Back to school

This photograph was taken on March 7, 1996, at  Sri Vani Girls High School in Rajajinagar.

Student life is indeed a golden life. Those were the days of endless talks with classmates, sneaking food into the classrooms, fighting for that half mark, sharing each other's meals, completing our homework in free periods and so on.

We were made to practice copywriting at the high school level to improve our handwriting. Various clubs like the Kannada Sangha, literary and science clubs gave us an opportunity to bring our skills. These activities have helped many of us in the competitive world outside school. We took part and won many interschool competitions too.

Annual trips and one day excursions were something that we looked forward to every year. We covered different places each year where we understood the rich heritage of our country and the legacy left behind for posterity.

The trips gave us a chance to indulge in some harmless pranks on each other. I still remember how we used to draw moustaches or big eyebrows with toothpaste or lipstick and removed the air from the pillows.

At the end, our teachers used to make us write essays on how we enjoyed the trip and read it to those who could not join us.

Sports day, annual day and felicitation days were special days where we could display our talents by taking part in various cultural activities like singing and dancing. The days leading up to such events were quite stressful due to the planning of the programmes, the selection of students and practising of cultural activities.

These special occasions also called for the school bands sets. We could meet our seniors who won awards and be inspired by their success.

Active involvement by the school leaders in organising these events was a major training ground for multi tasking. I can proudly say that I learnt my first organising and multi-tasking skills here.

Though the fear of tests and examinations lingered in our minds, the teachers helped us to face them confidently. Their constant tips and our hard work and determination made us achieve a grand success in the then SSLC public examination. The day came when we all wore our traditional sarees to bid farewell to the school, teachers and to each other as we stepped into a future unknown world. Though it was a tearful day little did we know that we would gather again for a historical school student reunion that was held on February 17 this year. It was a celebration which brought together students from the 1969 - 2008 batches.

It was a time to show our gratitude to our teachers, who moulded us into the present successful citizens.

A special word of gratitude has to be mentioned to the committee members and the volunteers for their efforts to make this event a grand success.

The highlight of the event was the felicitation of all the staff and management with a shawl, flowers and a fruit basket as a small token of appreciation.

The teachers had tears of joy while they shared their experiences. It rekindled our memories as students recalled the songs, the specific words of advice or even the poems/shlokas taught by these amazing personalities.

The different roles of wives, mothers, daughters and professionals depict the values and the tradition of love, compassion and discipline that we learnt from our beloved teachers.

(The author can be contacted at  [e-mail])