Faceoff
NCJPS Diaries, Chapter-6
Once upon a time in a well known school of Delhi, there was a privileged girl and then there was an ordinary boy. Their clash produced unprecedented sparks.
The Principal’s Daughter
It is not an easy life when your father is ‘Father of whole school’. No matter how exciting it may sound, it’s tough to deal with piercing eyes and getting judged on daily basis. Anjali Sharma was one such girl. She was the daughter of our long term Principal Shri Prem Chand Sharma. There were many word of mouth stories about her which could never got substantiated, given her dreaded protege. One such hearsay mentioned that her parents had strained relations and thus her sibling was staying with her mother at Chandigarh while she herself resided on the school campus along with her Dad. None had the courage to confirm or deny the rumors by having a frank chat with Anjali. Because of baggage of discipline she had to tow, she was often devoid of the unadulterated fun of school life. Undeterred, she seemed to enjoy the aura around her presence. Many considered her a snob, though being together in same class for years, I never saw her flaunting privileges overtly. Rather I found her to be soft at heart, reciprocating girl who largely kept it to herself. There were few friends in her kitty, with me coming in ‘Borderline Friend category’. I qualified to be called a borderline friend when I sought to borrow a notebook and she readily obliged. To others, such a request received hostile response.
Diverting from story a little- In our times borrowing stationary from a girl qualified as friend, speaking to her once a day meant close friend, exchanging glances, smiles and attending birthday parties got labeled as girlfriend and hanging out one to one during recess break meant marriage. Thankfully we stopped there, otherwise any sight of holding hands would have resulted in deciding the names of future kids. Stupid school norms carved out of envy, you know.
And when Anjali choose to take my Hindi notebook because of my immaculate writing, I had sleepless night fearing that it might land into the hands of Principal. By then, attributable to Pushp Lamba’s ‘thodi si copy gandi karo’ theme, last pages of my copies were full of designs, drawings and cartoons. I used to heave a sigh of relief, when couple of such lending episodes passed harmlessly.
When Anjali joined us in mid session after his father took over as Principal, she had neatly plaited waist length hair complimenting her spotless uniform. After her return from summer holidays of next session, the long hair were cropped till neckline giving her a smarter look. On that very day when she turned back, our gaze met. Unwittingly, I raised my eyebrows and smiled as an appreciation to her new look. And when she smiled back, my bench-mate of the day Amit Gulati was quick to respond, “Yeh marwa degi tujhe kissi din. Matt baat kiya kar. Principal ki beti hai”! In handful of conversations we had, warning of Amit always remained at the back of my mind and prevented any further closeness beyond borderline case. Overall, I can say that Anjali was average in studies, warm to some, mild mannered to many but donning a personality one could not ignore.
An Intelligent Boy
The allocation of streams vis-a-vis Arts, Commerce, Science after 10th Board not only assigned specialized subjects but also brought in new classmates from other sections. Many from my ‘A’ section moved out, luckily leaving the core group of Aashish, Amit Behki, Amit Gulati and Myself intact. We apprehensively welcomed fresh arrivals- prominent among them was a coterie of Pankaj, Sudhir and Samir. While the para-dropped group was more inclined towards studies, we- the aboriginal tribe was more into ruckus creating.
Again diverting a little- In our times being magnanimous and intermingling among groups was not in vogue. Few groups were strong, some were outspoken while many others remained dormant; but all of them did had specific characteristics. In our new found section, both the groups had powerful personalities and were mature enough not to cross paths so as to avoid any potential clash. However even after decades, that difference of perception had not diminished. Albeit I moved on, but perhaps Pankaj and Sudhir could never cross the hurdle. There was same erstwhile hesitancy when both of them were part of class Whatsapp group, inspite of our best efforts to get them at ease.
Returning back- Once everybody settled with fresh realities in XI-A of 1993-94, I was intrigued in exploring how the newbies carried themselves. Though all of the fore-mentioned persons were vocal and expressed views without inhibitions, I found Samir’s thought process particularly fascinating. He was slim built with intense eyes and having a million dollar smile. Due to par-excellence intelligence, he had been an indispensable part of editorial team of school magazine ‘Jindalarchika’ ever since his admission to school in 9th standard. His tenating of various class level appointments took him into a separate league than me. Because of these virtues he enjoyed the proximity of many teachers. On the naughty side, his way of uttering cuss words due to Gorakhpur/Lakhnawi background, used to leave us in splits. I soon discovered my lack of his many traits; he was attentive in class and I was hardly attending class, he was diligent in Laboratory practicals whereas I alongwith Amit Gulati were more interested in teasing the tails of chloroformed rats, when he wrote notes I drew MTV insignia on blue sunmica of desk. Despite so many dissimilarities, there was one thing in common which I liked the most- he always stood by his words. That quality generated my instant respect for him.
By the end of first year I could spot that there is something unique about Samir Srivastava which made me vouch that this witty boy has fire to succeed. My intuition proved right many years later, when in Academy our paths crossed again.
Faceoff
Almost all the schools have concept of selecting ‘Head Boy’ and ‘Head Girl’ from the outgoing batch. The coveted appointment is reserved for the most versatile boy/girl who remarkably out shined rest of their batch-mates. In NCJPS, the Prefectorial Board had been entrusted to pick up the brightest lad/lass from the shortlisted few, out of a batch of about 250 students. Selection procedure involved debate, interview, recommendations and such usual ilk. Prime considerations were excellence in the field of Academics, Sports, Co-Curricular activities, Discipline and Leadership qualities. In short, the best boy or girl of entire school used to get that prestigious red badge with ‘HEAD BOY’ or ‘HEAD GIRL’ embossed in white on it.
There was no dearth of talent in our batch. Among girls, without blinking an eye I can say Charu Khurana and Ruchi Sharma were top contenders. Charu because of her vast 14 years experience as Class Captain, immaculate discipline, pleasing personality, top academic performance and being blue-eyed of every teacher. Ruchi on the other hand was National level Yoga champion, ferocious debater, no-nonsense personality, good academic record and strong command over Hindi as well as English language. But to the surprise of many, name of Anjali Sharma was announced as Head Girl. On personal front there was no reason for my disappointment, yet the inner conscious was stunned with the open display of sycophancy by selection panel. Soon enough, the class was abuzz with hushed voices denouncing the decree of leapfrogging a mediocre student over much capable contenders. Evidently, few teachers were unhappy too with the decision. And when next day Anjali wore that distinctive badge over her left shirt pocket, the hell broke loose. She was greeted with despised looks and heated discussions started happening around. Most prominent voice in the dissent was of Samir Srivastava. He too was shortlisted for Head Boy but it was Nitin Narang who touched the ribbon at the final line. Within a day the revolt spread like a wildfire with other sections joining the chorus, whose first spark was lit by Samir Srivastava- the Mangal Pandey of our batch. As the resentment grew and became unbearable, Anjali Sharma stomped out of the class. No one is privy to what exactly happened thereafter but our H.R.T Mrs S Bhatnagar made an unscheduled appearance. She started in scuttled voice with unsuspecting students and unconvincingly tried to deliver sermon on importance of studies over appointments. Within few minutes all her points were shot down with strong counter attack launched by Samir and party. When pleading couldn’t break ice she surrendered in disgust- “Samir ji kya karte hain? Aisa thode hi hota hai.” To which he countered- “Ma’am aap bhi jante hai yeh galat hai.” Samir earned many encouraging applauds during that unsuccessful attempt by our H.R.T to defend the indefensible.
Next one week passed with constant pressure being applied by a core group of 8-9 students comprising of boys from all the sections. Their sole aim was to dislodge Anjali Sharma from the position of Head Girl and thereby reinstating sense of fairness. All the persuasions proved futile in front of unrelenting demand and finally high point came when after lunch break this party of Samir, Vijayant, Pankaj etc refused to get back in their respective classes. They laid a sort of Dharna at front lawn of school. This was huge and unprecedented in the history of NCJPS. Protesting students were told to go back with an assurance of hearing. The most respectable and widely revered teacher- Sh SC Verma was deputed to douse the fire. When Verma sir stepped in the class we expected fireworks. There was a much quieter audience at front in comparison to Bhatnagar madam’s session. Though he handled the situation maturely without using threatening tone, this time there was hardly anyone who countered him. Samir at his usual best, still kept the peddle pressed and after 45 minutes of dialogue, counselling ended with a stern- “No more discussions on it.” His last diktat met Samir’s objection- “But why Sir? I am not convinced.” “Will you just shut up?” -the class resounded with sharp rebuttal by our then Chemistry teacher, as he moved out.
Immediately, Samir got surrounded and I overheard warnings and consequences of his actions- “Tere ko Practical mein marks nahi milenge”, “Abbe tu Science student hai. Kyun politics mein pad raha hai?”, “Kuch nahi hone wala”, “Tujhe fail kar denge”. Despite insinuations his spirit remained undaunted and my admiration grew manifold for him. In that commotion someone shouted- “Jo marzi aa jaye, mein issko Head Girl nahi manuga.” On hearing this Anjali walked out of the class a second time. She was seen entering the Principal’s office. What happened behind closed doors is anybody's guess. We were expecting ramifications of recent development and it was not long before Principal PC Sharma himself walked in unannounced. Mittal sir was filling the green board from end to end and I was struggling to keep the pace, when the top man entered and asked him to excuse for rest of the class. There was pin drop silence. He had a short monologue explaining how system works in unbiased manner and the circumstances behind choice of Head Girl. When he said that he even excused himself from rating Anjali during selection procedure, the nodding crowd nodded a little more. Final bombshell was dropped when with a smug Principal announced the stepping down of Anjali as Head Girl. The same people who just hours ago were part of animated discussions, were jubilant at the prospect of a showdown and were rejoicing with Samir; looked dismayed and showed false disappointment. I had my first brush with turncoats, weak characters and snitches. Before leaving, he threw an open question- “Does anyone still believes that selection procedure was not fair?” Majority among us shook their heads and rest remained silent, except one- Samir Srivastava. “Sir, I do not have anything personal against Anjali but her elevation as Head Girl raised suspicion on selection method” -he said everything in a single sentence. I am sure the Principal must be equally stunned as we all were with that audacious straight forward reply. Maintaining composure, he smiled and again asked- “Raise your hands, those who agree with him!” It was a blatant attempt to put all against one, fully aware that none will dare to go against Principal’s word in support of a mere classmate. Time tests the brave. Samir had proved his mettle and now it was for rest to show moral courage. Only two could muster strength to raise hand- one was Pankaj Malik and other was me. On that day I backed a losing horse but the feel of being righteous, the taste of taking on the mighty was life changing.
Anjali looked dejected and stopped wearing Head Girl badge. I could feel her humiliation and felt sorry for her. The story doesn't end here. In the back channel, intimidation of those 8-9 students continued. Their parents were informed and the dealing authorities went to an extent of warning them with rustication from school. Ultimately, the young kids buckled in Chemistry Lab before fearsome personality of Verma Sir, but only after extracting a promise of ‘no harm’ in Practicals. They were made to apologize in front of a battery of teachers in the Principal’s office. I am not sure if Anjali too was present there. Next day she was back with vengeance, proudly displaying ‘Head Girl’ over left pocket and the school cocking a snook at students.
Samir went on to don most sought after and reputed uniform in the country and is currently holding an important appointment in a glorious organisation. We are in touch ever since our paths crossed. His spine of steel is intact and principles upright.
Anjali never spoke to me after that fateful day. My ideology played a spoilsport with our borderline friendship. Whenever our gaze met, she did not returned smile. Her looks were not of anger but rather a sense of disappointment as if conveying “Et tu Brutus”!
