Muhammad Ali, The Bully and Me.

The  first time I saw Muhammad Ali was when I was still at Nannette Nursery and he at St. Joseph's. S. Vijay told me he was a 'rowdish' Bully. The second time I met him after he still remained at St. Joseph's failing umpteen times and we moved up from Nannette to St.Joseph's as sub juniors(no more dumb nursery kids, pretty grown up). So all of us were a little nervous as he was notorious through the years and the first form was to be shared with him as our classmate. He would sit in the last row, shoe laces untied, shirt deliberately untucked on his right side and he took an instant dislike for me the moment he understood that I was the leader for the rest of the boys in the class. The girls(except for christie) didn't dislike me but neither did they see in me a worthy girly companion. I could never take much interest in their hush hush gossip as much as I liked sliding down the stair railings with the boys. And boys understand that crying in public is a shame while most girls literally went hysterical in tears. The world of boys was much more interesting and eventful. Now Muhammad Ali was a bully and he always made faces at me. He would sit behind us and kick us with his shoes during class. He would throw rolled balls of paper at us, and paper rockets that would hit our roundish Hindi tutor exactly where he intended.

During tests he would be busy in all directions north, south, east and west except his own test booklet. I hated to see his greedy face suddenly pop up from under the desks during tests. But then he was a bully and we really were not sure if we could ever equal him in fights. He was huge and we all had to look up(not metaphorically) to him. But one day as destiny always does with me, Muhammad Ali  showed me the quickest way to become notorious. It was a friday afternoon and me and Alan were making plans for the weekend. It was then Vijay and sandeep came running to us panting, breathless and terror stricken. They told us that a  goon from the regional high school was hitting our friend Dheeraj. Now high school was too grown up for us. And as I stood thinking of how to save my friend, I noticed Muhammad Ali laugh at my predicament  and I decided no matter what happens I was going to save my friend from the goon. So I marched towards the regional division followed at a distance by the other boys, Muhammad Ali swaggered behind.

But when I saw poor dheeraj being roughed up by the goon all my decorum was gone. I could not withstand the hazed tearful eyes of my friend and I did things I never did before or later in my life.

  I first bit the goon's dark skinned leg since that was the easiest to reach. He yelped in pain and let go of Dheeraj's collar and held me by mine. Soon he lifted me up by the shirt collar and I started using nails, fingers and teeth the best weapons I had at that stage of my life. And then as I pulled his hair hard the giant goon lost balance and I sat on him and hit him and threw the sand from the ground on his face. That is how the teachers who came running(both from the regional division office and our division) found us and pulled us apart. As two of them pulled us apart and carried us to our respective principals I noticed the awe in all the boys' eyes and most of all in the confused regional goon and the infamous Muhammad Ali who stood bewildered at the notoriety he had just witnessed. I was reprimanded by the principal who was shocked to see my state and summoned my dad. Everyone was bewildered except dad who knew my stars and how I would  somehow be in the middle of some scene of crime. That was the last and first time I ever hit another but still I remember that accidental crime earned me an identity,that saved me and my friends from those gooney bullies for the rest of the year.