End of an Era ….. well, so to say

Today, a 15 year long association ended as swiftly as it had begun. Today was the last day of my entire schooling life. End of something I had been doing 15 out of the 18 years I had lived on the earth. It has made me what I am and holds the key to what I might become.


I look back in amazement, awe and delight at how eventful these 15 years had been. And I also look back in despair sometimes thinking about the way it would have been much better had I been a bit more alert and willing to work that extra bit.


My school days were spent in three different schools that came my way just when I needed a pleasant change of scenery and when a certain block of education had ended and I needed to move on to the next higher level.

For example, my pre nursery and all of primary school years (i.e. till class 5th) were spent in Munger Notre Dame and the entire high school experience saw me in Notre Dame Patna ( classes – 6 to 10). Which was a school much bigger, better and more competitive than the previous one. Then came the time for the drastic change and life in plus two ( 11th and 12th) were spent in Don Bosco Patna where I could live my own way and let it lose, where I could be absent when I wanted to.


Truly speaking, these years were spent in self discovery as well as exploration of man’s intentions and nature. Through the various people I met in these three different schools, I developed a very good understanding of how to deal with diverse group of people and remain diplomatic as for the general good.
Good amount of time was also spent in trying my luck at anything and everything and hence participating in almost every contest that came to the school. This was the real good thing about school. I always had the opportunity to keep testing myself and know where I actually stand.



And from now on … no one’s gonna ask me which class I am in and would no longer get the pride in saying that im in a higher class than they had assumed me to be. No more years coming after years by default and no more assessing myself and maturity on the number of class I was in. A bigger number like 9 or 10 meant I was bigger and must act more mature.



19th December – the official last school class of my life.


I kept up my tradition of arriving in class right in the middle of the first period. I do regret it a lot because I had intended to come by first trip and spend some quality time with my friend Nimisha in the morning. But as they say, once a later always a later 


No teacher dared entering the 12th std. class on its last day in school. The one’s who did, well, they did enjoy too. Our bubble of joy, that is, the big yellow balloon that someone had blown and sent out on a round trip of the class, kept being tossed about between us and occasionally by the teacher. We also wrote our feelings on it anonymously and left it to strike at someone’s head so that that person may read it and put down his/her feelings too.

Classes and break got merged into each other and we had our mouths filled with eatables almost throughout the day. Anyone would come up and ask us to open our mouths and pop up some sweet delight into it. We all welcomed each other with open mouths !

Then there was this vigorous slam book filling activity going around. Even if the two concerned had never looked at each other, let alone talk to each other, they wrote beautiful things about them in the book. Well, some used it as an opportunity to say what they had not had the chance of in the two years together and say exactly what they felt about the other person.


Nostalgia will certainly grip us hard once a significant number of days elapse, as for today, there is the ultimate joy of freedom from attendances and school bags. A long holiday….. a holiday from school that will never end. …..   !!









The entrance ....... (Meru)




 Trinity Returns - (Nimisha)





Our corner of the class



                                                        
       
                               
                 The bubble of Joy - this was the balloon that did the rounds in class with                                                               everyone putting down their feelings on it...






Jaane kya hoga aage ......... Nimisha looking towards the future...





.....kal hum kahan tum kahan .... (Meru kissing Ragini and Nimisha)





Kabhi khushi kabhi gham .... (Nimisha n Meru, laughing n crying)





                                         
My desk in the last period - slam books, pens, specs (Khushboo's), handkercheif .....

Did I forget about the trip? naaaaaah

It was better than Ibiza!!





Well, better call it the Confessions Tour. It was that a game of truth and dare in the bus on the return journey spilled all the beans about who likes whom and all that had been going on since the past two years. This was the perfect setting to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth coz we all knew that we would never get such an assembly again. It was pretty interesting. And damn amazing how every news from every corner was out to everyone! We thought only we knew some things, well, we were wholly wrong.



From how we asked the lights to be turned off in the bus and were downright refused….to how we celebrated when they were actually turned off after some time. And then again to our disappointment, turned on ….and how we then covered ‘em up with bags and bottles so that it looked even better for only a faint candle type shimmer remained. It was something to remember.





Now something about the place to which we went – It was a dream destination for me. Buddhist shrines and stupas and the sanctity of the place…. I always wanted to be in some place like this…and had we stayed any longer, I would have changed my mind about returning home. Plus the feeling while standing on the remains of Nalanda University…… it can only be felt. I could imagine how it must have been being there and studying there among those colossal structures and assembly platforms. It would foster the development of the entire spirit and not just of the mind. Such a contrast to today’s education, isn’t it ?



Here are some pics—
                                    


   
                                              
               







And we have a whole good collection of pics plus a video of the trip done by Ragini.

So ..now …just like any Lonely Planet host that visits India, Im gonna say …”I’ll definitely be back”….!

Music please ……


 

Science aur Commerce ki khaandani ladaai

This is a tradition, an integral part of life in +2 at great DBA.



Every year, students from different backgrounds, schools and of different shpes and sizes enter the campus of DBA as fresh plus two students. They have very little idea about the life here but by the time they are mid way planning to fail in the finals, this tradition sweeps over them. The Science and Commerce sections are literally, virtually and pathetically at war.

                                  
 
This rivalry never fails to enter the compound every year. I dont know how it starts but the point is that it does. And this year too, very much in keeping with the tradition, we are at warring fronts. But this year has a slight change. You know, feminism is picking up everywhere, so unlike the guys havin a fight, this year its the girls, ready to blow up each other's self esteem (ie, if theres much left of the commerce section).

                                   

Today was the finals of the morale decreasing DBA Football Cup. Our team finally created history by winning its first match to score the bronze. And how did they reach this stage without even winning a single match? Well, the school that was to play backed out at the last moment.



So, we were in the feild.....enjoying the match. Yeah, great fun. And....unfortunately for them, the commerce group was sitting beside us. Well, we had heard of a gr8 story and Sansani creating kaand of their class so we had to make them realise their fault. We began shouting their wrongdoings in the most concealed but insinuative manner.

Now, any human soul would have never understood what we were talkin about unless they had first hand info of the event. So the fact that they reacted frustratingly showed that they were guilty. See how intelligent we are. :P


They started exhibitting their humming bird traits by humming gaalis in pure hindi, english and hinglish. Well, we reacted with " aaaen ! ka boli? " ..."nahi bujha raha hai" ..."kani jor se bolo, sunaai nahi de raha hai" ! ......frustrating them even more and burning all of their energy. Well, treat them the way they are, thats our motto.

Just 20 more days remaining of school and we aren't hasitant in taking all sorts of pungas we should have taken right in the beginning of the session. But we have had to do it some or the other time, and it was today.



Then we vented our long developed rage against the 11thers in their face. Their hiding behind doors and locking the classrooms from inside are some of the better things they do. So we warned the 'outstanding' girls of their class to mend their ways.

Now the nexrt stop is involving the teachers. If we dont do it, they will do it. So its better we do it and be done with it.



Ab aaega maza. I personally dont think any kind of anger in an institution does good. Everyone is a stranger here. We have met by chance and will never meet again so we must not confront anyone in a way that would make it difficult for us to confront them five years down the line in a different setting. But still, i too told the juniors that their ways aren't going unnoticed as they think they are.

So now......after this much ado about nothing, diplomacy will be best to use.



Ready?.................. Fight!            

 

Yeah! ...we're going to Ibiza...!

We all made sure that we reached class today coz of the reminder. And were obviously planning strategies to face the music. To our horror....everyone except the one who was not supposed to be absent, the actual 'culprit', had arrived. Now this is for the record...goes down to the DBA hall of fame ....everyone was present today (except for one)!!!!.....and what was the occasion? ....to be scolded. Yes, we were all present coz we were expecting to get punished and nicely shaken by the class teacher n the principal. Had it been something like a celebration....half of the class would stay home. This shows what we are made of!

Ok...so...after 45minutes of strategy planning and mental preparation....( yaar, you wont have a thing, just blame it on Camp2 ...seems like none of them will turn up today :p, we'd say we were all responsible for this, its the second last month for us in school ! ..relax ....etc etc. ).....but seriously everyone was damn scared.

The assembly over, we went to the class, all of Camp2 had indeed turned up, our class teacher's period, takes the attendance and starts teaching KingRichard II.......we were counting our stars by then.....and then the unthinkable happened ......sir JP stopped and said ....."I wont go any further today because i have something important to tell you.." .............ahemmmm.....all eyes to the floor.

And then it began......he uttered those words that are still resounding in our ears .....he said ...

" You wanted to go on a picnic ...?"

All eyes lit up at once....(that usually happens on the mention of the word 'picnic' in our class... in whatever context) .....WT...!!! u kidding? picnic ??? just out of the blues ? ....this was the last thing we were expecting to hear. Infact, it had long been pushed out of the list of things we would ever expect. And there it went .....happily down our throats.....n there was just laughing, singing, planning, dreaming .....from then on.
Everyone behaved as if they had never seen the light of the day before and it was their first time to step into the world of aliens. But it's true ......everyone was amazed...coz we usually arent that lucky as a class. :D

And wats more.....if we dont go by this Saturday, the trip would most probably be cancelled...coz we dont have much time to delay it. We'd be in school till Dec. 20..thats all......so all the fingers and toes are crossed
By the way....wats the destination? ...well, not ibiza this time. Though we're going to the most boring and obvious location for picnic of schools and colleges in Patna ...we aint disappointed....we dont need no place to make us happy .....khoob jamega rang jab mil baithenge 12 yaar .....:D....we just need each other for havin a great time.

We're goin to Rajgir, on a one day trip. Mom went to the same place 20 years ago from college, so let me expereince our culture too. Its a place almost everyone has been to. So..why not ?


 

Children's Day at school

                                        
"HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY, STUDENTS", said our 'born bangali', short n sweet physics sir and... "SAME TO U SIR!!!" ...was the reply he got.



And then my freind went up infront of the class and declared.. "SIR IS GONNA GIVE US A TREAT!!!" ..."YEAAAAAHH!!" ......and he disappeared in a fraction of a millisecond, never to be seen again ( well, he was absent even today..so..)



But this didnt deprive us of our treat :D ....we had a great one by our class teacher. The menu included chicken and veg pizzas, chocolate cake and two kinds of cold drink.



Man ! it was my last official children's day. Next year i'll be 18 and morality says that thou shalt not celebrate something meant for kids when thou art officially an adult. Well....this one had to be a memorable one for me. Though not much for the quality of the program we saw, but the fact that we still managed to like every moment of our stay there was great.



To begin with, our group assembled in class early in the morning and we had our fake champagne opening ceremony with our favorite soft drink...Thumbs up. Its not a personal favorite of any of us but a collective favorite for our group for some undisclosed reasons :p .......and we finnished half of the foodstuff we were supposed to finnish during lunch time.



Next up, the assembly. Really, the teachers must have just had the idea about how they see the assembly on a children's day taking place and never thought of practicing to see how it would actually turn up. Man! ...you know ....well, I shouldnt elaborate much but it was the kind when while singing a common song such as "I have a dream" ....someone knows when the line "I beleeeeeive....in angels" is supposed to be stretched and the rest of the troup is blissfully unaware of it.



Then there was the same sing-song programs designed for us. And bingo!! we somehow knew exactly which teachers would sing again this year! What a surprise.



And then there was this "cartoon dance" ......man! father! son! holy ghost! ......this was beyond the term pathetic. I dont really feel like ridiculing the efforts put by our teachers .....but this had to be seen to be beleived. I will have nightmares about this till my next life. And if, God forbid, i ever lose my memory, this will be the first thing i will remember while regaining it.

It had teachers dressed lousily in giant cloth faces with unproportionate eyes and mouth cello-taped on them and a stick by their waste to fake the hands. They moved and swinged by the music and the kids went "Yooooooo!!! hoooo!! wow!! " .....these kids are so encouraging....i could go and sing raag Meghmalhaar and come down with red roses in this kinda audience!


Then there was also supposed to be a football match between the teachers and Students11. The match ended up in the crowd desparately making their way to the exit gate from the middle of the feild while the game was still on. How much sun can the kids tolerate afterall??



Theres another aspect of the day that i would elaborate later if i feel like. It was about us minding the huge sea of kids yet again this year. Last year our seniors relaxed coz they were seniors. This year our juniours relaxed coz they are juniours. Its always our batch in the middle! well.........but its not that we are complaining...we loved that. Where else do kids double your height ask you permission for going to the loo? hahahaha .....the day was fun.



But in the end ....our class teacher gave us something to forget the excess fun. He asked us all (specially girls) to be present tomorrow coz he wasnt really pleased at seeing the remains of our champagne opening ceremony at the back of the class. We hadnt left so much evidence though, just some large splashes and the bottle on top of that. thats all !



 

Blaze of Glory....

Hi


This is one of my most favorite songs. i really liked it the first time i heard it on tv around 10 years back and quickly recorded it on my bad quality walkman and then listened that version till i saw it again on tv. And it's unbeleivable that it is still being shown on a few channels. Mabye this song will never be too old. Maybe somebody like me will listen and fall in love with it again.



Now i have a really good quality mp3 and recently found out all the lyrics....it's great.
                                                                                             
                                                                      
                                                                                         
Here it goes .....                                                                                   

zara baat ki gehraayi ko samajhiye .....



Arz kiya hai ...                                                                                

Wake up in the morning                                                 

And I raise my weary head

I got an old coat for a pillow

And the earth was last night's bed                                            

I dont know where Im going

Only God knows where I've been                             

Im a devil on the run

A six gun lover

A candle in the wind....yeah!                                       
                                                                                 
                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                       
When you're brought into this world

They say you're born in sin

Well at least they gave me something

I didnt have to steal or have to win



Well they tell me that Im wanted

Yeah Im a wanted man

Im colt in your stable

Im what Cain was to Abel                                              

Mister catch me if you can                                            
                                                                                



Im going down in a blaze of glory

Take me now but know the truth

Im going down in a blaze of glory

Lord I never drew first

But I drew first blood

Im no one's son

Call me young gun



You ask about my consience

And I offer you my soul

You ask if I'll grow to be a wise man

Well I ask if I'll grow old



You ask me if I known love

And what its like to sing songs in the rain

Well I've seen love come

And I've seen it shot down

I've seen it die in vain



Shot down in a blaze of glory

Take me now but know the truth

cause Im going down in a blaze of glory

Lord I never drew first

But I drew first blood

Im the devils son

Call me young gun



Each night I go to bed

I pray the lord my soul to keep

No I aint looking for forgiveness

But before Im six foot deep



Lord, i got to ask a favor

And I hope you'll understand

cause I've lived life to the fullest

Let the boy die like a man                  

                                                                           

Staring down the bullet

Let me mke my final stand......

Shot down in a blaze of glory

Take me now but know the truth

Im going out in a blaze of glory

Lord I never drew first

But I drew first blood

And Im no ones son

Call me young gun

Im a young gun

 

One deadline, three projects and some uncertainity..

Whew!! ..... so back to school excitement once again. After the much awaited diwali hols. I still wish it lasted longer ....

So tomorrow (infact today, its 1:10am already) .....is the deadline given to us for submitting the environmental science projects. Not one, but three of them. And i, just like every other year, have no serious plans of submitting it lately. (Man! with such kind of daredevil attitude in evading deadlines and threatenings so easily, i should have had a dozen shiny Red n White bravery award medals in my possession.)

Actually, i wanted to have a glimpse of what the others are cooking up so that i can make something miles ahead of them in quality. i really need to see someone else's work before setting the standards for myself. Now this is no self degrading and inferiority complex issue, just saves me some energy coz i dont need to be too good when beeing ok would also do. 
Even though i have clear intentions and a fairly good idea about the status of my project and its possibility of making it to school tomorrow, i do make it a point to confirm with any or some of my good friends about their progress. Well, even if it actually doesnt help either of us when marks are deducted for being late, it sure gives the psychological advantage of not feeling like the
ugly duckling of the class. So i did confirm with one of my friends and just lazed out on knowing that she shared the same idea about submitting it.

But then, this hated-by-all but the i-think-im-the-smartest guy of the class comes online and declares that he pleaded the teacher to extend the date (even though he had already completed all three). Now the cruel intentions behind it were that "see, I did it despite having no chance, therefore im so responsible" image he wants to portray of himself and the other was to remind the teacher of the date so that all the rest of us who hung merely by the mercy of the teacher's poor memory had no chance. Talk about villains.

So, here i am......executing my new plan about keeping awake till it's time to get ready just to avoid the trouble of being late. I am really frustrated and have given fourth degree tortures to myself by constantly missing school only coz of not being able to wake up! Even if im just 30 minutes ahead of the time i was supposed to wake up, the chances are grim. And i figured out that there's simply no way to wake myself up once i get into the Kumbh Karan mode. So....simply do away with the fuss. Simply stop sleeping.

I have to keep awake not only till 5:30 when its time to start getting ready but 7 hours after that too. God.....i need you on this one. In the dress rehersals i had been undertaking for my master plan, i did manage to keep awake nicely till 6:30 but then dozed off till 11. And that was my closest to making the plan work. So.....right now...im gonna test the limits of human endurance. The war has been waged gentlemen ! Just keep ur 20 fingers crossed.

 

Politically correct statements

Ok.....so just like any other reputed journalist of the city, i had to give my views regarding what had happened in my ex-school lately ;)Hehehehehaha. So I was asked to give the official statement on behalf of the organisation im associated with.

Well, actually you know what..? they just make my grey cells exercise a bit too much and when i finally come up with something after a brainstorming session at 12 in the night and mail it....it gets read and thats that. It doesnt really make it to the leading dailies of the nation...heck ! not even of the city. So why did I spend so much time and effort on it ...? Maybe just for getting into the habit of putting forward my views on every current topic in town, as if they mattered. :D Good enough reason for it.


So, I had written that statement just the day after the incidence took place and sent it but the reason im posting it now is that i never got any feedback for it till day before yesterday. Ok Ok...i didnt ask, i admit. But anyways ...here it goes.

After reading my statement, I was told by the organisation's head that im becoming a politician. :D (refering to my diplomatic approach)....well, does anyone know about my future plans ? Joining politics is my ultimate aim in life. I'd be really proud of myself after i'd be through with everything you are supposed to do in your life and finally make a mark in the political world. Seriously, it's the only way of doing something for the nation and my dear state.

Here's what i wrote ( though i wanted to hit it straight out at both the school and the student, i spared them both and came up with a third point.)

The recent national news about a student carrying a mobile phone to school despite it being "strictly prohibited" and getting expelled for it raised quite a few eyebrows, for, not only did she get expelled but also received a character certificate that would not land her into any other school from now on.
We can analyse the situation in the following manner :-


The attitude that the present generation of children have is known to everyone. They have become complacent regarding rules. That "Rules are meant to be broken" has become their favorite funda. Warnings and threatenings have failed innumerable times infront of these audacious kids already, so it's not the recourse that any institution can adopt now for bringing about effective change. So how else can you tame a wild horse? You dont spare it.

Although it may appear so, but the act here was not directed against one particular student. Infact, it was just a message to all other students to beware of their actions and comply unquestioningly to the rules that have been laid down. Afterall, if someone simply keeps repeating the same warnings again and again, without any actual execution, how much weight would the warning carry after some time? It wouldn't take these kids more than a few minutes to draw the obvious conclusion that "nothing really happens here" and "who's afraid of warnings afterall? ". So it was high time to show them that real things do happen here and that real life is not as easy as they thought it to be.

It is accepted that the schools need to enforce their rules, but in a certain limit. No rule is bigger than a student's life. Afterall, school is a place meant only for learning. It's here that you learn the lessons of your text book as well as the lessons of your life. Jeopardising any pupil's future is not what the school has any right for, specially when the child is facing special circumstances and is not expecting a brouhaha for taking such a small step. Who willingly invites trouble for themselves? Absolutely no one.
Every child reminisces his/her school life with warmth and sweet memories. But if slaughtered by memories of bitter experiences such as these, school life doesnt really remain something to feel happy about.


Where have all the human feelings gone? Why have the schools not been able to imbibe self control and willpower among the students that prevents them from taking steps that are not acceptable to the institution? Why does somebody have to go against the law ? What was the method adopted by the institution to make students realise the exact extent of their punishable act, that they still have not understood it ?


And hence we can contemplate on the following point : What is that descipline that merely hangs by the edge of a sword? Descipline is something that should willingly be embraced by all.

If students don't realise it on their own, the schools have somewhere failed in their purpose.