SCHOOL

That day when my college left early & I got down at my station there wasn't a rickshaw in sight. Hence I decided to walk a bit. The road was known & familiar to me. It had to be! It was the same road I had walked down for nearly 10 years. Mostly with friends & sometimes alone. It was the road that led to my school.


It was 1 o'clock; the time when the secondary school classes ended. The kids piled onto the roads some crossing the roads without watching & earning glares & stares of angry rickshaw drivers, some twirling their umbrellas & sprinkling rain water on everyone nearby & yet some others who didn't bother covering themselves from the rain. The were getting wet in the rains to their hearts content without worrying about what mother would say when they got home, how would the uniforms dry for school tomorrow? They were doing what most of us forget once we leave school. They were living in the moment & enjoying it to the fullest.


I finally hopped into an already over - crowded bus. There were kids from my school in here too. Some were complaining about bags that were too heavy, others about excessive home works & a few were already unpacking their tiffin boxes. Through the window I watched by school building pass by. The primary school was in progress.


I identified my friends & myself in each kid I saw that day. We had once asked our teacher when we were in primary school as to who would sit on the benches we sat on daily after we left school? The teacher had replied you all would be leaving a part of yourself behind & taking with you something from here. I remember these words of her as if they had been spoken just yesterday though their significance I understand today as I watch my school fade in the periphery of my vision as the bus passes by at full speed & I am once again lost in a crowd.

[Image = google search]