My Universal Notebook

03 Jan

Posted by Aditya Kulkarni as funny stuff, mylife

Back in school, they had this really weird concept of maintaining a different notebook for each subject. Not just one notebook, but several per subject – Home Work, Class Work, Neat Work and whatnot. I didn’t believe in this system. Instead, I just had this one 200-pages long note book that I called the “Universal Notebook”. It contained everything. At least everything that I managed to write down. Needless to say, the teachers were not very impressed with this radical innovation.

But the real problem is that I used to forget to bring my Universal Notebook as well. I would come to class like I was on a picnic. This would irritate the teachers no end, and I got screamed at a lot. Fortunately, I have a very thick skin, and these kinds of trivialities don’t affect me.

This one time, I was sitting in the last bench telling some silly jokes, when the teacher yelled at me.

Teacher: “ADITYA!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?“
Me: “Not much, actually. I was…“
Teacher: “Come to the first bench and sit! And bring your notebook!“
Me: “Hmmm…. OK!”

The fact that the teacher had explicitly asked for my notebook worried me a little, because I didn’t have any notebook with me. The teacher had turned towards the board. As I sat down in the first bench, I was wondering how I could get hold of a notebook. I looked around. Next to me was Drinivas. Regular blog readers will know Drinivas, but for those of you that don’t, Drinivas is this super-nerdy, obedient, teachers-pet, first bench sitting, fully-homework-doing goody goody boy. The kind that actually will raise their hand to answer questions in class. Anyway, Drinivas is sitting next to me:

Me: “Pssstttt….Oye. Oye? Hello?“
Drinivas is busy writing down whatever the teacher is writing on the board. I nudge him.
Me: “Do you have a notebook?“
Drinivas: “Which notebook do you want?“. He opens his seven-and-a-half-ton backpack of notebooks and starts rummaging through.
Me: “Any will do.”
Drinivas: “What?“
Me: “I just need to open a book and keep it in front of me.“

At this point, Drinivas experienced what is popularly known as a culture shock. His central nervous system just froze, unable to comprehend how someone could live without having 27 different types of classwork and homework notebooks. As he stood there, just gaping at me, I figured a joke would be appropriate to cut the tension.

Me: “Tell me, if the teacher makes a spelling mistake, do you copy it down as is? Hehehe…“
Drinivas: “Yes, and I circle it with my red pen so that I can go to the teacher and point it out after class. It is good to give constructive feedback. Everyone can learn this way!“

At this point, I experienced what is popularly known as a culture shock. He was actually serious! Man!

Seeing that my notebook request had not gone down well with Drinivas, I put my hand into his open bag and pulled out one. “This will do!“, I say as I help myself. “GIVE ME BACK MY NOTEBOOK!!!!” Drinivas screams, almost like someone has deeply insulted him. We tussle over the notebook, and just as the teacher turns away from the board and towards the class, I snatch it from his hands and open and keep it in front of me.

Teacher: “…so write down the solution to this problem, everyone…“
Me (Looking at Drinivas): “Psssttttt…Oye. Do you have a pen I can borrow?“
Drinivas: “Grrrrrrr…..“

The rest of the day doesn’t go so well sitting next to Drinivas, so I’m really glad when the day is finally over and I rush off. But Drinivas catches up with me outside in the parking lot.

Drinivas: “Where’s my notebook that you borrowed earlier?“
Me: “Oh, I submitted it as my Physics homework.“
Drinivas: “WHAT?!?!?! But that was my Computer History classwork book! How can you submit it as your homework?“
Me: “Well, the teacher came around collecting the homeworks, and I didn’t have any other book, so I submitted it. Don’t worry. You should get it back in a couple of weeks!“
Drinivas: “AArrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!“

I don’t think Drinivas slept for the next couple of weeks. But that’s OK, because these kinds of experiences build Character, and I’m sure Drinivas is indebted to me for that. He owes me one.

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16 Responses

maxdavinci

January 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
1

LOL! hilarious…

I used to have a one book per subject in till tenth and later upgraded to a universal book in plus two.

I must appreciate your guts to do that though, those days we were petrified of our teachers and the dreaded PTA meetings!
Aditya Kulkarni

January 4th, 2008 at 4:49 am
2

Ha! My parents would know about the PTA meetings IF I GAVE THEM THE LETTERS FROM THE TEACHER! It also helps to fill in wrong phone numbers. Muhahahahaha!!!
Anonymous

January 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
3

That’s a nice piece of fiction buddy! I’ll be happy to show you my universal book, which actually was a 1999 HAL diary

- Drinivas
Aditya Kulkarni

January 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
4

Drinivas had a Universal book? Ha! Who are you, imposter? And why are you ruining the years of dedication and hard work Drinivas put in to create 14,343 class work books?
Tamanna

January 4th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
5

Oooh! Drinivas denies allegations! Wow! This could be fun!
Christine

January 4th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
6

But whats wrong with having a lot of notebooks. I could never deal with having just one notebook. Even in college, I had seperate books for subjects and i even did all the writing in specific colours so that it would be easier to study..

I have this feeling that this was not the appropriate comment for this post. lol.
Aditya Kulkarni

January 5th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
7

et tu, brutus?
NaReN

January 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
8

@Christine: You must have had a lot of time n patience.. not only diff books, but specific colors, OMG!!!! We never found time to crack 10 odd PJs in one class, wonder how you people can find so much time!!! :O
Christine

January 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
9

@ Naren: maybe i should mention an important point here. I didn’t do the colorful writing during the class. no, During the lecture I wrote stuff in my “universal” notebook and then I transferred it to right notebooks once I got home, color et al.
yea, I had no life.
NaReN

January 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am
10

@Christine: Huh, that sucks.. at home too!!! My condolences
KeshavThapa

January 7th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
11

nice writing pk…me remember my universal notebook…but unlike you, i used to leave it in my class only….so that way i dint have to worry about forgetting it at home…nice na?
Aditya Kulkarni

January 8th, 2008 at 2:50 am
12

You know, i’m so proud of all my readers. There is such a vast wealth of knowledge and wisdom out there. Keep it coming people!
Rahul

January 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
13

Hilarious! I remember the drinivas equivalent from my class. We were a fairly unruly class. One day the chemistry teacher was so fed up with us that he tried guilt: “You people are so worthless that I give up. I’m going to the chemistry lab now. You can all just sit here and do nothing. I don’t care.” He stalked off, expected a parade of students with downcast eyes to follow him. BUT NO ONE DID! Finally drinivas trotted off to lab while we continued what we were doing… I wonder that experiments they tried out…
Vinay

January 10th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
14

Unrelated comment, but nevertheless, I am going to let you know of something that will probably knock you off your chair

Back at a school I attended a long time ago, one kid had this really weird habit of tying a handkerchief around his wrist as he wrote on his notebook. Apparently, he didn’t want the sweat from his hand to spoil the pages of his notebook !
Christine

January 10th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
15

Thank you Vinay. I feel much better about myself now.
Vinay

January 11th, 2008 at 8:05 am
16

Christine: I hadn’t read your comments on this post previously. Now that I have, I must say that I am at a loss of words here. Colours ?? I thought the handkerchief was an overkill.