The Beginning!!

The best way to figure out why something has happened to you is to imagine what it would have been like, had it happened the other way round! Thus, we are reassured that somethings in life have no reason at all, they are simply just meant to be!!

 I am not sure why and how I ended up being a part of a place called PrideEducation. What matters most, however, is that now, I just cannot make myself imagine how my life would have been without my alma-mater. I do not exaggerate when I say that it would have been completely hollow! It was there that I emerged from a cocoon and blossomed into the independent, confident person I am today! Yes, most people will say that it was just another school amongst the thousand others in the city and each student must feel his or her school is best. But that is precisely why I want my story to be told! To tell everybody that something about this particular place was truly Magical !

Standing by my window, as I look  at the kids waiting for their school bus at my old bus-stop, it feels just like yesterday when I, myself stood there early every morning, revising for a review or chatting with a junior student, as I waited for my school bus. I really feel overwhelmed when I think that it has been three years since we left school !Even after such a long time has elapsed, today also I just have to close my eyes to hear the distinct sounds associated with  that place. The tip-tap sound of the collected rain water pattering down through the openings in the terrace wall noisily meeting the pool of water below, which  we could hear during the silent assemblies. The sound of our fighting over who should be pulling the rope to ring the huge bell which hung just outside the foyer, while Gopal bhaiya attempted to hush us and unsuccessfully tried to scare us by saying he would tell on us ! Our long sessions of chatting and laughing sitting in the huge, dry drains which ran from the entrance gates of the school right till the football ground on both sides of the road. And the soft and pleading voice of our prim and proper English teacher saying -“Children...one...two...three...Meditate...” at the beginning of each English lesson. These sounds and memories flood my sub-conscience and I yearn to return to the time when my incredible journey had once begun! And even today I continue to feel its warm glow inside my heart as I think of the pleasant, carefree days spent there!!

I arrived at Pride in the summer of the year 2001 to join the eighth standard. My mother, who was a teacher in the junior section of P.E  had been very keen for me to get an admission there. She was keen that I studied in a school where things were approached in an entirely “different manner”! Thus, on the second of July, I was on my way to P.E for the first time, dressed neatly in crisp, white t-shirt (with P.E’s logo on it) ,blue denim jeans and white sports shoes! I boarded the bus and spotting an empty seat at the back, sat down with my bag on the lap. I could feel students looking at me and nudging each other, obviously wondering which grade I am here to join! As the school-bus entered the gates of the campus and I got the first glimpse of my new school, I remember that the first word which had come to my mind was-“Wowww!”

 The school’s building was constructed in a shape of a pale orange coloured castle. The walls which constituted the building, I noticed ,were not smooth but consisted of the embossed, brick texture which gave it all the more ancient and ‘worn-down -with- time look’. The curtained windows were protected by round, stylishly -shaped grills and translucent glass window panes. If I would have read the Harry Potter series at that time I would have definitely compared it to the castle of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in the book! To the left of the road on which our bus was moving, there was a beautiful and a well-maintained garden. Ahead, almost adjacent to the lawn, was the main school building. There was a smaller building on our right too and a grey, covered passage connected them both to each other. Right ahead, at the end of the road I could see the green stretch of land and two goalposts standing on it around which many students were hanging around. It was apparently the football ground! And right next to it , was the basketball court! There were also a couple of small dusty areas enclosed by the short, concrete grey coloured boundaries next to the basketball court but I could not imagine for what they must be used for!

After getting down from the bus, I looked around and tried to take in the surroundings of my new school. I saw that all around me, students and teachers were hugging, exchanging news with each other and laughing delightfully. My first impression of this place was that it reminded me of the re-union of a large family! Everyone appeared to know each other well , regardless of their age. The only way to describe the atmosphere here was- ‘Personal’- it struck me as most unusual to see such harmony! I wondered to myself whether I would ever fit in with these people. If I would ever be part of their happy circle!