9/11.... 8 years on.... The Untold Story

11th Sept 2001.... Osama Bin Laden and his planes shook the world.... And altered the history of United States and the World......
You reading this expecting something on the similar lines, arent you? If you are, you would be highly disappointed....

Because 8 years ago....one more world got altered.....my world.... The day which changed me, which made me what i am....

Rewind.... 9/11/2001..... 2.45pm.... Tuesday
Venue.... Little Flower School, Jamshedpur.... corridor in front of Principals office
Protagonists.... V (Name changed to maintain anonymity) and Sampark....Two normal 9th graders

Situational Analysis.....
We were just back from our chemistry practical test... we were standing in line waiting for the dismissal prayer to happen and run home.... i was standing in line behind V.... And suddenly a buzzzz happened that the prinicipal was approaching from the back.....

(Principal: Sister Helena, Irish Nun, Aged 65-70, White robe, Dreaded by many and the principal for the last 25 years, does not understand hindi )

And me, dont know why, was in a different mood that day.... I leaned forward and kept whispering in V's ear "Budhiya aa rahi hai, budhiya aa rahi hai" (Old lady is coming, old lady is coming) and before i noticed the old lady was standing beside me. "What are you 2 upto. Come out of the line"

We stood outside the line till the prayer got over and were then directed to Sister's office. V was called in..

(V. Kumar... One of my best friends... fantastic student... went on to become the captain of the Yellow house)

Sister: "What were you two talking about"
V:" Nothing sister, we are sorry"
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Sister:" Tell me or i would suspend u"
V:" Sister, he was cracking jokes"
Sister: "What jokes"
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V:" Sister he was cracking jokes on you"
Sister: " Tell me what jokes or both of you get suspened"
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V: " Sister he said, " Old lady is coming"

Boom, Baam, Dhishum and on and on and on

For the 1st time in my educational career, i messed with someone and that also with the prinicipal....

I was called in and given the dose of my life (22years). I was shouted at and screamed at and told not to come to the school next day.
I walked out crying and sobbing not knowing what to do.

At this point, would like to share another story which i came to know only later on
One of my male teachers was walking home when he saw me coming out of the office crying. he caught hold of one of my classmates and asked him what had happened... when this friend of mine narrated the whole OLD LADY episode my teacher gave him this odd look and replied, " What wrong did he say" He was one of the coolest teachers in school and this statement proves it. After all she indeed was an old lady

So off i went home that way... Those days i was staying at my uncles place... I ran up the stairs and out of sheer fear, went off to sleep... Mom came home from office at around 5.30-6 and came and woke me.... She was in a very good mood and as i got up...i just fell into her arms and started crying....explained all that had happened...Got a firing but wasnt beaten (Love my mom, she never raised a hand on me)...

She went off and i sat their crying for the next one hour... Mom did not tell any of this to my uncle....

7.30 pm... Uncle calls out aloud and i slowly go downstairs.... the Twin Towers were on fire.... Who cared...my world was on fire....
Sometime later...The towers crashed.... Who cared.... My Schooling career was crashing....

Next day the class teacher came to the class and asked who got into trouble last evening and when i raised my hand i got the most painful comment i could ever get " Sampark i didnt expect this from a student like you"
I was summoned to the principals office again and another dose.... i was outside class for over 2-3 lectures.... She almost suspended me....But i was let off, this being my 1st major goof up

AFTER EFFECTS
My class teacher never spoke to me straight faced after that. I would have surely been in the race for captaincy of red house next year which i sure shot lost that day....

But for me, since that day, life changed.... i realised that i was going wrong.... My friend circle was slowly going bad... I was ignoring my studies.... I was going in the wrong direction.... But as a kid, this incident freaked me out so much that i actually mended my ways....

If i had not pulled it back, i would not have never managed a 88% in my 12th boards, let alone reaching the best college of Mumbai and then to IMT and finally to France and back. People claim that there is one point in their lives when it changed forever and for me it was 9/11, the day the world changed.

When i passed out in March 2o05 wanted to go back to Sister and Thank her but somehow i lost that chance

Next i came to know that she had left for Ireland, never to return again... A few years back I tried looking for someway to contact her on the Internet but wasnt successful

So dear readers, LFS friends and ex-students, if anybody can somehow help me get in touch with the person who made me what i am, i would be really grateful...

All i will say 8 years down the line is " Thank you Old lady"