Vidyaranya High School. The magical place where so much goes on yet the world knows little about it. Leave alone the world, even the city of Hyderabad barely knows anything about this. The students you see at Vidyaranya are not like the students you usually see in conventional schools. That's probably because the students of Vidyaranya are exposed to a pressure free environment, which is very rare in today's world. The children do not take exams till Class 8. They are free to wear whatever they want to wear. They are free to think whatever they want to think. They are free to say whatever they want to say. Now that said, here's one of the many magical moments that took place at Vidyaranya, with my son Hardik directly involved.
Over to you Hardik.....
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It was ten minutes past twelve. The teachers had just left us for our lunch break after a tiring drama session. Some could only think about filling their stomachs after an action packed afternoon. Some could only think about playing football. I belonged to the second group.
As I was wearing my budget Power shoes, one of my friends, Rayyan, decided to play a little prank on me. The moment I was done wearing my left shoe, he went ahead and ran off with my right shoe. I stayed cool and I stopped myself from chasing him, knowing that he would return it.
I went to the football ground with a few of my pals. I knew that it was somewhere around that field where Rayyan had kept the shoe. I asked him where my shoes were kept, extremely certain of the answer I would receive. I turned out to be correct for I knew very well that he wouldn't reveal the answer to me. However, he gave a big hint, saying that I was standing within 500 metres of my beloved shoe.
I then started searching for my shoe. Two minutes later, I was going to give up... any second.
My best friend Vasisht, better known as Bethu, could see that. He then did something, an act of kindness that would give Jesus Christ a run for his money. He gave me HIS right shoe and then went to have lunch in the canteen, with one shoe.
Overcome by his kindness, my expedition was back on track. I was no longer searching with one shoe on. I also had a friend on my side, Amrita, who was also not keen at the prospect of having lunch.
The two of us were extremely motivated : I due to the magnanimity shown by my best friend, she due to the idea of seeing the famous shoe of one of the most infamous people on the planet.
Rayyan probably realised that this duo's expedition was going to be successful.
So he proposed to sign a treaty. He said that he would return my shoe by 12 30 because that was when the football match would start and he acknowledged the fact that I would need my shoe to play the game. It seemed fair to me, so I called off the search.
By 12 30 when Bethu was back, he was pleasantly surprised to find me with three shoes. It was at that moment that the world of fashion changed. Bethu decided to wear one of his shoes and one of mine. I did the same. Initially, the idea was that by the end of the lunch break we would take back our respective shoes. However, we couldn't find the time and decided to do so just after school ended. By the time I reached home, I was wearing two shoes and both were my own : a feeling I didn't experience for most of the day.
The next morning , when Bethu and I met, I proposed the idea of swapping one of our shoes and keeping it that way for the entire day. He was game. This news soon became prevalent. Some laughed. Some were inspired to do the same. During Hindi class, my good friend Wahaj asked me whether I wanted to swap a shoe with him as well. I agreed to do so and gave my right shoe to him and vice versa. We also swapped watches. So I was wearing two shoes with completely different designs and neither of them belonged to me. However, my trading with Wahaj didn't turn out to be very successful, as his shoe was too big for me and my shoe was too small for him. We also got back our respective watches soon.
I was back to wearing one of Bethu's shoe and one of mine. Home time came and I told him I'll give your shoe back when you have to go. I then got to know that Rayyan would be dropping me today. He happened to be in a hurry, so I rushed to the car with my bag hanging on to one of my hands. I had totally forgotten about our shoes. I only realised I had taken one of Bethu's shoes when I was looking at the mirror in the lift at home. I called him up after some time and told him about the accident, about which he was aware of, and also apologized to him. Worse, school would be closed the next week, meaning I could only return his shoe nine days later.
My father and his father both took the sporting side of the thing, when they got to know about this, throwing light on the great bond we share. They said that it was lovely to see such friendship.
Over to you Papa.....
...........
I couldn't resist the urge to laugh at such an event. The moment I returned home, I saw that right in front of the shoe rack were placed a black Adidas shoe and a grey Power shoe, side by side. The event seemed even more hilarious to me when I got to know the whole story.
Oh Hardik, if only you wore your shoes faster....
