Classrooms.. The places where the young minds gain knowledge. The places where each word spoken has a deep meaning. A place where friendships begin and flourish. A place where students get scolded by teachers. A place where memories are made. A place where discipline is taught. Classroom has no single definition. Each person will define it differently. However, a friend Sneha (Pseudonym used for protecting the identity) defined "The classroom" as an out of this world phenomenon. This is Sneha's story.
Sneha was not from my school. Sneha was my age - from the same generation where the schools were not glamourous. Schools were dull budlings painted in beige, grey, or other sad colour. The classrooms were equally dull. The walls painted in white. Old wooden benches which stood the test of the time. Blackboards which were worn out from many years of use. Dusters which had never been washed. Old wooden chair for the teachers. The classroom may or may not have a cabinet to store teacher's daily use articles such as chalks, dusters, registers. You may visit any school and the classrooms would look exactly the same. However there was one particular classroom where Sneha had a different experience.
Sneha's school was a six story building. Each floor would have 4 classrooms and ground floor had 2 more classrooms. The school would have primary school sessions in the morning and secondary school sessions in the afternoon. Sneha's school had 26 classroom. At least that is what she knew. That was what she was told. Until she got to know that there were not 26 but 27 classrooms.
Sneha along with few of her classmates was participating in an extracurricular competitive examination, representing their school. For preparation, the school teacher had arranged a few sessions before the examination. They were called early to the school to attend the sessions. Sneha used to have her school at 1 PM, however for the extra sessions they were asked to come to the school at 11 AM. At that time, all classrooms were occupied by the primary school classes. There were no classrooms available. Sneha and her classmates thought that the session would get cancelled. But the teacher had other plans. She opened the 27th classroom.
The 27th classroom was situated on the third floor of the school. This classroom would always be closed. Not only that a large wooden cabinet used to kept in front of the classroom door. Because of it students never knew about the classroom. They would only see the cabinet. This was the first time they came to know about the existence of classroom. This classroom was smaller than the other classrooms. It appeared as if it had not been used for years.
The students entered the classroom and sat on the old wooden benches. The teacher began with the session. The students however were uncomfortable. The classroom was dusty, evidently it had not been used or cleaned. It was covered in cobwebs. It was cooler than most of the classrooms. The air felt heavy and different. It had a mushy smell - probably because of moss and fungus. It was not just the dust, cobwebs and fungus, something felt unusual in that classroom. All students felt this but nobody had the courage to speak out loud. They looked at each other silently but did not tell the teacher.
The session progressed well. It was interrupted by a senior teacher. She stood at the door and asked the teacher to come out. Both teachers stood outside the classroom. It appeared that they had a deep conversation; probably a sombre one. Their expressions were fear mixed with guilt; as if they had done something that was forbidden. The teacher came back to the classroom, asked the students to pack their bags, and vacate the classroom. The students followed their teacher's order and got out of the classroom. They were moved to a different classroom to continue their study. All students had no idea why they were suddenly moved to another classroom but nobody was brave enough to ask the teacher. Later that day, the school headmaster visited their class to inform that the secluded classroom (27th classroom) on the third floor is completely off-limits for the students. Any student found near the classroom will be punished. Students were hoping that their teacher would get scolded by the headmaster.
The mystery of the 27th classroom still remained unsolved. Until Sneha later met a school senior in her college. She told Sneha that several years ago, the school only had two floors and the third floor used to be the school's terrace. When the construction was going on a construction worker died at the third floor due to an accident. The 27th classroom "reportedly" was made exactly at the spot where the worker had died. That classroom was in use for a few months, but bizarre events started to occur in that classroom. Students' bags would get thrown off the bench without human intervention. There would be sudden drop in the temperature. Students would get smacked in the head by an invisible force. Once a student fainted in that class and woke up in panic. After several unexplained events, the school management decided to shut the classroom and not use it in the future. This answered a lot of Sneha's questions.
Sneha told me that she recently visited the school. The school has been renovated. Yet, the 27th classroom still remains - locked away for student's safety. Nobody goes near the 27th classroom even today. Most students are not aware of the story of history of the 27th classroom. The identity of the 27th classroom is kept hidden. The 27th classroom remains frozen in time. This classroom taught Sneha a lesson that could not have been taught by the books. It is for the students' benefit for the door to remain shut, because it is a lesson that nobody should learn.
[Note: The above image is AI generated]
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