Chamu

I remember my first impression of him. He seemed like a sort of silent burner. He was never noisy in class but he struck me as a rather naughty fellow.



I recall when our teacher of Math & Physics passed a comment. He was a funny man but very serious at the same time, never laughed at all. If something was very funny he'd tighten the muscles on his face just so he wouldn't be able to smile. So, we'd laugh alot in his classes. One day, after cracking one of his jokes, or saying something funny, he pointed at Chamu at the back of the class and teased him saying, look at that fellow, he has very little skin on his face and so when he smiles, his eyes shut! We has a good laugh. And it was true. His eyed would close when he smiled or laughed.



I could be pretty irritating sometimes. One day, all of us from our class were outside the class room. I found a small piece of mirror on the ground and started reflecting the sunlight off it onto people's eyes. I got a laugh out of the irritation people got. I did it to Chamu. I think he told me to quit it at first, I did it again and then he came after me! He started shoving me backwards and advancing after each push all the while telling me stuff I can't remember. I thought of retaliating but then two thoughts crossed my mind. First that I didn't want to be in a fight and second that I started it. Thankfully, that was the first and last time Chamu and I ever clashed.



Chamu started seeing a classmate of ours. I recall seeing him kiss her. I don't mean kiss her, I mean KISS her. It was a really strange sight to me. I had really only seen it in the movies plus I didn't realise those high school flings were that serious.



It seems he really liked his girlfriend. I remember laughing at him with the other guys when we were at the boarding house. We had all just gotten back from our classes. Chamu jumped onto his bed which was adjacent to the wall, and stayed on the bed facing the wall for hours. Apparently he had gotten into an argument with her and what we were seeing were the results. We all laughed at him since it wasn't consist with his manly front.



I was pretty good friends with his girlfriend (I'd like to think). One time, I forget what Chamu did, but I convinced her that we should "go tell Chamu how disappointed we were with him that he could do such a thing". I meant it as a joke, and his girlfriend seemed to get it. When we got to him, he was standing with someone or something, I started it, "Chamu, we just thought we should tell you that we are disappointed...". I was smiling and acting alittle dramatic, his girlfriend grew cold feet it seemed and only added some emphatic yes-es here and there. Well later when we were with the guys, Chamu expressed his disappointment in me. I was totally surprised, I thought we had all caught on!



He was a pretty good swimmer, or so people said. He didn't really impress me. He was really good at staying long under water. He'd take a deep breath and swim all around the pool along the wall and not come up for air. He was the only one of two at the school boarding house who could do that.



Most of the guys in my class had nicknames, actually I think we all gave each other nicknames, Chamu was called hamster I think! I forget how he got that name...



Chamu, I just learned, died after an illness.



The news of his death hit me pretty hard which surprised me because we weren't close. I always imagined my classmates and I would one day meet at a reunion, and bring our families and catch up and reminisce. Death was not part of the plan. I hope, somehow, he was saved.