Passing by School Again!

School days, school days,
Stupid goofy fool days,
Science, History and Arithmetic,
Each one selected to make you sick.

- Archie’s Comics

Schooling is one of the longest periods in our lives, isn’t it? We start as toddlers, nursery babies. After mother’s milk, the next weaning is from our mother’s pallu. I have attended ten schools in my student life (I didn’t fail or anything okay, my Dad had a transferable job). I definitely learned a lot!

My son cries every day while going to school. The sight of his uniform starts the whole process, he’ll dilly dally while brushing his teeth, he’ll refuse to take his bath, he’ll mope in the taxi. And he’ll bawl when I say, ‘bye.’ And though I am an otherwise impatient mother, I kind of understand his grief. Because, boy, did I hate school? I can never relate to people who reminisce about their school days and sigh, “Those were the days, wish we could go back.” I am more like, “Am I glad those days are over!” My reasons were totally different though from my son’s. My son only hates being away from me. Within five minutes of my departure, his teacher tells me, he gets distracted, and transforms into an active class clown. He loves people, attention and learning. I didn’t like any. I was a shy person. And school was full of people, instructions and group activities. I didn’t like any.

There are so many stories of how we start going to school. I was okay for the first week. Then some kid bit me and I would cry till I puked every day. One of my cousins wrapped himself around my Uncle’s leg till he dragged himself along dramatically. And an acquaintance revealed that she used to cry till fourth standard, because she was under the notion that her mother roamed around town in her absence. But slowly we accept the harshness of being shunned away and soon start enjoying ourselves.

As we climb up to Primary school, we learn a new fear with many names – marks, pass, fail, rank, the list hasn’t ended. We also learn to make new friends, as well as fight with them, and then make up the next day. Personalities start forming, the leader, the curious one, the obedient one, the rebel, the bully. Name calling at the level of donkey and monkey become acceptable while the other adult ones are still a mystery. Words like ‘katti,’ ‘abba,’ ‘God promise,’ become part of our vocabulary. We learn a little bit of politics too, as Phoebe says about the second grade in Friends, “It’s so much better than first grade when you don’t know what’s going on and definitely better than third grade. You know with all the politics and mind games.”

The rawness and innocence of Primary school ends when we enter high school. From the most senior, we become the most junior once more. Not that we mind. I remember my high school was a whole other building across the road from our Primary school. We were so proud to be there!

In Primary school, apart from some precocious little princesses, girls and boys don’t really see themselves as different from each other. At least, I didn’t. But enter high school and hormones start raging. Body changes make us either shy or flirtatious. Personalities become even more distinct. We want to look pretty/handsome, so we choose hairstyles, clothes, school bags. Boys have a voice change and they become tall overnight. I remember so many boys who were shorter than me in eighth standard. One summer vacation later they were towering over me. With each class, girls’ skirts keep getting shorter and boys aren’t able to ignore this (not that they are trying). And this is only the beginning!

School after ninth standard is almost like a multiplex theatre. Some thirty movies are running at the same time. A loves B, but B loves C and C is confused between D and E. In our school, there was a broken classroom on the roof of our school which was named ‘Hall of fame,’ because whatever was left of the walls there were covered with various combinations of names and alphabets. To find out who was whose ‘fanto’ we just had to look for new scribbling. Ali Haider’s ‘A + R’ from his song, “Purani jeans aur guitar,” still reminds me of that wall.

For some, school ends with matriculation and a new, exciting journey begins in college. But others still have two more years. These final years are again a different stage. You get to choose your subjects, you get more respect from your teachers, and of course the entire school is in awe of you. I had my intermediate in school itself, and I think my last two years in school were actually my best. I made fast friends, whom I am still in touch with. I got to do away with maths forever. And I remember a lot of cute junior girls admiring me just for my sheer seniorness!

The day I left school was one of the best days of my life. Unfortunately, all my friends now loved their schools. They were all the Head boy- Head girl type, topping their class and what not. I don’t know how I came to fall into such company! I used to stay away from them in school! You let me know how your school was? Let me know if there is anyone out there who hated school too. I would love to have company while abusing my school life.