"We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
shall be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."(T.S. Eliot)
Those words rang through my mind again and again on Saturday afternoon as we sat in
the much changed shed in an all too familiar school. The excitement was
palpable, adrenalin ran high. All those evenings of practice, all the meticulous
planning and frantic activity were finally coming to fruition.
I
must admit that I was a late entrant. Actual planning, meeting the teachers for
permission to hold an event in school...all this began way back in December last year. I was, I must admit, aloof,
preferring to be a quiet spectator. Until sometime in July/August this year
Archana asked me to attend one of the meetings as she was busy. That's when it
all began for me and I was dragged into the proceedings, a sham organiser! Oh
the girls had carefully planned everything down to the smallest details. Right
from the invitation card to the gifts for the teachers to the design of the
logo to the nitty-gritties of each meal that was served to us, there was a
compact and dedicated group who had been handling everything.
I
just barged in and bossed around. As usual.
Finally
the week-end arrived. And brought with it hordes of friends and well-wishers and teachers who still remembered us. Friends who came from near and far. Friends we have not seen in 25 years. Friends we took for granted. Friends who had slipped into the recesses of our minds. Friends whose faces were familiar but the name evaded us!!!!! It was one happy kaleidoscope of fond memories and reliving the olden days!
The weekend passed by in a flash. Our FB timelines and WhatsApp inboxes
are now over-flowing with pictures. And the official photographs haven't been handed
in yet! We are all eagerly waiting for the footage of our show at school and the
photographs taken at Conclave and at the Picnic....
Yes,
the big 25th reunion is over. The Class of '89 that emerged with a thunderous
roar has gone back into their various camouflages...
All of a sudden, this morning, I
felt job-less. There were no frantic calls to make, no last minute instructions...nothing.
Only a bunch of girls posting photos everywhere.
It's
kinda lonely like this.
So I
just wanted to say that that day, in
school, standing at the mike, I looked around me and was overwhelmed by the
sight. Our teachers, our batch-mates...it made me realise how fortunate we all
are and have been to have had this experience. And even our friends who could
not make it for the occasion.. were there too, crowding my mind, my thoughts. It
was like being in a time capsule; the shed of today changed into the old shed
of our youth: teeming with the hot-lunch girls.... some of us trying to get a
throw-ball game going ...some of us just stopping by, chewing on those stick-jaws or chilly chips!
Yes, it was like knowing the place for the first time. And no matter where our travels take us, we are indeed fortunate if we can return to school again and again at will and be with our friends again.... even if it's only in our minds.
Take a bow, ladies, you're beautiful!
P.s. If you want to read the poem we read out in school that day, here's the link: http://www.versedthoughts.blogspot.in/2014/12/schooldays.html
And the video? Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuG20IF-IPk&feature=youtu.be
Take a bow, ladies, you're beautiful!
P.s. If you want to read the poem we read out in school that day, here's the link: http://www.versedthoughts.blogspot.in/2014/12/schooldays.html
And the video? Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuG20IF-IPk&feature=youtu.be
