Days Under the Crescent SunStoryPune1990s
Crescent High School, Pune · Biology Practical JournalExpt. No. 16 · Page 1
Experiment

Yellow Yellow,
Dirty Fellow

Six colours, one tie nobody can tie, and the riddles Crescent never explained

Aim
Every school picks its colours. Crescent seems to have picked all of them. A short field guide to the riddles stitched into the uniform, painted on the walls and chalked on the boards.
Apparatus
1 uniform (6 colours), 1 tie, 1 sweater, 2 boards
By Vinaay Patil3 min read
A hand-drawn biology journal page about the Crescent uniform: a double helix in yellow, white, black, navy, brown and green; a boy riding a buffalo; a boy adjusting his tie; knot diagrams for the single knot, triple knot, samosa and readymade tie; colour swatches adding up to a Clown College stamp; a stack of Unity in Diversity question slips from Std. V to X; a board half green and half black reading Riddles 6, Explained 0.
Plate 0The whole experiment on one page. Result: still pending.
Expt. 16.0

The Rhyme

Aimto find out why we learnt it first

Yellow yellow, dirty fellow, sitting on a buffalo.

The greatest riddle one can encounter is this: how is it that the first rhyme the students of Crescent High School, Pune, manage to learn is "yellow yellow", when the rhyme is making a mockery of themselves?

Outside the Crescent High School gate, children from another school in grey uniforms point and chant Yellow yellow, dirty fellow, sitting on a buffalo, while a row of Crescent children in white shirts, yellow shorts and yellow pinafores happily clap along; above them a thought cloud shows a grinning boy in yellow shorts riding a buffalo.
Plate 1The mockery, set to music. We clapped along.
Result: riddle unexplained
Expt. 16.1

The DNA of Crescent

Aimto draw the structure of a Crescentian

Alternating Yellow (P) and White (S) form the basic backbone of the DNA of Crescent, and the connecting rungs of the ladder are made by Black (T), Navy Blue (A), Brown (C) and Green (G).

Fig. 16.1 · Structure of Crescent DNA (not to scale)Diagram: pencil
A ladder diagram: the two rails alternate yellow (P) and white (S) blocks; the rungs are pairs of black (T) with navy blue (A), and brown (C) with green (G). PSPSPSPS SPSPSPSP TACGATGC TACGATGC

Yellow (P)White (S)Black (T)Navy Blue (A)Brown (C)Green (G)

For the commerce sectionP and S: the phosphate–sugar backbone. A, T, C, G: the four bases. In real DNA, A pairs with T and C with G.

Result: see diagram
Expt. 16.2

The Tie

Aimto explain a tie in one of the hottest parts of the country

Now, Brown is the new base, introduced in the alternating form of the TIE. Yes: in one of the hottest parts of the country, students are made to wear a TIE. Why? Never logically explained to anyone.

And do remember, Crescent is an adaptive institution.

When it was first introduced, the TIE was a full-length tie. That meant students had an accessory to pass the time with: just take off the TIE and practise the great ART of the single knot, the triple knot, the samosa…

It also meant that when a student was TIeRED of sitting in class, all he had to do was undo the knot of his TIE, ensure censure from the teacher, and possibly earn a walk out of the class to fix the knot. You could see the corridors of Crescent filled with students just TIE-ing their TIEs…

A long arched school corridor full of boys in white shirts and yellow shorts wrestling with long brown ties: one with a huge lumpy knot, one tongue out in concentration, one with the tie wrapped round his head, two helping each other, while a teacher in a sari stands in a classroom doorway with her arms folded and a notice board reads A well tied tie, a well disciplined student.
Plate 2Corridor practical: single knot, triple knot, samosa, headband.
Result: riddle unexplained
Expt. 16.3

The Readymade Tie

Aimto observe what adaptation does to a species

But then Crescent adapted, and introduced the readymade tie. All you had to do was hook it around your neck, and it always remained a perfect triangle.

But paradoxically, it now means that Crescentians are a unique breed: they wear a TIE, but never know how to TIE a TIE.

Two panels. Then, the readymade tie: a smiling schoolboy in yellow shorts hooks a striped brown tie round his neck in one second, beside a card reading Perfect triangle, every time. Now, the real tie: the same boy grown up stands sweating at a bathroom mirror, tangled in a necktie, a How to tie a tie diagram taped beside him.
Plate 3Then: one second. Now: one diagram, five steps, no luck.
Result: paradox observed
Expt. 16.4

Clown College

Aimto add one more colour and see what happens

The next part of the riddle: why a NAVY BLUE sweater?! Just imagine someone wearing YELLOW, WHITE, BLACK and BROWN, and then, to top it all, a NAVY BLUE sweater. Maybe we were not in school. We were in Clown College.

  1. Yellowshorts
  2. Whiteshirt
  3. Blackshoes
  4. Browntie
  5. Navy Bluesweater
= Clown College
A winter school assembly: rows of children stand to attention in navy blue V-neck sweaters, brown ties, yellow shorts and yellow skirts, white socks and black shoes, while over the school wall, in front of a striped circus tent, a clown in a polka-dot bow tie leans on the wall and studies them admiringly.
Plate 4Over the wall, a professional takes notes.
Result: riddle unexplained
Expt. 16.5

Unity in Diversity

Aimto write a short note. [5]

The assorted colours chosen by Crescent perhaps reflect the mentality of a generation of India whose society was fractured, and in which everyone zealously tried to stitch the various identities together. After all, can anyone explain why "Unity in Diversity in India" was asked in the exams every year from the fifth standard to the tenth? And the 23rd wonder of the world is that students still struggle to write the answer in the Board exams…

Six exam desks rise like a staircase from Std. V to Std. X, the same boy at each one growing from 10 to 15 years old, every desk holding the same question, Write a short note on Unity in Diversity in India, and every version of him scratching his head; behind them hangs a big stitched patchwork quilt titled Unity in Diversity, a needle and thread still in it.
Plate 5Std. V to Std. X: same question, same head-scratch, five marks.
Result: riddle unexplained
Expt. 16.6

Grey, Brown, Green

Aimto account for the walls and the boards

A few years back, the Grey Building of Crescent was recoloured a light brown, while a few buildings kept their green and light-yellow texture. And with green comes one more riddle: why did a few classrooms on the first floor have a Green Board, while the majority had Black Boards? Another unexplained riddle…

(poor paragraph, no relation between sentences, probably should change it, let it be why bother, who is going to see it anyways, who is going to complain anyways.. @@ poor color combination, no synergy between colors, probably should change it, _ _ _ _ @@)Pencil note in the margin · left as found

Result: riddle unexplained
Expt. 16.7

The Blazer

Aimto measure the irony

Now the biggest irony: where I thought a tie in summer was overkill, these days Crescentians have to go about in a navy blue BLAZER.

A school building half grey, labelled Then, The Grey Building, and half light brown, labelled Now, Light Brown Building, with a painter on a ladder; through the first-floor windows a teacher puzzles at a green board and another at a black board. In the sunny foreground a 1990s boy in a white shirt, yellow shorts and brown tie fans himself, beside a present-day student melting in a full navy blue blazer, a Pune Summer thermometer on the wall showing the heat.
Plate 6Then: grey walls, a tie. Now: brown walls, a blazer. The board question stands.
Result: riddle unexplained

— Vinaay Patil

Observations

Crescent, in six colours

  • First rhyme learntabout ourselves
  • Tie in the Pune heatwhy?
  • Crescentians who can tie a tie0
  • Colour of the sweaternavy, somehow
  • "Unity in Diversity" askedStd. V to X
  • Board colour, first floorgreen, sometimes
  • Today's uniform+ a blazer

Riddles: 6Explained: 0

Result: unexplained

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. Also about those pokingly yellow shorts: Board de Merite.

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