Chinnu was born and bought up in a way where she never differentiated between Hindu ,Christian or Muslim..All were same for her ..
Chinnu studied in a convent school run by a Christian Management and many nuns were teachers too and it's in close proximity to church..The school is located very near to main road with all small shopkeepers surrounding the place..School was pretty old but yes it had its own beauty..It was painted pale yellow color and with tiles on the top and long and clean corridors.. She used to love its broken windows ,dark brown painted wooden doors ,fainted terracotta tiles ,wooden benches and desks arranged nicely ,one side of the wall was painted black and is used as black board ,dusters made and donated by children in class- they used to compete with each other for donating the dusters ..As kids that was like an accomplishment that teacher is using their duster..That's like an honor ..
There was regional medium and English medium batch..Chinnu couldn't make out why her parents put her in English Medium...Teachers were not so good in English as they also studied in regional mediums and it was one of the normal regional school in the locality.So teachers had difficulty in teaching English Medium students as the books and all the Science ,Social science,History,Maths concepts were written in English which was difficult for the teacher's to comprehend..She still remembers her social studies and history teacher reading out the same chapter from regional textbook and asking students to concentrate on their English book..Even all the students were requested to buy regional version apart from their own books..They never felt bad about this as even they didn't know to speak English fluently but just understood the required portions
It was Girls only school and when Chinnu reached 7th standard ,they introduced mixed batch..But one problem -new school was constructed just across the road and near to church and mixed batch or boys only allowed in that compound....Students from old school were allowed to go to new school only if you are taking catechism studies as part of curriculum and ofcourse Chinnu and her friends were interested to cross the border and meet boys :) ..Though being a christian ,Chinnu never went for catechism class as she loved moral science much better than hearing more about Christianity and ofcourse all her friends were Hindu's so didn't want to leave them and go..But Chinnu and her friends were really excited and joined the catechism class ..but made sure that no one noticed them as it would be a big issue to find non Christians sitting in a catechism class..They were all excited and made sure they combed their hair properly and was ready to see the new aliens (boys) ....that was fun..Yeah they did achieve their target of meeting boys but couldn't digest some teachings in the class..So they moved back to moral science..
As catechism classes ended ,there was no option for them to go to the new school..Now what to do ? They all made a plan and decided to go to church everyday afternoon without fail..They achieved the fun of meeting boys on the way and making sure that god is also pleased ..
Chinnu still remembers the cemetery over there which always attracted them to investigate whether there are ghosts or what all they can find from cemetery..It was a huge area with full grass and trees around and it always had some dark effect..something mentioned in ghost novels or movies..There was a board on top mentioning "Ennu nan nale ni" (I am the one today and Tomorrow ,it's U )...
At home ,Chinnu was an independent child though it was a jail for her..But she always tried to see the beauty of world around her ..be it just peeping into sky when she was asked to study..Night sky,beauty of stars,thunder ,lightening and that smoothing cool temperature at night always excited her..Ghosts were her friends..Dracula was her lover...her dreams were around ghosts and she started liking them....She always dreamt of some magic to happen so that she is set as a free bird and she can fly away leaving this world and be a happy soul..
(To be continued........................................)
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