The lunch recess in school was divided into two parts: the first, lasting anywhere between 3 and 10 minutes serving its actual purpose, and the second, for making a run to the football ground. Undoubtedly, this period of time was the most anticipated part of any day in school. It was a no-brainer that lunch was the last thing on our minds.
This practice of having lunch in under five minutes has come in quite handy later in life—when we squeeze in breakfast before our mad rush to the office or a quick lunch on a busy afternoon plagued with meetings. On the other hand, my heart goes out to all those mothers/guardians who diligently prepared our daily lunch by putting in their lives and souls on something that their wards would just breeze through. Only when we started to cook on our own did it dawn upon us the pain that our parents undertook to pack our daily lunches.
Now, let us take a step back and observe the different kinds of students you would come across during a typical lunch break. Couch potatoes like me preferred to sit and eat in class before making a beeline to wash our tiffin boxes, and subsequently, make our way to the ground. This lot went on to become academicians and researchers.
Then, there were others who rushed to the ground, balancing their tiffin boxes to eat while sprinting. This category went on to become Project Managers and Software Engineers who can get any job done on the run.
Another group of guys would line up at the doorstep of the Games Room manned by the ever-smiling Jose Uncle. This was to procure cricket bats/basketballs/footballs, which were to be used during the recess. This bunch consumed their lunches standing by the door of the Games room. This set of guys went on to occupy the leadership positions of their companies or got into supply-chain management.
There were only a limited number of trees in the periphery of the ground. These also doubled up as wickets for the game of cricket and were allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis. Some of the designated daves were earmarked to make a run for these trees and reserve them for their team. They would hold the fort so that no one else would come and lay claims on the tree. In the meantime, their lunch was in the company of birds under the cool shade of the trees. These blokes went on to become officers of the armed forces.
Quite often, disagreements would crop up between two parties when this reservation system went awry. In such cases, there would be some guy who would play the arbitrator or bulldoze his way through to suit his group’s interests; these guys went on to become hot-shot lawyers.
Finally, there was another group of guys who were meant to get things ready before the games paraphernalia arrives on the ground, which would include selecting teams, ensuring the toss is done in cricket, choosing sides for the goal, selecting a team, and so on and so forth. Needless to say, these guys ended up becoming HR professionals and management professionals in their respective organisations—no points for guessing where the toppers of the class would be all this while.
A similar drill was witnessed towards the end of the lunch break as well. We would continue to play, even after the bell went off announcing the conclusion of the recess. Half hardheartedly, one by one, the students would trudge back to the class, drenched from head to toe in sweat.
An enterprising few would still continue playing for some more time like a dying flame before rushing back to the class only to be chided by the teacher at the door. While this bloke is making his walk of shame to his seat, there will be one guy who would sneer at him and make a sarcastic comment in a “told you so” manner—he would eventually end up as a consultant. The guy who came in late would end up as an entrepreneur or a businessman.
Graphic: Theatre Of Dreams by Aravind Senan (2013)
Quite recently, a painting of this very ground by a talented artist who happened to be our junior was shared in our class WhatsApp group. This scene from one of the most colourful epochs of our lives evoked a rush of nostalgia. What was even more, many of us, including the writer, had a dream of this very ground through the subsequent week. Mind you; this was almost a decade-and-a-half after our batch had left school.
Dreams, in Freud’s view as per Wikipedia, are formed as the result of two mental processes. The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream, and the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. All dreams are forms of “wish fulfilment.”
My classmates, in their early thirties, are spread all across the world; these dreams are manifestations of their inherent desire to come back one more time to their alma mater and play a game of football with their friends. After being overwhelmed by these accounts, we decided to host a virtual meetup to discuss more on this topic. Surprisingly there was a blockbuster attendance which was a testimony of its importance.
During the call, we rued the fact that we didn’t have any photographs of us playing football on this very ground. It was an age before Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter or the like. As rightly put by Sreejith Unnikrishnan, “In fact, it was good that we didn’t have anything of that sort back in the day else we would have spent more time posing for pictures rather than actually playing.” This is exactly the reason why we don’t need physical proof of our time spent at the football ground; the times we spent in those hallowed grounds akin to the generations of our fellow Loyolites had left an indelible mark in our hearts.
With the passage of time, a two-dimensional photograph may disintegrate due to the elements, but the memories will forever linger in our hearts.
“Cheer Loyola sons
Cheer till game is won...”
Note:
Aravind Senan, an artist at heart from the batch of 2013, is currently pursuing his Post Graduation in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
Angelo Bevin, an avid blogger from the batch of 2001, is currently working as a Management Professional at Mindcurv, Cochin. He blogs at: randomthoughts
Kollaam machu .. smaranakal :)
ReplyDelete