Do you believe your school years were the best years of your life?
Though while at school, we never ever had an inkling that the times we were witnessing and living then would be considered the best, later in life. After years at college and then in the corporate jungle, nothing comes closer to the times spent in school with friends.
Remember the silly things that we did with friends and giggling for no rhyme or reason? Having immense faith in magpies and deciding the fate of the day based on seeing them in pairs or 4s or more. Seeing a single magpie meant something sad would happen that day but making a loop with a thumb and index finger and getting it opened by a friend would mean the sorrow would fly away.
Eating up lunch in between the periods, before the next teacher came in for the class. Sometimes, gobbling up the food hurriedly on seeing the teacher. And then during recess, rushing to play hide and seek or occupying the swings and slides. Getting extra tiffin on certain days as some friends loved the sabudana khichdi or the poha your mother made.
Laughing uncontrollably because somebody addressed the teacher as ‘Mummy’.
When you were punished and made to stand outside the class alone, it was shameful. But when 2 or 3 of you were asked to leave the class, you all were actually happy on missing the class.
Internet was not even in our dictionaries then. It was only books and magazines from the library to share the written words. Writing interesting, inspiring quotes and thoughts in diaries and notebooks and comparing who has the best collection was like a business meet. If somebody wanted a quote from your collection, in exchange she had to share another quote from her collection with you or some story book or a stamp…
Touching the leaves of Himalayan Cypress (we used to call it Vidya) or keeping it between pages of the books meant good luck in studies.
Getting the slam books filled by all friends and teachers. The focus was on writing and getting the most creative ‘autographs’.
When the school bell rang, sprinting out as fast as the steps and the crowd could take you, to grab the window seat in the bus and reserving one for your best friend too. Singing songs or playing ‘Name, Place, Thing’ or ‘Raja Mantri Chor Sipahi’ with the bus friends.
What we remember from childhood, we remember forever – permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen – Cynthia Ozick.
Lovely times at school with friends will not come back … but the beautiful memories will stay in the heart forever… Those were the best days of my life!
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
62 Responses
Awww….so cute…I seem to have gone through the same and I miss those days. So nice that you have kept all the things from that era safe with you. My stuff is still at my mom’s place. Thanks for these memories. 🙂
Wow! Kids of our times almost did the same things. I was reading another post from Asha and what she shared mirrored my school days too! 🙂
Thankfully, I have most of the ‘memorabilia ‘, but have lost a few things too 😐
You just about brought back some of the sweetest memories from school. The chor sipahi games, the little things that mattered more than life in general, the hanging with the gals, the awkwardness in coed groups…. so many of those times still haunt me back.
p.s I still believe in magpie 🙂
The chor sipahi game was so much fun. I remember that after a while we added so many things to the Name Place Thing game like Animals, Birds, Actors, Movies, even Names of Soaps, TVs etc.
Even I believe in magpies, still 😀
Shilpa, I can relate to almost the entire post…yet, I say, school days were the best days of my life…I still cherish them…talk to my school friends n teachers frequently.
Glad that you relate to this post! And it is simply great that you are in touch with your school mates and teachers. I got in touch with my schoolmates via FB and now we have a big group on Whatsapp! 🙂
Oh yes Shilpa 🙂 they will remain the best days of my life for the carefree way of life we had back then… I went over my slam book after reading this post 🙂 all nostalgic now… The only thing I dont miss is the homework 😛
It was just the same for me too. Yesterday, I spent more than an hour going through all the notebooks/diaries, slam books…
LOL 😀 I was ok with the home works, it was the class tests that scared me! 😀
What wonderful memories you have shared! I don’t know if my school days were actually the best but looking back there were some good times.
Glad you enjoyed reading this post, Kathy! 🙂
True, at that time, the school days were just like regular days with lots of ups and loads of downs but retrospectively, they were the best days! 🙂
How sweet! Actually school days are the best days in the life of every one.Carefree with no responsibility and innocent talks are all memorable. During my school days there was no TV, so we were crazy for songs on the Radio. Even transistors were came later on.
Yes, I wonder if we knew then, would we have enjoyed them more!?
yes, yes, yes, i was nodding all the way, shilpa:) We children 🙂 are the same everywhere . Though we were not connected on social network, see how our thoughts and ideas were the same . I too have kept those himalayan cypress leaves. (never knew its name though). It grew in a park near my home.
On fridays, we had to wear color dress. we used to go late to school on fridays. You know why? late comers would be told to run outside the school compound. That way, we thought we could flaunt our beautiful dress. Now when i recall i find it so funny.
LOL 😀 Flaunting colored dresses was a craze… I remember that! For us it was only on special days. It was regular dress from Mon to Fri and it was white uniform on Saturday!
That is the best time in life.There were no worldy worries.Only worry,if at all, was the home work which in any case was a help either from mother or sister
Yes, only if home works and class tests had done a vanishing act then! 😀
School time was definitely best in our life. 🙂
Very well written and brought back lot of memories , leaves of Himalayan Cypress , scrapbooks, eating lunch in between period, immense faith in magpies and deciding the fate of the day based on seeing them ..it seems we all did same thing as children 🙂
I guess, children are the same everywhere! 🙂
Sigh, I do miss playing animal thing. It has some fond memories.. But no, overall I don’t think I miss school days that much. as far as nostalgia goes, It goes for my initial days of job.
You played that too!! We loved playing this Name Place Animal Thing so much that we kept on adding columns for newer things like names of Actors, Actresses, TV Serials, Films, Singers, Washing Soaps/Powders, Body Parts… Wow! That’s a first! Would love to know about your first job days! 🙂
Very sweet recollections of the school days and and all the memories associated with them , Shilpa! The handwriting in the diary was indeed beautiful:)
Thanks Mr Bhatia. Glad you enjoyed reading this post 🙂
Sigh!!! You took me to good old days!!! The days of innocence, friendships & the days when we would dream of growing old & working never realising that after growing old we would be missing the best days of our life!
True. We wanted to grow old fast and now we yearn to be kids! 🙂
A good reminiscence . I guess the subject is universal the days when one was in school, from the student.days.
True!! Most of us share the same memories!
I loved school. But the best days of my life were university days !
Yes, I remember reading about your JNU days 🙂
I love saboodhana kichadi . Yes school days were special in their own way 🙂
All our mothers specialized in one or 2 food items which were the talk of the class! Some fun times sharing and eating from so many lunch boxes! 🙂
i couldn’t agree more!!! and yes that “Vidya” thing, even we used to keep it in our books! slam books, time spent with friends….sigh!! those times will never come back again. hey, ur handwriting is so beautiful!
Those times will never come back, true, but thinking abt them always leaves a warm glow in our hearts!! Thanks, even your handwriting is so beautiful! Remember seeing your diary in a post during UBC 🙂
Ok, I should agree that your handwriting is slightly better than mine 😉
On this topic, I don’t think that the school-days were the best times of my life. They were the happiest for sure, but that happiness was due to ignorance. Best time of our life will come when we are (relatively) in control of our own lives and make a lasting contribution to our environment (at least for me).
Destination Infinity
Then we must see your hand writing too 😀
True, ignorance was bliss 😉
‘lasting contribution to our environment’… wow… applause 🙂
such a cute post!!
Brought back memories of shared dabbas, punishments and homework!
I enjoyed high school much more and 10th was one of the best years!! 🙂
I remember playing games with friends when punished and were made to stand outside the class! 😛
Memories. Pleasant memories.
Oh yes! 🙂
Everyone says their school days are/were the best. I never used to like my school or the time I spent there, for my college is the most cherished part of my memory, maybe because I ‘found’ myself there. But then, I do believe that the best is yet to come.
It felt wonderful reading about all that you shared with us. 🙂
Yes, the best is yet to come!! All the very bests and enjoy it thoroughly! 🙂
it took me jst down the memory lane ! Really I wish we had a time machine some times if not to live atleast to go and look at my self and learn somethng from my past. To smile was so easy thne 🙂
and ur slam books and all made me get carried away
We used to put peacock feathers for good luck in books 😀 and what all u said reflects every one’s child hood
Lovely post Shilpa
I know, if only we could re-live our childhood and those happy memories once again! 🙂
Ur post takes me back to the autograph days… what fun they were 🙂
I have so many autograph books… one for each class (10th, 11th) and then college, MBA (2 for classmates and seniors), teachers and I even had for the training batch of 1st job!! It is so wonderful reading all of these now! 🙂
Wow shilpa you have brought back all the lovely memories from school for me. I did the same things and I find it so weird that we grew up in different cities, yet our childhood stories are so similar 🙂
I guess, kids of our times were the same everywhere. I wonder, if Aaryan and his friends would say the same thing for their childhood.
Your post made me nostalgic…………….I felt as I was back there……Lovely
Awww 🙂
It’s a wonderful experience that you have shared with them, you gave a chance to go into my past and remember old things that were happen in childhood life…..
Thank you so much!!!!!!
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School days were special. When you get down to reminiscing about them with old friends, it goes on and on. You know, I have fond memories of our whole class standing on the benches and also of standing outside the class ha ha! I don’t know how they teacher thought that could be anything but punishment 🙂
Oh yeah, standing out of the class in a group was simply fun! 😀
Awww!! this is such a cute post! these autographs made me nostalgic 🙂
I did not know that those leaves are lucky! thanks!
🙂
Thanks Ankita. I dont know if those leaves were lucky but liked to believe so 😀
It is true, we all did the same things, and were just as crazy as you.
Wow!! 😀
School days are the best days of one’s life, though we may not realise it at that moment. We often used to play hide and seek and swing during the breaks.Those memories would be cherished forever.
Oh yes! Those were the days…
How true… all the mischiefs and beliefs of childhood are unforgettable. Very well written post Shilpa. I came across your blog through one of my friend’s blog, he follows your blog. I went through few of your posts and loved it. Need to come here more often and catch up on your posts. I also liked your post of 11 things every woman should write down before the year end. Many of the things from your list match my list as well 🙂
Hi Hemlata. Welcome to my blog. Thank you and so glad that you enjoyed reading the posts here. Do you blog too? Would love to read your 11 Things too. See you around! 🙂
Wow amazing this is my last year in my school..really it’s make me sad . Days are gone but the memories are still in my heart 😆 😳 😛
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Hey Shilpa,
School life is like sort of imprinted back into my memories…with a touching blog that you have shaped out!
Lovely work!