Past tense....Middle School

Preparation for one day school was on & Bilquees madam decided to decorate Panjum Alif (V-A) during 1979-80.
She told us to prepare a model of EK PAHAR AUR EK GILEHRI (Squirrel & Mountain).
We have selected the corner but the major challenge was to bring Chikni mitti (Clay)!
Who will do that?
Finally responsibility fall on QMD,HZ,BAM & my self.
If any body recall those days then the only source of clay was the bank of Yamuna river where potters used to dig & take the soil to make pottery.
The road to okhla splits into two branches, one goes to okhla head & other runs parallel to Yamuna river for about 1 to 1.5 km till you reach okhla head to complete the loop.
The distance from V-A (situated little away from Jamia Mosque) to the source of soil was long.
We have to go there & dig the soil,load it & transport back to the class room.
HZ got one broken bicycle & i brought a spade with few gunny bags & we all four departed to accomplish the mission.
The site selected was little deeper toward Yamuna from present day KHALIL ULLAH MOSQUE.
Those days, there was nothing except a stretch @300m wide till u reach Yamuna.
We used to play cricket on those well compacted grounds.
Digging, filling gunny bags & loading were real difficult tasks.
The soil was hard to excavate & within no time we developed boils.
We transported first bag to class room & unload it outside.
It was nothing, may be 50kg of clay.
The requirement assessed was about 30-40bags.
Luckily another friend AP joined us with his bicycle.
We did this exercise for nearly two days after school hours to complete the required quantity.
Exhausted, boils & red marks on hand, scratched legs & Mission accomplished.
Girls with artistic flavour starts building the model.
One day school & V-A fetch consolation prize for model.
We were not very happy but Bilquees madam told us.
I appreciate your efforts, don't count it by the out come of prize, count it by the dedication you had to achieve something.
You have achieved & this is the biggest thing.
You set a goal, make yourself disciplined, dedicate yourself & try to achieve up to your satisfaction.
Finally a wave of satisfaction touched all of us & we felt happy for our hard work.

Bilquees Madam was always very polite with students, carry smile on her face & ofcourse a good teacher never to forget.