My School #NotSoGrownUpEssay

“Mom, I don’t want to go to this school. Please change my school. I don’t have good friends here.” I remember telling my mom, with tears in my eyes. We were in a local train compartment, coming back from somewhere, on a Sunday evening. I was in 9th grade.

I don’t remember what Mom replied. Maybe she didn’t say anything significant. She just kept asking me some questions, like “Which school do you want to go?” “And what about that friend you had?”

But were my school days so bad? Not really. 🙂

My school’s name is “New English School”. It is a very common school name in India. In fact, there are 3 schools in my own locality alone with similar names. Every time someone would ask me my school name, I had to explain to them which of the 3 schools was my actual school. Our school building is L shaped with 3 floors. It has a small, rectangular ground with a small space for a playground.

In contrast to how I opened this essay, my school days were exceptionally beautiful. I had wonderful friends around who enjoyed chit chatting and giggling as much as I did. In India, we enrol kids in school at the age of 5, in Kindergarten. For 2 years we attend Junior Kg and Senior Kg. Then we have 10 standards for next 10 years. First 4 standards belong to the primary school. Next 6 years, we are in secondary school. In our school, we also had divisions in each standard. There used to be divisions A, B, C, D, and E. Around 50 students in each class.

I don’t remember much about my Kindergarten days except that in Sr Kg, I was moved to A division from B division. For the entire year of Sr Kg, I sat next to Nishita. She is my first school friend! Luckily, we are still friends! I also remember 2 kids sitting in front of us. But they weren’t our friends yet. So my day in Sr Kg consisted of only me and Nishita 😀 I don’t even know who all were in the rest of my class.

As I moved to a new standard, each year, my circle of friends began to grow. So now people sitting in front of me, on the bench behind me, then in the side row, etc also became my friends. And before I could know, my entire class was filled with my friends. Although I had my favourites, we had to sit where the teacher would allow us to sit. And somehow, I got along with all my neighbours. So there were always chatters and giggles.

Nishita and I would meet anyway every week during the physical training period. Because we were made to stand height-wise and we both were the tallest girls in the class 🙂 It was fun to stand in last! Nobody noticed you much 😛

Unknowingly, the school had become the most important part of my life. I would think about the jokes happened in school even after coming home and laugh at them for a long time. I would recite them to everyone at home if I was caught laughing on my own. Someday in school, I would laugh so hard, that my cheeks would pain. Now I think, I laughed at every single thing! I am so lucky to have made such friends who made me laugh so hard and didn’t think I am stupid 😀 We would also do some mischiefs but luckily the teachers never took it very seriously.

I have myself done a lot of mischiefs, even some bad ones. But I am going to tell you one I am proud of 😛 As I mentioned previously, there is a small playground for Kindergarten kids. It is always locked except when it would be open for Kg kids. When I was in 4th standard, I had 3 crazy friends. (They were boys.) After school, they would jump on the fence of the playground, get inside and play on the swings and other toys. I couldn’t do it because girls wear pinafore to school(you know what I mean?). I envied them. But then there was Thursday when we had a different uniform. And I began to join them every Thursday. We played our fullest till the watchman uncle would come and drive us away. We would jump like monkeys when he would come. But he wasn’t scary, he used to laugh at us. Actually, that was the most adventurous part. I am glad I did that!!

“If you don’t do anything stupid when you’re young, you won’t remember something funny when you’re old.”

We also had some wonderful teachers. But I think I can never talk about my school without mentioning my favourite Smitha teacher. She is actually a very popular teacher among all students. But I like to think that I was her favourite student 🙂 I know this is my blog and I can write anything, but this is not anything. I am not glorifying myself but I really think we share a very unique bond. Like Lindsay Lohan and Tina Frey in Means Girls. Actually even stronger than that. She is the one who pushed me to my limits, was a good friend when I was lonely, helped me study well and also helped me to stay grounded.

So if everything was so good, you may wonder, why was I crying and why I wanted to change my school?

It was after my 7th grade, that our classes were shuffled. We were divided based on our academic scores. And that was also the time when we entered our teens. My whole life changed. My friends were in different class. Girls and boys weren’t on talking terms anymore. If you talk to a boy it means you will be teased by his name. If you do something unusual, then you are trying to seek attention. All of a sudden there was a lot of competition to get good marks. There was nobody around who actually knew me and who will not judge me. At least I thought so.

A large group of our new class went to same tuitions. I didn’t. I used to feel left out. I even prompted my mom to let me join those classes but she denied it.

Among all this drama, I made some new friends, I lost some old friends. I was mean to some people while some were mean to me.

Today, none of my school friends are my close/best friends. There is not a single mate, with whom I talk on a daily basis or I know what is going on in his or her life at the moment. None of them knows about me either. I wish they had never changed our class. Just shuffle us for 1 lecture or so. 😦 I lost contact with my old friends and new friends were never my true friends I guess. Perhaps, everyone in the class felt the same.

Thanks to the social networks we have nowadays, at least we will remember each others name.

If you have realized one thing, I have not mentioned ‘study’ anywhere so far. Because I believe education is just a by-product of going to school. It is not the main purpose of school. Even our teachers will agree that their main aim is to prepare us for life and not just a particular job or role.

“Sometimes, it’s better to bunk a class and enjoy with friends, because now, when I look back, marks never make me laugh, but memories do.”

I had both, good and bad experiences in school. And I have both good and bad memories. The good ones make me laugh, always.The bad ones help me understand others better.

I really hope that every kid gets a chance to go to school. Not just to learn but to be a child, to enjoy the most innocent phase of like with numerous other kids, to have something to cherish for their lifetime.