The New Boy

It is one of the many unsolved mysteries of my life and I am still intrigued about the explanation. It was the start of a new session in the most prestigious school of the city and I can clearly remember the scent of the new books and notebooks emanating from the school bag. Suddenly, before the start of the usual business of education a feeble and considerably fair 'new boy' accompanied our class teacher, who for that matter was also herself 'new'. " Class this is your new classmate and his name is Lalit, be nice to him, and I don't want any complaints" , the teacher promptly said, in a matter of fact voice. The 'new boy' was obviously looking nervous to see a class of about fifty students.

All of us were sitting with our best friends but the new teacher had other ideas, lo and behold, the entire class was shuffled like a pack of cards and as 'the fates' would have it, I landed with the 'new boy' .

Fifth standard was a new threshold as now we were the exact 'median' of the prestigious High school, so we had to be tough, or at least act tough. The 'new boy' who sat on a desk with me was excellent in studies and was also very very talkative. Several teachers threatened us with dire consequences, but the threats were never carried out as we were also the first ones to do the sums or answer the questions.

The 'new boy' was very active in all the classes be it Music, Art and Craft or even Computers but he behaved weirdly in the Games period.Cricket was the passion among boys, while the girls of the class, well I don't even remember now what they played, but they occupied a little space in the corner of the huge school ground. The new boy shockingly refused to play Cricket and it was obviously surprising, at least in those days which were without fancy video-games, but at least I had the courtesy to ask for the reason. "When I was in third class, playing Cricket with my father, I was hit very badly in the stomach and since then I don't participate in any ball game", it was a rather quick reply from the 'new boy'. It was a very weird sight as the girls played 'something' in the corner and the boys indulged in the Cricket or Football while our 'new boy' whiled away the 35 minutes of the Games period, lingering here and there, lonely and disinterested.

Now almost a month passed by and our 'new boy' caught fancy of the famous 'bully' of our class, he would be pounced upon, pushed around and bullied by him. It all seemed so normal at that age and no one even noticed or cared about what the 'new boy' was going through. Until one fine day the class teacher was duly informed by the 'new boy' about his plight and his eyes were filled with never ending tears for almost the whole day. It was considered so unmanly of the 'new boy' to cry, and ,also for that matter to cry for so long. However the 'bully' was reprimanded and everything seemed to be all set for the day as the school bell rang for the last time of the day.

Next day was and still is one of the most unexplained day of my life. The morning bell rang and the students rushed towards the assembly ground. I took my usual place in the boys' row and just as I glanced towards the girls' row ,I got a shock, as there was our 'new boy' in a knee high skirt, a head band worn over the cropped hair and girl shoes ( ones with that buckle).

Before anybody could react the drum beat started the prayer and everyone was dumbfounded. Immediately after the prayer the class teacher entered the class and announced that the new girl's name was Lalita and everyone was forbidden from asking any further questions. The section of the 'new boy' or 'new girl', what could be said, was promptly changed and I saw 'him' or 'her' take the schoolbag from my side in silence and move out of the door towards the newly allotted section.

This was one of the real life incidents of my life to which I still don't have any explanation, can any one even have an explanation to such an intriguing incident. Well the possibilities are many but no one can ever be sure of the reality, which as the saying goes, is stranger than fiction.