The Punishment

This happened in 2005 when I was in the 12th grade. My school had both boarders as well as days scholars. There were 12 students in my class and four of us lived in the boy's hostel. Since hostel life was usually boring, we'd do all sorts of shit to make our lives a little interesting. So this incident took place on a fine Sunday during games time. A group of us were playing cricket (sports was seasonal in our school and this was the cricket season). Our school had 2 basketball courts and a big ground. Since the ground was a little further away from school, a group of us were playing cricket on one of the basketball courts.

The court that we were in was in between one of the school buildings and a road that led to the main gate. As the school was located in a hilly landscape, the road was below the court and below the road was the main games field. The space in between the road and the field was sort of a sloping meadow, full of, all kinds of bushes, shrubs and small plants. That area was barricaded by a 10-foot chain-link fence.

While playing cricket the ball (a green tennis one), would often go out of bounds, sometimes behind the school building and sometimes towards the road below. However, unluckily, during one instance the ball went over the chain-link fence straight into the meadow.

Students were normally not allowed to go there as it was a precarious place where one could easily slip and tumble down some 50 feet towards the main ground. The fall wouldn't probably be lethal, as the slope was inclined at a 45-degree angle. Nonetheless, it was still considered dangerous.

Somehow we managed to get permission from the teacher in charge of games that evening, and some 15 of us entered the meadow (there was a small gate) in search of the ball. As the ball was green, it was camouflaged in the greenery and after a perfunctory search we all gave up, preferring to lie in the grass and bask in the sun instead. Some of the boys were also making passes at the girls, whose convent building (their hostel) had a nice view of the meadow. A lot of time passed but we still stayed on as it was quite pleasant. After a while, the bell rang, signalling the end of games time. Some boys left but some of us (including me) still lingered. The warden then came and told us to get inside and some more boys including my classmate, BB, left. However, the four of us that remained requested him to give us some more time as we continued to search for the ball. After a while, he came again but we still kept on looking for the ball. Finally, we came out as it got dark and we couldn't pretend to look for the ball anymore. The warden looked mad and he informed us that we were in deep trouble.

He asked us to stand in a line outside the Vice Principal's office (Fr. George was in charge of the boy's hostel). We knew we were screwed and some of us were afraid that the girls had complained that we had made passes at them from the meadow. Still, we weren't that worried as Fr. George was a lenient guy. However, when we reached his office we were horrified to see the Principal, Fr. Matthew, who was a strict disciplinarian, waiting for us with a very sombre expression on his face.

The situation turned from bad to worse as we were informed that Fr. Matthew was even angrier because my parents had called, and they were concerned because the school was unable to locate me. He ushered me in and handed me the receiver, giving me a murderous look at the same time. After having a quick word with my mom, I hung up and looked at him with fearful eyes. He told me to wait outside with the others. When I came outside, I noticed that BB and the others, who had left the meadow just before us, were also standing in a separate line opposite us. Matthew suddenly came out and said, “Go outside to the basketball court.” Without a word, all of us obeyed him.

As we were standing outside, all of us started discussing in scared voices as to what would Matthew do to us. He suddenly joined us and he shouted, “Shut up,” and everyone fell silent. He then asked us to take a double arm's distance from each other. I was at the far end of the court, closest to the girls' convent. I could see some girls stealing glances at us through the windows, curiosity painted all over their faces. As I was looking at the convent, Matthew said something that I couldn't hear. He had told us to make a circle around him.

He then asked us, “Do you know why you all are here?”

Someone murmured, “Punishment.”

“Punishment for what?” barked Matthew.

When nobody seemed to have an answer. Matthew looked straight at me and said, “You tell us, Binayak.”

Mustering a convincing, solemn voice full of regret, I stammered, “Lack of Discipline.”

“Yes,” Matthew said in a tone of almost relief. He then went on to give us a long lecture about action and consequences, cause and effect..blah..blah..blah.

At some point, someone in the group released a loud fart and Matthew suddenly broke out of the circle and disappeared in the distance.

As everyone started giggling, a loud voice, like the crack of a whip, interrupted, “Shut up.”

Silence again. Matthew reappeared after apparently getting an adequate supply of oxygen. He looked madder as he barked, “You'll think it's funny.” He again broke into a monologue, repeating his lecture about cause and effect and blah..blah..blah..

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he said, “You guys like to stay outside, right?”

All of us shook our heads in disagreement. “No, no, I think you'll do.”

“So today, you all are going to spend the whole night outside,” he continued, flashing an evil smile.

“No dinner as well,” he concluded and left.

A babble of talk soon broke out among us and there was a stir of revolution in the air. The boys started saying things like, “He can't do this to us. This is child abuse. He is treating us like dogs.”

“We have to teach him a lesson,” spat BB furiously, and everyone shook their heads in agreement.

“Let's run away,” a guy called Prateek suggested. There was a murmur of agreement.

We started drawing ambitious plans, with everyone throwing in their 2 cents. Finally, a strategy was agreed on. We decided we would wait for the others to come out during recess and we would get some money and supplies from them. After that, we would wait till dinner time (when everyone would be busy eating) before putting our plan into action.

The bell rang and the rest of the hotel poured out. Sticking to the plan, we managed to collect a few bucks and some meagre supplies. I even managed to get a jacket. The others wished us good luck as recess ended. We then fine-tuned our plans as we decided where we would go. Someone said we could stay at his cousin's place and everyone agreed.

With only 15 minutes to go until dinner time, we were all set and even I had decided to throw caution to the wind and join them. As dinner time approached, all of us got the tempting waft of food coming from the kitchens. Our stomachs were growling with hunger, with most of us having last eaten at noon during the lunch hour.

As all of us were lost in thought, appreciating the smell of the food we were not going to eat, one guy suggested in Nepali, “Bhat khayera bhagdew, Haina?” (we should eat some rice and then run away, right?).

The tension was released and all of us broke into fits of laughter, all plans of running away forgotten. Fr. Matthew then came out and told us to go in, assuring us we would be left outside for real if we pulled a similar stunt in the future….