Holy Night!

Christmas reminds me of my hey days (hey, as in “hey buddy, the LC girls are here!”).

The last few weeks of the school calendar was always the most busiest. The good ol’ boys who could croon their souls out would be practicing carols. Some of us would be acting out Joseph, Mary or the Three Kings and rest of us (mostly the useless lot) would be the donkeys or the other animals in the shed.

The Chapel would be decorated like it was Bethlehem, the pulpit would be Joseph’s stable, a wire strung across the chapel would hold the North Star which would guide the Three Kings to the stable.  Baby Jesus would be the same “doll” (Mrs. Lawrence must have really loved her doll!Blessed, it was!).

We donkeys would always wonder what “gifts” would the Three Kings bring this year?But much to our dismay, Balthasar, Gaspar (or Casper), and Melchior always brought gold, incense and myrrh, each year. I later read somewhere Casper was the King of India, no wonder,”incense!” and come to think of it, the world was global even then. I am sure if Friedman’s ancestors would have had attempted the “flat world” it would still be a best seller!

Then came the big day!

Evrything would be brighlty lit up, candles evrywhere, baby Jesus would be in the creche made of straw and wood, Mary would be scratching his balls under her skirt (It was a boys school, its hard to be a girl especially of Mary’s stature) ,Joseph would be yawning, the carol singers in their gowns would be ready to belch waiting for Mr. Pande to hit the piano.

We donkeys had to walk in with the Kings, we would initially be outside the chapel which meant we could see all the guests getting inside the chapel including of course the LC lot, it was another thing that these girls would be giggling away, but hey we had our donkey masks on!

Then came Silent night,Holy night………

After the enactment we would head towards the mess.There would be be a grand dinner waiting for us. The mess would be decorated with balloons  and a huge x-mas tree.

Then we would all receive our Christmas gift.

This was an annual ritual which was held around the last week of November, nevertheless we all looked forward for our christmas celebrations every year, and as Rosh says Christmas is about the spirit of happiness, we all loved the spirit!

This year Christmas was mostly about “high” spirit!

(P.S. Over the years I graduated from being a donkey to the royal guard:-))

I am a netizen now!

The first time, I remember having achieved something was when I was in class three,(I think), I could finish up two plates of rice and curry at a record time, and I beat Shashank to it.

I studied in a boys boarding school, so, competition was everywhere, right from who could change the fastest for the morning P.T. drill to who could ring Miss Rozario’s doorbell and run. Its another story that when Miss Rozario caught you, it would only mean ”caning”,but that was a very small price to pay for the fame you got for the next few days. When you would go to the mess for breakfast the seniors would ask ”Bastard! How did u do it??….Man, Rozario’s bell???……Here, you deserve an extra slice of butter!”.The I-wish -it-was-me look  on my freinds  faces while I savoured that extra slice meant I had ”achieved”. 

And as you grow up, you tend to understand or probably misunderstand a lot of things in life. The whole notion of simple things becomes complicated, and complicated ones become even more complicated! So my idea of “achievement”also changed.

My next “achievement” came, when I was in class eleven, this was in another school, I was a day-scholar now and it was a co-ed school. I was a “science student” (I am trying to figure out what that means….and when I do I will add that on my list of achievements).I had to clear my papers to get promoted to the next class. It seemed to be an uphill task. I then learned that Himalayan Mountaineering Institute wanted some students to join their mountaineering course. I enrolled for it and got selected. The course dates coincided with the exam dates so the school had to promote me.

One of my biggest achievement was during the same course. It is a basic mountaineering course, lasting 21 days, rigorous routines (H.M.I., is under the Ministry of Defence),had to spend 12 days at a height of 13000 ft. doing the weirdest to the wackiest, had to carry a near 30 kg haversack which contained snowboots to khukuri,nail cutter to ice axe,snow tents to cooking bowl, in short I was carrying my house on my back, had to climb and trek for 8 hrs a day carrying the haversack.

By the end of the 21 days I was unshaven, exhausted, had not brushed or washed for 21 days….I was also closer to nature, was more disciplined, a survivor……and of course an “A” grade holder having summit-ed the Frey’s Peak.

My latest achievement is this. Rosh coaxed me to write a blog for nearly a month now.I am glad I did.

“I climb mountains, because its there”-Geroge Mallory.

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