Sat Punch: Carrying Mischief & Innocence

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Those were the days when as a child I used to wake up with so much of difficulty to go to school, but more than that the most memorable part was that of carrying a steel trunk to the school instead of the schoolbag. And I have even lived those days when we would carry our ‘slates’ with ‘saletis’ (chalk) to the school and even at home, with my mom struggling hard with me to grasp all that I learnt in school.

Today, when we complain of heavy bags, in those days we carried steel trunks but never complained! But those trunks had their own importance and I loved it when my mom would stack all books into it with a stainless steel lunch box too and every morning like a suitcase she would lock it, making it ready for me to head for school.

Writing on the wall was never heard then, but writing on the slate was all that we knew about. I have not studied in schools where slates took place of books, but yes we were asked to bring them for revision purposes. They still exist in village schools, I believe, but it was an altogether different feel to write on them and rub them with my own hands, never making use of the small duster I always had with me.

They are obsolete now and only find a place in my memories, but sans modern educational aids, studying was much more fun. There were no smart classrooms, but the feel of sitting in a class with chalks littered all over and at times even breathing the chalk powder had its own charm. It’s nostalgic remembering those days, and at times I close my eyes, and see myself as a kid, clad in green shorts and white shirt (my school uniform), with straight uncombed hair falling on the forehead and a naughty look, firmly carrying my steel trunk as if containing nothing but mischief and innocence of childhood!