Green Uniforms and Gatsby Super-Hard hair gels

Just when the pain of dissertations, the last minute work before submission and the complaints (and scoldings) of supervisors become too much to bear, stress buster came in the form of Nostalgia!

A childhood friend of mine (still my friend nonetheless) uploaded a whole album of our high school days. I had a nice time laughing at our crazy antics, our faces at 16, our school uniforms and our memories.

And first things first, whoever said that women look their best at 16, I’m way hotter now…. At 25!

Of course, green uniforms and gelled-back hair didn't do wonders for you looks! I consumed 11 tubs of Gatsby Super Hard hair gel during that year. Unbelievable?? Believe it. I just don't like my hair falling on my face and I was diligently following school rules of single ponytail policy for girls!

Why were we in such a hurry to grow up?? What were we thinking?? Life was best as it was!

Our crazy class teacher in Class 10; the one who labeled supari as ‘drugs’, the one who taught with such passion that the word ‘Imperialism’ is etched into our memories with a particular action, the one who made us wear wedding gowns for a candle dance!!! (I still can’t figure out…why a wedding gown???). This same teacher, a Catholic nun, once gave us a surprise quiz in History class. It was indeed sad that she asked questions from the ‘points to remember’ column at the back of the chapter from top to bottom. When we got the hang of the question pattern, one boy answered even before she could finish her question. And instead of getting suspicious, she ended up praising him for working hard!!!

I wonder if Sister Benny is still alive, and where is she now???

Our favorite version of Lolly’s ‘Mickey’

“O Haba you’re so fine, You’re so fine you blow my mind

Hey Haba… Hey Haba”

…which we would scream at the top of our voices. Sorry, Lallawmkim, I hope we didn’t make your life hell back then!

That fateful day when Brother Principal (nicknamed “Da Prince”) caught us hogging down our lunch box during a study period! We were made to sweep the corridors for one whole week.

Two very talented classmates, who were pros at mimicking every single teacher, their accent and their body language up to the way they blink their eyes. Almost every break hour was kept aside for their hilarious performance. Their favorite victims being a particular teacher couple!!

That Math teacher, who used to call my notebook pages ‘chicken in the garden’ if I get too hurried solving my problems. He passed away recently! He will be thoroughly missed.

That Chemistry teacher who nicknamed me ‘slum girl’ because my locality was declared a model-slum then! Sad isn’t it? A friend of mine was also nicknamed ‘Andaman boy’ because his dad was posted in the Andaman Island for the shortest of time.

And now I look back and smile at our class picture…

Class X 'A' ( 2000-2001.)

St.Paul's Higher Secondary School.

Some are doctors, nurses, engineers, academicians, teachers, businessmen &women, managers, consultants and more.

But one thing I’ve also noticed, only 3 out of the 40 strong class is now married and settled, which makes me question, Are the rest 37 just too smart or are just not “in demand”???

Love Letters

Okay… I’m just gonna come clean with this!

I have never written or received a love letter in my life! There… I said it!! And I’m not sure if it’s something to laugh or cry about!

For starters, I was never ‘in demand’. Secondly, the only relationship I’ve been in (prior to my current relationship) was a long-distance, seriously complicated, one-sided relationship. We talked on the phone a lot and we do mail each other a few times. However, it was always a friendly letter narrating trivial things like our daily schedules and the likes. Oh Yes! Most importantly, our letters always contain “advices”. Yes, we strictly stay away from the dreaded subject and so sadly, they were never ‘love’ letters! Well, that was ages ago and sadly, the closest I ever came to writing or receiving a love letter.

Four years ago, I met my man. Fortunately (or in this case unfortunately), we were already in the “cell phone age”. So letters were just out of question.

I find love letters very romantic in a ‘vintage-y’ sorta’ way. And I mean the heartfelt “love letters”, not the ones that my peers use to write or receive in high school, which would have lines of Shania Twain’s lyrics. Yeah! You know what song I’m talking about!

The writing, the anticipating and the pure joy of receiving an envelope with your name written in handwriting you know so well. That particular hour in the morning when you would wait for the familiar postman, hoping he'd bring you an envelope with your name on it. Or maybe that joyous feeling of picking out the right pad, the right ink and the right perfume to spray on that letter you are writing. Maybe it has got to do with my parents getting married following a single telegram (maybe I’ll blog about this too!).

Gone are the days when people were so faithful in long-distance relationships and they have stacks of well-read tattered old letters to prove it. My aunt still keeps a chocolate-boxful of letters that my uncle wrote to her before they were married. And she claims to value it more than anything. Lucky woman!

How I wish people would still be in the mood to write in spite of all the latest technologies, where everything could be done with a keyboard and a click of a mouse!! But like they say, it’s never too late to start; I just might have the chance to write a heartfelt letter which bleeds with emotion and is bathe with tears! Until then, I’ll keep thinking of the perfect words to write when that day comes!