This vacation has been very different.If you ask my mother to choose an appropriate word,she would probably say WIERD.Unlike,most normal people who utilise their vacations to thrash the bed till 11,pig out on the choicest of home made yummy mummy food,and inflict that shop' till you drop or your wallet cries stop'feeling.I have done none.Thanks to my dear princi,in school,who decided that teachers' should be given the students' share of holiday H.W , as well.I am spending 4-5 hrs,racking my brains on creating CREATIVE WORKSHEETS for my students.Add to that, the navratras,so am devoid of my mom's delicious kashmiri delicacies too.
But,the brightest spot this time was the fact that I met my classmates from school,after 15 long years.I have to admit,that ,previously,every time I came to Delhi for a vacation,a tiny part of my heart wished ,that I would bump into my classmates ,somewhere.I knew it was an extremely romantic notion,given the fact that I had lost touch with almost all of them,ever since I moved to being Mrs.Misra,W/O an army officer.I found it extremely difficult to update my friends,about my whereabouts and thought that I lost all of them.My memory too, by some strange default,had started erasing all school related data. I couldn't connect names and faces.I blamed age.But,I knew the real culprit,was time and that it creates a giant creator in our hearts and minds.
So,this time,when about 20 of us decided to meet after 15 long years,I was a bit skeptical.I hadn't met and spoken to most of them since almost one and a half decade,now.Will they be the same?I had my doubts.
Reunions are not an easy thing to plan,especially in a city like Delhi.People live on one planet and work on another.To expect them to party after this intergalactic ordeal,that too on a mad Monday evening, only to meet me,was indeed overwhelming(though they never gave me the credit).
It was amazing to see the same boyish faces,but with shades of grey,a little paunch and that double chin.Indeed,we had all grown up.It took just a couple of drinks to melt away the initial formalities and most of us surprisingly were back to our old pranks.Secrets that lay buried for 15 long yrs,were blurted out.Unexpressed crushes,leaked papers,grudges,school dances,teachers,bunked classes,unexplained class mysteries...we solved quite a bit.I had started remembering everything clearly now.I also managed to find out who the mysterious tiffin box chor of the class was.It had been a dear friend.
I don't know when I'll be able to meet them again.Although communication is at its peak.I know,a lot of them,will probably fail to respond to mails and SMS's.But,I also know,that even when I meet them after another gap of 15 yrs,they will still be the same friends,I left behind in school.