14th February, 1994

I very well know the meaning and significance of 14th Feb, still I chose to put the exact date in the heading, coz until this date, 14th Feb was nothing but “Just Another Day” for me [It’s another matter, that 14th Feb is still “Just Another Day” for me :)]

Winter season was almost over and our school was bathed in spring sunshine. On the contrary, our classrooms were heated with fear and tension of final exams which was scheduled in mid-march. Especially for our class (class IX of DAV, Patna) the problems were piling up with every passing day. Our learned teachers decided to mark the whole syllabus for our final exams (probably the idea was to give us a feel of class Xth board) and to add to the woes, two of our teachers left the job in a matter of one month and so we got some replacements to fill the gap. One such replacement was this new mathematics teacher – who appeared to have come freshly out of his degree college and by some means got this job to screw our miserable lives further.

I and my friends realized that the only way to come out of this messy situation is to study on our own in groups, and we started utilizing every minutes at our disposal to study and complete the course – many a times it meant studying physics in mathematics class or geography in biology class, more so often when we had already covered the topic being taught in the class or when the topic wasn’t making any sense to us.

It so happened that on 14th Feb 1994 our new mathematics teacher was taking a post-lunch period, and as far as I can remember he was trying to enlighten us with some theorem on circles and tangents. Just before the start of this period one of my friends asked me to sit with him and together we decided to brush up the “Mole concept” in chemistry. I found this as a good option to get my chemistry right than wasting time on listening to this new guy, whose words failed to even make a tangent to my brain. So I went ahead and sat with my friend for this period.

The period began and within a few minutes the new teacher started drawing some geometric shapes on the blackboard along with his monologue description of the circular theorem. Without wasting time, we opened the chemistry book on our desk and diligently started with the chapter on Mole concept. My friend had a queer habit of making notes (he believed more on his “Touch” than “Sight”), and so he took out his pen and began to write. I noticed that he got a new fountain pen that day (It was a new pen which his father had gifted him). Unfortunately it was not working.

He tried all the tricks he knew to make the pen work, but it just didn’t worked. Since he was so fixated at making notes, I thought the only way we can move ahead with “Mole concept” was to make that pen work, so I asked him to let me try my skills at the new fountain pen. I cleaned the nib, and then shook the pen; still it was not working, so as a final solution I opened the back cover of the pen. This pen had a piston mechanism to fill the ink. At this point, my friend cautioned me to be careful, as the ink may spill over. Still I thought of making the ink flow out so that the pen starts working again. So I pushed the piston, a bit harder than what is normally advised. Ink came gushing out like a spring of blue color and sprayed on the shirt of the person sitting in front of me.

Within seconds I realized the person sitting on the front desk was a girl, who didn’t hesitate to walk up to the principal’s cabin on the flimsiest ground you can think of, and here I have dyed her white shirt with blue ink. I thought I am done for the day. Very soon I will have to pay for that extra force I applied on the piston. My friend saw this, and took the pen from my hand, but he too was clueless as to what to do next. I was evaluating the various excuses, when someone shouted from the last bench – “Holi mubarak ho”.

The news spread in the whole class at a pace faster than the petrol tank catching fire. Everyone started looking towards me and at the girl, with whom I supposedly played Holi. I tried telling sorry to her, but before I could open my mouth, someone decided to put the last nail in the coffin and shouted “Happy Valentine’s day Rahul”. I don’t think anyone was able to make out the meaning of this comment (Obviously I didn’t), except for some intellectuals sitting at the back and my new mathematics teacher.

By this time the class burst into laughter and there was commotion all around. This new teacher had to bring in order, so he asked for what has happened, and pat came the reply – “Rahul is celebrating a colorful valentine day” (someone tried to be intelligent and innovative at the same time). Anyhow, I was sure that I will be hanged to reign in the uprising of laughter in the class. The teacher came to my desk and asked me and that girl to stand up – my face turned red with embarrassment, while that girl was still in utter shock. I was asked to leave the class immediately, which I did without any argument.

While standing outside, I was thinking of the whole event, and then I saw my principal coming towards me. A fear gripped me – was the uproar so loud that it reached his cabin? I was praying for some miracle to happen, and then I saw the principal standing in front of me. He asked me why I am standing like this. I narrated the whole incidence; probably my reputation of being a good student worked and he took me inside the classroom, then he called the teacher and gave him a hint of my background, after which I was asked to take my seat.

In another 10 minutes or so the bell rang and the period was over, I was relaxed but still not convinced that I am out of danger zone. What if that girl decides to make an issue out of this and takes the matter back to the principal’s office? I had only one option and that was to go and apologize to her, and so I went and told her “I am Sorry”. I was still expecting the volcano to erupt, but surprisingly she said “It’s ok” (Don’t know if she too was among the group who knew the meaning of Valentine day, or if St. Valentine himself came to her and prayed for me). Hmmm… I didn’t knew what to say next, I just kept quiet and came back to my desk.

Later on when I realized the significance and meaning of 14th February, I wondered if this is the way one should be made aware of such an important day. Many 14th Feb has passed since 1994, still my first memory of valentine day lingers on my mind as a portent to keep me away from another “Colorful Valentine’s Day”. May be almighty has some other plans in store for me :):)

Hope you all enjoy 14th February with your Valentine!