I have an embryonic tie with Jabalpur, it is where I took my first real steps to learning. I say real since I did go to LKG for few months at Siliguri, we had just landed from Tezpur and before that initiated into learning in cochin, small ceremony at home (if I calculate the number of houses I have stayed till date, it would easily exceed 50!!). I have a very sketchy image of siliguri, just recollect that we stayed very near to a railway line or so. And there where lots of wild elephants, particularly in Tezpur. I also recollect stranded for days because of flood. We had photos of flood and so on, we used to take camera on lend.
Cantonments don’t change much and so is cozy old Jabalpur it remains the same, I have deep attachment with this place. It rema
ins the almost same and even after around three decades I could retrace the paths. I studied in St. Aloysius Boys School for around 3years (later shifted to KV). It is one of the reputed schools around only recently it was made coed. I recall being kissed by Mother Theresa, now this was just before she got Nobel Prize and acquired international fame. I really didn’t know about her greatness nor people around me even after she was awarded the Nobel Prize (frankly people around didn’t had clue about these prizes). It is only years later when I was going through school magazine from old box that I saw this photograph, and saw Mother Theresa and children queuing up to meet her, which I was 
also part of. St. Aloysius was quite a strict school, there were lots of Keralites and also Anglo Indians but they believed in caning children. And the school principal had a peculiar habit of caning kids while distributing report card, he used to start beating after the tenth rank, the intensity of cane increasing, peaking after 30th. It was quite a sight since kids believed that if they put saliva it pains less and they licked their palms!
The best part of the school was that they showed wild life videos, once a month. Just imagine having access to something like this in seventies!! The impact was such that even now I spend substantial amount of time on wildlife channel and try to know more and more about wildlife and visit sanctuaries.
Few months back when I was in Jabalpur I tried to locate the ‘colony’ where we stayed, I had almost lost it when I recollected that we had a huge square shaped water tank next to where we stayed. I did locate the ‘colony’; it is just the same quaint little place (and the water tank is red painted even now!). The water tank is something deeply etched in my memory…..it has some dark secrets. It’s like this I was seriously violent kid (at home in best of behavior!) I was into killing insects, butterflies (oh how many I have killed and maimed, it sickens me every time), dragonflies, ants…one of the ‘games’ I initiated was identifying ant hills, with few kids we pulled up some younger one and dropped him/her into the hill, held him for some time and run away….and the mother will come screaming ‘hai mera bacha hai hai!!’…I somehow specialized in ants later even identifying the varieties and chemical in the belly that could sting if dropped into eyes (it's formic acid dude!!. Kerala even has spiders miming ants). I must have given lots of kids’ ‘identification marks’ as I threw stones at animals (my sis for one got a deep gash on her chin). The water tank had huge beehives; it was one of the cherished endeavors of the kids to hit it. There stayed a beggar woman under it and that is where the tragedy unfolded. Once we managed to hit the beehive and ran off, the bees attacked the woman, she was covered with bees. The whole colony watched in horror, some threw her blanket, an army vehicle took her to the hospital, she barely survived. A part of me was sure it was me, a part of me negates it…but nobody ever doubted me (nice kid that one, he wouldn’t do it), it is only now that I am able to accept. But frankly I never expected such an eventuality. I was so shocked, shaken after that I never picked up a stone all my life, of course I did concentrate on insects but stone throwing was out. For long time I had her screams in my dreams….So unlike Ravi Shankar’s ‘Screams of Dragonflies’ the screams were that of the beggar woman. Even now when I see beehive I feel uneasy but yes those guys in Nepal (?) who collect honey defying death with no modern equipment are incredible! In my teens though I had stabilized into animal lover, spending lots of time with cows and calves at my grandmothers. Now I take special care not to hurt, particularly, insects. Insects are actually quite beautiful creatures if one has time to observe! I also make it a point to watch TV programs related to small creatures. I also hold the view that dung beetle wrestling (they do in east Asia) needs specific skills !
We had a cycle (Hercules) and although it was for adult and very heavy, I learned cycling here, riding ‘kaichi’ in the hot afternoons when everyone slept, since it was forbidden, caught and got whacked many times. What we did was each day it was someone’s turn to get the cycle- most kids father had cycle, and then took turn to ride. Once caught the plan was abandoned for the day. The games included marbles, climbing trees and so on…all forbidden so had to be in constant watch out. I did get some serious beatings for playing marbles finally they used tactics like ‘it will spoil your handwriting’ (since I was known for excellent handwriting which deteriorated subsequently). Later though life changed in Delhi it was cricket and football, in Jaipur kite flying…and as things brightened horse riding, badminton, squash and so on. Jabalpur though remains very special, I recall crying a lot when we were shifting (it did acquire legendary proportion in the correspondence of elders), the whole journey from Jabalpur to Sagar I was inconsolable, maybe since it was new for me later I did start looking forward (shall we say preparing myself) to shifting. I also recall being taken to school in cycle and I had this habit of shouting ‘ram ram bhaiya’ (the salutation word around here) to any passerby and every time my ear getting twisted!!.
Jabalpur has become very crowded though. Beda ghat remains the same but with some more buildings. The marble ghat and Narmada river is a sight to watch at night. In the meantime how about allu parantha and coffee for breakfast!!. Also introducing my co-passengers on the way to beda ghat
ins the almost same and even after around three decades I could retrace the paths. I studied in St. Aloysius Boys School for around 3years (later shifted to KV). It is one of the reputed schools around only recently it was made coed. I recall being kissed by Mother Theresa, now this was just before she got Nobel Prize and acquired international fame. I really didn’t know about her greatness nor people around me even after she was awarded the Nobel Prize (frankly people around didn’t had clue about these prizes). It is only years later when I was going through school magazine from old box that I saw this photograph, and saw Mother Theresa and children queuing up to meet her, which I was 
also part of. St. Aloysius was quite a strict school, there were lots of Keralites and also Anglo Indians but they believed in caning children. And the school principal had a peculiar habit of caning kids while distributing report card, he used to start beating after the tenth rank, the intensity of cane increasing, peaking after 30th. It was quite a sight since kids believed that if they put saliva it pains less and they licked their palms! 
