The "Kill Joys"

This post is dedicated to all the "Kill Joys" of this world.!

Don't know what it means? Come on, I am sure you have met as many as I have ( provided ofcourse you are as old as I am or who knows... you may have been lucky enough to meet double the number in half the number of years .. it all depends!)

Remember those teachers back in school who used to turn excursions into some kind of torture? We could not sit with our friends , we could not talk or laugh in public ? "Don't ... Don't...." was all that we used to hear!

Recently while clearing out an old cupboard I stumbled onto a "school handbook" belonging to my husband when he was in the 12th standard.. Now this is what I call a "how to" book for all the "Kill Joys" of this world. Let me give you a taste of some of the gems that we found

The list begins with an instruction -
" Read through the hand book carefully. Every page of it has information specially meant for you"  and then come those nuggets:

• Class rooms are meant for study so if youar inclined to be noisy , make the nise outside before you go into the school building 
• Do not run about or play inside the school building. There is plenty of space outside.
• Do not steal time between the periods to ease yourself or to drink water. The intervals provided for this are long enough (  I wonder what one does if one has to "go" during a class...? And imagine intervals with long lines of boys waiting to "go"?)
• Never creep through or jump over fences and walls. You can afford to spend an extra miute to go along the proper road.
• If you must cough or sneeze in public do it quietly into a handkerchief but refrain from doing it if you can ( I love this one...! )

Just imagine what effect it can have on the enthusiasm and energy levels of an average seventeen year old boy? Devastating...! No wonder I say that it has been designed by a list of people whose Ph. D and post doctoral thesis must have been on  the "Kill Joy" theory! Not to say that my school days were without these scholars. They had their own list - more suited to girls. Some like the first one was explicitly stated while the others were implied.

• Dont run down the stairs. Walk in a "lady like manner" ( meaning "take mincing steps")
• Dont react if you see anything male ( well you can.... I guess provided it is a dog or a cat but no reactions allowed for the human male)
• Dont pollute your mind by reading romance novels

But life in school went on despite the "kill joys"... ! We survived ....rushing down the stairs, sliding down bannisters and reading romance novels. Some of us even managed to talk to boys.

"Kill Joys" unfortunately do not die with the end of school days..! They evolve along with us into a new entity ( something like viruses who mutate to get past the new drugs) to fit in better into our new lives.

During college days there were these "kill joy" profs who used to shuffle classmates around during practs so that you ended up with some geek for a chemistry lab assignment. Ofcourse the question of who was the geek was often a relative one considering who was the other in the pair.

My own dad has often been a "kill joy" sitting next to the phone while I was trying to talk to friends about something verrry interesting. Those days phones were rather rudimentary and one did not have a cord less hand set or cell phone. So we just had to sit on that stool next to the telephone stand in the living room hoping dad was not "dropping eaves"!

But I think nothing compares to my friend's mom..! I guess she was royalty where "kill joys" were concerned. She used to join us for conversations everytime  I went to my friend's house. We never got a moment alone to discuss all those juicy things that college did not have time for. She even used to read all incoming and outgoing mail ( I mean mail as in mail not email). That poor girl could not seal a letter without her mom having read it first! No code words were allowed - they had to be explained to "her highness".

Life however, has a way of getting us past these people. Despite dad, I managed to talk to my husband ( then my boyfriend) over phone and finally got married to him!

Post marriage we had my mother in law who often chose a most "opportune" moment to call out to either of us from her room downstairs! Then ofcourse, was the little one who was the empress where "kill joy" behaviour was concerned- choosing to yell out for attention when we had just thought we were going to have some quiet moments together! But, as my husband says.. these are essential in keeping the country's population under control!

Last week ofcourse, I had the most interesting experience. My daughter was on the phone giggling about something and guess who was the kill joy?  None other than my dear husband who shouted - " I heard that" !!! (I must say  that over time "Kill joys" seem to revel in their identity .. the way they announce themselves)

I just ran out of the room before I was accused along with "Daddy cool" and called " Kill joy"!

Life, I must say, sure has a way of  turning itself round ...!!!