Yester Me, Yester You, Yester We
Somewhere in time,
We had chirpy chatter and chime,
Still it flashes before my eyes,
Like
It was all a Yesterday’s sight.
Some super sweet souvenirs,
Light the corner of my mind,
Don’t you think
Those misty, water-colored memories
Of the way we were,
Deserve to be rhymed?
It’s been a decade since,
We left,
Wonder, the ‘NBM’ is still same
Or completely changed?
But then, altered or not,
Only the version we dwelled
Is what I recall.
As kindergarten kids, we first stepped,
All in white-n-blue,
Were meetly dressed;
Milky-white socks went well
With perfectly polished shoes,
Stripped white-blue belt was a force,
But
The vogue of skirt, we were free to choose.
Albeit, quite cool was uniform,
But for tie n badge, was no room,
To compensate that, winter always brought
Blazers of blee, red and maroon.
Out of custom or habit, know not what,
But yes, before footing
We always touched this temple’s threshold.
Each struck on bell’s rim, made a clear sign
As if telling
Dear students, seats, you’re sitting, you’ve to resign.
Along with ringing, in rows we paced for the prayer,
Depending upon standards,
Some were set in hall, some in the open air.
With ‘attention’ and ‘relax’, our focus used to be centered,
Mainly mentioned for the morning meetings
Were
The song, the prayer and the anthem.
Six week days, six new hymns,
Sir at harmonium, a pack of students used to sing
Rests were like chorus, citing every string.
Half an hour and this ceremony ends,
We regain our seats, in our allotted wings.
Most monotonous was that ten minute session,
‘Yes sir’, ‘yes mam’
Shouting students, the teacher taking attendance.
Now desks were decked with books
Coming out of satchel,
Two continuous hours went like this
Without any cessation.
Then, the bell rang long for the recess time,
Placed properly motley ‘durries’
Before classrooms and also by,
Hunger was so great
That
Lunch-boxes were emptied, even in a blink of an eye.
Water tanks and coolers
Were set in two hut like design,
We made fast for them
Hoping, ‘ll be saved from a long line.
Attraction of the break
Was always playing some childish plays of our time;
Be it ‘pek-dook’ or ‘gatta’
‘Antakhshari’ or ‘chuppam-chuppai’
Each was such a delight,
We were all gay inside, and joy at its prime;
After all it was recess-time.
Now, back in classes, we surrender to the books,
Scenario becomes as usual, till ‘way to home’
We took.
But, ohh those occasional days!
How I miss them;
The ‘ruthi-jaayi-re’ getup and the ‘manjhi-o-manjhi’ dhun,
That ‘naani-teri-morni’song
And the ‘sarhad-natak’ with props;
Could we seek much more?
Really, annual-fest was such a charm!
Not less was our patriotic zeal
While boys’ hands hit hard the dumbbell drills
Girls’ generated jingling of lezim;
Drum’s rhythm made
Parade to march, and band to perform,
Also in gymnastic and PT
We were involved, and danced
Ethnic dances in various form.
Ohh yes, how can i forget!
The gala of 'Basant-Panchami'
'the yellow day' actually,
When everyone of us shined the light saffrony.
'Bal-sabha' was every saturday's show,
Pretty misty is memory
So, i can't recall any more.
Let this one be hazy
But sure i am
The belly-laughs we had,
Those 'just-for-fun' prankes
And some crushes crazy,
Will always bring feeling something like mushy.
Years passed by,
Different pathways we got through
Its cycle of life, we let it flow.
Now, i laugh to our immature mind's deed,
Relive our naughtiness
And rack my head to guess
That
Childlike cute cheeks of the time, now surely grow
Suave stubble,
Silky-short ponytail of the time, now freely flow
With length double.
Everything is going to change,
Nothing stays same.
Life will throw a lot of challenges,
And there is a danger
Someday our best pal might be a stranger.
It'll be hard to recollect names
Forget our old stupid games.
Quite long i've walked the lane
Yet, it seems as if
A lot is left unsaid
A lot of memories
Still unstirred.
How i wish those times could stay
Where the time goes?
Don't know
But definitely,
Fairly fast it makes its way.
