Things That Bang

Anxiety is an emotion difficult to counter. About three hundred parents thronged the cafeteria area and the courtyard while their barely three year olds attended their first day at school yesterday morning. Lots of tears were shed by the tots, teachers seemed distracted and the bus drivers were stalked and harassed by irate parents.

The otherwise tranquil school was in chaos. Dealing with parents especially with the newbie ones was tough. The school staff were polite, helpful but authoritative.

Parents strained against the railings, those having gone through similar experience the previous year where more relaxed and chatty. Some complained about the school and others remained mostly quiet.

Most came without eating their breakfast and like little children they strained against each other trying to get their order delivered first at the cafeteria. They hadn't forgotten their socialist upbringing- jump the queue, be rude, shove, push and never mind that you might be bumping into each other for the rest of the children's school years.

For about three hours we parents puttered around. Some of us exchanged numbers and some were seen sitting on the steps working on their laptops, some held work calls, some worried about the little ones left alone with the servants back home and a few were seen nodding off.

When the kids were let off section by section the wave of anxiety intensified. As the tots walked down the stairs parents reached out to clutch their children. A couple of mothers opened up the kids bags, saw the barely touched tiffins and complained, others demanded whether the teachers and aayas would accompany the kids which they were already doing.

Yellow school buses drove up the driveway, parents boarded the buses with their kids to make sure the buses stopped at the right bus stops, some got off to make their kids use the loo before the bus started and some fed their kids their tiffins and went on complaining about the number of kids in the classes, the early commute, the fees etc.

I sat with my kids in the front seat of the bus, eavesdropped but kept my mouth shut. It was exciting to see people out of their element. Some reacting with humor and patience and others getting harried, aggressive and defensive.

The buses drove off with parents, kids, teachers and aayas. Fights happened over the bus- stops, the route, I fell asleep with Parita curled up on my lap, woke up and found we were still trudging down the route no where close to our stop which incidentally happens to be the last stop and first to be picked up from.

The teacher sat next to me. Waves of anxiety from parents, kids, the teacher, aaya and the driver continued to ebb and flow. The cellphones continued to ring between the fathers who were following the bus (yes, there was an entire entourage of cars following the buses) and the mothers sitting in the bus.

It was an event I basked in. Never again will I experience others anxiety at such close quarters or their tender apprehensions for the apple of their eyes while they attended their first day at school.