Feb 14,2008

Thats the entrance to my former school where i did my eleventh and twelfth(ya..the entrance doesnt look great...the building is even worse :(..)..i have many bad memories and rare spots of good memories of this school, this building, the teachers and my friends...

For those who thought this post might be revealing my "romantic" side or my "love" life...its going to disappoint you heavily...the fact is this...i dont have a romantic side of mine(only front side, back side and side side :D)and i havent experienced love in my life...

The fact is this...Our batch had our farewell day on this date(quite ironical considering the strict regulations inside the school denying the right to speak to the opposite sex)and i have very good memories of this day..

I had come to the school as usual with my scooty(i still use this vehicle...though its not that comfortable to drive, it indeed has served me well :P)...we had classes in the morning and had a break in between which provided us some time to go back home and change clothes(i hope my memory is right on this...coz i did come to the school early that morning)...i had gone to my uncle's house nearby to change...i arrived at about 3 to the school for the party in a jeans and a black t shirt...one of my favorite combinations...

We had a blast of a time in the initial half hour before the program started...and i was clicking and posing to as many snaps that i could come across(but tragically i had forgotten to bring my camera and it was back home)...but it was fun anyway to have a last little chat with friends...

the program began with speeches and mementos to the teachers and all...and they also gave some awards to students(even i got one...i dont know why i got it still!!!!!!!!!!!!)..and the principal gave a short speech(i never listened to her speeches anyway...all crap...and anyways i never had a good memory of this principal...she really troubled me one day for no fault of mine--she had called me a "recommendation" student when i had came to that school through merit...that statement still hurts)...thankfully the secretary had not turned up(otherwise that "kezhavan" would have bored us for another half hour)..

now it was the turn of the class leaders to speak...sudipta mam(english teacher)had asked me whether i had prepared a speech..i was shocked!!!!!!!!no one had told me about it..but she swore that my class teacher had nominated my name over there(he never told me :(...he keeps forgetting things till date)..and by this time the previous guy had started to speak...OMG!!!!i was next!!!!!!!!!!!!

she immediately asked one of my friends from the other section to help me out(he was going to give a speech and had already prepared it)...he gladly agreed and we went to the nearby staff room to begin preparing the so called speech...she actually wanted us to do some patchwork..

i went there and told my friend that i wanted to be honest about my experiences at this venue(which had bitter experiences too)...he just agreed to what ever i said and just asked me to write whatever i wanted to...he was reading along while i was writing and also quipped in with quotes now and then(i am not a great man of quotes...but he is :D)...the quotes were pretty useful...i was writing what ever came to my mind and in 5 mins i had completed 3 pages(enough to drag on for five mins or more)....

came out of the staff room...the guy giving the speech was just about done and sudipta mam was shouting my name..i came walking fast(didnt run :P)...and i came close to the mike...i glanced the audience for a second...the most beautiful girl i had seen in that school came in a pink dress(some vagueish costume..i dunno whether it was a saree...but she looked good in it..and that alone mattered)...and my best friend had come in a black dress(guess it was a chudidhar in this case)..they were seated one behind the other(almost)...i smiled a little...

i decided to sound as cool as possible..i had this habit of being cool when tensions rose on the outside...but even then i had never been a great speaker(till date i have only improved on a little).. i used to stammer a lot when i didnt have a paper in hand(even now)...but when i did have a paper in hand i became a wholly different speaker all together...it reduced my nervousness so much and turned on the AC thats present inside myself(aka induces coolness) :D..

i promised myself that i would speak to the best of my abilities and ensure audience participation... hence i started my speech with "Friends,Dav-ians,Indians"......(ya...a spoof of mark antony's "friends,roman,countrymen" in shakespeare's Juilus Caesar)...and the crowd was filled with an "aaaahhhhh" sound(indicating mokkai)...but i had succeeded...i had got everyone's attention...

i began my speech with the difficulties i had faced esp in the initial stages of the school life here..juggling various activities and tryin to excel in each of them...i had told them how tough a turn life took here...about how free i was in my previous school..and how engaged(pun unintended)i was here..

then i quoted Einstein(this quote was given by my friend who helped me prepare the speech)..about how life was like riding a bicycle and inorder to keep balance one had to move on(everyone smiled at this line, guess they liked it)...and then i told about the positives learned from the dav life...about how life should be made tough to make yourself tougher and so on...

then i praised the teachers as the ironical 23 gems of the school(ironical coz there are only nine gems in the real world....and this was a formality anyway...everyone had to mention them whether they liked it or not)..and i accidentally said that the principal was the king who possessed the 23 gems...an english teacher(so called)herself, the principal pounced on the grammar error saying it was wrong...i coolly apologised in a murmur and corrected the sentence as the queen holder of the gems...everyone applauded here...

and finally after wishing everyone the best in their lifes i added..."and for the one last time..namaste"(and as a student of dav that was indeed my last namaste)....the hall broke into an applause...i had never received such a thunderous applause in my life...i was pretty glad i pulled it off..i had successfully given a speech which atleast most people in the audience accepted(they either accepted or considered it mokkai...i was okay with both)..so gladly i stepped down and included myself in the audience...a flood of congrats...it was nice...a day of redemption really....i wanted to stand out as someone for atleast a day in that school...and i just fulfilled that dream...i had atlast stood out as a speaker..a moment of triumph(which have been so few all through my life)...and my heart was filled with happiness..

my friend who gave the next speech also received a thunderous response..he is a famous speaker anyway..so no surprises...and in the meanwhile sudipta mam had asked for the script of my speech...and she never gave it back...i hope she does have it still with her...the greatest speech i had ever made was lost all of a sudden...it was a nice assembly of words that i dont recollect...a destined assembly really...and i lost the script...but all was not lost...the speech, though not in full, remains in my memory..and will live through this post for eternity...

the rest of the evening passed in a jiffy...the girls made "pack-level" speeches...it was followed by some cultural shows by our juniors that included a spoof of tam actors which involved a lot of double entendres(the guys got the slack later from the princi)...during the shows i also spoke with one of the very few friends among girls that i had there...it was the first time i spoke with a girl inside the campus :D....

we had some refreshments later...and soon packed home...a few hugs around...few handshakes...and the party was over...days were to come during which our destiny was to be decided...i wished all my friends well...bid adieu to almost all the teachers and began my walk to my scooty along with three of my friends...then bid adieu to them too and drove my way home...it was a day to remember...a day of triumph atlast inside that campus..

and so i looked forward to the immediate future..my character was to be tested then...

moments of triumph are not the usual kind of thing for me...i have always been a runner up on most occasions in my life...so to have my first and only moment of triumph at dav at the last day of my school life was somehow fantastic...its a memory that will make me happy any time i think of it...
Months later..i did ask many friends(incl juniors) what they had remembered out of me(through a forward sms)...and a majority of them said..."farewell speech"..

Hope you shared my happiness too..

cheers,