A nostalgic friday

I was at work, trying to get my work done as early as possible and I see this e-mail in my inbox. It was about a picassa album link for VVSHS (my high school) alumni meet photos. Oh good, I can see them later at home, I thought. But no, curiosity got the better of me and I had to see the photos right then. Curiosity about what, you ask? To get a glimpse of my teachers of course. Surely, I did get to see all of my teachers and I have to say this - how well they have aged!! I don't know why but going through those photos made my heart beat faster. Even after all these years - seems like a lifetime now, it is amazing how they have the same impact on you. Seeing them there, blissfully sitting among the students against the hauntingly familiar school yard as the backdrop, I was transported to those good old days. Myriad of emotions gush through me - respect and gratitude for the teachers who have created lasting, indelible memories. These are people I have some of the fondest memories of.
Oh! to go back to those days of arguing with teachers for an extra 1/2 a mark. I remember, our monthly tests had 1/4th total marks (of final exam) for each subject. So math, science, social studies, english and kannada were f0r 25 marks and Sanskrit was for 31.5 (because in the final exam, it was for 125, well not 1/4th exactly). Half the class used to have 30.5 in sanskrit. If by chance you fall in the other half, even if you land a 30, you try your best to find loopholes in the correction (the great AV at his funniest saying "ardha markle en agthada, thogo hogli") and get that 1/2 mark by hook or crook. I remember how I used to suck at drawing India map. This one time our social studies question paper had only 4 questions, each of them needed the map to be drawn. I ended up with 4/25 on that paper and my crying knew no end for days to come. The fact that 11 was the highest was no consolation what so ever. The best part was of course the school timing - 12 pm to 5:30 pm. No need to wake up early in the morning! Saturday though was 7:30 to 11:30 and I ended up bunking most of them ;). I have rattled on and I can go on for pages but I think I will stop here.

Naman's corner: To say that he is a brat is an understatement. The sweet, innocent baby is fast turning out to be a master manipulator. Not yet 6 months, he just has to have his way in everything. He is still trying hard to crawl but I think it will take some time before he gets there. His interest to sit on his own has diminished, he now wants to stand up and pulls himself up all the time. He also tries to move on his butt when we try to make him sit. In short, you spend an hour or 2 handling him and you get a nice work out :) Oh and his dad got him a new friend - "my pal scout". It is basically a toy puppy which can be programmed to talk. It is cute but it cannot pronounce the name Naman. So we chose his nickame as "champ". Scout sings some rhymes, chants "I love you champ" and stuff like that. Naman doesn't get these still, all he wants is the pup's nose and to lick it all over.