It was a tearful farewell for this primary school boy. Or was it?

In the school where I studied some years ago, boys were allowed only up to the fifth standard. After that they had to leave our school and seek admission else where, while the girls continued up to twelfth grade.

 We had a separate SPL or school pupil leader for the primary school selected from the fifth grade. At the end of the academic year, the SPL had to give a farewell speech at the assembly.

The SPL during my time was a boy name Rama Krishnan.On the last day of that academic year he was called on to deliver his farewell address at the morning assembly.He walked up the dais, stood behind the mike and started off his speech with great aplomb.

It went something like this :

“It is with great sorrow that I stand before you all to bid good-bye. I feel like crying when I think that I will not be meeting my beloved friends and teachers again…” he began.

He paused and then he really started CRYING! Right there in front of the whole school.

He seemed so overwhelmed at having to leave his school that he could not continue with his speech. Everyone was amazed that a boy, at such a young age should feel so much at having to say goodbye.

Many teachers and students walked up to him and patted him on his back and consoled him. He was lead away from the podium amidst loud applause.

The story should have ended there.

But no, it does not. Fast forward to last month.

Few of our former school friends started meeting on Facebook.  Where else?

They had this great idea of having a “get-together” of the old students of that batch. It was with the stupendous effort of some of the students that forty of us old school fellows met at a party to renew our friendship.

When we were recollecting past events, some of us remembered Rama Krishnan’s teary farewell.

Rama Krishnan who was with us at the party that evening, started laughing and he spilt the beans about that crying bout.

Apparently, our class teacher, who had a great big soft corner for Rama Krishnan had said that she would write the farewell speech for him. But being a busy woman, she could give him the copy of the intended speech only two days before the event

It was all of two pages in length, hand written in her tiny squiggly cursive writing. He could barely decipher the rambling message.

He tried to memorize the speech as best as he could. But on that day, he could not recollect anything of it, beyond the first few lines.

He had actually cried because he could not remember the speech!

He had felt ashamed that he was letting down his teacher. Also after a sterling innings at the school he was going to cut a sorry figure on the last day.

But when the teachers thought that he was crying because he was going to part from his friends and teachers, he decided to play along with their wrong assumption.

“When the teachers patted me and consoled me, I cried some more and every one thought what a sweet little boy I was!”

He laughed so much as he recollected that day and we all laughed with him.

We wondered what the teacher would have done if she had known that Rama Krishnan had failed to memorize her thoughtful message.

Or that he had shed just crocodile tears!

Story By : SM. Written By: Gulsum Basheer@talkalittledo

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Photo Credit :rakratchada torsap @ freedigitalphotos.net