Jumping walls Funny stories from school days

Belinda Khumanthem *

It must have been around 2:30 P.M. in the afternoon. I was reading a newspaper article when I came across a story about a student who had ran away from school. The article instantly reminded me of an episode concerning a runaway from my own school days.

Our school was a little away on the outskirts of Imphal town. The complex was surrounded with lush green paddy fields that swayed in the breeze. At the back of the school were blue-green hills that looked as though they were covered in velvet. It was perfect! Just the kind of ambiance suited for an educational institute.

Away from the noise and the bustle of the city but not too far away from it either. This was the place where many of us nurtured our dreams and aspirations. Its quite and pristine surroundings would make anyone open up their hearts, ears and minds to learning. But it was not so for some others. For the part of the school with the broken fence just next to the paddy fields made some jump the walls to freedom!

One such incident took place early one morning when I was in the XI standard. Me and my classmates had just gotten down from our buses and were slowly making our way towards the class before the assembly.

We were in groups of two's and three's and throngs of students walked along with us. As we turned left, out ran a teacher out of nowhere like a half-crazed man shouting and brandishing a stick.

All surprised, we looked at the direction he was running. Before him at her top speed ran a student, her phanek lifted high up to her knees to allow her to sprint faster than him. She was our age and I must say quite fast for none of us could run like that and the 30 something man behind her was clearly out of breath and panting.

My jaws dropped. I had never witnessed anything so extraordinary before.

It all happened so suddenly that all we could say to each other were,"Look, look!'' and "Hey, look there!''. I asked someone from the group about the man, "Who is he?'' And to it came the answer, "He is to be our geography teacher''.

Something sank in me like a big ship. We had long been anticipating who our geography teacher would be since he was the only one who had not yet made his appearance in our class. There were many rumours about whom he or she could be but this kind of dramatic introduction was nothing that we had expected.

My eyes followed them through the melee. The girl was running towards a wall and it was a dead end and sir was closing in on her. But just as he was close enough to get a hold of her she used her hands to press down the thick but delicate vines and jumped her way out. As soon as she landed on the other side sir accepted his defeat and walked back towards the staff room.

The bell rang and nothing more was talked of her. Our geography sir did not come to class that day and for a few more days. And by the time he did we had forgotted all about this incident and his angry face.

Class was normal with him just like it was with other teachers. He laughed and made us laugh too especially with the dimple on his forehead!

He was just and fair because no matter how many times we quarrelled and disagreed with him it never showed in our grades. And he would never criticize us in front of other teachers and would always put in a kind word.

School was filled with many bizarre experiences such as this but it made school life more interesting and gave me something to look back and laugh about even today.