School Nostalgia

It was the first change. The first change in my life at the age of around 10 years. Changing my school for my growth, my betterment. The curiosity level was at its peak. Thousands of questions were buzzing around my mind about the school I was to join. But thanks to mom and dad, they were patiently answering all my questions and did assure me that it would not be difficult at all.

That first day! Dad came to drop me and signaled all the best to me. When your loved ones are there with you at every step you climb things become much easier. The school I was supposed to join belonged to one of my relatives. So I at least felt a sense of belonging towards it. I peeped in every class to search for a board of Standard 5^th. It was towards the end of the foyer. I, totally nervous, taking small steps headed to classroom; stood at the door and had a glimpse of whole classroom. There was a lot of chaos and every student was occupied with some or the other work. There are lots of things that can make you uncomfortable at first day of your school. I ignoring every noise and activity occupied my seat and tried to make myself comfortable. Day started, teachers came and went, each of them asking new entrants about their introduction with only eagerness to know about their previous school and marks scored. It was tough for me to shift from a state board to central board school. I knew everything was going to be tough without any tuition.

I then managed myself to talk to some girls and befriended some.  It wasn’t a tough job because I had been always an extrovert. The days went by. The most dreadful time came in any students’ life and those were the days of exams! I was not-so-competitor type personality. I knew it was going to be difficult because I hardly could understand the new teaching methods, the new concepts, and the new system. Still I appeared and knew I was going to flunk in few subjects. The nail biting day came when all teachers announced the marks; I managed to get a decent score except in Math. That teacher insulted me in front of whole class claiming that I wasn’t even able to solve a basic sum. I cried. Cried a lot. No one in my life till now had insulted me.

The only people who can feel what you are going through are your parents. They tried to console me and told me to work hard for my next exam. And my parents have had always taught me that
actions speak louder than words. I was to show my math teacher that I could do best in his subject. I really work very hard, from text book sums to reference book sums I left no stone unturned in achieving good grades in that subject. Finally mid-semester exams came. To my delight, I could solve each and every sum of math. The results were in. It is said that fear and joy both expand in extremes. This time it was my joy, because I scored 100 out of 100 in math, and that teacher who insulted me, appreciated me in front of whole class. He told me that I was the only student to have improved so much, from flunking to scoring cent marks in my weakest subject. Oh my God, I felt like jumping and dancing, I wasn’t able to hide my smile.

That day, felt me with optimism and felt like I had reborn in that school as a new ranker, as a new competitor.