Lost lunch

When I joined Avichi Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam for my 6th Standard, I had no idea that my dad put me there just because he couldn't afford to pay the fees for a private school. I don't mean any offense to my dad, in fact if I had known, I would have dropped out of school and gone to work to save my dad from any embarrassing moments. Dramatic statements aside, this post is really about the hardships, if I may say so, that I went through from the late 80's to the early 90's. Those days, spending 30 minutes in a bus just to go to school was considered as an act of bravery. To add to it, I had to carry a lunch basket (plastic koodai) with a tiffin carrier and a water bottle that keeps the water cold for a long time. My mom would never compromise when it comes to food. Despite my begging her several times that I would just take a single tier tiifin box, she'd force me to take the 2-tier carrier, which had 'kozhambu' on the top level and white rice and some poriyal or kootu or varuval (fish or chicken) in the bottom level. My classmates would start drooling over my lunch bag the moment I enter the classroom as they soon learnt that there is always something fresh and hot in the small tower I carried, as opposed to the dry idlis and the lemon rice that they had in their bags. If not anything, my mom's cooking helped me make some new friends. By the time I managed to convince my mom that I am old enough to stop carrying separate lunch bags, I was in my 10th standard. Oh, to justify the topic, I would forget my lunch bag in the bus and get down. There were times when I didn't even realize that I lost it until the lunch bell rings. Good ole times!