School…it was not a place which meant mere academics…it meant a home outside the home!
I had spent 14 years of my life in Loreto Day School, Sealdah…and it has been the most beautiful slice of life. School was the place where I grew up, physically and mentally. It was my world. Even today I miss my school as fiercely as ever…and I know I will continue to do so the entire lifetime. I owe my existence to my school…to the friends I made there…to the teachers who educated us…to our dear sister who shaped us…and last but not the least to the building, to the terrace, to the staircase, to the playground, to the science lab…to every brick of Loreto Sealdah!
It was my school which for the first time gave me the excitement of winning a competition…it was my school that taught me to accept a defeat, it was my school that helped me learn team-spirit…Yes it was my school that gave me the joy of being a winner! It was my school that gave me the confidence that I too can make a difference! I too can take a decision and feel proud about it. It was my Alma Mater that accentuated the feeling of “US” in me.
There were moments of tension…failure…success…! The first red mark on my report card…the first and only full mark in mathematics…the first singing of…”To east and west of that fair isle where first Loreto stands…” each moment carved the human being in me. It has been 5 years now that I have left my school. Yet it feels just the other day. I am not so prejudiced to say that my school has the best facility or best faculty…it does have its limitations. We do not have sophisticated laboratories, we do not have a plush auditorium! yes! there are many "have-nots" that the world can point out! We lack…yes we lack in many a way. But all these wants sink into oblivion when I recall the memories of the green days! The lack of an auditorium causes no disgrace as we happily cuddle on the floor of the assembly hall attending our daily assembly, enjoying a teachers’ day program; attending the first Friday mass or the Ash Wednesday assembly. I never felt ashamed of anything…never. How many schools in Kolkata spend a day celebrating the efforts of the domestic staffs? My school does. How many students of India can say that-“I have reached out to those in need?”-We can. How many people cry even after 10 years of leaving their schools…some of us did…and some of us will do! That’s the magic of this small and humble world of Loreto day school Sealdah. It may lack the luster but my school is a diamond in every way. The heart of our school spreads beyond the walls. It stretches to the deprived; to the forlorn; to the homeless; to the world…trying hard to bring about a wave of humane feeling. The ripple is created…and I know someday my school will succeed in generating the wave.
You may call me an emotional fool, writing heart breaking, sentimental saga of some bygone days. But to tell you the truth this is what I feel not just today, not just someday but each day, every hour! When I was in my school these details did not sink in…as I was too busy taking part in them…but now in the busy rat-race of a severe competent world I scarcely get a breather…I wish…I so wish I could get back to my school, inside the green gates…within that cozy world which taught a lesson entirely different from the conceited competition of today!
I know I cannot go back. Time is too cruel to allow that. But I cannot help feeling a part of it even today! Sister said on the last day of our school-“You Cannot Tear the Umbilical Cord…” The bunch of Class XII students who leave the premises of our school every year can truly never tear off that cord which has become a part of them. I cry recalling the nostalgia, I laugh exploring the fun, I smile remembering the moments…and I sigh, sensing the void! To all who are still in their schools…and especially to those in Loreto Sealdah- I quote: Smile on the days “you” are passing by. Smile on the years to come...” Keep smiling and basking as you are passing through the most pleasant phase of your life…once gone, these days will never visit you again.
To all my friends of Loreto Sealdah…To My Teachers…: “I believe in angels…something good in everything I do…I cross the stream…I have a dream!”
I hope we all live the dream that we dreamt together…and I hope never to part with my friends…and with the umbilical cord, which ties me to my School!
“When our school days ended are…and our varied paths divide…O may the ideals of our youth still ever be our guide…”
Cheers to life! ~
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