“What a waste of a class” mentioned my desk mate. I couldn’t have agreed more. But we now had a 10 minute recess. Do what you want to do, take a toilet break, grab a cup of tea at the cafeteria, catch up on assignments and homework; the 10 minute break was a god send.
“What are we doing during the short break?” enquired Tashi. “I have no idea” I told him. “We have history class after the break so I guess we should get going before we are late again”. He picked up his history textbook with a sigh and followed me in to the crowded corridors. The break was about to end and everyone was rushing back to their classes.
At the entrance of the academic block, some of the boys from my history class had started teasing the girls passing by. Eager to join them, I rushed as fast as possible with Tashi in hot pursuit. He wouldn’t miss it either.
Chimi was one of the weirdest boys in the class. He kept admiring his own body which I thought looked like a pencil wrapped in cellophane. Plus I was told by Tashi, who stood behind him during morning prayers, that Chimi’s well gelled hair had a stray flea setting up camp. Not the prettiest of pictures but that was how Chimi functioned.
Today he was leading the teasing. “I have a building” he said loudly to the girls passing by hoping to impress them with his imaginary wealth. I told myself that I can top Chimi so I started boasting to the girls. “I have 3 acres of apple orchard, 5 jersey cows, 2 power tillers, one bungalow, 2 solar powered lamps, 11 goats and I have good looks” I proclaimed. The girls passing by looked at me and giggled.
Chimi was flustered at someone stealing his thunder. He upped his game a little. “I have a Corona car, 10 yaks, 4 horses, 3 pigs, 17 hens and a hefty bank balance” he proclaimed.
I must admit that the 3 pigs was quite difficult to tackle and I had to find new possessions to impress with.
The argument kept going back and forth between me and Chimi while the girls passing by looked at us and smiled. Seeing the positive response, the other boys started getting in on the act. Soon all the millionaires and billionaires of YHSS had assembled in that corridor and started proclaming their supposed wealth.
Before the corridor got any more congested with us boys blocking the way, the bell rang and we had to get to our classes. I looked at Tashi and he was smiling. I smiled back. He knew we had discovered a good way to keep ourselves entertained.
Before we knew it, after every class or break, my class boys would be found in the corridors impressing the girls with their wide range of wealth. YHSS’ collective wealth grew by leaps and bounds during our stay. We were the richest school in Bhutan.
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