Pain By Shridhar Sadasivan In English: Srini
In our class, we love Fridays. P.T. period! From 3 to 4 PM, for one full hour the playground is in the hands of our class. Even Arumugam, who keeps skipping school, is promptly present on Fridays. Right from afternoon, the excitement starts building up. "Dei! I am in your team da." "I am not gonna be the goal keeper this week, I was the goalie last week as well." "Today, we have to ask Sir and somehow get that new ball, man. He gives it to 7D you know." The period before P.T period is usually Tamil. Seetha Teacher is a villain. Her favourite punishment for not doing homework is to give punishment. But, on Fridays, if you don't do the homework, she cleverly makes you stand outside the class. As soon as the Tamil period is over, when everyone runs to the playground, those who haven't done the homework have to run behind Seetha teacher to the staffroom. "Madam, Sorry madam, I will submit tomorrow." Though she understands the hurry, Villan Seetha will intentionally delay you. "What is the hurry? P.T period eh? You should have done the homework properly", she says. By the time one manages to get free of her, the teams would have been formed in the playground. If you go late to the ground, you become a dummy player. So, the boys come up with different excuses. "I lost my notebook, Ma’am", "I had a severe stomach ache yesterday night, ma’am" and so on. Even before she says, "Okay, okay, go. Make sure you submit tomorrow," the boys start running. But today, I moved slowly. "Kumar, Stop. What happened to you? You are usually regular with your homework. What happened to you today?" asked Seetha Teacher. "Sorry madam. I did not bring my notebook. I forgot.” I hesitated.
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