The Chance Encounter

As my friend Meghna and I, made our way towards the Platinum Jubilee Building, a voice from behind called us to stop.

That voice was of Giri sir’s.

In the last five years, I’ve had conversations with my previous headmasters on topics beyond the realm of studies but never like the one I was about to experience that day.

Sir motioned us to keep moving and we soon found ourselves accompanied by him.

As we walked along the red building, sir posed his first question to us-

“How tall is the PJ building?”

Until that moment, my interactions with sir had been restricted to wishing him the ritual good mornings and afternoons, or, to that one time, I had a conversation with sir while I was held captive in his office for committing the crime of bunking a class.

So, sir’s highly unexpected question left me surprised and amused at the same time, and all I could do was give him a silly smile.

But sir’s face bore an expression of utmost seriousness which forced me to retreat my smile.

Meghna, still unable to understand why sir wasn’t scolding us for being outside our classes, quickly answered in the hope of avoiding that from happening.

Her answer was 25 metres.

I promptly followed her lead and gave an answer close to hers, thinking and hoping that she had some calculated idea when it came to measuring distances, unlike me!

We did not get an approval from sir on any of our answers and soon gave up, out of humiliation. We had to stop, we did not want sir to think of us as two ignorant 11^th graders!

Finally, sir gave us the answer- The school’s PJ building is about 15 metres in height.

Before we could gather our wits, sir posed an equally confusing question-

“How many trees are there in the school?”

Not wanting to be looked upon as more of a fool than I already did, I stopped, took a quick glance from where we stood, made an approximate assessment, and came up with the number 150.

With similar intentions, Meghna also quoted a number.

Sir’s face was void of any expression that could be indicative of whether we were close to the actual answer or not.

So, we kept giving sir different answers till we reached the entrance to the building.

Sir came to a halt and addressed us.

Sir must not have spoken more than 5 phrases.

Few, as they were, they’re still difficult to recall.

However, I do remember sir telling us not to succumb to our needs and desires to an extent that we forget to notice things around us.

The awareness quotient sir gave us that day, was the gift of the day.

Rarely in life does one get to hear the wisdom imparted by someone that one looks upto (after being quizzed on such odd questions!).

I find myself fortunate enough to have been in such a position at the right time of my life.

I believe, sir wanted us to overcome those perceptions of our surroundings that are clouded by other people’s thoughts and emotions.

So, in a way, reality may be very different from what we assume.

Giri sir, knowingly or unknowingly, helped me break out of my limited sight and mind set.

This encounter has taught me to look at things, not the way they appear, but the way they do not.