Nostalgia Beckons....

”People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around.” – Anonymous

I can’t believe how true this is! Who would have thought I would actually miss some of those crazy times: frantically copying down class work on the morning of the day after it was actually dictated; too busy then, whispering to my friends to write, or getting sent to the Headmistress’ office for throwing a paper rockets around the class!

Ah! The wonder of childhood! Safe and protected in our own little land, unaware of the outside world!

John Betjeman once said, “Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.”

Alas! The dark hour has begun to grow upon us, but we yet have some time, my friends! I speak, not only to my own friends, but to all who stand at the brink, the thin line between our world and the world of the grownups.

As I say this, memories come pouring down like rain. I know it sounds cliqued, but I understand now what they mean when they say that is seems just yesterday that we were walking through the school gates for the first time, entering those now familiar, but then alien subterranean classrooms to behold a sea of strange new people. Who would have thought then that we would be so close in a few years!

Seasons passed, and with them, we grew older, we learnt new tings: how to count to 100, how to write ‘dog’, ‘cat’ and ‘boy’, and how to draw birds, which to me looked nothing like birds!

As we grew older, the things we learned grew more advanced, and we learnt to hold our own in this school! I think we all still remember those endless ‘break-times’ (and in Class 3, lunchtimes!) flying around on imaginary broomsticks playing Harry Potter’s ‘Quidditch’; the fastest kid in class acting as the Golden Snitch!

And then, before we knew it, we were in ‘Senior School’, thrust again into a new world, this one far more serious. From little wizards on broomsticks, we turned into little Ballacks and Podolskis (which was due to the influence of the 2006 FIFA World Cup!), football-crazy sixthies!

As time grew older, so did we, and before we knew it, these little boys and girls were in Class 9. Little did we know this would be the best till date!

Shaping years, these are called, and our characters were built in the best possible ways. From Iron Maiden and Hitler to Beethoven and Tolkien, we had a wide variety of influences (Hitler being and interest, not an influence!), at least my good friends and I.

We had our good times and our bad. Laughing for eternal moments at imitations of Inspector Clouseau’s ‘I wood laik tu bui a “amsphphespher”’ (I would like to buy a hamburger)! Laughing at teachers (please excuse us!), singing loudly during free periods, the list is endless!

And not excluding the times my best friend and I fought over the silliest things: Berlin being in West Germany or East Germany, my friend throwing a baby-tantrum because I demanded my pencil back from him so that I could teach him how to write music.

And our ploys: Pretending to be in WWII, printing out copies of Operation Valkyrie and greeting the teachers with ‘Heil!’ or ‘Herr Kommandant!’; Locating the school’s earthing connections (thanks to Mr. Hart!) and our latest, a plan to go on a quest for the Holy Grail! Wow! All this may seem childish to some, but to us it was, and is a matter of utmost importance!

Now, I realise, these memories are all we are going to be left with! Soon, we will pass out from this school, our hell, and our sanctuary (and sometimes our purgatory). We still have another year, but with the speed at which eleven have passed, what is one year but a candle in the wind?

We will miss every moment we have shared, my friends, my teachers. To you I say simply, you will always be in my heart. Let us make the time we have left the best of our lives!