Nostalgia

So what the nostalgia is about?? Well I was going through some very old picture collection I had, and came across the pictures from my school. Such beautiful days those were. We didn't have anything to worry about, nothing to disrupt the fun we had in the hostel, nothing to dampen our spirits (except the early morning yoga classes ..which I am thankful for now :-|).

I can still visualize our dorm room and my friends. The brightest playing plastic-ball-exam-pad cricket with the youngest kids in the hostel...The strongest busy with his paintings in another corner...And the sanest busy in his own thoughts in yet another corner...and a few others, Juniors, (who used to practically stay in our:10'th class; dorm) sitting and chatting. The shrieks and yells of the girls who used to stay in the floor below. And the puffs of smoke coming from the kitchens in a yet, another floor below.

The weekends were something we used to enjoy the most. Trying to be rebels by playing the only game yet the best, which was banned for us: Cricket, keeping a kid on the watch for us. Booing and calling out to our friends who used to wander by our windows. People trying to talk to their girlfriends away from the prying eyes of the wardens.

That was the place where I met some of my best friends to date, those friends who have always been there for me, always helped me and always encouraged me. The best part was the school itself, which taught me some of the best lessons in life. That was the place where I was a student to the best teachers ever.

But that was a long time ago. Times have changed. And like everything else, the school has changed with time. Like everything the school has also been the target of a cataclysm called development. The hostel has been closed. The number of students has been dwindling. Old teachers are leaving. The place around the school is becoming a concrete forest. That once serene, secluded, quiet and beautiful place has now vanished. I wish I can turn back the time and relive that part of my life again.