PIANO SCHOOL

 

PIANO SCHOOL

A friend in need is a friend indeed. Friendship can take various forms. The budding friendship between toddlers, the committed friendship between adolescents and the relaxed friendship between adults.

Whatever the type is, friendship is charming! One such charming friendship comes to my mind today….

My eldest son was in kindergarten. In my enthusiasm to educate my first born, I had put him in school one year before the recommended age.  So, the teachers noticed him and his classmates, though all of them were toddlers, had a protective attitude towards him. He was treated by everyone like the youngest sibling.

As the months went by, finally, it was time for the final exams of kindergarten class. Exam had no great significance to these kids. It was just another routine class. The only difference was that they were supposed to write the numbers and the alphabets without looking at the books.

On the day of the maths exam, my son came home with a sad face. When I asked him the reason for his sadness, he told me the most amusing story…which of course was not amusing to him.

In school, his bench mate was a girl. They were bosom friends. So, while the exam was going on, suddenly my son realized that his shoelaces were not tied properly. So, he bent down to tie them. At that moment, his good friend knew that he reached writing the numbers upto ‘50.’ So, she wrote the next two numbers i.e., 51 and 52 on his answer script. Their class teacher saw what was going on and rules were rules and cheating in any form was not permissible. So, she deducted 2 marks each from both of them.

The results were announced a few days later and he was promoted to class 1. After about 20 days break, school was reopened. With a new zeal, he went to his new class. However, on the first day itself, he came back with a sad face again. The first thing he told me was that his friend was not in his class. It also made me quite sad. I consoled him saying that she might come the next day. My son went to school day after day but his friend never came to school again. Being very young, he knew only her name and had no idea about where she lived and any sort of contact number for her. At last, he assumed that she must have gone to ‘Piano School’.

Now, I must tell you where this ‘Piano School’ comes from. At that time, his favourite show on TV was Doraemon. We used to watch it together and it was full of adventure and fun. The main characters are Doraemon, a robotic cat, his owner Nobita, a young boy and his friend Suzuka, a sweet girl. So, in the story, after the routine school, Suzuka sometimes goes to ‘Piano School’ to learn the piano.

My son’s world revolved around these characters. So, he thought all girls must be going to ‘Piano School’ and it was a natural conclusion that his friend too must have gone to that school.

He kept missing her for almost the whole of the school year. I also felt his longing for his friend but she never came back.

Till today, even after 10 years, I can’t forget the depth of their friendship. I sometimes ask him about this incident but, it is only a vague memory for him and now the mention of girls is an unmanly thing and he has friends who are all boys.

How time flies…leaving sweet images on the soft tapestry of memory!

Memchoubi Phanjoubam

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