Nisha Mordani’s Blog

Hmmmmmmmmm……Each one of us has memories we treasure….we hear people say “let go of the past….past only brings regrets”.I,for one, feel that we can sift the unpleasant from the pleasant,and live and relive those memories that bring us joy…and let go of those that bring regret…what say???

So let’s go down memory lane…..

1.I was the youngest among four sisters and 5th among the seven of us in the family (Satte pe Satta ) I was 6 years old…all four sisters marched to a hospital to get our ears pierced…..my joy knew no bounds when ,after a week,mom gave each one of us a pair of gold earrings….I missed no opportunity to nod my head…just to feel the rings shake in my ears!!!

2.I hated going to school!!!When I was in the first standard ,many a times I pretended to have a headache or a tummy ache just to stay at home.Mom and Dad would believe me and let me be.As soon as it would be past the school time,I would get out of bed and say that I was feeling better…too scared that I would miss breakfast otherwise!!Anyway,this tactic did not last too long…one day Dad actually slapped me (that was the first and the last slap of my life!!) and that was it…..never again did I play up .

3.Being a Libran,I always got along better with the opposite sex (I still do!) I always played with the neighbourhood boys.We played gilli danda,hide and seek,cricket,marbles,I spy,Hop Scotch,seven stones ,Tic Tac Toe, spinning tops,and a game called “tick tick !” Everyone cheated like mad….talk about match fixing!!!! We later graduated to Carroms, Ludo and Chinese Checkers.

4.My pricest possession was the 500 marbles that I had collected.I counted them at least once a day!

5.At school I loved to play Basket Ball and a game, similar to baseball,which was called “Rounders” .

6.How can one forget the paper boats we sailed in the overfull drains during the rainy season or the paper rockets that glided ever so smoothly in the air?

7.Flying kites never failed to amuse me…..we actually made the “maanjha” at home with string and powdered glass! ( what guts!!)Surprisingly we never ended up with tetanus!

8.We four sisters would play with dolls and have the typical guriya ki shaadi (why do all Indians have this tamasha???)

9.I walked to school so that I could save the bus fare and buy oranges instead.

10.Whenever I had high fever I would imagine a lot of bubbles which kept growing bigger and bigger till they burst!( I still have the same experience…and believe me..it is scary!)

11. In spite of not loving to go to school,I was good in studies and always stood first, in the junior classes. ( ALL mummies say that to their children and so did I….wonder who came second!!!!)

12.I hated History……….uuuuuuuuuurrrrgh….and my son Rohit will quite agree with me there!!I have a confession to make…I actually failed in History in the Senior Cambridge Exam

13.  I loved Shammi Kapoor movies!I had actually written to him for an autographed picture of his…which did come by post.I felt very important and almost fell in love with him..only to realise later that these pictures were sent to just about everyone just as a promotion gimmick!My heart broke….so I switched over my loyalties to Dev Anand!!

14. I was a voracious reader!Every Saturday I would make a trip to the District Library..sit there…read a book and pick up two books for the week.

15.I loved to read the Brer Rabbit series, The Girls at Mallory House series ,Comics….Archies,Richie Rich,Stumbo The giant,Casper The Friendly Ghost,Tin Tin ( I still love reading comics!!!)

16.We saw a movie every Sunday,come hail,storm or sunshine!We wore our best clothes to the cinema hall .The hot samosas during the interval was an added attraction

17.The who’s who of shillong used to be in the cinema hall every Sunday…so it was also like a meeting place!Dad ,being one of the senior residents of shillong was a well known personality….so,whenever we got a little late,we would call up the manager and ask him not to start the movie till we got there!!he generously complied!!!

18.Often,the movie halls would show double movies….advertised as Double Attraction!!Two movies were screened in one show…and in one ticket!! Interval would be after the completion of the first movie!Soooooooooooo much to look forward to!!!

19.At times mom would go for a movie with her friends during the week.She never took us along She would ask us to go to the movie hall with our servant during the interval,with some tea for the whole gang (what fundas!) I used to tag along with the servant….enter the movie hall…and sit through the rest of the movie…Half a movie was better than no movie!!!

20. We four sisters and a cousin sister would dress exactly the same!!Mom would get a roll of material and stitch “same to same” dresses for all five of us!What cartoons we must have looked!

21. The “Hula Hoop” craze had set in!!I had a “jhatak” green hoop!I put the hoop from the top of my head starting with the “Sudarshan chakra” pose…going down to the neck…shoulders,chest,stomach,buttocks and twisted and wriggled till it came out from under my feet !!I was an ace at it!This went on till there were some rumours about a girl dying because of too much hula hooping!!That was the end of the hula hoop episode!

22.Lucky we…we had a gramophone!!So what if we had to change the pin everytime we put on a record?(the 78 mm record!!)So what if we had to wind the key?So what,if sometimes the pin slid through the record and scratched it!!The cover had the picture of the famous “His Master’s Voice ” doggy!!The gramophone occupied a prominent place in our sitting room…it was our pride!

23.Till we bought a Record Changer!!(turn table)This was automatic…and we could load 6 records at a time!We could also play the 45mm and the 33 mm records on this! Of course when one record got over….we could hear the next record falling with a ‘Thud”!!What luxury!!

24.Since I was the youngest among the sisters,my eldest sister,Lachhmi was very protective about me.She looked after my studies,applied “whitening cream”on my face every night before I went to bed..( I was very dark complexioned those days ) Of course,the cream did not help….that happens only in T.V commercials and advertisements!!!She stitched frocks for me…tied my plaits …..soooooooooooo tight that it was a herculean task to even nod my head

25.We had some swings in school and during every lunch break we all headed towards them.Once,my cousin and I (we lived in the same house and often borrowed clothes from each other)ran towards the same swing and both of us clutched on to the chains,arguing as to who got there first!Neither of us wanted to give in…so we kicked,argued and bit each other’s hands, in a vain attempt to let loose the chain!!Finally,I told her “give me back my shirt!!” (she was wearing my shirt that day!!)She quickly retorted “YOU give me back my slip!!!” (Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….I had quite forgotten that I had borrowed her slip that morning!!!)She was one up on me…feeling embarrassed,I let go of the chain and sheepishly walked back to class!!!

26.The Beatles ,Paul,George,John and Ringo,were the latest…..how can one forget how we did the Twist on the famous “I wanna hold your hand”.The School Social…what you guys now call the “Prom” was held at the end of our last year in school.Two of the girls’ schools were invited to the boys’ school (St. Edmund’s School…where I have been working since the past 20 years!)and …we had a bang!!Each one of us was paired off with a guy!!!We danced,we played games ,had great food…at the end of the day we felt that we had found our life partner…hee hee…how silly!!!

27.Then followed the Rolling Stones group.I still remember when we posted letters we wrote…..”Postman, postman don’t be slow,Go like the Rolling Stones,go man go” on the envelope…as if that made any difference!

28.I had joined the NCC .We had to wear horrible looking flare khakee divided skirts.Once,in a hurry,I put both my legs through one part of the skirt…and then was wondering why the hell my walking was restricted!

29. After completing school,I went to a girls’ college,run by nuns,…from where I graduated with a Major in English.It was during the first year of college that I met my husband…fell head over heels in love….and after a long courting period of 5 years,we got married in the May of 1972.There has never been a moment of regret …we are as much in love now as we had been a decade ago!!!

30.aaaaaah……then came the most cherished moments of my life!The joys of motherhood!In 1974,our firstson,Rajiv,was born.I remember it was a stormy and rainy night when I had to get admitted to the hospital.At dawn,I had to be wheeled into the labour room.At 11.55 a.m my little bundle of joy came wailing into the world….what an amazing experience…what a miracle!!!With the birth of a child,a mother was born !!!

31. Then came1978,when the birth of our younger son,Rohit,doubled our joys of parenthood.Rajiv doted on his little brother (he still does,and spoils him no end!!)He used to call him his “power wala bhai”.Both,my husband and I,spent quality time with the children.Our world rotated around them…it still does

32.I looked after their studies and I still remember the year when Rajiv ,then in class one,brought his report card with a big zero in Maths!!I couldn’t believe this!!Was I a bad mother??I lost my sleep!Thereafter,every single day of the week I set 100 sums for him !As soon as he would get back from school,he would have a wash,have milk…play for a while…finish his school work and then he would sit down to do the 100 sums set for him!!!His next report card showed 100 in Maths!!!!What an achievement!!!Rajiv,have you forgiven me for my cruelty????

33. How I grilled rajiv after an exam!!!….I would go over the entire question paper….getting answers orally out of him ….poor guy…I don’t know how he tolerated me!!Once,he left out one whole question on opposite words ( he was in class three).It held 10 marks!Gosh,I could not get over it…nearly had a nervous breakdown!!I began thinking of ways and means of getting the answer script back so that he could complete his paper!Could I break into the teacher’s house?Finally,when he got his marks…he had got 89….I never let him forget that actually he would have got 99,had he not left out that whole question!!!Nevertheless,he stood first that term but….those 10 marks…sniff !!!

34.Rohit was the naughtier one.Seeing how I grilled rajiv,he NEVER brought his question paper home.When I would get angry with him for that,he would innocently say “I cannot change what I have written,so no point asking me whether I wrote this,that and the other!!What is done is done”!Hmmmmmmmmmm…..he had got me there!

35.Our two lovely boys were our “duniya”.We just did not know how the days passed by into years.They did their schooling in Shillong and never,for a moment,did we ever think that they will go out of Shillong for further studies.Before we knew it,Rajiv went to Bombay ,and a few years later,Rohit too, went off.We had to let go……life changed after that.They are both happily married and settled in the US now.God has been good.

36.This year,in March 2007,we have been blessed with our first grandchild….and so,a grandmother was born!!!Rhea is the “bestest” child..she is an adorable little angel !!She is our precious little gift from the heavens above

37.So,life goes on…..we visit the children and come back with bags full of memories…..the partings get more painful after each trip… do we wait for another year before we get to see them?where is all this leading to??The same words echo over and over again…”jaane kahan gaye woh din”!!!

I have been teaching since 1986….I started my career in a girls’ school….worked there for two years then shifted to a boys’ school,and there has been no looking back since then!

It is fun to interact with small children….they keep the child in you alive.They worship the ground you walk on….and everything that “Miss ” says is right!!I,for one,am happiest in school.Unlike all other working people,who hate Mondays and love Fridays ….it is the opposite with me…I look forward to Mondays and feel miserable on Friday evenings (sure signs of hormonal imbalance within me!!!)Well,when you read the following,you might just understand why I feel this way!

Boys of class one:- ( I taught in the first standard for 8 years,before being promoted to standard two!)

1.oral counting…. “eight,nine, ten…. onety one (for 11) and onety two (for 12)!!!” ( simply adorable)

2.For Teachers’ Day…one kid gave me an umbrella….gift wrapped.Of course,I did not open it there and then so I put it away in my cupboard.He could not hold himself…he came to me and told me “Miss,I gave you an umbrella…it cost Rs.100 !!!” I don’t know who was more embarrassed…his parents or I!!!

3.The children were given the “young of animals”and were asked to learn for a test.One little chap….probably forgot to do his homework..wrote the following answers for the test…

pig……..piglet (the only correct one!!!)

dog……doglet

cat..catlet

horse….horselet

(If only life was as simple…..and,why couldn’t these be the answers anyway!!!!)

4.Children were given certain words to make sentences with.One of the words was “mother”

One child wrote…

My mother has many boyfriends. (Grammatically correct…and I had to give him full marks!)

The books were sent home for parents to see and sign….(I can imagine the reaction of the poor father) …For Open Day,after a few weeks,the mother came in with a new husband!!! (So,the child did actually write what he had been seeing at home!)Be careful you guys out there…do not underestimate your 6 year olds!!!

5.This one is very interesting…

A class four student was brought to me ( I am Supervisor of the junior school,and I have to cope with all this nonsense) for having uttered the four letter word!!!( Oh yes,they start young!!)

Well…I immediately called up his mother,who came in puffing and panting!Poor lady was a totally Hindi speaking person!I told her that her son had been saying “naughty things”…she asked him “kya bola beta? The”beta” at first, refused to disclose…then on persistent questioning by mommy dear…he softly uttered the word close to her ear!She looked perplexed…and loudly said ” *_ _ _ _*?woh kya hota hai? Miss,iska matlab kya hai? GOD…I said to myself….now what???She kept repeating the word……and then when she saw there were no signs on our part of enlightening her,she brought out her cell phone and said “Papa ko phone karke poochti hoon ki *_ _ _ _* ka matlab kya hai!!” I jumped from my chair…..no papa on the scene…what if he,too,did not know the meaning!!! I went close to her and whispered in her ear,as decently as I could,the meaning of the darn word!Phew…..over and done with!!Her eyes opened in awe….I thought she would burst a blood vessel!!!She whacked her child…..my heart went out to the poor guy…..and I ended up feeling guilty about the whole episode!

One thing was for sure….a new word had been added to her limited list of English vocabulary!!

6.One of the kid’s shoe laces had opened up…..fearing that he might trip over them..I bent down and tied them.Lo and behold!When I looked up,there was a line of kids with open shoe laces….some even had the laces out of the eyelets and in their hands….all waiting to be tied!!! I realised then that they would do anything to get a little attention from their teacher!!!!Now that is what I call a “back breaking” experience!!Ouch!!!

7.While in class,one of the little one’s front tooth came out.He came up to me holding the little pearl like tooth in the palm of his little hand,and opened his mouth wide ….showing off as if he had just returned from the battle field!!!I sent him off to rinse his mouth.He came back,still clutching his precious little tooth….and asked me “Miss,what to do with the tooth?” I told him to wrap it up in cotton wool and put it under his pillow and then make a wish before going to sleep that night!!( thanks to all the myths and fairy tales we had read during our childhood!!)The next day he came up to me and with a look that said”I don’t trust you anymore”said “Miss, my wish did not come true!!”

OOPS!!! He had got me there!!!Anyway,I had to cover up by saying “maybe the little tooth fairy is busy now,but your wish will surely come true some day!!” I sincerely hope that the “fairy” has taken care of it by now!!!

8.One little fellow had fever and had developed some rash on his face.I was suspicious that it was Chicken Pox,so I told him to go home else it would spread.As soon as I left the classroom to call for his parents,he went about scaring the rest of the class saying “I am Chicken Pox Man”.When I went back to the class,all the children complained about him…he was, of course, sent home(Sure enough,it was chicken pox!)The following week nearly half the class was down with chicken pox! Thanks to The Chicken Pox Man!!!

9.Once, during a conversation class with the children,I asked each one what their mothers did.Several of them said…”my mother is a teacher”…”my mother is a doctor”….”my mother is an officer”…and so on….when I came to one child whose mother was a housewife…he quickly answered….”my mother is a cooker!!!”

10.I asked one child to go and give a book to one of the lady teachers in the staff room.I asked him “who will you give the book to?” He answered, “to him”….Raising my eyebrows I queried “HIM???” He quickly corrected himself and said “To shim !!!” ( point to ponder upon…if we could say “he “and “she” then why not “him” and “shim”!!!!)

11.I had gone for a haircut to one of the newest beauty parlours…the talk of the town….anyone who had gone there for a haircut came out looking 10 years younger ….I,of course,didn’t want to be left far behind..so I visited the parlour.Though the beautician did go a little heavily on my hair and gave me a rather short  style…..and charged me a bomb….I felt good….and got a number of compliments from other staff members.

When I went to class….one of the bright sparks stood up and said “Miss,you had a haircut?” Feeling pleased,that my new hairstyle had been noticed even by my babies….I proudly said…”Yes…isn’t it looking stylish?” Bang came an answer from another little fellow,”Miss,you are looking like a boy!!!!!” God…..talk about ego bursting!!!! Quickly recovering from the shock I said, “Yes,this is a boys’ school,so even I have to look like a boy!” Barely had I got over one rude shock….when another one piped up “Miss,did the barber cut your hair?”booooooooooooohoooooooooooooooo……..my beautician will surely get a heart attack if she reads this…I nearly did!!!

Hi Everyone,

Gosh,I am as nervous as a kid on his first day of school!!This blog has been created for me by my son Rajiv.He had been at it for the past few months….a few times he told me that my blog was ready…but then,it just did not seem to work (secretly,I was quite happy;) )….why was Rajiv so insistent on me having a blog?What would I do with a blog anyway!! As if I didn’t have enough to do!Then this morning,while on Google chat, (he is in California),he told me that my blog was ready and he briefed me on how to log in and get going.I let the whole day pass…writing a blog was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from my mind!!
Curiosity got the better of me…and here I am!!!Now,what does one actually write!! Where do I begin?

Alright,here goes….a little bit about myself …(Yaaaawn…how boring!)Nevertheless,you can go off to sleep…but I shall continue;)

I live in the beautiful hills of Shillong…a hill station in the North East of India,and capital of the state of Meghalaya.I have,in fact,been born here.It is a beautiful,scenic place and I love it! I have two lovely sons Rajiv and Rohit and two ,even lovelier, daughters-in law Preety and Leena …and one teeny,tiny grandaughter ,Rhea….who is just three and a half months old…and around whom our whole world rotates!

Last ,but not the least,is my darling husband…who does not miss a single opportunity to spoil each one of us !!Blessed,aren’t we???

I have just thought of some of the things I can write…..I teach in a boys’ school and am dealing with the smallies of class two…..and,believe me,there is never a dull moment in school!! They are such adorable little imps and the things they say and do….I am sure you all will enjoy reading about them!