Nostalgia

Right through friday to sunday last, i was feeling extremely nostalgic, i kept getting reminded of my schooldays, in fact to be precise, the last few days of school, incidentally, two years back, we had walked out of those gates for the ultimate time as a schoolboy. It was an emotional moment that day, i still remember the day, we had big plans of a luncheon after school... we were really happy that school life had finally come to an end! On the other hand, we were sad to leave those hallowed portals where we had spent the best times of our lives....

The 16th of December 2006 it was, that was the last time i broke the school rules... the last day i had donned the school colours, the last time i sang the school song as a pupil! They say once a Martinan, always a Martinian, but there's a catch, after a certain point of time two letters are prefixed, and we too were awarded the two letters which told us "your days in school are over". We graduated to become Ex Martinians! For years we had waited for this very day, the day when we could write on our school shirts, the day when we could engrave our names on the round chapel stairs (in accordance to tradition) and more important the day after which, we could sport longer hair, facial hair, we could colour our hair, wear karas, etc, etc, and do all the things which we were prohibited from doing as a school boy....

All the excitement and elation were however drowned when we filed into the chairs in the Atmodaya Bhabhan (school hall) for one last time.. We knew it, the teachers knew it, the rest of the school knew it.. it was a day when one of the longest standing relationships would come to an end.. the relationship between our uniforms and us! that white shirt which we loathed, the grey trousers which were caked in dust after our football matches, our much loved black and amber tie and belt and obviously the school blazer... we would have to bid them a bitter goodbye... We knew we would be saying the school prayer and singing the school song for one final time... and this time we wanted it to be the best... all through the years, we never took them seriously, it was a mundane part of every morning assembly, but suddenly, these two everyday things took gigantic proportions as everyone almost shouted out the words of the school prayer and the school song was sung in perfect harmony! However, on the conclusion of the school prayer a very rare sight greeted the hall, a group of somewhat 150 odd students, the senior most of all, broke down, tears rolled down our cheeks by the time we reached the final verse... it was all over... school life had come to an end!

The martinian tradition was upheld as our shirts were dotted with farewell messages from the truest of our friends... some pockets were torn off, and the flash bulbs lit up every passing moment, an attempt in vain to soak in the last few moments, more a change, even the teachers allowed us to make a noise, they encouraged our shouting, we defaced our class room walls as we signed our initials on the walls with markers... this was followed by the last football match on the school ground... it was more of fruitless running around than playing the game.

Tired after the football match we had two last things to do, engrave our names on the round chapel steps and then ... walk out of those gates...

The relation with La Martiniere is far from over, we still go back to school on any given opportunities but it no longer feels the same, there seems to be a vacuum.. a vacuum perhaps created by the lack of uniform, the lack of rules, we can now.. walk into the teacher's staff room rather than wait outside, we can go to the principals office by the visitors entrance than taking the longer way to the office... a vacuum created mostly by the teachers, who treat us compatriots now, the sternness in there voice is lacking, the jokes and laughter flows, this was what we wanted once, but when we have got it, it doesnt interest us,, it feels eerie....

The corridors however have the same old worl charm, the charm which was there when we ran about in them from one class to another, the canteen food tastes as good as better... however there's a difference.. a world of difference.... created by two letter... "EX".

May our founder's name endure

Ever spotless, ever pure!

VIVE LA MARTINIERE!!!