School Assemblies

 

I was thinking on what to write for today’s blog post and then I thought, why not, write about my school time. I used to study in Happy Model School in JanakPuri ( I wanted to provide a link here, but my school still does not have a website! ). During school time, we used to have daily morning assembly which had the following schedule:

1. We made straight lines according to our classes in the grounds. Sounds funny now!

2. We prayed to god to give us wisdom to do the right deeds. Ah, it was a beautiful prayer!

3. Assembly by one of the class sections, which consisted of students from that class coming forward and talking about the topic given to them. eg. if today is class VIII C turn, then the students of class VIII C will present some topic in the assembly which would have been prepared with the help of their class teacher.

4. A teacher giving a speech on some topic.

5. National Anthem

6. Going back to the classrooms in the single files(atleast theoretically!)

I used to be one of the more prolific speakers during the part 3 of the assemblies. It was a thing of pride for me. Usually, we prepared for 3-4 days before actually saying something in front of the whole crowd. But, with frequency, anything comes naturally and so was the case about the assemblies with me. So, I started being creative.

Once I went on to present a poem written by me, it was an adaption of the famous poem “Five Stages of Life” by Shakespeare. This was a time, when I used to write poems feverishly for about 2 months, after which I took up the project of writing a novel, which was given up three weeks later as a bad job. Note that presenting something of your own was an oddity back then; since most of the topics were either taken from books or given by teachers back then. Sounds funny na!

Creativity can take various forms. So, once, in a speech, I rambled about the weather, about not being prepared to present something, some general talk which included an off-beat joke and then at the end, remarked cheekily: Hey I guess I have taken enough time, maybe I will talk sometime later, when I am more prepared. This was followed by some chuckling and applause.

I will give one last instance, which I still remember fondly. This does not involve creativity but improvisation and ego satisfaction :P. I had to give the main speech on the 15th August celebrations. Now the Independence day celebrations are held in the main playground which is really huge. Standing in the Primary block, one can see the whole school close to around 2000 students – 1st to 12th, sitting on the stairs around the ground. I was the person selected to start the proceedings. The scripted speech of around 150 words was going to end with “Jai Hind”. Here, I improvised, I said “Jai Hind” the first time. No response, neither was I expecting one, but still I felt like a neta(not a politician but a freedom fighter, my imagination rocks!!), so I said “Jai Hind” in a stronger voice the second time, complete with the gesture. Some children stood up and I heard a murmer being echoed from the crowd. Then in an even stronger voice, I said it again, now a proper “Jai Hind” being echoed from the crowd. Even the teachers standing and then when I was just about to step down, a co-ordinated slogan of “Jai Hind” came from the crowd. I felt like a anything, I dint know rock music back then otherwise I would have felt like a RockStar! I know its funny and trivial, but imagine, 2000 people following a mere 6th class child. It rocked my imagination :)

These are the experiences of the school-time, which I don’t know why I am remembering now. Guess, I am too bored after the exams have ended. As usual, waiting for comments.