You were the basis of my kindness in this unkind world. You laid my foundation of happiness and taught me what life is. You knew where my happiness lied and what made me sad. You taught me what even mom failed at teaching. You made me meet people of different kinds, some were bold and some who never spoke. But, the one’s whom I got, were a bunch of crazy people called “Friends”.

I remember the first day of school, when I stepped in crying and you told me that it’s fun being here but you going to miss it later. You were right, I miss it now. School wasn’t about waking up early in the morning, dressing up in a hurry, missing the school bus, homework’s and boring lectures. But, a place where I first learned the meaning of life. A place that proved that strangers can mean a lot. From bunking classes to fighting over lunch, gazing at your crush to crying over a break-up, crushing over teachers to being punished in groups, first benchers versus last benchers and when every Monday morning we used to get sick and said “mummy my stomach aches”. Waking up every morning following the same routine daily, I used to say, “When will I grow up and there will be no homework to do and then I don’t have to wear the same uniform daily”. Isn’t it ironical? Today I miss the same things from which I wanted to run away back then and now all I wish is to wear that uniform once again, getting scolded again for not completing the homework, once again let me relive the moments gone.

The best part of the school life was the time anybody had their birthdays. We used to wear casuals, at least for a day no uniforms, all the teachers and students pampering you, missing classes to distribute toffees and chocolates to the teachers and the most awaited treat. Other than this, the fun I miss is when we bunked our substitutes because that teacher would start teaching and sometimes waited for that one substitute teacher who would take us to the play ground. Teachers like that were blessings. Everybody, once in school would have burst crackers in the washrooms at time of Diwali and never got caught. Can you do that now? No, you can’t. The days are gone and would never come back.

Growing up is a process we are happy of but, for a student it is something they don’t want it to happen so soon. As the classes passed and we reached the end, flashbacks started, in a second from kindergarten to being a graduate the whole journey made us cry, for this is the ending of the school life. Now, you got to bid farewell to the place which gave you a lot to remember. You only taught us how easy it was to say ‘Hello’ but never told that it will end so soon and there will be sobbing goodbyes. The most difficult thing was to say goodbye to all the memories. We came with crying faces and we left with crying faces, carrying the tears of happiness for the moments spent that can never be relived. But, I wish could. All this while, I never realized how soon time flew. It felt like yesterday and today I was standing as a graduate student holding onto the memories and looking back on how my school life was. One can never forget the time spent at school from kindergarten to getting graduated you made me face a lot of things that made me successful today.

The whole journey was miserable but you had never let me face the struggles alone. Now, whenever I look back, I miss those bunked classes, playing tic-tac-toe in between the classes, calculating FLAMES, walking in the corridors following our crushes, waiting for the bell to rang, eating lunch in between the periods but more than that I miss my friends without whom school life couldn’t have been this better and memorable . I miss my school life because school not only educated me but gave my human existence a meaning which is best defined by the people I call “FRIENDS”. Friends who had never let me fall, who supported at every step, never let me face troubles alone. We all don’t meet or talk often but yes, we miss each other every single time.

“Somewhere between yawny good mornings
And sobby goodbyes
School Happened.”

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