In class-VI

VI class...One saturday evening..all the students from vi to x classes were asked to assemble at middle-ground. The last period which obviously was hindi was washed away and we moved to the ground with full of exuberance as the next day was a sunday.. Our principal arrived with another person . The mike was adjusted and the princi introduced that person to us. He came here from an organisation called "Helpage india".And that person explained the reason and the motive they were working for .In his words " This organisation works for the old parents who were abandoned by their grown-up children and also for the old people who donot have house and live in streets.You students have to collect some funds which could be very helpful to them." That was the crux.but what was interesting was when he said " you would be given badges and certificates if u collect more than 35 and 50 respectively and those certificates would be helpful when u grow up and attend interviews,the more you collect the more the awards"..thats it. There was a tumult among the gathering. Everybody wanted to use this opportunity . Everybody dreamt a typical telugu film scene in their own direction : "I would be attending an interview and answer all the questions posed by the interviewer .suddenly i would show them the helpage india certificates and the interviewer would be impressed and with tears in his eyes would come near to me and appreciate me for my society-helping- nature and finally would give the job to me. And a smile of pride on my face." Nice dream :-) With some sheet given by him( to list the names of people who donated) we left for home. Everybody was aiming to collect more and more.

Radha(krishna) and I went home discussing about this all the way. I ran upstairs and had shown to my mamaiah and he donated Rs.5 without any second thought.5 rupees, in those days is really a pretty amount.I went to Radha downstairs and showed to him. Already, He was asking his father and after finding 5 rupees in my sheet he got embarrassed and started demanding his father..... and finally got 2 rs. :-)

With that boost-up i went to one of my mamaiah's friend and requested him. When i went there he was with a group of people in his living-quarters. They started asking the detailed concept of this. And this was what i told " when you people would grow old, when your children abandon you, when they dont give you the food ..then the helpage-india will take care of you if youu donate some amount now" Everybody opened their mouth agape .Really this was what I( and all our friends) understood from the speech at school and i thought this was what that person at school told us. Nobody would have really liked my wacky reason..( you know waht shoud i say..and what i had told them) but as no one wanted to dissappoint a calm,no-non-sense boy( ??? :-) ).... gave me Re 1 or 2 rs each. Whenever i think of what i had told them i feel very embarrassed. Spare my foolishness..as i was only a VI class boy :-).

so,I was on a mission....MadhukarReddy and I were roaming all the town in search of funds on his big atlas cycle.We stopped at Sri Kanakmhalakshmi silk house,a big shop , I was waiting at cycle and he went in. He came out sad without a penny..I prodded him with my pen and said smilingly " look..i am going to get".. I went inside..God..i would not have gone...God....Why did u do this to me... The owner cursed "Dont you boys have any work..How many times would you come..is this what you are going to school for" (achha telugulo : ey..emi paniledaa meeku..ennni saarlu vasthaarraa....idenaa meeku schoollo nerpinchedi..po po ) He kept on yelling..I was numb. ...could hear nothing...My eyes were ready to rain. I was walking back ..Madhukar was standing there ,trying to supress his laughter. :-( Dont you think this was the worst situation a school-boy could be in?


A few days passsed..some other school students were also in the competetion,especially Sandhya public school.
One day Radha came to me and whispered this "" Arey..endukuraa manam kashatapadi money collect chesi..principal ki ivvadam...nenu kanukkunnanu..aa helpage india certificates valla no use anta...manamey enjoy cheddaam..cinemaki veladam..full enjoy cheddaam" ani. He also said that even our Karunaker also opined the same. I was very sincere and I said NO. I didnt comply with his request. I knew that he already had spent his amount of 25 rs and then he came to induce me :-) .

The day to submit the sheet and the amount collected was approaching. But there was a problem..I had to attend my uncle's marriage and I could not be in the school on the last day of submission. I informed Anuradha teacher,our calss-teacher that i would submit a few days later and she okayed. And in the marriage, I collected good amounts and totally had around 175 rupees with me. I returned to school after a few days feeling proud and superior. I found that DVgaadu got a badge.As 90% of our friends enjoyed with their money.... watched movies,bought new pens,bought jamakayalu and more importantly cleared all their debts they owed to friends :-)..... Radha warned me again "Arey...dont do that silly thing". Lending a deaf ear to him....I went to principal and gave the amount to him.

Days rolled on....I waited and waited..I didnt get any reward or certificate or atleast badge. Enough,I could not handle Radhagaadi sarcastic smiling anymore.(Certificate raaledanna baadha kantey veedi deppipodupu,vetakaram ekkuvipoyindi naaku). I went to Anuradha teacher and asked her to request Princi about this.

Thats all...

Sometimes...when Radhagaadu was in no-mood-to-embarrass-me , said " Arey.. principal nokkesi vuntaaduraa "ani. (no offence meant :-) )

Till this day...I didnt receive any cetificate. :-(

I would have bought a new bat if i kept that money. Or I would have remained in the good books of Radha if i had listened to him and .... If radha and I have spent that money together i would be, now, writing another blog :-) narrating those things.

P.S: I hope that amount would have served some purpose at their organisation.