Nostalgic Already!

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Nostalgic Already!

“Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: You find the present ‘tense’ and the past ‘perfect’!”

— Anonymous

I’m getting so many sentimental SMSes on my mobile about good old school days. Almost all my friends have created albums on Facebook of farewell parties and other school events. The one I found the funniest was the photograph of the “remarks” page in the calendar filled with the teachers’ complaints and even signed by the principal!!! Me, I never even had a scratch on that page. Yeah, I can brag about being one of the sincere students in school. I mention school because college was not the same. I have taken advantages of the freedom college life has given me. I have never been as lazy, as casual, as uninterested as I’m now.

Being sincere is not as much fun, you know. I’ve always been the spectator to all the pranks played and all the controversies that happened then. So now when we friends meet, I really can’t boast about how I was saved that day from that teacher’s wrath or how I faced the wrath with all my friends behind me in support. Nonetheless, I have pleasant memories of the nine years spent in school, our second home. Like everyone else, even I waited for school to start after the long summer vacation. How much I loved the smell of new textbooks!! How I enjoyed teachers having me in their good books! How I loved our gang of friends, recesses, presentations in classrooms, combined classes [what a ruckus we created together!], being monitor [I never complained about anyone though, just loved ruling! Typical girl trait! ;)], field trips, camps, school bus, annual day, teacher’s day, student council elections etc. etc!! How much I disliked Marathi orals! How much I hated PT periods when everyone waited for only that period the whole week!! The only thing good about PT [apart from Sudhir sir being kind to me by giving me the graceful ‘B-grade’ for PT and also letting me be!!] was I could wear track pants and my blue house jersey rather than that stupid, over-sized pinafore which was so stupidly girly!

Oh, forget embarrassing school moments! That’s a never ending list!

College, for me, was not that bad either. I loved attending science practicals, eating out, travelling so far, not wearing uniforms or I-cards, and the fact that we were not compelled to attend any lectures. I made good friends in college too. But many remained friends for convenience who really helped, whom we helped back too. Initially leaving school felt terrible. College didn’t feel home. I remember asking one of my college friends while in the biology lab casually chit-chatting, that what she liked better, school or college? Though I regarded her as someone bubbly and happy-go-lucky, her answer was really matured. She told me, “Both are different. Both cannot be compared. School was great and I’m beginning to like college also. I’ve done so many things differently in college that I’d never think about doing in school. The friends that I’ve made in college are the kind of people I used to bully in school!” That remark made me laugh. I loved her answer. This really changed my approach to college life. After that, I stopped finding school, my second home, in college. I lived college life, I loved college life. It was freedom from home. You had all the fun with no strings attached. 😉

Well, school will always remain close to my heart. But I also realize change is essential. I’ve moved on, expecting better things. I’ll find other friends as dear as the present ones. Don’t want to hang on to memories for comfort anymore. Yeah, I know, school’s the best. However it’s not the only best thing. You can’t live in the same den, rule the same place forever. It’s time to find yourself, explore the world. It’s time to test the waters independently with a promise to remain in touch always. I think the latter will be easy, thanks to the internet!

With a tear and a smile,

Signing off,

Tame She Wolf

P.S: I’d so much fun writing this article! I was smiling to myself the whole time. Just realized, I love school as much as everyone!!

WORDLY WISE:

“We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.”

— Tom Stoppard