Missing Nemo

This School of Fish was there together for thirteen long years for a journey that started in 1969 in KG-B and then they moved on to I-C and then for next ten years the Band of Brothers was together till subjects did us part. Fishes of so many hues yet sticking together through good times and bad….and he was one of us from the classroom to cricket ground, from the canteen to the swimming pool where he truly belonged.

There I can see you in the third row between Harjiv and Pushy with your curly brown hair. Remember your distinct way of writing with your left hand covering the desk as if trying to hide your answer from the boys sitting behind…no it was never that way. Even to this day the incident of our Class Tenth ICSE Board Chemistry Practical Exam brings tears of joy to me as you and I kept copying from Harjiv’s notes without knowing one step ourselves. And when you finally tried mixing two chemicals, the concoction flew out of the tube onto poor Harjiv’s answer sheet. Of the many other things I remember is your brown colour Mercedes on which I had my life’s first ever ride on the Three Pointed Star car as you dropped me off at Central Secretariat bus stop after a class football match. 

Dear Sudhin, I don’t have your picture while swimming so have taken the liberty of using a picture of a swimming legend for the two commonalities…the wingspan and Germany. In the 80s whenever I saw Michael  Gross, The Albatross, take to the pool during the LA and Seoul Olympics, I was reminded of you how you won championship after championship in swimming meets all across the city schools and more. You had a huge wingspan and in fact you even had the biggest pair of feet and shoes for which no Bata store in India could then provide. Surely they acted as the flippers aiding you in your conquest of the pool.

And then we got the sad news that the Fish had jumped out of the water….Missing you Nemo. Wherever you are Rest in Peace. The Class of 10-C will miss The Champion.  And as they said in the movie, “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming."

SS