Memory Lane: The Big Yellow Bus!

For kids of greater handigaon, every morning in Dhalku beared a festive hue. With our bright green uniform, handkerchiefs hooked to our shirts, colorful bags on our back and a inseparable pair of tiffin and tumlet, we all waited anxiously for the big yellow bus. The older boys were busy playing marble and "chungi" while the gals indulged in "ice cream shoulders" and skips. Unlike them, kids like me and my sister who had just started school in LKG and nursery, we held tight against our maami's sari. Though we had a older sibling going to the same school as well, we still needed mami every morning to bid us goodbye from dhalku.

In a few minutes, the big yellow bus made its way towards us with its characteristic horn. It was a magical bus from the fairytales. Besides its three characteristic horns, it also had an automatic door almost unheard of at the time. Thus, I wanted to be the conductor of the bus pushing the black button every now and then and seeing the marvel of machine at work. The driver slammed on the breaks infringing my thoughts.... Back we went with its loud, deafening "BHOOOP' horn buzzing every now and then through bhatbhateni, chinese embassy, past the rastra bank in baluwatar, up the hill, left at the police headquarters finally heading towards pani pokhari. Within no time we reached our school which looked like an old palace more than school.

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Classes began. Numbers, handwriting and reading. I was seated towards the back of the class. There was a guy named Prince behind me. Everyone envied him for not only he'd have the most delicious tiffin but he'd also have the most sophisticated toys and instruments he'd flaunt in class. While I had a rustic geometric box that held my crayons and a pencil and an eraser with a letter R inscribed in it, he had a sleek plastic box with five different tabs that would open five different compartments in the same box. I burned with jealousy. My dad had promised he'd buy me a double decker if i did well in the finals. but even with double decker, i'd never be able to compete with him

Suddenly there was a buzz at the left section of the class. Moti Miss shouted " K ho tyaha?" We were all scared of her. she had a big bamboo stick she'd beat us with. Anyways, not to anyone's surprise, someone had urinated in class again. The poor kid was crying aloud. and almost like a ritual, the kid was brought to front of the class and we began to sing in unison "shame shame puppy shame.........." I hesitantly sang for I could relate to the embarrassment, when I was made the clown a year ago and among the students singing enthusiastically was my very own sister.

The next class was Nepali. The story filled with numbers and cartoons of animals fascinated me. we read in chorus "badar aama, pairi jaama......hami bhayou dui hami bhayeu dui!!!!!!.........the part about lokharke maiya tickled me the most. Why would u refer lokharke as a maiya? My mouth watered as the flurry of animals gathered for the festival in the jungle having all sorts of sweets. The lunch bell rang much to my delight.
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We were too scared to play with other kids in the big two slides in the playground. Instead we resorted to the the small two red slides at the corner of the playground that had a makeshift round body of a water drum we used in houses, with slides at the end of the drum. To escape the direct sunlight, kids snuggled inside the drum and had their lunch. I found myself beside my sister munching on our tiffin. I took my "tumlet" twisted it..and out came the straw. at least this was fancy i thought, but still not as fancy as prince's box. oh well, i gulped down the lemon juice my maami had made for us in the morning.

On the rear side of the school, students hustled to buy special lollypops from outside vendors. We were too small to compete for that though we loved these lollipops that came with miniature toys. Among the frenzied group of students, i located my older sibling. She was a senior at the school though she was merely in forth grade.

Within a few minutes she approached our slide and handed me and my sister a lollipop each. I quickly teared down the cover and saw that i had got the black top. I was ecstatic I slid it in my pocket as the bell rang for the afternoon session


contd...

Brinda miss was my favourite teacher at the school. She lived near dhalku and knew our parents well. Maybe that's why i had developed inclination towards maths then. She was so nice to all of us often bringing us candies. We had some class work to do. I finished them in no time and was doddling on the bench. Suddenly I felt a sharp poke of a pencil nudge on my shoulder. I realized for the first time that day I shared my bench with a devil in disguise.

yes. I sat with this gal named Juni. She had a very very light complexion with vicious greyish eyes. Her evil smile gave me chills. She knew i was soft, for every now and then she'd sharpen her pencil and poke at me. Gals can be demons too for that age. I hated her to the core. At that age, I had little idea about hitting back at someone. She made it unbearable at times. I often complained to my mom but she thought i was lying to make excuse not to go to school.

Our classroom was new, the construction was still going on. There was a big window on the side I had my seat, whose frames were not welded yet. Some daring kid would skip the class once in a while jumping out from this window. I tried my luck that day not to prove my courage but to escape the atrocity of this vicious gal. i wandered around the school, with my heart thumping trying to remain inconspicious. After a while, i decided to returned taking the same route. I tiptoed towards the window. Suddenly, I felt a person behind me. I turned around and to my horror I saw Moti Miss gazing at me. I cringed back in fear and closed my eyes.
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She reached for my ears, dragged me through the hallway and took me into the class. I turned into a ripe tomato instantly with tears trickling down my eyes. The whole class watched as I was taken to the front desk. "lau k bhayo oys lai?" Brinda Miss looked at me with amazement. " yo baira bhagi ra raicha. aba yeslai janya chu..injection dinu parcha" I shuddered in fear. We had heard numerous accounts from moti miss that the naughty children would be given an injection. The image of a pointed syringe piercing my skin began to dance in my juvenile mind.

Miraculously, pale dai saved me from the potential horrific ordeal. There was a call for Moti Miss and she scurried away vowing to give me injection the next day. I sighed in relief and took my seat. Juni wasn't so vicous after all...well at least not as scary as moti miss. She didn't poke me for the rest of the day. Soon the final bell for the day rang as the kids rejoiced and raced to the bus waiting at the gate. My sister was waiting for me in the hallway. I was very happy to see her.

"Oyss! maile banako drawing herr" she had made a sunflower, a house and some birds smeared with random crayons. It wasn't very pretty. Perhaps, it wasn't the most opportune moment to see her drawings. "Kasto cha?" she asked impatiently. "Ekdam ramro cha" I lied.

" k bhayo talai? ta roko ho?" she went on with her usual nagging.
I quickly took the hankey hooked to my shirt .....blew my running nose and ran towards the big yellow bus hoping to sit by the conductor with my sister right at my heels.

man, its 5.52 am just read it, made my morning! Im here sitting down smiling and rembering my own days. Ahh...the yellow bus. Talking about the school, panipokhari re! so you went to BhanuBhakta? just curious!

"yes. I sat with this gal named Juni. She had a very very light complexion with vicious greyish eyes. Her evil smile gave me chills. She knew i was soft, for every now and then she'd sharpen her pencil and poke at me. Gals can be demons too for that age. I hated her to the core. At that age, I had little idea about hitting back at someone. She made it unbearable at times. I often complained to my mom but she thought i was lying to make excuse not to go to school. "

hehee, i had the same problem. name was different.
hehehe
and once again man, i lop you! keep writing!

salla badar what u doing at this time?hopefully smthing good ;o)

anyways oys bro...when i saw the memory lane post in sajha..kinda made me smile ;o)..wasnt expecting ni ;o)..was looking foward for it..in the guild hehe..so cheers for that..i think u kinda rushed it cos some ppl wanted to see it ;o)..cheers for that too..:o)

i have read a bit only cos ..was distracted with smthiings hehe...and now in a rush...might read it later who knows ;o)....cos well alik is good to read ur piece when its quiet and well...hehe no need to explain hoina?whatever happens ..happens for the good ni ;o)..anyways cheers for sharing..and hope to see more..;o)


have a gday..:oD..and Salla Haru whoever has negative comments..pls keep it to urself for once!!:@ some opinions doesnt have to be heard ;o)...well i think mero opinion hola top of that list mah..but i typed 1st wahahaha...unfair..but hehe thats life ;oP...

ok laters...

danny...gettn that baadar disease.....oi baadar ke khayis agi?share ni ;o)...;oP...

and LIVERPOOL WON TODAY!!!!WOOOHOOO!!!!who cares for that blunder..;o)...(actually i do!!!!GRRR!!!salla dudek who cursed u!!!!hehe)

Hahaha... First paragraph mai haso uthyo... LOL... "uniform, handkerchiefs hooked to our shirts, colorful bags on our back and a inseparable pair of tiffin and tumlet" reminds me of my KG class... eheh... tiffin box pani dui khanda bhaako... green plastic tiffin :P Still remember pauroti-haluwa tiffin... eh. I used to eat all the breads, make nice guchchas of haluwa and bring it back home... hehe. How did you remember "ice cream shoulder"??? ehe.. totally forgot about it... haha. Nice start. Going to reading the rest now.. :P

hahahah.... :D

Lau padhe purai... Awesome Oys... Kasto photographic memory ho... mannu parcha... LOL... Bro, Nursery ma crush parena??? :P Mero ta first day nai crush... eheh... she was so fyaaan.... Ooh baby!! we used to bring candies to the class on our b'days... eh... afno suntala-chocolate ko pack hune, 5 paisa per candy parne... eheh... and on her b'day "she" brought some nice, bhitra jhol bhaako, candy... Kyaa jealous... LOL...

I always wished our bus was yellow too... but it was always BLUE!... sajha yatayaat jindabaad!...

Oyss... that was soo cute... I felt for ya... never realized what a demon I was back then. Promise never to poke anyone with a pencil again or back of a pencil, or pen, or put pencil shavings on their head, or pull their chair back when they sat down or... oh well I think I get the point!! ;) (I am not Juni though!)

Absolutely great memory lane, makes me wanna write one of my own!

Oys,
I just went to dhalku ...hung around looking at so many beautiful girls... hoped that lousy sent meriz bus won't show up but it, unfortunately, did. Oh well, today is just wednesday...bholi ni ta chha ni chance...

Enjoyed reading your piece...anything about hadigau makes my day...

That was like fresh air early in the morning. Wow, so original and refreshing.

Take care :o)

Oys, It's amazing how you remember the nitty-gritty stuff from the past, and the way you express it with beautiful writing is simply splendid. Thanks for sharing yet another mermory lane with us.

Hmm! the bright green pants and school near pani-pokhari..... did ya go to Guheswori??

oys_chill जी,
झण्डै मैले मिस गर्या यो ग्रेटर हाँडिगाऊँलाई।
पानी पोखरी भन्दा मलाई नि लाग्या थ्यो भानुभक्त भक्त जस्तो त।
कथा सुनियो अब मजाऽले निद्रा लाग्छ कि।
ल है साथि हो, भोलि बिहान सबेरै उढ्नु छ के गर्नु।


शुभरात्री !

नारायाण!

Nice nice nice MC! :)

I always envied those children who took tiffin to school and rode the bus. My house was "one parkhal oota" from the school so I went home for lunch. Always wanted to own one of those khandey tiffin carriers.

Oys, as always, really enjoyed reading your samjhana ko goreto. Afnai din ka samjhana haru ae. Did you go to Guheswori?

Compared to our near-universal blue uniform, I always envied those lucky enough to have aru rang ko uniform. Ani tiffin ko kura garda, I used to have a blue "good morning" "tiffin carrier" with a white lid, usually loaded with "jyaam pauroti." I remember one guy in particular, who almost always used to bring dal bhaat in an alumnium container. Tyo duita ki tin wota golo golo batta bhaeko, vertically placed, and held by a hook bhaeko handle. Many used to bring chiura tarkari or dalmot chiura.

OYS,

Great narration..I have not finished reading yet though. Lekhdai garam prabho....rajnaitik sargarmi bata ekchhin bhaye ni sittal huncha...

jaya hose..BTW..chipley lai aja long time pachi dekhiyo hai....kati kuna pasna sakya ho?

Narayana! Hari sharanam!!! Puraanaa puraanaa yaad haru baljhayera yo kalilo budheshkaal ma...tappa aanshu nai jhareko jhandai...

Kati ramailo hunthyo tyo jamana!

Tyo Big Yello Bus ta thaa thiyena...tara, big big, blue Sajha bus...seto seto fariya le bhareko...ko pachhi pachhi chai khub doudiya thiyem...

Tyo nilo Sajha bus kuri raheka seto farak laayeki pari haru tira munto battardai lamkinda...dyamma lamp post nira khappar bajjariyeko ajha ni jhal jhal yaad aunchha...

arko paali chai, tei bus ko pachhi pachhi Korean cycle huttyaunda...kalo tyampo ko chaak ma dyamma bhayera agadi ko rim nai trippad bhako ni hijo mattra jasto lagchha...

pravuuuuuuuuu...budheshkaal lagyo! kaal kurna man chaina!

OYS mula...hurukkai paarera dhurukkai runa man lagyo!!!!!!

Jira, censorship ko dar lagyo ni, ahile ko belaa ma, Bhadragol wa Nakkhu chalaan garidiyo bhane bitaena? Taipani yeso aant garera lekehko. Anyway, dhilai bhae pani badhai cha hai timi lai :)

Oye, chiple! Nakkhuy chalan ko dar lageko? dhet, mula!

Achel nakkhu ma bheed lagera ramjham bhayeko hola...ke ko pir? Biraano thaam ma aeklai basna parepo bore hunchha...tanatan bheed ma ta...bihanai party, diunsai party, saanjh maiparty, raat bhari niparty bhai ra hola...jaam baru haami daju bhai ni party garna Nakhhu!

Poonte, kuro ta thikai ho, baru janay po kasari? Baato ma gadi bhanda dherai goli chalcha bhanchan, pheri tarkari ko abhav cha bhanchan khaldo ma.

Oys bro as usual bringin back da memories..handigoun ko kura garyo ki jatraa ko yaad aunchaa...neways sano sano hundaa ko life kya majja thiyo padhunaii pardainaa thiyo ahileii taa thuekka kasto bore...ps tyo tumlet ko "sarbat" :P kahilei pughenna malai taa..last maa jahileii dharako pani lei pyaas bujhaunu parneii :) ..aight good memories bro..do wtchu do.. aight im out..peace

I feel like going back to school again after reading Oys' story. Except for that AIYA NI AMA! ruler ko hanai.

Thanks for sharing the story.