Draft 31 Chhapp !!

Chhapp !

That was the sound of a slap. That sound increased the density of the silence already filled in the room with 70+ persons. Pens, mostly fountain pens, increased the speed of writing, but reduced the sound caused by the friction between the paper and the nib. Papers were flipped as seen in a silent movie.

The right hand slapped was owned by Mr Natarajan, lecturer of chemistry who also headed the NCC. The NCC activities had gifted him rough palms. The soft, chubby, left cheek received the slap was owned by a very obedient, calm and soft natured student.

From the morning, the students were meeting new teachers and experiencing different styles of introductions and got excited. The teachers described the course, institution, future etc that were followed by some lessons and hence the students were filled with a mixture of different feelings thrill, anxiety, excitement, suspense, pride, achievement, responsibility and more. And more positive feelings, till about 4:15 pm, when that fair cheek turned into red.

That day became unforgettable to all these students, as it was the very first day of the academic year.

By 4:30 pm, the first day ended and the students disbursed with a mixture of feelings of fear, confusion, insecurity, lack of confidence, complex and more negative feelings.

The fair student or chap, if situationally described, was slowly walking, pushing his cycle along with Antony and Muniappan, his desk mates who were also his class mates in the school. They were speaking good words to console him. But he was under utter confusion for his fault that caused the slap. It was a spelling mistake.

The lecturer had written the title of the lesson on the board. Since the poor chap had already studied this lesson at home, he did not notice the board. On hearing the title, he wrote himself, but with different spelling

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Draft 31 Chhapp !!

Mr Natarajan was on rounds, checking each student. The chaps hand writing not the regular chain style, but typewriter format of separate letters - was attractive but made the mistake easily noticeable and the chhapp was the immediate appreciation.

The chap was feeling bad about his poor English vocabulary. But felt worse about the punishment for his simple mistake, that too, on the very first day. Such treatment in college was never imagined by him. After some slow walking and free chat with Antony and Muniappan, a very jovial friends, his mind became little lighter and each proceeded towards their homes.

On nearing home, new worries filled his mind would ammaa notice the red cheek and ask ? How to hide this cheek from her ? He started working on ideas like going to upstairs quickly on the excuse of home work or washing clothes in bath room etc.

Suddenly he realized that he had been the cause for spoiling a great day for all his class fellows. Once he realized this, all other problems did not matter. He had only one feeling guilt. His eyes got filled, started overflowing. He never liked to hurt anyone. He never liked any game or sports, because one or one team had necessarily to be hurt by the winner. He always looked for any win : win game. Such a soft minded, he could not tolerate that he had hurt all. Paused under a lonely tree, he made up his mind, wiped the face and proceeded , with the idea to rush to upstairs, avoiding meeting ammaa and reached home.Oh! ammaa was at the door steps itself ! vaayyaa raajaa !

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Draft 2

1 Chhap !!

Chhapp!

That was the sound of a slap. That sound increased the density of the silence already filled in the room with 70+ persons. Pens, mostly fountain pens, increased the speed of writing, but reduced the sound caused by the friction between the paper and the nib. Papers were flipped as seen in a silent movie.

The room experienced the sound of slap was the class room of the Pre Technical Course, 1st year of the 3 year diploma course in the prestigious PACR Polytechnic, Rajapalayam.

The right hand slapped was owned by Mr Natarajan, lecturer of chemistry who also headed the NCC. The NCC activities had gifted him rough palms. The soft, chubby, left cheek received the slap was owned by a very obedient, calm and soft natured student.

From 8:00 am (normal timing in polytechnics, unlike 10 am in the colleges), the students were meeting new teachers and experiencing different styles of introductions. The teachers described the course, institution, future etc that were followed by some lessons and hence the students were filled with mixture of different feelings thrill, anxiety, excitement, suspense, pride, achievement, responsibility and more. And more positive feelings, till about 4:15 pm, when that fair cheek turned into red.

That day became unforgettable to all these students, as it was the very first day of the academic of 1974 75, for the students who felt elated as grown up college students.

By 4:30 pm, the first day ended and the students disbursed with a mixture of feelings of fear, confusion, insecurity, lack of confidence, complex and more negative feelings.

The fair boy or chap, if situationally described, was slowly walking, pushing his cycle along with Antony and Muniappan, his desk mates who were also his class mates in SSLC. They were speaking good words to console him. But he was under utter confusion for his fault that caused the slap. It was a spelling mistake.

Page 1/2

Draft 2

1 Chhap !!

The lecturer had written the title of the lesson. Since he had already studied this lesson, he did not notice the board. On hearing the title, he wrote himself, but with different spelling. Mr Natarajan was on rounds, checking each student. The beautiful hand writing attracted him to look more deeper that highlighted the spelling mistake and he immediately slapped.

The chhapped chap was feeling bad about his poor English vocabulary. But felt worse about the punishment for his simple mistake, that too, on the very first day. Such treatment in college was never imagined by him. After some slow walking and free chat, his mind became little lighter and each proceeded towards their homes.

On nearing home, new worries filled his mind would ammaa notice the red cheek and ask ? How to hide this cheek from her ? He started working on ideas like going to upstairs quickly on the excuse of home work or washing clothes in bath room etc.

Suddenly he realized that he had been the cause for spoiling a great day for all his class fellows. Once he realized this, all other problems disappeared. He had only one feeling guilt. His eyes got filled, started overflowing. He never liked to hurt anyone. He never liked any game or sports, as one or one team had necessarily to be hurt by the winner. He always looked for any win : win game. Being such a soft minded, he could not tolerate that he had hurt all. Paused under a lonely tree, he made up his mind, wiped the face and reached home.

Ammaa greeted him at the door steps itself ! vaayyaa raajaa!Yes thats me Parthiban for all and Raja at home

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Draft 1

1 Chhap !!

Chhapp!

That was the sound of a slap. That sound increased the density of the silence already filled in the room with 70+ persons. Pens, mostly fountain pens, increased the speed of writing, but reduced the sound caused by the friction between the paper and the nib. Papers were flipped as seen in a silent movie.

The room experienced the sound of slap was the class room of the Pre Technical Course, 1st year of the 3 year diploma course in the prestigious PACR Polytechnic, Rajapalayam.

The right hand slapped was owned by Mr Natarajan, lecturer of chemistry who also headed the NCC. The NCC activities had gifted him rough palms. The soft, chubby, left cheek received the slap was owned by a very obedient, calm and soft natured student.

From 8:00 am (normal timing in polytechnics, unlike 10 am in the colleges), the whole class was attending Maths, Physics, English, Engineering drawing and hence filled with a mixture of different feelings thrill, anxiety, excitement, suspense, pride, achievement, responsibility and more. And more positive feelings, till about 4:15 pm, when that fair cheek turned into red.

That day became unforgettable to all these students, as it was the very first day of the academic of 1974 75, for the students who felt elated as grown up college students.

By 4:30 pm, the first day ended and the students disbursed with a mixture of feelings of fear, confusion, insecurity, lack of confidence, complex and more negative feelings.

The fair boy or chap, if situationally described, was slowly walking, pushing his cycle along with Antony and Muniappan, his desk mates who were also his class mates in SSLC. They were speaking good words to console him. But he was under utter confusion for his fault that caused the slap. It was a spelling mistake.

Page 1/2Draft 1

1 Chhap !!

The lecturer had written the title of the lesson, solublity, whereas he had written in his note book as solubility. He actually had not noticed what was written on the board. On hearing the word solubility, he had written himself. He was feeling bad about his poor English vocabulary. But felt very bad about the punishment for his simple mistake, that too, on the very first day. Such treatment in colleges was never heard by him. After some distance and free chat, his mind became little lighter and each parted proceeding towards their homes.

On nearing home, new worries filled his mind would ammaa notice the red cheek and ask ? How to hide this cheek from her ? He started working on ideas like going to upstairs quickly on the excuse of home work or washing clothes in bath room etc.

But one question was floating undercurrent of all such thinking What is the right spelling of solubility ?

Suddenly he realized that he had been the cause for spoiling a great day for all his class fellows. Once he realized this, all other problems disappeared. He had only one feeling guilt. His eyes got filled, started overflowing. He never liked to hurt others. He never liked any game or sports, as they make one or one team had to be hurt. He always looked for any win : win game. Such a soft minded boy, he could not tolerate that he had hurt all. Paused in a lonely place, he made up his mind, wiped the face and reached home.

Ammaa greeting him at the door steps vaayyaa Raja!

Yes thats me Parthiban, Raja at home

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