Garima Bhagat

Garima would be one of the nicer people I know. She is one of those people who try, mostly successfully, not to think ill of others. Garima used to study in my school and was in fact the first person I spoke to when I came to my school, back in the seventh grade. I arrived just in time for assembly the first day of school, I rushed up to class, where as per usual Kendriya Vidyalaya (popularised as Kenwood High for the les initiated) tradition, two students stay ‘on duty’ to arrange the chairs and clean the blackboard and class, while the others are forced to attend the boring diurnal ritual of assembly. Nothing is achieved during duty of course, except yesterday's homework. Barring that, the only purpose it has is to give the people on 'volunteer duty'a chance to skip assembly as well as they check on your duty.

Anyway, this is Garima’s page and I am veering away from the topic. She was one of the students on duty and she said something to the effect of, “You can keep your bag there.” Whatever it was, she spoke in English. At that time I had just arrived from Lucknow, and in KV, Aliganj spoken English was as taboo as talking to girls in KV Bareilly. To hear someone in KV speak in English as a natural means of communication was somewhat astounding for the village idiot in me. At the time however, I was terribly impressed. An impression which lasted with me, with regards to both the school and Garima. Garima is presently, as of August, in Delhi. I have maintained correspondence via mail (the type which requires stamps to be affixed on little packets known as envelopes) as she does not have access to the internet. Today, the 30th of November, happens coincidentally to be her birthday.

P.S. That was more for my own memory than the reader's information.