Some autobiographies are inspired by feelings of nostalgia for the authors past and mine was one such story, which inspired me to write the page number 239 of my biography. Page 239 was written when I just became 18 years and 3 months of age, which was precisely December 2004. Ahhh!!! 18 years- a beautiful adult of 5′8″, not modest at all, all full of confidence, self assuring, vivacious and gray matters not less than Einstein. Modest am I not?!
At this interesting phase of my life I had the fantastic opportunity of not only setting up my dream club in my school – La Martiniere For Girls, Kolkata, but I also had to suffer the experience of leaving an institution which was not only my second home but where I had learnt to imbibe and inculcate values of life, mannerisms and etiquette which would always remain my ever lasting friends, guides
and philosophers of life!
I clearly remember the day of my farewell when I left home that morning in a starched, white uniform- a skirt and a blouse, which was so common for other days but was unusually special for me, that very day. Assembly started at school in the main hall- Lawrence Hall- 8.05am with our principal, Mrs. H. Peacock and all my faculty teachers.
We the class 12 students had a smile on the lips and bleary eyed having premonitions of the fag end of my traumatic yet exciting day.
We had our usual prayer service followed by the hymn ‘Lord dismiss us…’ as it was also the last day of our school before we closed for Christmas holidays. We also sang our school anthem “Hail! Hail! The name we owe…” and realized that it would be the last time we would be singing it as students. We were gifted blue pennets with our batch year and logo embossed on it, which was going to be an
invaluable gift for lifetime.
After assembly, we received our yearbooks in our class, which was gifted to us by the class 11 students, as tradition. This yearbook contains the names, addresses, photographs and some personal
information of all our batch mates of the year 2004-05. We had to give a vote of thanks to our schoolteachers, friends and the institution for bearing with us by lighting a candle. It was also a way of wishing us all the best for the forthcoming board exams and indeed our challenging life ahead.
We were then allowed to freely roam the campus. I took photographs, which would become an essential part of my personal album. I took beautiful photographs of my classrooms, laboratories and
our huge, luscious green field where we spent many memorable lazy afternoons during free periods and sports periods. What really will remain a vivid picture in my mind for life are the Greek pillars which adorns our portico. I have always associated these pillars with stability and which has molded my life with confidence, self-assurance and compatibility for life.
I can almost hear Mrs. Peacock shooing us to our classes for the last time and I treasure my slam book with autographs of all my nearest and dearest friends. As I come to the end of page 239 of my
autobiography, I don’t think I will be seeing the faces of my dear friends or my lovely school for the last time because there photographs are deeply etched within my memory and shall never be
erased with any amount of effort.
