It's time to relocate again. My mother used to say some proverb "Eka chakre loka sanchari". Those who have one chakra, the fingerprint in circular lines, have the fate of wandering all over the world. Maybe it's true. But in my case it was about wandering from one house to another like the one who is called aniketana-who doesn't have his own place of dwelling. At times it was a great relief from a suffocating environment, sometimes it was a stab at the back and nowhere to go, sometimes it was in search of peace and sometimes it was an adventure.
My father who was in a government undertaking department had to relocate very frequently due to his transfers. Then there was the facility of the quarters allotted to the government employees. No problem of house hunting! He would go to the new place first, stay in the guest house or in one of the bachelor colleague's house and then wait for the quarters to be allotted to him. Then our school( eventually government) admission procedures like the TC (Transfer Certificate) from the previous school, books etc would take place. I was enjoying the daily announcements till a few days like-while answering attendance "innu TC bandilla Sir"("The TC has not yet come sir"). TC would get transfered in a couple of weeks.
Another odd job the new students in the class would get was to draw lines in the attendance registers. The lines were drawn with the help of a ruler. A thick polished piece of wood not more than a foot (12 inches) in length and 1 to 3 centimeters in diameter. It had to be rolled carefully on the sheets of the register and the lines drawn by sliding the pen or pencil along the sides of the ruler. I wonder how many teachers have spent their precious time drawing the lines in the attendance register atleast I have helped one or two of them.Sometimes these rulers were used to punish notorious students of the class.
Relocation made some children street smart and some introverts. Some were exposed to the realities of life, some were exposed to the real life, learning experiences, the way cement (concrete) electric poles were made was observed by us in a small town. A teacher asked me to explain the stages of making the poles in another city high school. She was astonished to observe my confidence and explanation. The poverty of fellow students made us to understand the difference between necessities and luxuries at a very young age.
One conspicuous thing was the lessons about Mahatma Gandhiji. Each district had it's own curriculum which included lessons about Mahatma at different levels in different languages. Me and my brothers had the luck of reading about him in almost all the classes from 1st standard to 10th standard. I was under Mahatma's influence for 5 more years as I chose history as one of my subjects in college. Naturally I was following a few of his theories, again there was relocation after my degree, I got married to a suitable groom settled in Bangalore. To my surprise a photograph of Gandhiji was hung on one of the walls of my husbands house.
The same photo is with us even to this day travelling, hopping cities and houses!
My father who was in a government undertaking department had to relocate very frequently due to his transfers. Then there was the facility of the quarters allotted to the government employees. No problem of house hunting! He would go to the new place first, stay in the guest house or in one of the bachelor colleague's house and then wait for the quarters to be allotted to him. Then our school( eventually government) admission procedures like the TC (Transfer Certificate) from the previous school, books etc would take place. I was enjoying the daily announcements till a few days like-while answering attendance "innu TC bandilla Sir"("The TC has not yet come sir"). TC would get transfered in a couple of weeks.
Another odd job the new students in the class would get was to draw lines in the attendance registers. The lines were drawn with the help of a ruler. A thick polished piece of wood not more than a foot (12 inches) in length and 1 to 3 centimeters in diameter. It had to be rolled carefully on the sheets of the register and the lines drawn by sliding the pen or pencil along the sides of the ruler. I wonder how many teachers have spent their precious time drawing the lines in the attendance register atleast I have helped one or two of them.Sometimes these rulers were used to punish notorious students of the class.
Relocation made some children street smart and some introverts. Some were exposed to the realities of life, some were exposed to the real life, learning experiences, the way cement (concrete) electric poles were made was observed by us in a small town. A teacher asked me to explain the stages of making the poles in another city high school. She was astonished to observe my confidence and explanation. The poverty of fellow students made us to understand the difference between necessities and luxuries at a very young age.
One conspicuous thing was the lessons about Mahatma Gandhiji. Each district had it's own curriculum which included lessons about Mahatma at different levels in different languages. Me and my brothers had the luck of reading about him in almost all the classes from 1st standard to 10th standard. I was under Mahatma's influence for 5 more years as I chose history as one of my subjects in college. Naturally I was following a few of his theories, again there was relocation after my degree, I got married to a suitable groom settled in Bangalore. To my surprise a photograph of Gandhiji was hung on one of the walls of my husbands house.
The same photo is with us even to this day travelling, hopping cities and houses!
