The Shitty “road” to School.

 

The Shitty “road” to School.

One side of the road was a stone compound wall for almost half a kilometer along the road while the other side was a wide opened ditch. There was another way to school, a main road, I was too shy to go by that road with a torn school bag and a pair of torn shoes that exposed my great toe and the little toe in each shoe. But always covered up telling – ‘I am sacred of traffic’. Being embarrassed of the state being was strictly prohibited then and even now. I didn’t complain much about it, since it changed nothing.

The white canvas was always a trouble on Saturdays to begin with and later even on Wednesdays, when the school decided to see us clad in white pants and a coloured House shirts, mine was green at first and then yellow.

It was more of a luxury to have a separate pair of shoes and white pants for 2 days a week. Having them washed or rubbing them with white chalk was one trouble while, protecting it from the bullies who would stamp on it was another, I was a little timid and docile, maybe even now. But the greatest of all, was to watch the steps on the shitty road to school. Well, what was shitty about the road? The narrow road by the ditch with a parapet served as a toilet to the kids on the parallel street they were also quite comfortable using the other side of the road. The narrow road had fresh to old shit on either side reeking with fresh and old stench.

Well, the rainy days were much a funny challenge when the roads were sloshy after a rainy day. Unlike, today those days Bangalore had good rains. I have also enjoyed a coupled of holidays due to rain, leave was never an option at home. With all these “shit complaints” I refused to carry a handkerchief I was scared of losing it and getting smacked at home for that, carelessness was too expensive then. I rather called myself immune to any kind of stench. Maybe, after treading that road for almost 12 years, it had dulled my olfactory sense - to stench only.

Today, it might sound more like a complaint but then I was grateful to this “shitty road” which didn’t expose me to the stinking looks and smirks, and the wall along the road that covered up.

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