School days are everybody’s first love. No many would forget their first day at school, crying at the sight of parents leaving. I’ve had an interesting 1st day at school. All my school’s sisters gave is chocolates & off I go. I did return that day with 3 stitches dangerously close to my right eye, falling off a small wall. Majority of my schooling was at Holy Cross School where I studies from 1st grade until higher secondary. 12 years in a school transforms into lots of memories. Our batch was widely regarded as the best & worst of the school’s history.
Most of my close friends are from School. Vivek tops the list with Anne, Raju & Ramya following suit not necessarily in that order. We had our share of controversies to be named the worst batch. The earliest I can remember was 4th grade when yours truly was accused of writing a love letter to my best friend in her diary. Handwriting checks proved otherwise but imagine a 4th grade love letter. We also became the only class to rebel against a Vice – Principal’s decision in boys vs. girls issue when the boys were unfairly punished. Boys stood together in a strike that lasted for 2 hours which ultimately ended in VP asking pardon for her incorrect decision.
Part of Holy Cross’ success is attributed to its teachers. My favorite was Thilak Mam. She thought Biology but she was best regarded as the best English teacher of the school. She was famous for pinching students in the ear. Murari might remember because his ear started bleeding after repeated pinching. Then there’s evergreen Mr. Munuswamy. He’s our Tamil teacher who apart from teaching well, also cracks frequent jokes & double meaning dialogues to make classes more interesting (Mayilum Illa.. Mayirum illa). And of course, very few will forget ‘Can u catch my point?’ Very few escaped from the stick of Kalaiselvi’s mam. A smart Mr. Kishore was girls’ favorite while Meenakshi mam was guys’ favorite.
Almost everyone took to extra coaching for higher secondary exams. Friends would remember me wearing an overcoat & riding a Hero Puch for the early morning math tuition. There were times when we used to lie to gather even on non tuition days at the early hours to play cricket.
Many of us experience 1st love in school. There were quite a few love stories which I’ve known of in school but will refrain from writing. Mine though was a different one. It was my friends who wrote the story, screenplay, dialogue and directed a love story between me and a girl, which was immensely popular not just with students but teaching staffs too. But then, looking back it was quite a bit of fun.
When I look back, I must admit that my school life was as great as my college days. There was enough freedom for us to socialize but seldom crossed the limits. There were enough opportunities even for an average student like me to take part in career enriching activities. Friends would remember me taking part in various GK competitions. Sadly, Holy Cross School never really scaled greater heights after we left. Still, in my world it’s the best school (4th best in the state in 2002), that thought me so many things within and outside the syllabus.
