Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Back to School

Nowadays I am hooked to Farmville and Happy Aquarium on Facebook. I was very very firm not to indulge in them and decided against not letting my mind into these games. But I got hooked!!

Its actually therapeutic to be harvesting bounties of fruits and vegetables and feeding the fishes after a stressful day. And I want to do farming now; virtual farming is all fun and no toil...yet its good.

What I actually want to talk about is not farming; but few of the excitements and joys that I miss nowadays.


Every year; going back to school was an excitement as well as sorrow. Sorrow that those long vacations are finally ending; and its good bye time to cousins. Sad that there would be no more extra sleep time and siestas but to wake up early everyday to the shrill noise of the alarm. Nervous and scared because of all the new things; new teachers, new syllabus... Excitement because of one grade higher in school; nice ranks, new class teacher, new class rooms and that; most time is one floor higher in the school building. Euphoric to go back-to-school shopping to buy new uniforms, new books, shoes, bags, crayons, color pencils, sketch pens, ribbons for the braid.......

Returning back disappointed when dad does not buy those attractive and colorful notebook labels which had animations and flowers on them; instead make did with the paper ones with absolutely no designs but just the shoe brand name; after all these labels were complimentary with those not so attractive shoes. The other pair of shoes was much more attractive and feminine!!

Happy going to school to flaunt new uniforms, new shoes and bags, neatly bound notebooks; brand new pencil boxes and pencils and erasers and sharpeners. Crying and skipping dinner when sketch pens were not bought; instead just a box of crayons or color pencils.

Jealous of seeing a better attractive bag of your class mate with cartoon characters. Momma didn't buy that bag how much ever I pleaded thought. Feeling sad that you did not possess the pencil which had erasers with them.

I always wanted to have Camilin which were attractive with pink flowers but ended up getting Nataraj pencils all the time; which had those boring red and black vertical stripes :-( I wanted Nataraj Plasto erasers but ended up with a cheaper one which would leave a black mark on the book when erased. I always wanted water proof thick brown sheets to bind the book; but it was always paper ones which wouldn't not stay for more than a month.

The excitement to study further complicated things; the excitement to write with a fountain pen; the pride that I have come a long way to be using a fountain pen and then getting promoted to ball point pen. The secret wish to become a class monitor; and when it happens the joy in bossing over others was pure exhilaration. Waiting to figure out newly joined kids and bully them if a chance comes the way.


The attention from teachers when scored nice marks, the pride when you are noticed and called out by name in a group. Pleasure when your teacher sets you as an example to others; when we are all so young enough to not even understand what an idle student is.

The silly fights due to jealousy, stamping on a neatly polished shoe, untying a neatly braided plait, wiping off the sweaty hand on a stark white shirt; propelling ink on your neighbor's book because he didn't give that extra notebook label he had; and behaving as if it was accidental.

The inter-house competitions which was taken up and was "fought" with tooth and nail. Those jumping with joys with pride when won; making fun of the losing team and those crying like the whole world is doomed when lost. Those long waits for the chief guest to arrive during sports and cultural fest; few poor kids fainting by the time the guest arrived. The punishments when PT was skipped; when missed the morning assembly. And those one day excursions; waking up at dawn; going to school on time only to find that the bus has not arrived; wait for hours but still not giving up the excitement. The drawing and craft classes when the imagination ran wild; when the dog could have wings and apples can be blue!!

As the year progresses; the brand new books lose their shine, the pages are torn, the erasers lost, the pencils broken, the shoes torn and the uniforms dirty......only...........

To wait for the next year :-)

36 comments:

  1. I am all nostalgic after reading this post..ah those days...have you ever been punished for not doing your homework? I was famous for that...the tree at the school entrance was my classroom more than the actual class, thanks to my hatred towards homework...

    n remember those drawing classes, where we had to just draw whatever we wanted to draw..n most of us used to end up making mountain, tree and birds!

    and the first day of school, you learn that your best friend is not in the same division as you, and you cry for hours, you wanna leave school at that moment only..and within 2 days, you have a new best friend!

    oh I will go on and on about this...amazing post re..you tickled all the minute details of our school days that gave us immense happiness :))

    PS: I forgot to mention about various competitions, sports etc activities, and yeah, exam and rank competition too :D

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  2. hiii!

    nice post..do u really like farmville?? i got so bored of it yaar and soo soon!
    school....hmmm.our education system sucks big time.

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  3. School expereince are always unforgetable. Me and my friends used to boss around weaker kids. We thought we had fun. Couple of weaker kids are still my friends.

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  4. Nostalgia unleashed!
    Reminiscing those school days is indeed a bitter-sweet feeling, isn't it?
    There is not a single thing in this post, which has not happened with me. You've struck the right chord in my heart. Thank you so much. I only wish you'd written a few more paragraphs. :-)

    And by the way, what's with girls and farmville on FB? I've asked this question to a few girls, but I never got the right answer. I've either been bashed up, or have been given a 'I'm-gonna-kick-your-butt' look, because they thought I was being a male chauvinistic pig, which of course I'm not. :-(
    Hope you are not like that. So I'm counting on you..... :D

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  5. Neha!!!!

    You have extended my post this time. You know, I wanted to write all these too. But saw the length of the post and quit. :-)

    Anyways, there is no end to school life reminices isnt it? They were so sweet.

    I was a very diligent student throughout; I havent been punished; but only been praised and showered with gifts at school :-S

    I know I sound too hardworking na? But actually I wasnt.

    Oh yeah!! those drawing classes where the roses could be blue in color and the house always had one door, one window....

    and those various competitions which was like life and death and if lost, we would cry as if all hell broke loose...

    Those were the times :-)

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  6. AS,

    Yeah I really like farmville. I am hapyp when the crops grow and I can harvest them :D

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  7. Hi SG,

    Yes they are.
    Anything was fun during those times

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  8. Hi Karthik,

    My pleasure. As you say, I am going to add few more lines in that post. Please check. I thought it was getting lengthier; so stopped.

    But popular demand you see...
    Your farmville question, I shall answer in a moment

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  9. Karthik,

    Added one big para in the end. Please check.
    Actually there is no dearth to write about school life. It was so much fun and so many things happened that we could go on and on... Maybe I will write part 2. :-) covering remaining things.

    Talking about farmville; I am surprised that its muse only to girls. Because as far as I have seen; its only guys who keep playing it. I just got hooked it just very recently about 15 days or so.

    So I guess its not a gender biased game :-D And if you ask me why I like it. For the simple reason that it beats the stress. Having a hard day at work with only failures and bad arguments with boss; its very nice to be harvesting your crops and planting something when you are sure you are gonna reap benefits :-)

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  10. oh yes school days were fun...i had a deal with my friends...one will do geography, one will do maths and so on...then after every lect we would copy the HW from each other's notes...see we have gained expertise in all these subjects now.

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  11. the best part about school was the dedication from teachers side.you dont get that in college.and a for apple,b for big apple,c for chinna apple,d for double apple ,e for enoru apple.itha board la yezuthunga.free

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  12. Ohh.. school days.. the more you read this the more you go in the flash back and miss those days! :-(

    schoooooooooooool i miss u!

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  13. Hi, I am a first time visitor to ur blog. Great posting, you took me back into flashback and refreshed all the golden old memories .. Thanks for that

    Great blog,still need to catch up with ur other posts :)

    Nalini

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  14. Ah, school...ever so often I go into nostalgia mode, thinking of school days, of childhood. They're the true golden years.

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  15. good post,
    school days are best days.

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  16. Your post made me realise that everything changes but , times are changed but something is same over the last 35 years, even I felt the same:), so did you:)

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  17. Hi Gayathri,

    That seems to be a clever deal. But how did you guys manage exams? :-P

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  18. soin,

    Oh yes, the dedication and more than that the patience I would say.

    Lol!! at the ABCD for apple stuff. Ellathukkum apple dhana?

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  19. Hi Abhi,

    :-) Yes, those were the golden days

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  20. Hi Nalini,

    Welcome to B Log and glad you liked the piece. Its back to memories. And please take your time to read the others :-)

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  21. sm,

    Thank you. Those were THE best days

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  22. Hi Antarman,

    You are right. Things change but memories remain forever. :-)

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  23. hi!!!
    i could relate to everything you said about the school life.. i miss those days too.. wish there was a way to go back and relive them again...
    and you are right about farmville... i love it too for the same reason...
    bye! take care...

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  24. Hi! I saw the first line of this post and I have a broad smile to your blog, and though, "Aha...another one of my tribe!" Yeah, I am a virtual farmer too and heavily addicted one!! :D
    Can't stop myself from asking, "You are on which level?" :P
    I am on 40!

    Well, well, that was a very nostalgic post...had simlilar memories of school days!! Thank you for reviving those memories!
    Cheers :)

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  25. Hi Tanmaya,

    :-) Those were the days, and yeah sigh!! But we cant go back but we could relive those memories.

    You like farmville? I am new to it. :-D

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  26. Hi shilpa,

    Welcome to B Log. :-)
    I am a new farmer; just about 15 days young!! I am on level 10. :-D

    Thanks for those comments :-)

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  27. Hi Lama,

    Yeah those were THE BEST days.....:-)

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  28. Hey Insignia, I read it again. It looks whole now with another paragraph. So when's the next part coming? :-)
    Hope you write it...

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  29. You liked it!!! good good.
    I will write it for you :-)
    In a couple of days; its releasing in a theater near you :-D

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  30. A post everyone can relate to. I loved every word you wrote.. and agree :-) I studied in 5 schools and so, I have cried buckets everytime I had to leave my friends behind.. But on hindsight, it was all fun.

    Thanks for the precious memories!

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  31. Hi lostworld,

    Thanks much. you are a true specimen; having studied 5 schools you might come across lot more things.

    Part 2 is on the way :-)

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  32. Hey nice post...was reminded og my good ol school days...I am glad that surya kannan told me about your blog:)

    Nice work insignia:)

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  33. H numerounity,

    Welcome to B Log. Did Surya tell you about it? :-) Thanks for the comments. Keep coming!

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  34. Thanks so much for the great post. I've been searching for blogs like this now for 30 minutes and i finall found one
    that's worthwhile. I'm really into video games, do you have any information on the new Call of Duty? I know this
    is off topic, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks...oh also, I have some video game writings if you want to check them
    out. Here are a few of them

    WoW Hunter Pets
    Shaman Builds
    Feral Druid PvP

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