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“Do you eat non-veg,” I remembered asking.

My mother had warned me. I will be in a different school and if I wanted to share my tiffin with someone, I had to ask them this question.

Omelets, Fried eggs over toast, Chicken Kebabs with ‘pav’ were the usual contents of my tiffin.

Our family moved from the notorious ‘bhaigiri’ area of Dongri to the posh English speaking suburb of Bandra. It was a very big change for me. The medium of instruction in Dongri was Hinglish. The books were in English but everyone spoke Hindi at school. The teachers knew this and tried to explain every chapter in Hindi.

The builder of Kanti Apartments, Bandra had promised possession of our flat in June before school started, but that did not happen. My father had already arranged for my school admissions at St. Annes High School, Bandra.

From June 14th to Sept 2nd, 1982 for two and a half months, I was commuting from Dongri (Sandhurst Road to Bandra) every day. ‘Sandhurst” if spoken in a typical UP accent has a completely new meaning. I didn’t mind the commute, you do get great kebabs and biryani at Dongri plus, all my friends were there.

I was nine years old and my first year was in Class 4A. We had the strictest teacher I had ever encountered. On my first day in 4A, the school gave the option if someone wanted to change the division from 4A to 4B they could. My father had come to leave me at school on the first day. He came to know from other parents that this teacher was very strict. My father thought I should remain in 4A. Sometimes, parents can be such sadists. It was their way of getting back at me.

Fourth Std. was the first time in my life that I failed a subject in the Unit Test: ‘Handwriting’. The teacher told me that I don’t write in a running hand but blocks. My father took this to heart. My father had great handwriting. The next day he brought home three handwriting books from the hawkers at Churchgate station. I had to practice a page every day but to this day, my handwriting resembles Mahatma Gandhi’s handwriting.

St. Anne’s also had great diversity. At School, we had students from all religions and backgrounds. Dongri was 99% Muslim (1% is for benefit of doubt). In Bandra, we had Muslims, Hindus, Jain, Christian, and Sikhs. On my first day of school, I saw a Sikh boy with his long hair tied in a braid, running horizontally on the back of his head without a patka. I was so ignorant, that for a long time I thought he was a girl and couldn’t understand why she was sitting in the boys’ benches.

It was the most difficult year of my school life. It took me most of the year to adjust to a new school, a new environment and make new friends. St. Annes gave me wonderful memories, some great teachers, and most of all extraordinary friends who I wouldn’t trade for anything.