The word that brings back both good and bad memories for most of us.
The time that makes us emotional and nostalgic.
The place where we had the best of our times and realised its importance after stepping out of its doors.
And that one word, time and place is nothing but our school life.
There is something common between the first and last day of my school life and that common link is my tears. When I compare these two days I realise that the cause of my tears were polar opposite, as the former was for the worry of being in a new place without my parents, the latter was about leaving my friends to go out into the world I barely knew. School life is a strange time. You enter the gates holding your parents’ hand but leave with your friends’ tight grip, promising to never let go. People call the time spent in school inexpressible but I feel the transition from school to college is something that has no words to be expressed in. Everything is so different yet so exciting. How the day seems so long in school yet the time spent in it always seems short; how in school you always wanted to live a college life, but in college, you crave for few months back in school- on those benches laughing and chatting with your old buddies, giggling at the same old jokes and adding to already bursting bag of memories. You live a happy, comfortable, jolly life and then one day, the bubble of safety bursts, and it’s time for you to leave school and step out into the real world to make an identity of your own.
The fantasies of college life – party, freedom, independence, turn into reality when you actually step into a college, only to realise that back in school you might’ve been the king of the jungle but here everyone is a king of their own kingdoms; while in school you dreamt of chilling in your college but once you actually become a college student, you realise that college is not just fun, it is also about finding yourself among the crowd of talented individuals. For a few days it seems like a bed of roses and an escape from a boring life, but then the cloud of actuality appears and showers its blessings, drenching you in the rain of responsibilities. From a place full of familiar faces you step into a strange land where you have to start from scratch and move your way up the ladder of success. If school was a place where you were given an identity, college is the place to use that identity and make a name for yourself. Nothing can replace the emotions attached with school, but college gives you a way to deal with those emotions and come out as a stronger version of yourself. School life can’t be replaced, but you can make the most of your college life and recall those years of college in the future.
Life in college is overwhelming, but it is also an opportunity for creating the best version of yourself and creating memories that school failed to. I hope the memories of my college life fill more bags than the memories of my school and my friends and I laugh at our old jokes sitting in our Convocation and cry while exiting the college doors but for now-
If someone can get me those good old days Which in one’s life is the most beautiful phase To him I will be forever grateful Because no other place can be like your school.
Edited by Arpita Wadhwa