By Kaushambi Chakraborty
This June while I was in Goa, I happened to drive past my school. It was one of those days when Goa was experiencing torrential rainfall, marking the beginning of the monsoon. Considering my school is located by the beach, driving is a little bit of a hazard and so just to make sure that my car doesn’t get blown away I decided to pull over for a while. Looking at my school a few memories just came back to me. This was the time of the year when a new academic session would begin. New books, new uniforms, new bags, new classes and new classmates- The whole excitement on the first day of school to see who was in your class, who is your new class teacher and whether you and your best friends can sit together, these fragments of my childhood memories came back to me leaving a hint of a smile on my face.
When we are young, we hope to grow up as soon as possible. We see our siblings going to college and we watch shows featuring college as a backdrop on TV and we long for our school life to end as quickly as possible. The regular homework submissions, the assignments, the restrictions, rules, strict teachers and above all the unflattering uniform get to us! Dreaming of one’s college life seems to be the perfect getaway. We imagine how cool our lives will be, how we can hang out with our friends in the seriously over-rated college canteen, bunk classes, wear uber cool outfits and above all have no teacher breathing down our necks to submit the regular work. Half the time that we spend complaining about our morbid lives and gossiping about the not-so-cool kid in our class, we don’t realize that this is the most amazing phase of one’s life. No matter how cool your college life is, how well paid your job is and how many countries you have been to for your vacations, the carefree school days will be the most remembered moments. A time when finishing another’s Tiffin was the best way to annoy someone. When a stupid fight over a free-kick during a football match could lead to serious issues between friends, when not being able to complete one’s homework before the class spelled literal doom and the lamest of jokes could have the entire class in splits for the whole day! As school children we like to believe that we are all grown-up but this is a time when we are very naïve and innocent.
When we are young, we hope to grow up as soon as possible. We see our siblings going to college and we watch shows featuring college as a backdrop on TV and we long for our school life to end as quickly as possible. The regular homework submissions, the assignments, the restrictions, rules, strict teachers and above all the unflattering uniform get to us! Dreaming of one’s college life seems to be the perfect getaway. We imagine how cool our lives will be, how we can hang out with our friends in the seriously over-rated college canteen, bunk classes, wear uber cool outfits and above all have no teacher breathing down our necks to submit the regular work. Half the time that we spend complaining about our morbid lives and gossiping about the not-so-cool kid in our class, we don’t realize that this is the most amazing phase of one’s life. No matter how cool your college life is, how well paid your job is and how many countries you have been to for your vacations, the carefree school days will be the most remembered moments. A time when finishing another’s Tiffin was the best way to annoy someone. When a stupid fight over a free-kick during a football match could lead to serious issues between friends, when not being able to complete one’s homework before the class spelled literal doom and the lamest of jokes could have the entire class in splits for the whole day! As school children we like to believe that we are all grown-up but this is a time when we are very naïve and innocent.