The Wordsmith

Yesterday this school friend of mine (from the one school where i
spent the maximum time - 3 years of schooling) messaged me and said
"Heyyy, how come you write about college, work, family but never about
school. It would be fun for all of us to read about school"

And it set me thinking about school (the 6 schools that i have studied
in till 12th) and a wave of nostalgia swept over me!!

This post is a result of that!! Quite a long and mostly boring post
but just felt like writing it! :-)

Life was so much simpler when we were kids.

Ironical isnt it? When i was a kid the ONLY thing i wanted to do was
to grow up as soon as possible and whenever someone asked me what it
was that i aspired to be i would say "I want to be big jaldi se".

But as you grow you realise you were much better off when you were 10
years old, going to school, going to siwmming classes, music classes,
dance classes and tennis classes, playing with friends, homework

when life was soooooooo busy and so full that you didnt have time to
think and were so tired at night that you slept the deepest and most
peaceful sleep and slept off the moment your head hit the pillow or
dozed off in front of the TV itself and had no recollection of appa
gently lifting you and putting you on your bed

When being the star player of the school kabaddi team was the only
thing that mattered to you

When you HONESTLY didnt know what was wrong in pulling down a girl's
skirt accidentally while passionately playing kabaddi (errr...maybe i
shouldnt have used the word passionately)

When you thought boys were icky creatures whose noses ran (oh!! mine
did too but at least they did so daintily), whose shirts were dirty
and socks smelly, whose favorite pastime was to pull the pigtails of
the class girls, whose laugh ressembled the noise which is produced
when you shake a hundred stones in a tin box. BASICALLY ewwww

When getting a 'Very good' on a term paper from a favorite teacher was
ALMOST equivalent to winning the nobel prize. who am i kidding?? it
WAS winning the nobel prize and you smiled and grinned till your jaws
ached

When you sat in recess with four close friends and giggled and *giggle
giggle* 'dekh dekh uski ek ribbon choti hai, ek ribbon badi hai' 'pata
hai usko sirf 16 out of 20 mila test mein' qualified as high quality,
most sought after gossip

When you thought getting up in the middle of class and raising issues
like "Miss, she is take outing my pencil" or "Miss she is put outing
the fan" qualified as speaking oxford certified english

When you had not more than 5-6 dresses besides your school uniform and
you never really cared about how you looked and what you wore

When being friends meant doing "katti" to each other at least 20 times
a day and yet talking to each other in class the very next day and you
made friends as easily as u made trouble in school, when the concept
of best friend was alien to you and every one who came to play with
you in the evening qualified as friend

When saturday meant half day in school, wearing a color dress,
attending art class and messing around with the paints

When the most exciting day of the week of Sunday because you were
allowed to get up a little late, because that was the ONE day when
around 20 kids would gather in the central park and play treasure
hunt, leaving clues, marking direction and confusing the other team
and shrieking like banshees when the treasure was found, because of
the weekly visit to the library to explore a whole world of enid
blyton, agatha christies, richard cromptons, archies, tintins,
asterix, because of the ice cream which we would have after dinner..

And then BOOM!!!

Adolescence hit you like the Hurricane Rita and with a face full of
acne, a mouth full of braces and loads of fat on your self you
suddenly developed inhibitions and a bashfulness alien to you.

Suddenly you only went to swimming classes in special "ladies timings"

Suddenly playing kabaddi and getting yourself dirty were "uncool" things to do

Suddenly the boys didnt seem that icky and you found yourself
uncomfortable in their presence and things like soiling their white
shirts by shaking yoru fountain pen and tying their shoelaces together
in the morning prayer didnt hold much charm.

Suddenly you threw away all champaks and tinkles but started reading
Nancy Drewwwww and Hardy *uvaaack* Boys and everyone who read those
were considered cool!!

Suddenly you found yourself confused troubled angry and egoistic all
at the same time

Suddenly you stopped telling your mother about that girl who pinched
you, the boy who pulled your pigtails and from a person who spoke
incessantly you became a silent quiet and morose person

Suddenly you hated your parents because they didnt let you stay out
after 9 in the night, because they worried about your dropping grades,
because they refused to buy you the 999 rupees jeans saying it was
atrocious waste of money since you d outgrow it in just 6 months

Suddenly you cried for silly things like a good friend not talking to
you for 4 hours.

Suddenly your wardrobe (errrr the one shelf in the cuoboard which was
generously given to you) seemed highly malnourished and you thought
your sister had more clothes than you did

Suddenly you started being choosy about your friends not hanging
around with everyone but a select few

Suddenly, RIGHT in front of your blackhead prone nose life just
changed without asking for your persmission without wondering if you
would be able to handle it.

It was an unwelcome change and you tried hard to come to terms with
it. As soon as you did and were able to handle it you were sent to
college!!

Whoooosh!!!
College!! Freedom!! Hostel!! Friends!! Fun!!
It opened a pandora's box of opportunities.
But that deserves a separate post in itself me thinks!! :)