Turning point at Dagshai

Statutory warning: This post is extremely long and written as a re-account. The post is completely in a flowing fashion, one thread leads to the other. It might even appear non-coherent. So continue at your own risk… :P

My school- Army Public School, Ambala Cantt (2004-08)

As you are with me here, so welcome aboard…
So the time is when I was in 12^th std at Army School, Ambala Cantt, and one of the most awaited moments of the day used to be my English classes. Back then English classes were taken by Mrs. Kumkum Chopra; one of the best teachers and one of the best human beings I ever met. She had an extraordinary presence in the class; on each and every student of the class, I must say. She always had new exercises to be performed in the class, basically the exercises were related to expression… i.e. we were encouraged to speak, initially at our benches and later in front of the class. Slowly and slowly I got addicted to her classes, I always had something to say, something to ask. I really wasn’t afraid of any criticism. Oh ya… even my first crush couldn’t make me mum in rebuttal round of debate, poor fellow ;) (crush part is a secret I’ll reveal it some other day).

These were the days when ma’am saw my fearless attitude and reasoning skills and recommended my name for interjector in Inter Army School Debate Competition which was to be held at Core level. It’s not that I never faced the real stage, it’s just that this big school (strength around 4000 bechare bache) never gave any opportunities for past four years (from the day I joined this school) and now all of a sudden you are being sent out to represent your school…OMG…  o_0

Now the selection was not so easy, all the recommended students were lined-up to meet our Principal (Princi aka Hitler). We were told to read out a passage in front of herrrrrr… we baches obviously got scared and faltered with our simple lines. So princi had second opinions about me but Kumkum ma’am was firm and somehow managed to convince her… yipeeeee :). Princi also had second opinions about my dear friend (a girl btw), I don’t know why she liked manly and husky voice, so, my fellow classmate, a boy (read as bwoay) was selected. Now as we are done with selections our practice sessions started. Actually practice sessions for my team-mates, the debaters; their scripts were being prepared, they were made to mug (ratafy) the content. I just had to listen to them and think of questions to be put to them. Ok then, in one such trying practice sessions when I was sitting in a corner, Kumkum ma’am came and said to me, “beta don’t lose confidence, you are the one who is being selected from this whole school, there must be something about you… you’ll definitely perform well.” These were the words which soothed me then and encourage me now & then.

Is any reader still here?...as the actual journey starts now…

Like any other parents, my parents also didn’t used to send me to any trips or excursions but now as the whole trip was financed by school ;D… more importantly as it was monitored by teachers so I got permission for my first outing. (You must be thinking, I am crazy to take my competition as a trip…well me to aisi hi hoon, kisi bahane hi sahi pahadiyon pe ghoomne ka mauka to mila ;p ). Then my teacher came with shocking news that we will go by bus…BUSSSS :@ . I was half-dead listening to this, I somehow managed to persuade them to go by train as I tend to have motion-sickness. So I packed all the necessary items and happily got ready for my trip. 

APS Dagshai during summer time

It was a cool autumn morning, I don’t remember the actual date, it must be sometime between 20’s of October 2007. We were in total 6 students (4 girls and 2 boys) and 2 teachers who reached the railway station Ambala Cantt well in time and headed towards our train which was destined to Kalka Station. We reached Kalka and took the toy train; yes the one which runs on the meter gauge rail tracks. In the train we munched the delicacies which we brought from our homes and the most famous was my mom made ‘Mysorepaak’, well, she is a gem. Then our destination arrived (or we reached there :P) Dagshai… (read as DAGSHAAY…naam se hi kisi foreign location ki anubhooti hoti hai na?). There was already the school bus waiting for us, as we took the bus we found that bus already was acquainted with few other teams. Then I don’t remember much as I took my beauty nap which is a must for any bus journey, especially if it is in a mountainous region. After the turns and twists of about 20-30 minutes we had reached the campus of APS Dagshai. Thankfully I was only feeling dizzy :P nothing more, my teachers came enquiring about me. I told them it’s normal for me and not to worry. The girls of the reception team were really very courteous and took our luggage with them and we headed towards fulfilling the formalities; actually teachers did this part and we just stood outside the office. :P

It was around 5:00 in the evening and we were strolling in the basket-ball court outside the office giving cold stares at our competitors (humse jo takrayega, mitti me mil jayega…type of stares ;D :D ). Then I just started moving towards the corner of the building to catch a better glimpse of the school. 

this is the building I am talking about...and extreme right is the point

But what did I find… I found there were no more buildings beyond that point, there was a large meadow (sort of) with a slope (declination) of about 60⁰-70⁰. OMG then I realized that I was actually standing at the edge of mountain and beyond 50m there was a fence to prevent any mishap. I called my team-mates and we just gazed the view, in a few moments the sky turned into the screen of kaleidoscope and changed its pastels and patterns. Soon other students also gathered there and witnessed one of the BEST SUNSET’s of our life. It was like sun was half set but it was still above the horizon and the horizon was actually created by mountains’ shadow (I know, shadow sun ke side ni ho sakta…still it appeared like a boundary marked by the shape of a mountain). I know you must be thinking I am acting crazy and if you know me you would know that I am not a day-dreamer type of a person. But the beauty of the place was so mesmerizing or you can say hypnotizing that we just stood gazing. The funny thing was we didn’t even realize that we could have clicked a photo; more or less our iklauta camera was in the room. So we decided that the next day we would definitely capture that divine sunset. But fate had different plans for us…every evening we had a competition, so no hard copy of that beauty. Some things cannot be captured; they just have to be cherished. :)

this is a google image which closely resembles that sunset

the images can never capture the ambiance of the nature 

Then teachers came back and said that the next day itself English Debate Competition would be held (chalo humara jhamela jaldi khatam ho jayega :p ) and a day afterwards we would have Hindi Debate Competition and the third day Quiz Competition would take place. It was then that Goswami ma’am took her phone and made a call to her home…hayeee mene to itni der gharwalon ko yaad bhi ni kiya, ab watt lagegi. Back then we didn’t used to have mobile phones of our own and it was quite late to go out so I borrowed the phone and called home. First of all I got the prasad for calling so late and then sweet goodnight messages were exchanged:p. That night we slept early to get up early the next day and Jasleen was made the alarm-girl (alarm ki to aadat thi ni, aur na hi khud uthne ki :P ). But surprises of surprises I woke up at around 4 am that too without any external help.

APS Dagshai in its full glory with snow topping

Sorry readers (if any) this post has turned into an XXL post, so the remaining (adventure) part will be continued in the coming post. So stay tuned…;)

Good day fellows, catch you soon :)

click here to get a better glimpse of APS Dagshai.