Recollections Of Life - School...

Schooooool...that was a word i hated till i was in the 5th standard. I used to hate getting up in the mornings...by about 6:30 am...it used to be especially difficult in the winters. Obviously...i mean...when someone comes to wake you up in the butt-freezing winters just to tell you "Get off your butt...go and have a bath and go to school, you lazy lout!!"...then its just about unbearable. More so for a LAZY LOUT like me. :)

The people in my colony still remember me as the kid who used to cry his lungs out in the mornings and wake up everyone in the colony...though listening to the me wailing was not exactly the alarm bell they wanted...but still...crying out loud and telling people about the horrors i was about to face was something i had to do. And my neighbors, their neighbors and their neighbors and so on...were the people who had to face the music (in my case 'cacophony' seems more appropriate than 'music'!!). But thankfully i had tolerant neighbors who did not make evil plans to split open my head , gouge out my eyes , hang me upside down from the terrace , try and get me stuck in the lift or any of the like. God bless them all...but may he also remember that they should be as tolerant as they were if i have to be in the same situation ever again!...Intuition tells me this time they wont be as tolerant!!!

But school for my sister was always better. She used to get up on her own, get ready and be there for the rickshaw-walla to come and pick her up...while i was still dozing in the bed. The next 15 mins of my day were filled with shouts, scoldings and looooooooud wails...from me of course!!!...I HATED SCHOOL!!!

I used to try and make every excuse to get myself out of that damn place. I remember once i convinced my mom that we were not supposed to take bags to schools ; only the tiffin was required. I was mighty proud of my achievement (i was in 1st). The sole reason for doing this was that i knew that if i dint get my bag i would have to stand outside the class and not study for the rest of the day. That was one day when i went to school happy!!....but alas...my happiness did not last long. I was scolded really badly (i was prepared for that...but not for what happened later) and then i was told to share a book with someone and sit in class. I got it left, right and cen....well lets presume some more left...hehehe...and it left me scarred for life...not scarred by the ways at school...but by the inability of my mind to think of such a grave situation in advance.

Anyway, as time passed i grew up and my hatred reduced. It does not mean that i started liking school...i just was hating it less. But that was mainly because i became friends with some classmates who are friends till date. I got acutely inclined to SKATING!...it was great...going at dizzying speeds...seeing people fly past...and then falling down scraping your knees, elbows...and the most painful...seeing your butt and knees lose their shapes after every fall!!...it was bad...but i enjoyed it more than school...my sis accompanied me here too...i guess everything i have done in life was with the intention of copying her...but she cleverly introduced me to many such things and got out of it soon.

Time flied by and before i realized...i was in the secondary section...and still skating. It was fun. From 5th onwards i realized somehow that school was not that bad. I had actually started enjoying it. It was great fun. Fooling around in the corridors in the recess, playing dodgeball on the ground, the fights , the annual sports days , meeting more friends and stay overs at their places etc etc. All in all school was a great place to be in. By the time i was in 9th, i was so involved in all sorts of sports that i lost interest in studies (not that i had any interest earlier...but still). Thanks to sports i had gone for State level athletics and to Punjab for the School Nationals in Skating. It was an awesome experience. It was more like a picnic. Such events teach you how to survive with meanies and how to live life on your own. But still...its great.But it was a painful experience too. And it was especially painful for our team, because we lost 11-0 in roller hockey to J&K!!!...(stop laughing and making snide remarks!!). That loss left another scar in my life...on my talents as a hockey-player!!

But i dont know how and when i got so attached to my school. So much so, that i actually miss it now. School days once gone, can never come back. But, the fun that i had at school was the bestest (this is another aspect of my learning at school...i learnt words that we are usually not supposed to use...hehehe...we all know them by now). So, in short, all that i am and will be, will be wholly and solely be due to my alma mater - Karnatak High School, Pune. It was and still is one of the best schools in Pune (though im sure its ranking and position reduced substantially when i was there). All my success are indebted to my beloved school and i'll always be proud of my school and its achievements.

- Aashish