Neither Early Bird nor Late Owl

The Second Mouse

I am fairly sure the person in charge of the timetable at Crescent had read this quote. Possibly framed it. Possibly it was the only thing on his wall.

A 1990s school office: a bespectacled clerk leans on his desk beside a ledger and a brass bell, smiling contentedly under a wall clock that reads 9:30, while through the open door a schoolboy in a white shirt and yellow shorts strolls in unhurried and other children in yellow uniforms run across the sunny courtyard. — **The Man Behind the Timetable** · 9:30 on the clock, and not a minute earlier

Two Kinds of Schools

Schools in Pune came in two varieties.

There were the morning schools, which began at 7 am and went on till 1 pm. Their students got up before the sun, watched it rise in the east, and came out of school when it was directly above their heads. They bragged about everything they could do with the whole afternoon and evening free.

Then there were the afternoon schools, which began around noon and went on till 6 pm. Their students bragged about everything they could do with the whole morning free.

Either way, these children were multi-talented: art, judo, karate, music, dance, a little Sanskrit for culture. Their parents had walls full of trophies and newspaper cuttings.

Most of them went on to highly successful lives, using their many skills, and ended up as... well... software engineers. Or IT engineers. Or, oh yes, technology professionals.

A 1990s Pune living room with a whole wall of trophies, medals, shields and framed newspaper cuttings. Proud parents gaze up at it while their children, in other schools' blue, green and grey uniforms, pose with a cricket bat, a trophy, a football, a violin and an easel. Through a doorway in the next room, a grown man sits at a desktop computer. — **A Proud Family Wall of Achievements** · and in the next room, the desktop waiting for all of them

So: morning schools and afternoon schools. Good schools.

And then there was Crescent.

And Then, Crescent

Crescent was, and still is, a 9:30 am to 3:30 pm school.

Pune school timings

Est. 1990s

School	Starts	Ends	Brags about
Morning school	7:00 am	1:00 pm	The whole afternoon
Afternoon school	~12 noon	6:00 pm	The whole morning
Crescent	9:30 am	3:30 pm	Nothing (humbly)

No need to wake up at 6 am to see the rising sun. No need to travel in the scorching noon heat. Crescent actively encouraged its students to stay in bed till 8:30, kept them indoors through the worst of the afternoon, and released them into the cool, soft evening light at 3:30.

A sunny bedroom in the late morning: a boy sleeps blissfully, smiling, under a checked blanket while the wall clock shows almost half past eight. His uniform, a white shirt with a crescent badge and bright yellow shorts, waits on a chair with black shoes beneath it. Outside the window, children carrying a karate belt, drums and an easel are already on their way. — **Sunlit Storybook Bedroom Morning** · Crescent actively encouraged this

The unwritten motto went something like this. Art is for snobs. Judo and karate are not needed in the modern, peaceful world. And professional sports? Seriously, which professional sports, in Pune? As far as our colony knew, the Indian team was picked in Bombay, and Pune was where Bombay came for the weekend. So why bother.

Built for the Future

Crescent, in its great foresight, had anticipated that the future would not belong to the multi-talented.

It would belong to people who could press buttons on a keyboard for no real reason. People who could sit in one place for hours without getting either bored or excited. People who could sit three to a bench where even one is uncomfortable, write in sync, and keep their handwriting consistent while their elbows banged into each other's.

Very useful at a mid-level IT firm.

A crowded 1990s classroom: three boys in white shirts, bright yellow shorts and black shoes are squeezed onto one wooden bench, elbows jammed, writing in their notebooks. A teacher watches from the front, and in the top corner, like a vision of the future, grown men in office shirts sit in a row at computer monitors. — **Crowded Classroom, Future Cubicles** · same elbows, different furniture

Skills acquired

Annual report
1990s

Subject	Other schools	Crescent
Art, judo, music, Sanskrit	Yes	Snobbery avoided
Sitting still for hours	Some	Distinction
Writing in sync, three to a bench	No	Distinction
Trophies on the wall	Many	0
Readiness for IT	Eventually	From day one

One Hour of Play

The Crescentian reached home leisurely, at 4 or 4:30, had a nice snack, and rushed out to play.

Sunset was at 6. That meant one hour on the ground, at most, and then back home. Why run more, when you are going to spend most of your life sitting at a desk?

There was no special cricket coaching and no football coaching either. Crescentians were raw talent, untarnished by professional guidance.

The Homework Problem

The real casualty of the 9:30-to-3:30 timing was the thing other schools called homework.

Look at the schedule. You are back from play at 7-ish. Then dinner. Then TV, and TV is important: the 8:30 pm news was the most exciting thing in the house. Then bed by 9:30, because that is when other children went to bed.

It is just a side note that the other children had school at 7 am. So what. Going to bed early is important. Nobody knows why it is important, but it is important.

Then you wake up at 8:30. Why wake up at 6 when school is at 9:30? Wake up at 8:30, reach school by 9:45.

A Crescentian's day

8:30 am: Wake up
9:45 am: Reach school (for 9:30)
3:30 pm: Released, soft evening light
4:30 pm: Home, snack
5–6 pm: Play (sunset closes ground)
7:00 pm: Back home, dinner
8:30 pm: The news (important)
9:30 pm: Sleep (important, reason unknown)
Homework: Slot not found

So can anyone explain to me where, in this schedule, anyone was supposed to do homework? It was not logistically possible.

A cutaway of a 1990s Pune home under the hand-lettered heading 'No time for homework.' and a row of clocks from 3:30 to 9:30: a boy in a white shirt and yellow shorts walks in from school, eats dinner with his family, watches the news on an old TV, and finally sleeps under a night window, his uniform laid out on a chair. — **A Family Evening Without Homework** · 3:30 to 9:30, fully booked

Blank Walls

But the best effect of the timing was that it made the true-blood Crescentian humble.

Other schools' children had a wall of pride built out of clippings and awards. So when all those future scientists, cricketers and musicians ended up in front of a desktop, the whole weight of that wall came down on them.

The Crescentian's wall, on the other hand, had... well, nothing. A blank wall. No clippings, no trophies, nothing. We never got to build a sense of achievement, because we never really achieved anything. It was just blank.

Their wall

Our wall

Which made for a very smooth transition into IT life.

A quiet, sunlit room with a large, completely blank cream wall. A boy in a white shirt, bright yellow shorts and black shoes sits on a wooden chair, gazing up at it contentedly. Through the doorway in the next room, a grown man works calmly at a desktop computer. — **A Quiet Sunlit Home Interior** · nothing on the wall, nothing to fall

After all,

Khali haath aaye the hum,
khali haath jayenge.

E aye aaa, a aye aa...

— Vinaay Patil

Today's Lesson

Copy it down. There will be no homework.

Who	Got
The early bird	The worm
The second mouse	The cheese
The Crescentian	A blank wall, and a smooth landing

Class dismissed · 3:30 sharp

Days Under the Crescent Sun

Stories from school days and a 1990s Pune childhood: plans that were too clever, teachers who were never questioned, and the people who made it all bearable.