THE BACK BENCHER’S DREADED LECTURE
It was the last day of school before the final exams, and the last lecture of the day – MATHS. I couldn’t believe I was actually sitting on my LAST BENCH in sorrowful anticipation of stuffing that entire chunk of an Arithmetic textbook, into my head; like stuffing aloo into samosa. My head was spinning, – ready to blast at the thought of all the teacher’s explosive explanations, dinosauric diagrams, fearsome formulas,….I felt sick. There was some tension also among the truly clever group of kids, who’s brilliance shone upon our class like a 1000 watt bulb.
But for the infamous – five, show – offs,– the front bencher’s…MATHS woj the fun subject, as usual –they were behaving like they had fire behind them; ready to take – off into space, any moment. That teacher ka chamcha Mahesh; in his hyper, annoying voice, forever reminding teacher about maths class – tests. Raj, the self – made pride of FIT – JEE, forever trying to solve impossible sums on the board, in vain. Sight of stupidity Rakesh, with his hand stuck forever in that irritating position of “ I know it all”…..Air bags Tia and Jia, forever bragging the life out of their previous maths scores and forever the teacher’s ‘look’ would be – ‘kuch seekho inhse’. Lekin, hum kya seekthe? Hum main woh baat hi kahan thi, ki hawa main lamba – lamba phekte?. Hum toh pass ho jaye, wahi kaafi hain.
The dread full maths class began; with the teacher saying: “ Ish – tudents, let uj ish –tart the Math. I will taste (test) you. The math ij the very FUN,’’. It seemed like the teacher’s discussions was limited to the ‘five front – bencher’s’ her Paanch – Ratnas, and only they understood what she said, as if she had set – up a ‘panch’ – ayat with them, while I was an onlooker…. even if you just knew how to pretend to know arithmetic, you’d be privileged to get a sideways glance from the teacher. But I was not even applicable for this pretending category. I was one of the hope – lessh, uje – lesh, waste – of – timej’s .
But Thank God! For I was a BACK BENCHER!! And by some divine intervention the lamboo – ji’s of our dearest 9th D, sat like shields in front of me; if not for my tall buddy – Kailash; the day MATHS teacher checked H.W, I’d be KHALAS!!!
A Note From Roshni 