Life: School

Moving from one phase of life to the other always involves some amount of pain. However I am by nature an optimistic person, hence whenever I have moved to different phases I have tried to look beyond the immediate pain that is being caused to me to look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture being the next phase.

However this does not mean that these painful moments have not been painful to me per se. They have always come back to haunt me at a later time.

I remember the school farewell. I don’t remember shedding tears though copious amounts were escaping from the eyes of everyone around me. I was too excited to get out of school, to be attending college. It is true that I had some precious friends there. Friends whose weddings excite me, who call me at midnight on my birthday till date, who I could still spend hours chatting and laughing with. I knew I would miss them. But the prospect of a new life was so adventurous that at that point it seemed utterly pointless to be crying.

I had had my share of fun in school. There was nothing more to it after that, and deep down inside I sort of knew that that life had reached its point of saturation. Perhaps the end of school was coming at a good time, optimum to my understanding. Perhaps stretching it beyond the point where it was would make the entire experience distasteful. I wonder…

I miss school, true. However I would not go to the extent of saying that “ I wish it would never end” or “ it was the best part of my life” etc.

The sports classes were fun. The clash between the four houses was fun. I remember how completely vicious we would become when it came to defending the name of our house! No wonder Harry Potter was such a hot favorite with us back then. Our school organized several competitions among the houses. It could be sports, debate, drama almost anything. And the best of friends became worst of enemies during these. But even that was a lot of fun . I miss that.

I miss trying to hide our tiffin from that perpetually hungry girl, or telling the teacher that I forgot to get the Atlas so that she would turn us out of the class and we could chat undisturbed there, or drawing the cartoon of the teacher right under her nose or doing a million other things you do only in school.

I miss doing all sort of crazy things that I have done in school.

I remember our school had to get the classroom walls repainted because of all the unparliamentary stuff we had written on them with permanent markers. I remember slapping a junior because she panicked during a fire drill and would not run down the staircase. One of my teachers thought I would never get admission in any college. I remember going back and telling her she was right, I got into a university instead. I remember walking out of the morning assembly, bunking classes because we felt like it, experimenting with random chemicals in the lab, thinking we were saving the planet while we made recycled paper for nature club, cheating at toss to our advantage in a Throwball match, hiding Archie’s comics behind History books in class, mimicking each and every teacher and school staff.

There were a few teachers who were a complete pain to be with. Then again there were others I respect till date and would still touch their feet on the road if I ever meet them.

One thing which was there in school which was quite a unique experience was the “I don’t care” attitude we could afford to live with. We did not have any worries on our minds. We did not think of deadlines, and bosses and career progression. We just lived life for the moment. I sometimes wonder how dangerously we lived. Who knows.. I could be rusticated for being caught bunking class and playing in the field. How silly we were to expect not being caught in the first place!

Then again there are loads of things that I half remember. Like there was this girl who smoked cigarettes in the washroom. Then gain there was a girl who had fallen in love with Akbar ( yeah the Mughal emperor). Teachers were bothered about the hemlines of our skirts! (why? Oh why?) There was a club which had only three members among the entire school population. There was a teacher we nicknamed Medusa because her hair looked like a million snakes and a hundred other odd things.

And like all things it came to an end. I am still in touch with my friends. We regularly meet up and spend time, and I know for sure this is for life. I have a few vey special friends who are from school and I know we will always be so. And these memories are with me. So why should I be pained because it’s over? I’m happy I went to the school I went to, and made friends with the people who are my friends. I guess that is all that matters.