Like a whiff of fresh air? Or the first showers post summer? Does the thought of your school days kindle the same kind of feeling in you? It does in me.
“You will come back to me in the future and tell me that your school life was the best” said my teacher. Looking back now one couldn’t agree more. Although I yearn to go back to my alma mater and repeat this statement back to my teacher I haven’t made it back as yet. I don’t want to go into the labyrinth of reasons as to why I haven’t done it. All this while I figured that one’s time as kids in school, under the nurturing eyes of our teachers; under the love and care of our parents; under the bonding of friends is indeed the best time of our lives.
Though we didn’t probably realize at that time, as kids we soaked in every bit of experience we could. We were lucky. Back then education wasn’t commercialized and we hadn’t entered the rat race of entrance exams and what not as yet.
School wasn’t really a chore. I never really remember complaining being there. I used to be irritated when the local rickshaw wallah who took me to school always turned up at the last minute. It wasn’t the kind of really late you know. The school assembly would just start the instant I arrived at the gate. Our gatekeeper (or ‘mali’ as we called him) always locked us out till the assembly session was over before he let us in. I considered this downright shameful. I never wanted to be late. Getting into high school meant I wouldn’t have to be towed by the rickshaw wallah and could walk to school. This meant a lot more freedom and almost never being late.
Then, the friends. I still remember the group of friends I bonded with - discussing exam papers, studying and playing cricket at my home. When study was deemed too much, my home verandah was converted to a cricket pitch. It was fun in the purest sense. And, then there was the walk back from school to home. We stuck back in school a few minutes after the long bell ran and slowly meandered back home. We did this on purpose though; never wanting to see the rush back of all kids going back home. We slowly ambled out, briefly engaging in watching our hostel mates playing basketball before turning back. The thrill of walking back on a Friday evening was something else as was the time when it rained. Some of my friends though having bicycles preferred to walk along wanting to join in the fun talk.
It was also a great feeling to be a loved group of students in school. Though, we did have our very own tricks all the teachers loved us. It was a bit of a shocker to me in that I did not meet any of the classmates at the time of the Board results. I was out of town on that day and that was it. Everybody just looked at their results and moved on. Perhaps it didn’t occur to us that we had to know a way to contact one other. Being just before the dot.com revolution we did not have email addresses to exchange.
Now, years hence I still think about the days we had in school. Of the praise my teacher use to give during English lessons, the punishment meted out to the whole class sometimes, all the games played in campus and at my home with friends, the year end picnics, the time of the school magazine, the special chai and snacks my mom used to make for us at home when we were around studying or playing. It isn’t faint. It is a very vivid recollection but it’s gone and can hopefully be re-lived when my kids are around and go to school.
