The bell rang. We were to go to the field for Physical Education like other days. A long queue of students quickly snaked away from the oppressive textbook-laden classroom towards temporary freedom. The physical education class was our favourite! We would scamper around the field, play games, and sometimes deceive the teacher's eyes to do everything apart from playing the assigned games. 'Not all who wander are lost,' we told ourselves sagely. The mango trees in the field were ripe with fruit, but we weren't allowed to take them home. So we would pick the mangoes up, scrutinize them carefully, and hold court on the difficult question of whether they were good to eat raw or as pickles. The squirrels and the cats were our field mates, although the squirrels would never bother to stay for a second when they'd see us. They were very quick to disappear into the trees. And the more they disappeared, the more they would fascinate us. I remember we would have discussio