15 minutes of (De)fame :)

There was a gentle knock on the classroom door. “Kambli, tell us if it's you?", "Otherwise the door won't open". A loud laughter broke out when someone said this in a classroom of about 15 guys. Another knock and this time someone started making some animal noise. The door kept being knocked and the students in the classroom kept making strange sounds and others kept laughing at the situation.

It was a Saturday in class XIIth science in our school K.V. ONGC Ankleshwar. We used to have a couple of C.C.A (Co-Curricular Activities) periods on every Saturday. We were about 15 boys and 10-12 girls in our class. All the boys hated the C.C.A periods where they forced us to participate in any of the cultural programmers, be it song dance or dramas. We being the senior most students of the school were not easily spared. This particular Saturday we decided to bunk the C.C.A. periods and stay in the class. We planned it in such a way that there were only boys in the classroom and we would lock the classroom from inside for these two periods which would give us about an hour and half of boys only time in our own classroom. Somehow, one of us whom we called Kambli had some urge to go out of the classroom (probably for drinking water or going to the loo). We did not want anyone to know that the whole gang of boys of the class is inside the classroom which is locked. But, Kambli didn't listen and he had to go out. Soon as he left, the mischievous gang of boys had a plan. They wanted to teach Kambli a lesson for breaking the rule. We decided not to open the door when Kambli comes back. So when the door was knocked we did not open it and the whole mockery started. People who were avoiding the C.C.A. period for avoiding being forced to participate in any of the activities on the stage were showing all their mimicry skills by making the noise of whatever animal they knew of whenever the door knocked. We had decided that we would finally open the door only when Kambli says it’s him.

The drama continued for about 15 minutes. Finally Kambli requested to open the door. Having heard Kambli's voice one of the most sincere guys named Dhiraj, opened the door. To our utter surprise in came our class teacher Pandey sir fuming with anger. There was a pin-drop silence in the class. Pandey sir was one of the most feared personalities in K.V. ONGC Ankleshwar. "Slap!!!" He relented his anger furiously on the first person who came in his way after the door was opened. Dhiraj, it was. "Why didn't you open the door?” No one replied. We were all equally responsible for the crime that was committed. The punishment was also equal. Everyone was given the same treatment. A tight slap! After having done his part of hitting everyone, Pandey sir left the class as fast as he had arrived.

It was about 20 seconds of silence after he left and then a unanimous thunder of laughter. People tried to remember what all rubbish they did during the 15 minutes of the drama when Kambli and Pandey sir were standing outside, and the laughter continued throughout the two C.C.A. periods got over. All of us had forgot the slap. People did not repeat any such thing on subsequent Saturdays, but the memory of that incident still brings a big smile to all of us. Whenever any of us get to meet each other we do remember this incident out of all the funny incidents that had happened during our school days.

First impression is NOT the last impression.

How often do we judge someone in just the first meeting? I strongly believe that first impression has a biggest impact about a person or any other thing on human beings. How often has it happened to you that you met a person for the first time and you make an impression about him/her in your mind? I would say, it happens every time. The behavior of the person in the first meeting is the first step which generally decides how we would treat the person whenever we meet him or her the next time. There is a lot to do with the first impression. For an author he can be a sought after author only when his first publication gets accepted and meets or exceeds the reader’s expectations. For a film actor or director, it’s the first film they work in creates an impression in the viewer’s mind. For a player it’s his first performance that can help a great deal to his chances of making it to the team. For a job seeker, it’s his first impression during the interview that would help him get the Job. For a cricket batsman, it’s the first ball that he receives from the bowler which decides how he is going to treat the bowler.

So, there are a lot of firsts in life which are really very important to create a lasting impression. However, first impression should never be treated as the last impression. There a various examples that can be cited to support this argument. It has happened so many times in my life that the person with whom I was not very impressed in the first meeting turned out to be very impressive in subsequent meetings. I have various examples of my friends, who have been helpful to me in the time of need, which I never thought would ever turn up when required, based on their first impression. If I talk about cricket, when I first saw Gautam Ghambhir play for India, I was not at all impressed. I felt like he would not be able to stay in the team more than a couple of tours. But, to my surprise he completely changed my impression and became the spearhead of Indian batting. The 20-20 world cup and then the test matches and finally even in the world cup, his display of gritty and never give up attitude had a large role which helped Indian team achieve the improbable feats. Same goes with Virat Kohli. He came on the scene as one arrogant spoilt youngster. But, when you see his performances, he has made me change my impression of him as a player. The great legend Amitabh Bachchan was written off after his first film Saat Hindustaani. But, his performance in Zanjeer as an angry young man completely changed is first impression. When we saw Ajay Devgan for the first time, who would have thought that he has got such brilliant acting talent.

If everyone is judged only on the basis of first impression and there would have been no second or third chances of improvement, we would have never seen such individual brilliances. So on a closing note; I would like to repeat that first impression is NOT the last impression. We should give it enough chances before we can get completely convinced about the impression of a person or anything else in life.