The Day I Broke My Head in School

I was in 1st grade in Ms Thompson's class. Teddy always sat next to me. It is quite insulting to sit next to a boy when you are 6. This morning when Case greeted Aparna, I asked her to hold his extended hand and walk into the school. She looked at me perplexed. 'Hold Case's hand? You must be out of your mind'. She did not say it, but her eyes conveyed their meaning to me. This is America I thought to myself. You hold hands with your class boy, they think you are in love. You hold hands with your class girl, they think you are gay! Gosh! Thats harsh.

But its the best punishment for a girl when she is a brat and wont stop talking in the class. The teacher orders you to sit next to a boy. It happened to me not just in 1st grade but until many years after that. I was always punished for talking too much. So for most part of the time I sat next to Teddy. Only when I had a long spell of good behavior, was I allowed to roost with girls.

For a long time in school, at least until 3rd grade, instead of school bags, most of us carried 1ft by 1.5ft tin or aluminium boxes to school. I inherited mine from my sisters, who were 10 years older than me. My mother must have loved that box a lot to have saved it for a decade. These boxes were pretty solid, they had razor sharp inside edges, very pointed corners and handles that never broke even under severe pressure. Mine had my sisters names embossed on it. They must have scraped their names using something sharp and metallic, like a nail, because it was quite permanent. I had to sometimes explain those names to my friends.

When we reached school, we were ordered to place the boxes by our side, right next to the bench that we sat in and asked to gently place the boxes on the table when we had to remove something from inside it. The first part was fine and we followed the rules but it was the biggest clamor and din when we had to get something from inside the boxes. Everyone just picked their boxes and slammed it on the poor wooden tables and it was the worst cacophony on earth!

All through that day I talked to Teddy because there was no way I could stay quiet in class! Actually Teddy was a very nice kid. May be he was nice to me because he knew it was my punishment. As the school bell rang at 3.30pm, we all slammed our boxes on the tables and stuffed our books and papers into it with much vigor. The teacher asked us to get out of our benches and line up for getting out of the class. I was sitting on the inside of the row. Teddy got up with his box and made way for me. I stood up very enthusiastically and swung my box in an arch, out of the bench side, straight into my head. The corner struck my forehead with great force. I never knew what happened until I felt the sting and tasted blood.

Teddy was the first one to notice me. He called Ms Thompson. There was enough excitement for the class. Someone was pressing my head to stop the bleeding, kids were looking at me in awe--Wow! she wont be in tomorrow for school! And with all that going on, Teddy held my hand and Ms Thompson, Teddy and I walked to the Principal's office. The nurse cleaned my face and bandaged my head. I cant remember if we had a phone at home to call someone to pick me up from school, but the school peon brought me home on his bicycle that evening.

My mother was pacing up and down the front porch because I was late. She let out a short gasp when she saw me. She thanked Raghu the peon, and he left. Soon after my father came home and we went to the doctor to get some stitches.

Today the scar under my right eyebrow speaks volumes. It tells me that both my eyebrows can never be symmetrical (even under the best beautician's hands). It reminds me of Raghu and the ride home on his creaky bicycle. It reminds me of the smell in the hospital. But most of all it reminds me of Teddy and how he held my hand. We weren't in love. We were just friends.