Homecoming

(1)

It was a warm March morning. The clock was taking its own sweet time to reach for the noon. Already the mercury was on the higher side. Samir was sweating profusely. His hanki was all but wet. He was not accustomed to such hot weather. Well, hot and humid weather to be precise. He was getting impatient. It had been almost an hour they were waiting in a deserted corridor. The classes were going on, so the silence is quite deafening. Samir looked at his grandfather, he was sitting beside Samir as if nothing in the world could bother him. Although he was in his 70s, he looked much younger. He seemed to enjoy the calmness around. Samir looked away. He was tensed although he did not want to look that way. In fact, in recent times he did not want to show any trace of emotion on his face. He was working on that. It was easy though. As it was, he did not have many emotions left in him.

A bell rang. Suddenly a whirlpool of sound rose from the entire school building. As if a giant was woken by the bell. Anticipation rose in Samir’s mind, although he would hate to acknowledge that. What was the point of all these, he was in a withdrawal mood.

A number of teachers now could be seen in the corridor. They were coming from the class. It was an old building. The school was opened before independence. It was at first one two-storied building, where Samir and his grandfather was waiting presently. Slowly the school evolved, more numbers of buildings were built. The corridor, one of the initial constructions, had a dark, gloomy look in it. Even though a light was on, there was darkness around. To Samir, it appeared more like a court building than a school. It could be where grandfather could have studied, Samir thought. However, the fact remained that, in spite of all the appearances, this was one of the best schools in Kolkata. For both the board exams, students from this school appeared in the top list, every year. It was known for sports and other extracurricular activities as well. Samir’s grandparents would stop at nothing but the very best for their only grandson. As far as Samir was concerned, he cared a fig for all this.

Suddenly from the corner of his eye, Samir saw a person was coming towards them. He looked at him. Tall, slender, fair, with a head full of white hair, and wearing equally white clean shirt pant, a teacher was coming towards them. He had a presence, an aura around him. Samir’s grandfather stood up, Samir could understand they were waiting for this man. He stood up too. The person came to them, smiled to acknowledge their presence and went inside the room next door. Soon afterward, a calling bell rang and a staff came out of the room to call Samir and his grandfather in.

-”Mr. Banerjee, it is such a pleasure to meet you” the man stood up from his chair to welcome them.

Mr. Ashok Banerjee, Samir’s grandfather shacked his hand warmly “Thank you, Sir, for seeing us. It is an honor”.

-“The honor is entirely mine. And this must be your grandson we talked about. Samir, is it not?”

-“Sam,” Samir said. He was bored already after waiting for over an hour. And besides, what’s the point in such pleasantries?

It appeared that his rudeness did not affect the person now seating opposite to them. He smiled at Samir “Oh Hello Sam, I am Alex, Alex Murdock. I am the Principal of this school. Please, gentlemen, take your seats” he signaled them towards the chairs.

Once settled, Principal Murdock looked at Samir “so Samir, Sam if you like, how do you like it here in Kolkata?”

-“It’s alright”

-“Here is how we are going to work, I will ask you a question and you will reply saying ‘Yes Sir’, ok? So let’s start again. Are you enjoying Kolkata?” The smile never left Principal Murdock’s face.

-“Yes Sir, I am” Samir was in no mood of small talk. However, he remembered the talk he had with his grandparents last night. So he remained courteous.

-“Good, that’s good. Why do you want to study here, in this school I mean?”

Samir shrugged “Grandfather thinks it is a good school, so why not here?”

-“If it is the same for you, would you like to try in other schools as well?”

Samir looked down and did not answer the question.

-“What is your favorite subject?” The Principal asked again.

-“Maths” and after a few moments of hesitation, Samir added “sir”.

Principal nodded. His smile seemed to be eternal “very well, you sit outside for a moment. Let me have a word with Mr. Banerjee in private.”

Samir got up and came back to the wooden bench in the old, dark corridor again. He can remember his grandparents urging him to be more active in the interview process last night “This is the best school in Eastern India. If you can get into it, you will be lucky. Normally they do not accept students in between the sessions, but for you, they had made an exception. Please, please try to be polite and answer all the questions honestly.” They explained it repeatedly.

Samir could now see that all of their words did not affect after all. The interview went bad, he would not be accepted here. Not that, he was too much bothered about it. A school was just a school for him. He did not want it to be special or something. He did not want anything from his life now.

The calling bell rang again and the same staff came out again to call Samir back to the Principals office. Earlier Samir didn’t notice the office, but this time he did. There were books everywhere. Leather bound books, where ever Samir could see. Most of them are in English. The room looked more like a library than a principal’s office. The only difference was the presence of trophies. Trophies of different sizes and shapes, some looked ancient some relatively new, crowded the room; proudly exhibiting the glory of the school.

Principal Murdock was looking at Samir, he commented “Yes, it is a collection of a lifetime. Personally, I do not prefer to show off. But they were here when I was promoted as Principal, so I kept them as it is. The recent ones are safely kept elsewhere though. Come” he signaled Samir to a chair. “The school always had a record of having excellent students, all-rounders, not only in academics but sports, debate, cultural aspects everything. I am sure you will be a valuable addition to the tradition.”

Samir looked up. Was he trying to say that Samir, despite a rather poor interview, would be accepted here?

Principal Murdock sensed his disbelief and smiled encouragingly “Your past records are excellent and you did rather well in the admission test. I find you a little reserved but given the circumstances, it is not unusual. I am sure you will be able to adjust to the culture of our school.”

When Samir finally came out of the Principals room, he was feeling rather relieved. So this gloomy dark school would be his home for the next few years? He was not exactly excited but was not disappointed as well. He enjoyed his studies and was a good student throughout. So he was happy to be in school again. And everything else was immaterial.

To Samir, life itself was immaterial!!!

Day one of anything is a big deal. And if it is the first day at school, it a big deal. Samir was feeling suffocated when he came out of the Uber with his grandfather. It is one thing to start at Primary or class five but a totally different thing to start in class nine where the other students know each other for like nine years. NINE long years. He would be an outcast among them, Samir knew. Not that he was anyway interested in making friends a fresh. Friendships were overrated, they did not last long, that was his experience.

As discussed before, Samir and his grandfather went to the Principals office first. He was in a prayer session with the rest of the staff and students, so they waited on the same wooden bench they sat before. After the prayer as students were going back to their classrooms, Alex Murdock came to his office, with another teacher with him. As usual, the bell and the staff beaconed Samir inside. This time, His grandfather remained outside though.

-“Hello Samir, good morning, how are you today?” The principal welcomed him with a warm smile.

Samir did not smile back “I am fine, thank you, how are you Sir” he was polite though.

-“I am fine, I am absolutely fine. Let’s meet Mr. Kamal Basu, he is a teacher at our school and he teaches Maths, your favorite right? And he is your class teacher as well”

-“Hello Sir,” Samir said politely. Mr. Basu nodded but said nothing.

Principal Murdock was continuing “For the first day he will escort you to the class and introduce you with your classmates. Tomorrow onwards you will attend the prayer-like them all. Now go, we don’t want you to be late for the first day.”

Mr. Basu waived Samir to follow him, he met with his grandfather on the way out, Ashok just smiled and said nothing. Samir smiled and followed his teacher.

As he was walking down the now deserted corridors the feeling of suffocation came back. “I do not belong here” this feeling was back of his mind all the time. No, he might not belong here, but here he was. It was a feeling of despair like he was being sentenced to jail. The only good thing was he would be allowed to do what he loved most – study.

Everyone in the classroom was talking and it created a buzzing sound. The sound died as soon as Samir entered the room with Mr. Basu. Samir could feel every pair of eyes were on him. Scanning, asking the question, uninviting.

-“Good Morning class,” Mr. Basu said and the whole class replied in unison “Good morning teacher.”

Mr. Basu smiled at Samir and continued “Class, we have Samir here, Samir Banerjee has recently moved from Bangalore to Kolkata and he will join us for the rest of the session. Make him feel at home and help him all the time. And Samir” he looked back at Samir “They will be your friends for a couple of years now so feel free to make new friends. Now grab a chair, we will start the proceedings.”

Samir felt all the eyes on him and his ears were hot. He felt like he had a fever. He went straight to the first empty seat he could see.

The student sitting beside the empty seat put his bag on the seat “This seat is taken”

“Barun, don’t be silly,” Mr. Basu said angrily.

The boy, Barun, started to explain why he thought the new boy should not sit there but Samir did not hear any of it. There was a seat empty in the last but one bench. He went straight to the desk and asked the boy sitting beside “Is the seat taken too?”

The boy shrugged and did not answer. Samir sat down in the seat. He had the urge to get up and ran away from the class, but sometimes you could not run. He sat quietly.

The class went like a blur. Maybe because it was his first day or maybe for any other reason, Mr. Basu did not disturb Samir. Or maybe he ignored him like the others. Samir had no idea what was being taught in the class. He just sat there, waiting the day to be over. But then again, where would he go once the class would be over? It was not like he had a home here in Kolkata.

After the class, everyone started to talk at once. And everyone ignored Samir, which was fine for him. He sat silently without listening to anything. Samir was oblivious when the next teacher came in. Everybody stand up, took their seats and paid attention to what was being taught. Everybody, except Samir. No matter how much he tried he could not focus on the classes. In the lunch break, the boy beside Samir asked: “Hi, I am Sumit and you are?”

-“Sam!!”

Sumit shrugged again at this lackluster response and turned around to talk with other friends. The day went on without any change in the mood or behavior of Samir.

The rest of the days of the week were also the same. He would come, stand in a queue for prayer, sat by Sumit and ignore all the proceedings. The teachers tried to engage him in the conversation, he was polite but non-responsive. And the other students did not recognize him at all, as if he did not exist.

Next week started the same, but the monotony was somewhat disturbed on Tuesday. Mr. Basu was taking the class. Samir did not pay any attention to it. Suddenly Sumit poked him, Samir looked up and saw everyone in the class was looking towards him. Mr. Basu said, “Samir, come to the board and attempt the problem.” By his voice, it was clear that it was not a request.

Samir reluctantly went to the board. A problem of Geometry was written there. It was a rather tough theorem. Samir hesitated at first, then picked up the marker to prove the theorem.

-“Thank you, you may sit now,” Mr. Basu said as he watched Samir proving the theorem. Samir said an inaudible thanks, went back to his seat and lost in his thought. He did not notice that the entire class was looking at him the whole time.

During the break, a girl from the first bench approached Samir “Hi, new boy, you are Samir right?”

Samir looked up. A pretty face was smiling towards him. “Sam” he replied curtly.

“Sam? Ok!! So, Sam, you are really good with Maths, aren’t you?” Samir did not answer.

Apparently, Samir’s lack of enthusiasm did not bother her at all “I am Somdatta. I am the class rep. Talk to me if you need anything. And try to talk with others as well. We are a good lot here.”

Once she is gone, Sumit said to Samir “So Sam, you are a hidden treasure bro. You are really good with numbers.”

Samir looked at him enquiringly. Sumit explained “That problem you solved, no one in the class was able to do it, not even Ankit. You must be good.”

Samir smiled wryly, did not answer.

However, there must be something in the air that day, Sumit did not shrug or looked away but asked the further question “Where do you stay? And why you sit by all alone? Come join us” He pointed to a group of boys hanging at the last bench.

-“Thanks,” said Samir but did not attempt to get up or join them. Sumit might have said something thing else but the bell rang and everyone started to pack their things for the next class which would go on in the same way the last classes went. It was like nothing could disturb Samir in his solitude. It took a heavy rainfall and unscheduled class to bring him back to normalcy finally.

(2)