On Wednesdays and Fridays the students of SSB spent their early mornings on NCC drills, by marching their way into the heart of Gandhi ground. With shiny black boots and belts, well ironed out khaki clothes, green cap on the head,tilted to the right aka military style and head held high, the future foot soldiers of the Indian army negotiated their way through the moist and dusty ground, by tapping their foot in a synchronous mode.
In the middle of the ground was a podium, to hoist flags and to monitor activities of the students. Students who were sick and could not participate in the drills, formed a group called the sick Line to the left of the podium. But before they could join the sick line, they were thoroughly examined briefly, by the expert eyes of Mundas. Now every NCC and PT instructor in SSB was a Munda, meaning tough, in Oriya.
Samantaray was in no mood to join the Indian Army or to do the drills. He constantly graced the sick line during NCC and PT days. Being a known face in the sick line, he attracted apprehensive looks from the Mundas.
“Why are you standing here”, asked Sugrib Baitha, a Munda.
Samantaray suffered from fever twice, broke his leg three times, twisted his hand five times, had cold and throat infection four times each and had also fell down from the stairs two times in the past one month.
He could not think and said,
“Sir, I have photosynthesis”.
The Munda didn’t ask him more about the disease and took some time and said,
“Son, it seems to be a big disease. Go to the Infirmary quickly”.
“Yes sir”, said Samantaray and quietly left the sick line towards the Infirmary.
Before leaving he looked at us and we chuckled deep under our breaths. The residual effects of the biology class the day before had saved Samantaray from the drills. And now he could convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds, using the energy from sunlight. A rare disease. All the plants in the SSB campus and in the vicinity of it, died that day.
After the drills, some time was given for group exercises. The Mundas would take the hot seat and divide students into groups. They would train students on the nuances of entering the armed forces. In one such group, yet another drama was unfolding.
“Casualty ka matlab death nahin, maut hai.” Then he said, “Humne bhi army main moti moti kitabein padhi hai. Casulaty ko death mat kaho, Maut kaho Maut.” Pitamber Mahato was addressing our batch during the NCC group exercise on one Wednesday.
Pitambar Mahato was a Munda. He was trying to convince us that he was an intelligent Munda because Casualty meant “Maut” in hindi and not death in English, according to his voracious book reading skills. And he was the boss of all Mundas.
Then he shouted by saying, “Leto, Aad pakdo aur fire karo.”
“Lie down, take cover and then fire.”
He was also teaching us the method to fire from a rifle.
We were barely able to stand after knowing the distinction between “Maut” and Death. All of us started laughing and the Munda also noticed it. He was annoyed and punished all of us to run for a mile and come back to listen to his Gyaan.
But the chain of laughter had set its tone. Other Mundas were called to use their innovative ideas to punish us. Barik, another Munda,was named “Kukuda” or Hen in Oriya. Before Kukuda could address us, he searched for Panigrahi. Panigrahi used to request the barber not to cut his hair as per the military standards as it would rob him of his boyish charm and the clan of Mundas disliked it. So Kukuda asked everyone to look at Panigrahi. Our heads swivelled in a symmetric way towards Panigrahi.
Kukuda yelled at everyone and said,
“Is he having a proper haircut?”
We all responded with “No Sir”.
Someone amongst us said “Yes Kukuda”. And then we all started laughing.
Munda’s eyes drifted from one end of the group to the other. He said,
“Who said that?”, “Who said that?”
Someone said, “Tera baap be”.
Kukuda could not take it any further.
He called Pitamber and other Mundas to handle the situation.
Then Pitamber devised a strategy to punish us and catch the culphrit. He also looked at Panigrahi in a disapproving manner. Before he could do anything, the closing bell was heard by everyone. Then he said, with his trademark condescending style,
“Guys, the next NCC class will start with punishments.
If you promise to tell me the name of the culphrit, others would be spared.
otherwise, pack parade for everyone.”
We shuddered at the thought of going for a “Pack Parade” as it was a strenuous form of punishment. But the sight of vegetable chops and samosas made us forget everything.
We jostled our way towards the smell of warm snacks and then hurried to the dining hall.
In the next NCC group session the Mundas had forgotten everything and it was business as usual for them. We breathed a sigh of relief for their memory, or the lack of it.
That day Samantaray went to the infirmary as usual, as he was suffering from Smallpox, which is the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated in Dec 1979, as certified by WHO.
In the middle of the ground was a podium, to hoist flags and to monitor activities of the students. Students who were sick and could not participate in the drills, formed a group called the sick Line to the left of the podium. But before they could join the sick line, they were thoroughly examined briefly, by the expert eyes of Mundas. Now every NCC and PT instructor in SSB was a Munda, meaning tough, in Oriya.
Samantaray was in no mood to join the Indian Army or to do the drills. He constantly graced the sick line during NCC and PT days. Being a known face in the sick line, he attracted apprehensive looks from the Mundas.
“Why are you standing here”, asked Sugrib Baitha, a Munda.
Samantaray suffered from fever twice, broke his leg three times, twisted his hand five times, had cold and throat infection four times each and had also fell down from the stairs two times in the past one month.
He could not think and said,
“Sir, I have photosynthesis”.
The Munda didn’t ask him more about the disease and took some time and said,
“Son, it seems to be a big disease. Go to the Infirmary quickly”.
“Yes sir”, said Samantaray and quietly left the sick line towards the Infirmary.
Before leaving he looked at us and we chuckled deep under our breaths. The residual effects of the biology class the day before had saved Samantaray from the drills. And now he could convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds, using the energy from sunlight. A rare disease. All the plants in the SSB campus and in the vicinity of it, died that day.
After the drills, some time was given for group exercises. The Mundas would take the hot seat and divide students into groups. They would train students on the nuances of entering the armed forces. In one such group, yet another drama was unfolding.
“Casualty ka matlab death nahin, maut hai.” Then he said, “Humne bhi army main moti moti kitabein padhi hai. Casulaty ko death mat kaho, Maut kaho Maut.” Pitamber Mahato was addressing our batch during the NCC group exercise on one Wednesday.
Pitambar Mahato was a Munda. He was trying to convince us that he was an intelligent Munda because Casualty meant “Maut” in hindi and not death in English, according to his voracious book reading skills. And he was the boss of all Mundas.
Then he shouted by saying, “Leto, Aad pakdo aur fire karo.”
“Lie down, take cover and then fire.”
He was also teaching us the method to fire from a rifle.
We were barely able to stand after knowing the distinction between “Maut” and Death. All of us started laughing and the Munda also noticed it. He was annoyed and punished all of us to run for a mile and come back to listen to his Gyaan.
But the chain of laughter had set its tone. Other Mundas were called to use their innovative ideas to punish us. Barik, another Munda,was named “Kukuda” or Hen in Oriya. Before Kukuda could address us, he searched for Panigrahi. Panigrahi used to request the barber not to cut his hair as per the military standards as it would rob him of his boyish charm and the clan of Mundas disliked it. So Kukuda asked everyone to look at Panigrahi. Our heads swivelled in a symmetric way towards Panigrahi.
Kukuda yelled at everyone and said,
“Is he having a proper haircut?”
We all responded with “No Sir”.
Someone amongst us said “Yes Kukuda”. And then we all started laughing.
Munda’s eyes drifted from one end of the group to the other. He said,
“Who said that?”, “Who said that?”
Someone said, “Tera baap be”.
Kukuda could not take it any further.
He called Pitamber and other Mundas to handle the situation.
Then Pitamber devised a strategy to punish us and catch the culphrit. He also looked at Panigrahi in a disapproving manner. Before he could do anything, the closing bell was heard by everyone. Then he said, with his trademark condescending style,
“Guys, the next NCC class will start with punishments.
If you promise to tell me the name of the culphrit, others would be spared.
otherwise, pack parade for everyone.”
We shuddered at the thought of going for a “Pack Parade” as it was a strenuous form of punishment. But the sight of vegetable chops and samosas made us forget everything.
We jostled our way towards the smell of warm snacks and then hurried to the dining hall.
In the next NCC group session the Mundas had forgotten everything and it was business as usual for them. We breathed a sigh of relief for their memory, or the lack of it.
That day Samantaray went to the infirmary as usual, as he was suffering from Smallpox, which is the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated in Dec 1979, as certified by WHO.
this is the best one. "photosyntheis" I could not control my laugh.......too gud./.
ReplyDeletesir thru out this post i kept on laughing....
ReplyDeletea real true snapshot of school days ..and words like munda,,photosynthesis..i hope still persists as of day...
[i am 2004 passout]