Reaching Dehradun and my beloved school...

3rd April 1996 was the day when I was supposed to take a bus from ISBT, New Delhi for Dehradun, a city which has been described in some

amazing words by writers all across. I had been packing my stuffs since quite a few days not knowing what to take and what not to take. School had mailed list of things we were supposed to buy for one full term e.g. 6 soap bars, 3 shampoos, 3 coconut oil bottles etc. And yes even the brands of each items were mentioned. We decided to buy all of that in Dehradun itself ( a pretty obvious decision).

Finally came THE day when we (me and my uncle) boarded an overnight bus and reached Dehradun early morning at around 4am on 4th April. It wasn't all foggy and fresh as many (including me) would im

agine a valley town to be like. The only thing there which was similar to my imagination was the early morning chill and hot cup of tea being sold at the bus terminal but my memories still find it extremely beautiful. Anyway, it was very early to go to school so we decided to kill time by sitting at the bus terminal for a while and then explore the city a bit. After few hours, probably my uncle got tired of sitting or saw the anxiety on my face, either ways he decided that it was time to explore. So we strolled out and after few minutes of walk, we saw a clock house known as "ghanta ghar" standing in the middle of the cross road. On one side of it was the famous "paltan bazaar" (which in the coming years was about to become the spot for our outings), the opposite road to it lead to the hang out place of youngster's called "rajpur road" and on a corner lay the famous "kumar sweets". On walking a little further towards rajpur road we saw the beautiful "Gandhi park". Little did I know that its going to become a resting place for every time I reach Dehradun in the wee morning hours. Anyway, we sat there for an hour or so and then decided to finally go to School. So we took an auto, popularly known as "vikram" in Dehradun and reached in approximately 10min. Those lanes with small pebbles all over, china rose growing on both the side of the roads and the lanes either going uphill or downhill and very rarely at one le

vel, truly denote Dehradun.

Hmm..so I got down the auto and stepped in

side the gate of an place which was going to be my home for 6 years. We reached the reception of girls hostel and met my warden whom everyone called Ganga didi. She was nothing like those matrons dressed in all white that they show in the movies. Infact my hostel as a whole was a pretty

normal place to be without all those ultra strict convent school rules that usually denote hostel life.

Anyway, I was registered and then got my boarding number "910", a number that would be synonymous to my name for all the years that I would stay there. It would be written along side my name in every item that I own, my bag, trunk, dresses, toiletries, books..everything. After registration process was over, me and my uncle decided to go to the market and buy all the items in the list that had earlier been given to us. On reaching Paltan bazaar, my uncle was not very keen on buying items in the exact quantity as mentioned since he felt it wouldn't be used, but I on the other hand was adamant on not just buying in the exact quantity but a little more than that. After all I was the one who would be left alone without any money and any outside contact and then what if my bathing soap got over, what would I do...hahahaha..But over the years I did realize that my uncle was right. Finally the shopping was over in a jiffy mainly because there are shops which specialize in selling the items in the list (Dehradun has numerous boarding schools). After that we headed back to school and then came the time when I would actually be left alone. My uncle came till reception where my warden counted all the items one by one and put my boarding number "910" on them.

Once that was done, it was time for my uncle to leave. I still remember standing on the hostel stairs with little drops of tears rolling down my eyes watching him disappear behind the tall gates of my school. I had been away from Ma-Papa for quite sometime so it wasn't like I was feeling homesick or scared or whatever, but I just had a fear of unknown because it was the first time I was on my own at a completely new place with no one to take care of me....I had just entered class 5th then....