EAT AT JOE'S!

It was a normal April morning. As usual, I got up early for school. After a ten kilometre or so bus ride, we arrived at  the school. Being a third grader, I didn't roam about and went straight to the class. What could possibly happen on a normal day? Meet friends, learn whatever the teachers teach. Playabout during recess, and of course be careful not to get into trouble. Where would a child from third grade know that it was going to be a memorable day in the child's life? Not even an adult would have known. Where would he know that he's going to meet a friend who will be with him for the next few years. Well this day was like that.

The science teacher smiled at me looking at my notebook, "Sweet work! Boy. You just need to work on your hand writing and diagrams a bit."
"I'll do that alright.",I replied quickly.
I'm not a person who likes a sweet conversation, especially with a teacher. The teacher was lucky to get four words as an answer, because it is usually just a single word, mostly 'okay'. After sometime, a peon entered the class knocking at the door. The teacher walked to the peon. They had a brief conversation. After the conversation, the teacher turned to the class(the students)and told us that a new friend(as she said it)was going to join us that day. Since the class was a mixed class, with boys and girls(boys and girls got separated when I went to fourth grade). The girls wanted their 'Prince Charming'(as usual, they get bored of the boys in the  class pretty quickly).

Well, the girls did get their prince, but not what they expected of him. A tall, frail boy, who's afraid of dead rats and black cats(he still is), shaggy hair, very cramped shoulders(that has changed), big face and brown skin. He stepped in, delighted and astonished by the roar of the class(if you're a student you'll understand why we roared). The teacher held his arm and said with pleasure(she loved talking),"This is Joe! He's going to be with you guys for...............I don't know how much time, but I'm sure you'll help him out and.......you know take care of  him while he's new to the school."
Sure, sure! We'll feed him bottled milk while he's still new,I thought to myself.

He took his place next to another boy(lucky for him). He took out his books from his bag and stared at the teacher as if asking for help. The teacher approached and started explaining to him what had to be done. Then she looked at me and told Joe," He's a clever boy, if you have any problems you could ask him for help. You could take his notes, they're complete. But, I'll warn you, you'll have a hard time figuring out what is written."
"Me!", I shouted.
"Why ever not?"
"Because I've never helped anyone like that. I don't know him. How can I trust him with my books?"
"Don't worry, if at all he doesn't return it, tell me."
"Right!"

That afternoon, after school when I was walking towards the bus that would take me home, I saw Joe coming towards me. He held out an arm and I shook it reluctantly. He pointed towards the bus area and said,
" Could you help me find my bus?"
"Number?", I asked
"What?"
"Your bus number."
"Oh! Bus number sixty one!"
"Well according to me, it should be few buses away from my bus. I can't tell you the number of buses, because not all the buses between my bus and your bus is in use."
"Whoa! What a tongue twister! You must be having good pronounciation for that!"
"Pronunciation!",I corrected.
"I have come from Pune, in Maharastra. We didn't pay much importance to all these things over there. Got to get used to it, you know."
"I understand"
"Okay! Bye, I'll find the bus, see you tomorrow!"
"I'll be seeing you too"
He laughed at that and we went to board our buses.

A few weeks later Joe came to me and told me that he had shifted. He also said that he had to change the bus he was travelling in. On asking which bus, I was surprised to hear that it was my bus! He assured me that we were going to have great lot of fun. I wasn't convinced, but I smiled. I was kind of happy to have one more bus-mate, but I was unsure whether he'd make a good one.

Even with all my doubts, he turned out to be a good friend. He was not just a good friend but a best friend. He also lived quite close to me, and we had great fun playing video games and going to a park next to our place once in a while. One thing we loved was making up stories and acting them out or making our toys the actors. We were good at that. After all we had to be good at that otherwise, what's the fun? We used to amuse each other by making up silly jokes.

I remember once when his mom asked me how he was at school. I was more than just dumbfounded. Joe was embarrassed. I somehow said something and got away with it. I could see the relief in his face when I finished. He wasn't that mischevious in school, but I would have been biting my nails if my mom had asked that question to him, even though I wasn't really mischevious in school either.

My tenth birthday wasn't a grand one, but he was the one who showed up. No one else. It was working day, so you know how busy people are. We went to eat out and also went to the gaming center in a mall. We really didn't do much, but hanging out with friends is completely different from hanging out with family.

Diwali is a festival in India also known as the 'Festival of Lights'. We don't celebrate it as in India because we have only a day as holiday for this particular festival. Joe came to my house some time before this festival in the year 2009. He had shifted a bit farther from my house and I had not seen it. He invited me and my family to his house during the day of Diwali. I looked at my mother who was present there. She shrugged and said,"Why ever not?"

Few days later we were at Joe's house. His mother offered us sweet snacks as goes the tradition. We ate to our heart's content. After that me and Joe had fun playing with some toy airplanes he had bought. Then it was time to take leave. Joe turned to me and said, "Had fun eating at Joe's?"
I smiled.
Even today I cannot forget 'Eatin at Joe's', whenever I see him. We have a completely different definition for fun, but what matters is that we're still together and fun is fun.

Hasta la Vista,
K

THE DAY IT RAINED BAD!

In the UAE it is usual dry, being a desert. It hardly rains. It does rain at times, usually during the month of December and then again in March. For the past two years the rain hasn't gone past a drizzle, so it is hotter and drier.

In this post I recollect an incident that took place a few years ago(five years and three months ago to be precise).

I got up early, reluctantly, it being a working day, oblivious to the fact that it was raining hard and heavily. After brushing my teeth and bathing, I recovered from my drowsiness which encapsulated my mind. I had a very light breakfast, after putting on my uniform and cursing school.
"It is raining. Why go to school?", I asked my mom who smiled, because five years ago I was never reluctant to go to school. I was only reluctant to wake up. She knew that after a while I'd get over with it.

I lifted my school bag and went down to wait for the God forbidden bus, which would come early if you were late and late if you were right on time. It being a rainy day, and there being lot of traffic the bus was as usual LATE! I cursed the bus as I was a sissy back then. I hated waiting! I had to wait for more than an hour before the bus arrived and believe it or not there were plenty more children to pick-up. I was drenched as I did not have an umbrella or rain coat. We don't keep umbrellas at home as it hardly rains and it remains useless. Even if you could use it to protect yourself from the sun, I was not that kind of a person. I love heat. What could be better than a sunny morning?

So, I got into the bus and sat chatting with my friends. We also kept playing hand games which was a trend for us then. It was ten 'O clock and we were still far from school. The bus was supposed to pick me up at six thirty, which was history. The first four periods were long gone and we still were far from school. The best part was, that there were more people to be picked up.

I was bored sitting in the bus, that too cramped on the seat, unable to move from my posture. My muscles were getting sore and I knew I had to get up otherwise I would have been most probably paralysed. So, after warning my friends that I was going to get up, I got up from my seat, stretched my legs and arms and sat again.

The weather was so damp that you could smell water in the confines of a closed and air-conditioned bus. We were lucky to a have a school cardigan as the driver was unwilling to turn off the air-conditioner. There was water seeping through the tiny holes near the window and unluckily I was sitting right next to the window. I was astonished how deep the wheels of the bus had gone under the rainwater as the country's drainage system was excellent yet you didn't have potholes on every road.

The exciting thing I learnt was the slope of the road. The road slopes so even if there were no much of potholes the water comes down to the sides of the roads so that  no much damage is done to the roads.
I also admired the oil on the water which looked colourful due to the water. Even the reflection of the traffic lights looked beautiful.

My friend kept on going about the upcoming winter vacations which he said he would enjoy to the fullest. He kept talking about his dad taking him to tour Burj Al Arab which is a seven star hotel in Dubai. It is famous for its seafood and luxury. To which I replied that Dubai is full of tourist spots.

Rain came down harder and it looked like we would never get to school as it was eleven 'O clock. The teacher who used the bus was kind enough to call the school authorities and ask them to give a holiday. To my and my friends' utter astonishment school declared leave for the day.

The bus dropped us back home and it didn't take much time as we didn't go far. He took a shorter and muddy route to drop us. I rushed into my building as it was raining hard and I didn't have an umbrella. The watchman was kind enough to put a rug just before the steps so that anyone could rub their shoes on it. It was my pleasure to do so as I was amused by it then.

At last I reached home and I was surprised that my parents(they had a holiday too!) weren't surprised to see me. On asking why they replied that the school had called them and told them that that day was a holiday and gladly even the following day was a holiday! That day is got to be the most rocking day of my life!

Hasta la Vista,
K

PS: Note that the recent poll will be put again after few months as I'm disappointed with the number of votes and I'm still undecided. My mother voted twice by mistake thus there is an increase in vote in 'Yes'.