair at that point of time).
It was a surpise then when I happened to catch up with a batchmate after seven years and she told me that she had met him outside her home. He stays in Mecon which is where DAV-JVM is located. So she tells me, "Remember how all of us who were short of attendance used to have these extra classes close to the Board exams? He was also with us in that class." He was? I have no such recollection. She had been very unwell that summer and had missed the entire first term. Dhoni had been too busy with his cricket and I had just been plain lazy and hence, we were all short of attendance. The one constructive thing I could have done while sitting in those awful classrooms (since studies were not really my cup of tea) was too have struck up a friendship with him, par woh bhi nahi...
Dhoni has to be the only redeeming feature of that school where each one of the teachers was quirkier than the other and where students got good marks despite the teachers, not because of them.
The school's philosophy was simple. It was at that time just about the only school which had Classes XI and XII affiliated to the CBSE. So it would short-list all the students with 90% and above (and put them in with all the nincompoops who had studied there since KG) and at the end of two years claim, what wonderful students it had produced.
A post will perhaps not be able to do justice to the quirkiness of the teachers there, each one of them worse than the other, but I must attempt it. Here goes: Let me start with the principal Ram Iqbal who was never quite there. In my two years there, I saw him only a handful of times. He looked more like a sarkari babu in his safari suits than an educationist, but that's how things were there.
Next in line was D R Singh who started the assembly with a juggling act in one of my first weeks at the school. For a few mintes, I was left wondering if I had joined a new school or come to the new circus in town.
There was S N Thakur, whose girth would make boys discuss endlessly if he was carrying quintuplets. His son (don't remember his name) used to study with us and was the dumbest guy I have ever seen. His pet name was Mithu and that's what most teachers would call him (Come to think of it, he looked like a parrot too, but alas unlike a parrot, never ever opened his mouth).
Then, of course, there was S Roy who would walk around the entire class like he had a pendulum in his body and just say, "Shallow! Shallow! Your knowledge is very shallow.'' He never did anything to make it deeper, but then...
His namesake Ms S Roy was slightly better but only used to talk about Rockefeller's daughter having married a butcher (she could have married a gay man, frankly, do you care? I didn't and still don't.)
Our class was rather unfortuante in having children of two teachers among us. Apart from Mithu, there was Deepika, Chaubey's daughter. Chaubey is immortal. As is the apocryphal stories about how he had once told a student, "First you were lying with principal, now you are lying with me." Unfortunately, even when he let out gems such as, "Open the windows and let the atmosphere come inside,'' we couldn't laugh as Deepika darling used to sit right in front of us.
So, seven years after having left DAV and having tried my best to forget every single memory associated with that school, I suddenly find myself trying very very hard to remember which one of those guys was Dhoni. But try as I might, I have only a vague recollection... Even so, I am happy to finally have one positive memory associated with DAV.
I went to school with Dhoni and these days, that statement seems to command a lot of attention. I am not telling anyone that I didn't see him there (and you guys keep shut too, ok?)...
It was a surpise then when I happened to catch up with a batchmate after seven years and she told me that she had met him outside her home. He stays in Mecon which is where DAV-JVM is located. So she tells me, "Remember how all of us who were short of attendance used to have these extra classes close to the Board exams? He was also with us in that class." He was? I have no such recollection. She had been very unwell that summer and had missed the entire first term. Dhoni had been too busy with his cricket and I had just been plain lazy and hence, we were all short of attendance. The one constructive thing I could have done while sitting in those awful classrooms (since studies were not really my cup of tea) was too have struck up a friendship with him, par woh bhi nahi...
Dhoni has to be the only redeeming feature of that school where each one of the teachers was quirkier than the other and where students got good marks despite the teachers, not because of them.
The school's philosophy was simple. It was at that time just about the only school which had Classes XI and XII affiliated to the CBSE. So it would short-list all the students with 90% and above (and put them in with all the nincompoops who had studied there since KG) and at the end of two years claim, what wonderful students it had produced.
A post will perhaps not be able to do justice to the quirkiness of the teachers there, each one of them worse than the other, but I must attempt it. Here goes: Let me start with the principal Ram Iqbal who was never quite there. In my two years there, I saw him only a handful of times. He looked more like a sarkari babu in his safari suits than an educationist, but that's how things were there.
Next in line was D R Singh who started the assembly with a juggling act in one of my first weeks at the school. For a few mintes, I was left wondering if I had joined a new school or come to the new circus in town.
There was S N Thakur, whose girth would make boys discuss endlessly if he was carrying quintuplets. His son (don't remember his name) used to study with us and was the dumbest guy I have ever seen. His pet name was Mithu and that's what most teachers would call him (Come to think of it, he looked like a parrot too, but alas unlike a parrot, never ever opened his mouth).
Then, of course, there was S Roy who would walk around the entire class like he had a pendulum in his body and just say, "Shallow! Shallow! Your knowledge is very shallow.'' He never did anything to make it deeper, but then...
His namesake Ms S Roy was slightly better but only used to talk about Rockefeller's daughter having married a butcher (she could have married a gay man, frankly, do you care? I didn't and still don't.)
Our class was rather unfortuante in having children of two teachers among us. Apart from Mithu, there was Deepika, Chaubey's daughter. Chaubey is immortal. As is the apocryphal stories about how he had once told a student, "First you were lying with principal, now you are lying with me." Unfortunately, even when he let out gems such as, "Open the windows and let the atmosphere come inside,'' we couldn't laugh as Deepika darling used to sit right in front of us.
So, seven years after having left DAV and having tried my best to forget every single memory associated with that school, I suddenly find myself trying very very hard to remember which one of those guys was Dhoni. But try as I might, I have only a vague recollection... Even so, I am happy to finally have one positive memory associated with DAV.
I went to school with Dhoni and these days, that statement seems to command a lot of attention. I am not telling anyone that I didn't see him there (and you guys keep shut too, ok?)...
posted by 8 by 52 at 5:44 AM
11 Comments:
Viva la Dhoni. I had a teacher with a reputation for saying similar things - "Make a circle in a straight line" and "I have two daughters. Both are girls".
Come to think of it, I never actually heard him say that so it might just be an apocryphal story passed on down the ages and who knows - from Dhanbad to Delhi.
Listen this is uncanny but I had a teacher who used to say the exat same dialogue!
There were variations:
1) open the window and let the atmosphere come in
2) open the window and let the air force come in
and omg, omg .. also
* I have 2 sons, both are boys
* I have 2 cars i can only drive one at a time
* give me a blue pen of any colour
* wait for 2 minutes I'm coming in 5 minutes
* the highest is 9.5 but someone has also got a ten
OMG. Tony which school were you in?
I can't imagine Tony and SR at the same school. Can you?
Another thing, I should have probably checked out whether Dhoni had any recollection as well, no? You told me about it only after I was over with the interview...
Chaubey's stories seem to have been repeated in schools across India. But I bet none of your teachers used to say bhalume when they meant volume...
Toe knee: I went to school in Ranchi, not Dhanbad.
Essar: He went to the school which shares its boundary wall with my colony.
AB: I know he went to a boys' school and she went to a co-ed one so there's no question of having to imagine things.
And Dhoni had 34% attendance plus he was in the afternoon session. I was in the morning one so it's unlikely he recollects anything though apparently he did remember Abhilasha and all the extra clsses we had attended together.
I wish I had some celeb classmate... would make dinner small talk so much more interesting! *sigh*
just chanced upon your blog .. not sure how . . .
just a few clarifications. . . the guys who topped class 12 (at least science stream) that year (1999). . .Nalin . . was in DAVJVM from KG. Also the guy who got the highest rank in IIT JEE from the school, Vineet.
Dhoni was in the morning shift . . .he was the school sports captain or whatever the designation was . . .
i guess you spent too much time in class (or studying at home for entrance exams) to have noticed anything outside . . . yeah DAV was/is not the best school or anything . . . but we had fun . . . at least some of us who were not busy studying for entrance exams (thats what you were doing rt? why else did you get an attendance shortage?) . . . and how come you did not mention A.K. Singh . . . he was the biggest a-hole in the faculty
hey, just got across ur blog, thinking that would read something gud. but was surprised by ur bitter blog :)... afterall me being one of those nincompoops, u give me no option to take any other stand !!! anyhow wish u luck.
Well, not a great blog to be read as first thing after waking up in morning ... but I do feel nostalgic and proud about my roots just like you but atleast some of us - nincompoops - respect others too. Just like an Indian - we accept foreigners - their wisdom - and help them feel at home. So here's a question you should keep answering to yourself - How many places you have left a better place to live in, after living there?
Hi I was also in the same class can i know who u r who wrote about mithu and teams i must be knowing u very much
This blog is a complete crap and u Mr Blogger seem to be a complete looser who wud throughout his life keep tagging himself with successful people and commenting negatively about each and every thing... We are the proud students of DAV JVM which has given us the gut to face the world and make our school proud... It is really a mistake to open our doors to needy ones like you who come, utilise and then curse....
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