MY ELSY TEACHER
When sharp hollowness conquer the mind, when nothing more to be creative, a desperate day of such a kind can bring you in to a sudden notion of a trip. That day a small journey in to my old school were seventeen years back I was a kid with severe pranks. I went on my black bike. Some dark clouds were still lingering over the sky, but I went on. Some old frames were there in my mind of the school. A noisy mansion, nearby church, frozen classrooms….
As like love at first sight, nostalgic at first sight I was. Nothing changed. I could see the same verandah, same arch, same frozen classrooms. Without a second thought I went inside one of the class rooms, sudden the teacher stopped me, “who are you”. Is that a frown or an authoritative query she should ask? I answered her that I was an old student of the school and came for nothing, on the way I stopped and wanted to have a look. She too had a sudden surprise, and enquired all the details, which year I studied, which class, which teacher etc. but I was lost in thoughts, a boy with shorts and shirts running through the verandah, I was searching for that lost frame in my old fond memory disk.
The teacher brought me to the office and the Head Mistress through her glass scanned me. To simplify their doubts I told them that my father was once the PTA president of the school. She took the archive and went through the photos. Yes I spotted him wearing a brown Rayban. “It’s my father”, I cried. After a fifteen minute chat I asked her if still old teachers are there in the school. She couldn’t get whom I was referring to, and the problem was I couldn’t remember her name who taught me, A for Apple, B for Bat, the first hand lessons of my life. But I remember her eyes, she has a squint eyes.
That helped her spot the teacher. She told its Elsy, I prayed God don’t let my clues go wrong. She rang the attendee and enquired if she was there. Yes Elsy teacher is there in the class. With the permission I hurried in to the class. I was busy framing her, how would she look like. Attendee took me in to the same class where once I sat with my pals and did all the pranks. LKG B, some twenty thirty kids were roaring there. But my Elsy teacher wasn’t there. I heard even a kid asking “aren’t you our new sir”?
He searched all the nook and corner for her, but in vain. But he brought the news that Elsy teacher just left to home. Luckily the lady knows where my Elsy teacher lives. She told me the name of the place, somewhat five kilometers apart. I decided to move to her home. Before that I took some pictures of my old classroom with my mobile. Met the Headmistress who accompanied by a group of teachers. They were all gazing at me, might have wondered after seeing this old chap.
The roads in front of me lead to severe confusion; throughout I asked the people I see on the road side. At last I met the house. A small house painted yellow, showing the unlined bricks. I beckoned her name, no answer. I continued and sudden an old grandma opened the door for me. She was struggling to spot me. i enquired whether there is someone called Elsy here. A lady wearing spectacles came out.” What you want”? I was mute for a minute; the empty frame which I carried was filling with an image, my Elsy teacher. I asked her if she could recognize me, knowing that she won’t. She pondered for a while but as I expected she didn’t get me. I revealed myself, my name first, but still she failed. I told her I was a bad boy of her class, but she didn’t. sudden I remember my most outrageous prank of breaking her spectacles once, when I was about to tell her that , I could see her eyes filled with tears, she got me, the naughtiest chap of her seventeen years back LKG batch. She was looking me up to down. She was screaming to her grandma, “This is my old student, faris”. She couldn’t stop weeping
Seventeen years flash back. We discussed almost all, my scoring of zeros in every dictation, my parents’ worries, peeing in the class etc. Everything we talked. I asked about her family and understanding the meaning of my question, she replied “is still single living for my old mom”
When I was leaving the home with a nostalgia brimming heart, I saw she was looking me with her squint eyes from inside her house, waving hands. I took my bike and within a minute I turned to the highway but her words “is still single living for my old mom” reverberates in my heart today also
