The School Picnic

I was educated in a Christian Brother (an Irish congregation) missionary school called Goethals Memorial situated in my hometown, Kurseong. Every year during autumn time, GMS had this tradition of organising picnics for all its students and staff. At the time, the school had students from grades 3 to 10 and each class has two sections A and B. The class teachers (the ones in charge of the entire class) were responsible for organising picnics for their respective classes. So each class (both sections) would be heading to different locations and destinations.

I was in the tenth grade at the time and it was decided that we would be going to this town called Mirik, famous for its lake. As this was going to be our last year in GMS, we decided to make this picnic let's say…. memorable, at the very least.

I bought a new pair of white Diesel shoes (which were popular at the time) and a new silk shirt (I dunno why) for the trip. All of us (the day scholars) were asked to congregate at the town square, near the railway station (which houses the famous Toy Trains). Two buses soon arrived at around 7 am (I'm guessing), with the class teachers - Mr Christensen (10 A) and Mr Salvador (10 B) - in each vehicle. The boarders had already taken the best seats so we sat on the next best ones we could find.

After journeying approximately for 3 hours, we reached Mirik. As we were the “senior" most class, we were given the freedom to explore the town. People soon formed their cliques and went off in different directions. Our group consisting of 3–4 people soon began taking retrieving our hidden stash of cigarettes and we were soon engulfed in clouds of smoke as we began exploring the town. Shortly, we found a shop that was selling beer to any and everyone. We bought a case and soon enough, the mood was very jovial and pleasant.

A pal and I wanted to explore the lake so we approached it from the eastern (the side closest to where we were). As we made our way, I noticed that the water's edge was covered with grass and other plants. Without thinking (no doubt owing to the several beers I'd drunk), I stepped on the greenery and to my shock and horror, I was soon knee-deep in muddy water. To my annoyance, my new shoes were completely ruined (I had to throw them away later).

The pleasant and jovial atmosphere has all but evaporated replaced by irrationality and angst. At that time, someone from my group point out a group of our classmates who seemed to be having a good time atop a hillock overlooking the lake. When we made our way, we say that the majority of our classmates were there and most if not all of them appeared intoxicated. A random person passed me a bottle of rum (I believe) and as I was already angry following the incident involving my shoes, I took a big swig. I instantly regretted it as the liquor burnt my throat on its way down and I felt nauseated (this was my first taste of hard liquor). However, after a while, it down with ease and I felt better with every swig.

As the sun traced its way towards the western skies, most of us were super intoxicated. But still, everything seemed to be okay as no one was causing a scene or anything. As evening fell, the picnic wrapped up and we boarded the bus again. By the time we reached Kurseong, the effects of the alcohol has subsided and most of us were more or less sober. I went home and slept.

The next day or maybe the day after that (On Monday) when I reached school there was a buzz of chatter going on in the senior section. I reached my class 10 B and was soon updated on the latest news. Some boarders (the ones who couldn't handle their liquor) after reaching the school that evening had apparently caused a ruckus and this had gotten the principal Br Beddoe, who was very strict, involved. Now there was a rumour that all of us were going to be..for a lack of a better word…fucked…

Soon enough, he came into to put class and gave a brief lecture on the effects of alcohol on teenage minds or something similar. He then asked us all to take a piece of pen and paper and write down the following questions:

I drank alcohol: Yes or no

Students I saw drinking alcohol:

Students I saw bringing/purchasing alcohol:

Beddoe gave us 15 minutes to discuss this amongst ourselves.

A babble of chatter broke out as people started pondering what to do. Some were saying that “honestly is the best policy”, while others were thinking of possible names for the second and third questions. Eventually, most of us reached an agreement that we will write the names of people who were already caught.

Beddoe cleared his throat loudly and informed us that the time was up. He then warned us not to leave any section blank and told us we had 10 mins.

I wasn't going to go for the “honestly policy" so I wrote no in the first section. I jotted down the names of the obvious people that the majority had agreed on for the second question. For the third question, I wrote down the name of a boy who was notorious for being a drunk.

After the 10 mins were up, Beddoe collected the papers and left. All of us were terrified of how he would be using our own words against us but the days turned to weeks and weeks to months and nothing happened. After a while, most people including me started believing that Beddoe had done that just as a scare tactic. Then one fine day he dropped the bomb!

On the final parent-teacher meeting of the year, along with our final term report, the moms and dads of the tenth graders were also shown something else.

You guessed it…..it was the piece of paper….