Today is my last day of school, the school I have studied at for almost my entire life. As I walk through the sunlit halls, I feel an incredible sense of nostalgia. I see the lower graders running around happily, with no care of the future, and I reminisce about the time, which seems so long ago, when I too was carefree.
Thinking back, I never enjoyed my school days as much as I should have. I went through time as if it had an endless supply. Horsing around with friends, ineptly playing football and basketball, spending my lunch break in the library, sprinting to the canteen afterschool so as to buy a snack before they sold out, practicing my small part for the Utkarsh play, studying before an examination – these were the little things that I never considered precious. It is only in hindsight that I realise their value.
It was only in the eighth Standard that I realised that I would soon be graduating. Even then, I thought that I would have two more years to say goodbye to the school. I could not have realised how wrong I was. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students were forced to stay at home and study online for almost two years. I have to admire our teachers; even in the face of such a massive adversity, they adapted and continued to teach us. They made every effort to ensure that our online schooling was as enjoyable and educational as our physical one had been.
When school finally reopened, I wasn’t there to take part – the Tenth Standard students were studying for our Board Exams. I went back to school with my classmates for a few days. It was just like before – but I did not have the time to indulge in my memories. Now, with my exams over, I do.
I do not enjoy examinations. The Board Exams of 2022 were no exception. But even on my most frustrated days, when I felt as if I would be perpetually studying for exams that would never happen, I struggled to ignore the fact that it would be the last exam I would ever attend as a student of Arya Vidya Mandir.
Why does the idea of leaving this school scare me so much? Is it the memories I have made with this place? Is it just the comfort and certainty of school that I am reluctant to lose? Or is it the door shutting on my childhood, and the first step towards an adulthood I am not ready for?
No, I must have courage. After all, adulthood is what school was to prepare me for. This is not an end, simply the end of old times and the beginning of a new period of my life. I walk past the classes where I used to study, the library where I spent many enjoyable times, the canteen where I could always count on delicious food, the turf and grounds where I struggled to play sports. As I do, I give a silent thanks to all those I knew at school – Mrs. Kumar and Mrs. Sulakhe, and all of the teachers who have always supported me; and classmates with whom dull moments were few, but enjoyable ones many. Thank you to you all, from all my heart.
As I slowly walk out of the school gates, I turn back one last time to look up at the building of Arya Vidya Mandir. As I do, I reminisce on how lucky I have been to have gone to such a place. This is not the last time I see it, but it will be the last time I will have come as its student. It is a piece of my past I will always cherish. I turn away.
The future beckons.
will miss avm