The Boy who lived as Petushkee
By Col J S Malik · Green · 2302 · Re attired
कुंजपुरा डायरीज़... 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 The Boy who lived as Petushkee 🙏 Boys were being selected for the Inter House poem recital competition from class 8th(class of '82). Two of my friends from Blue House were also short listed. They were Rajnish Sethi and Rajender Singh Yadav. At my alma mater Sainik School Kunjpura(SSK), it was an annual thing. Countless hours of practice, vocals, pronounciation training, body language and accent; VN Rao sir coached them to be as close to "The Muddle Head"(the poem they were going to recite) as possible. Finally, Rajender was given the lead to recite and Rajnish was kept as the back up.💥 Rajender came from an English medium school unlike the majority of rural boys at SSK, who spoke English in their own sweet dialect. He also had a sophisticated command over the language. The repetitive tagline of the poem goes like this, "The Man who lived in Petushkee." Rajender never had the slightest inkling that his stellar performance would turn him into a star that day.💥 The day of competition soon arrived. Auditorium was full to its capacity. Judges were in place. Rajender, a shy lanky boy stepped fwd on stage and began his recital. Standing tall and in full body view, he made it look damn easy, funny and highly accented. He didn't stop, he didn't hesitate. He went with his whole heart and a well taught body language. That afternoon, he made history as far as Class of '82 is concerned. He could brew the character from Petushkee in himself with sparkling magic. VN Rao sir had drilled every word as an art into his head, to be showcased on an important day. And he didn't flinch an inch. He delivered a masterpiece for us to cherish and remember.The synchronised clapping didn't stop for long, becoz SSK hadn't heard of a poem recital so good. The crazy story in the poem stuck to us till date. From Rajender he become PETUSHKEE for ever.💥 'The Muddle Head' was merely a poem, but Rajender marinated and cooked it into a flavour for us all to enjoy. The story about a funny man from Petushkee. For a village boy like me, the story itself seemed like from a fairy wonderland. He earned his nickname not only for an outstanding recital, but for a memorable act. He earned it for life. He got himself trending as Petushkee. Nicknames are very popular in SSK, be it teachers or students. It could be as simple as the last two digits of your school number or special ones like Mota, Kana, Gop, Dholak, Thuski etc.💥 One more incident about Rajender, before I put my pen down. It happened in the Arts room. Somebody took away a piece of thermocol from the Arts room located near post office. Our Arts teacher Malhotra sir lined up the entire squad and threatened to punish them badly and report the matter to Senior Master too. Unless they owned up as to who did it, he won't leave them for any further activity, not even for lunch. No one dared to step fwd in front of our bulky Malhotra sir, becoz his one slap could send them dashing to ground. For the sake of lunch and for all others Petushkee stepped fwd, claiming he did it. By his courage, he saved many others from the wrath. Nobody went hungry from his squad. They were left because one amongst them stood out fearlessly for all others. The invisible bonding of a residential school stood out too.💥 To my friend Rajnish Sethi, I can only say, Rajender was destined to be Petushkee that day. If the back-up was to be called in to perform, the story would take a little diversion but for the nickname !! On his career path, Rajender went places being in the Indian Air Force. He held his last appointment at the Parliament Secretariat. But to Class of '82, he remains Petushkee from Kunjpura.💥 Rajender breathed his last in August 2026. If he were listening from the heavens, I have one thing to ask, "At the roll call on entry to heavens, were you called out by the name Petushkee ? Your hand would have gone up straight." Because you earned it from a band of brothers at SSK.💥 RIP BROTHER. YOU DID GREAT.🙏 Col Jitender Malik @2302@Green@Class of '82