An Affair to Remember

There comes a time in everybody’s life when we seek a certain amount of coherence out of the general parlance of electronic impulses that shoot through our brains; something we like to call thoughts. It has been three years since I stepped out of the protective shell of the school and not a single day has passed by without my thoughts being abstracted towards my days in school. I am not talking about mushy memories about how much fun I had or how those were the best days of life or how much knowledge I managed to garner out of my days in school. I am talking about things that are more real and in some ways more pleasant albeit in a very different way. This I guess is a privilege one gets after coming out of the teens while putting up a rather stubborn masquerade of maturity. Although the reason why I volunteered to pen down these words for the school magazine is still shrouded in ambivalence, one thing that does not escape the realms of clarity is that I emerged out of my fourteen years in school with tons of memories and experiences, some pleasant while some rather piquant; yet each one of them going on to dictate the kind of person I have shaped into.

At this point in time when I am armed by the ever mocking power of hindsight can list down a number of things that I should not have done in those fourteen years along with a multitude of pitfalls that I should have avoided. Yet when I cast my back to these things, a wry smile makes its way on the contours of my face because there is not one damned thing that I would like to change. Every admonishment that I had to face, every figment of bitterness caused by abysmally low marks in the term papers and every ego hassle that that stuck its ugly head up in a group of friends every now and then, went on to make some contribution (I believe) in my thought processes. Pleasant or unpleasant; I want it all. Right now it is very tempting for me to assume didactic tones and pass on some invaluable gyaan as an ex-student about how one should squeeze every precious moment that one gets in school and make the most of it with or how one should understand the value of everything they learn in school and it would go on to make their lives better. Well, thankfully I am not going to venture into anything like that. I firmly believe the experiences with which we emerge out of school are as diverse as the people themselves. Speaking purely from personal experience I can say that ever since the day I walked inside the then sand and dust infested compound wearing the blue shorts and the white shirt of Kindergarten with a bag bigger than my torso and a water bottle hanging around my neck, this institution has played a major part in helping me develop a perspective of my own. Yes, at this juncture I can safely say that it is one thing I have definitely managed to acquire from my stay here. Right from being appointed the monitor of the class because of securing the first rank in the first terminal in the first standard to me getting discharged from my duties in the second term (because I had managed to drop eight places in the rank list), it was all worth living… it was all worth cherishing. Today as I write this, there are many instances that are a cause of a subtle sense of amusement and yet at the time of occurrence there was nothing even remotely amusing about them. Right from broken chalk boards to getting caught after bunking the assembly, there are several examples of such instances. Among the more pleasant memories is each one of those Lucknow trips when we wore the uniforms and represented the school with same intensity and passion as that of a cricketer going out to represent India. Obviously the results we managed were much better than those achieved on the cricket field. Then there were the frolic filled days of the youth festival when upholding the dignity of the house almost became a matter of life and death. The Friday afternoon hobby periods were a refreshing break from the otherwise monotonous train of academics and will always be special. I distinctly remember the two occasions when I was called upon to deliver a speech in the assembly. Now, I have always taken pride in a certain degree of composure while speaking in front of an audience, but I kid you not, I have never practiced harder or been more nervous while speaking in front of the whole school early in the morning. All the weekends I was absent from home (much to my parents’ anguish and subsequent nonchalant acceptance) on the pretext of practicing for or participating in some inter school competition will always be etched in my memory. At the end of it all I like to believe that my school life is characterised by the excitement in each one of those activity periods, in the sense of liberty that we enjoyed in those twenty minutes during recess, in those early morning sleep infested achievement classes, in the pride that I took being a member of the school cabinet, in the sense of desperation that preceded every examination and in every second of every minute of every hour spent inside the school campus from 7:40 to 1:30. Yes, that’s about it.

Today when I come back to school during the vacations my college frugally grants, I cannot help but notice that things have changed. There are many new faces and in general being inside school does not evoke the same sense of familiarity anymore. I am not complaining because change is the only invariable factor of life. Last year the school turned twenty five and we joined the legion of those institutions who can say with pride that “Yes, we are old enough.” Quite frankly I was very disappointed at the complete lack of involvement of the alumni in the celebrations which eventually were an elaborate exercise in public relations more than anything else. Again, one must consider the fact that there was no real initiative from the part of the alumni themselves to be a part of the year long celebrations. It’s all a question of perspective and perceptions evolve with time. So instead of adopting critical and sardonic overtones I wish my beloved school all the very best in all its future endevours. I do this with a certain degree of surety in the fact that my good wishes will be reciprocated and with a reminder that there will always be us, we the band of ex-students who will always be ready to render their services to the school whenever required. I hope that together we can come on a platform and devise a mean of constant communication for mutual benefit. In years to come wherever we land in life we will always be bound together by the special bond that I share with my school. After all, my experiences at Kerala Samajam Model School will always be an affair to remember.