Diamond Dairy Colony! my childhood days in Lucknow...

Back in the block of apartments we used to live, we had a team for all the interesting activities. Cricket team, I guess, was the coveted one. There was a fierce competition to be a part of it. Even at 14 years, I was far younger than the other members of the team, and was never considered for selection. We organised an intra block cricket match one day and I emerged as a clear batting star in the match. I went on to play for our apartment block cricket team till we lived there. I still love to play cricket with my old friends from the apartment block whenever I get a chance. We organised a number of cultural programmes in the colony and always received the full support of our elders in the society.

Christ Church College...the boy grows up!

Christ Church College was a new chapter in my life. From the very first day in school, I had some friction with the old students in the class. I was the favourite of teachers and was given preference over them in everything. Most of the girls in the class soon became friends with me and this added further to their insult. I still remember the fall outs that I had with a few 'oldies'. I also remember the day when a delegation from the school was to go to the most famous girls college in Lucknow, Loreto convent college...only three boys were allowed to go with the delegation. I was in the computer lab when I got the news. I ran to my class teacher and when I asked about who all were going, she said with a cool air "How can Peeush be not there in a delegation going to Loreto? I included your name myself"...dear maa'm Bhatti!

I became friends with Sorabh and Chaitanya from day one at Christ Church College. Sorabh had a big hype around him. He was the guy with great std X scores...coming from Rajasthan, he had represented his state in national junior cricket tournaments. I found him a very simple and friendly guy, with absolutely no pretence. We both loved cricket and soon were close friends. Chaitanya was a simple and studious guy who soon became a good friend of ours. I remember how both I and Sorabh use to copy from Chaitanya in class tests and how we use to be mad at him when he did not tell us the answers! To my delight, I mostly use to end up with the highest scores among the three, even though I had mostly copied from Chaitanya in the tests...I will never forget what Chaitanya always said when the test results were declared..."Peeush is always lucky with marks!"...such a simple and loving chap! gem of a person!

Christ Church college was where I discovered my passion for computers. I had taken up Computer science as a subject, dropping Hindi language. Most of my time was spent in the computer labs. We had a number of computer teachers coming and going as none of them was given a permanent appointment. I am proud to say that all of them left knowing me as a whiz kid at computers. One particular teacher, Mr. Rizvi, came for std XII computer practical exam and viva-voce as an external examiner (he had left Christ Church College some one and half years back, after a small stint of about 3 months). His remark to me, when I sat opposite to him for viva-voce and exam was something that still make me proud. "Peeush...what should I ask you? you know everything and even more for this grade"!. I got full marks (100 out of 100).

I met Amit Jaisingh in my computer lab at Christ Church College. He was a shy guy with great aptitude and knowledge of computers. One year junior to me at school, he soon became a good friend of mine and we made a great team! Together we represented our school in various computer related events and won prizes, significant one being First prize at COFAS - an inter college software development competition where more than 16 premier schools from Lucknow and nearby districts had participated. I demonstrated my software to a packed hall of famous Ravindralaya auditorium and received the prize. I can still hear the applause in my ears! I was so proud that day! Next day I was called up on stage and congratulated for my achievement in front of the whole school in the morning assembly. I had made my school proud!

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