Fatty Times

                                                           

Though each and everyday is remarkable for me, my school days are always unforgettable and the most memorable to me.
My batch mates were known as smart, intelligent, bookish, studious, dumb, naughty, stupid etc etc . But I belonged to a group known as “fatties” (thadiyans). I was not very tall, but was plump and overweight when compared to my feeble and frail batch matesHistory shows us that overweight kids are always subject to abuse. The story was not different at our school either. We fatties were picked on constantly by our peers. We were rarely spared. Our complaint to the teachers was mostly met with deaf ears. Some teachers would compassionately tell us to report of it when it happens the next time!! When we tried to gain sympathy from our parents, their sincere advice us to lose weight. This was something I did try many times. At that age, I could not muster the determination to reduce the intake of carbohydrates just because I simply could not resist eating . On my uncles advice I even tried exercising , but it left me even hungrier than before.

In some class rooms, desks with attached chairs was a nightmare for me to enter because of the narrow means of access. During the drill period , we were asked to run an extra ‘mile’ . Along with that, our classmates’ comments that we were moving like a ‘road roller’ added fuel to the fire!

It was in the 5th standard that I learnt that somebody’s name can also be used to resemble an overweight figure. Well, I was known as Gundu Rao (then Chief minister of Karnataka) .Eighties were the time of Iran-Iraq war and my batch mates were well versed with the weapons used in that war ,so some of them called me ‘Patton tank’....hmmm I doubt if they have seen the real version of it before using it on me . The year of much hyped SSLC exam did not deter my batch mates. My new nickname was from Geography text – it is the ‘Block Mountain’!! By persuading me to sit in front bench, it conveniently blocked the teacher’s attention on them and allowed them to sleep well.
For some, nicknames are for life. However my nicknames lived a short life only. Last year we had a batch reunion . Looking around, I observed wryly that there were a lot of new avatars of Gundu Raos, Patton tank, Block Mountains and Road Rollers. For a change, they couldn’t call me those names......