Grey depressing clouds gather over the horizon and as I look out from the window I see weak rays of the sun struggling to break through that dense mass and light up our lives as usual. The first warm rays fall on a building which was a second home to me and many of us. There is a steady stream of young people in to a structure that in a way helped me to be what I am today. With the National Anthem playing, I am transported back 20 years in to history!

As a four year old I trotted up the steps of my tin shed school and was overwhelmed just by the sheer size of the building. From a five member, 3 room home to a 500 members and 30 room new home the transition was humungous. Walking down the long corridor in a red checks uniform and wondering if I should cry too as so many others of my age were busy doing, I came to a class full of people, my age, and from varied background who would be with me (hopefully) till the end of twelve long years. Guess that day cemented the fact that my school was something I would always hold special in my memories irrespective of what happens in the coming twelve years.

Over the last decade of the twentieth century I saw my school, friends, classmates, teachers and myself blooming in different degrees. Be it our primary school when all we ever wanted to do was play and then play some more. I still remember all the beautiful epithets bestowed on us by our class teachers. They ranged from stupid to’ jungleee janaawars’. Guess they didn't want us to feel that we lacked education of all kinds. Well that was that...

Leaving behind childhood and moving in to preteens. Secondary school was fun as we got to learn what the future would eventually hold for us... Here I would like to add a line which is part of my memories that I had written for a friend...

Then came the horrid pre teens...where we looked hideous and not queens...
Those crushes and cat fights....and that poor guy... Who always never got it right...

Life did move on and I observed everyone around turning into beautiful swans from ugly ducklings, (Don’t take in to consideration our farewell pictures. We looked bad!) with a unique personality. Our second home was undergoing change too. The new building housed our classes and the old building was to be modernized so that it could house many more new students and help them in their path towards discovering life. The work began with the ushering of the new millennium.

Year 2001 was when I had to finally bid adieu to my second home and step in to a new world full of possibilities and yet without the protection of the huge umbrella which I was used to for twelve long years. I knew I would always miss those practical sessions in the lab or the sleeping sessions of history class, the funniest ever math lectures or for that matter the innumerable picnics, treks and camps .The huge playground which saw us play to our hearts content and where we won some lost some but always were there for each other when it counted the most. (It’s my ardent wish it was true for everyone).

The bell rings shaking me out of my reverie and the sun has risen high enough now to brighten the top floors of the newly added floors to the tin shed old building of the school. Our school structure is now 7 storeys high with huge windows bringing loads of positive energy and lights in to the lives of many. As I stare ahead at a brightly painted building and notice the changes the last decade has brought in, I understand the meaning of progress and my grasp over reality takes a step forward. I decide to move on as school days and their memories have the capacity to drown me in them forever. But I also know that I will return to them again, as each time I resurface, I bring with me a treasure of memories untold.