Deeksha 
2013-2014, class 10, roll number - I don’t remember, well that kind of rhymed. Initially, class ten was a little annoying as we had to attend classes during summer while everyone else was enjoying it. Forget about everyone, but when your sibling at home is having the time of her life, then it is a problem. We had the same students in both class 9 and 10. So that made this whole thing more exciting. More familiar faces, more comfort, meant more memories.
Class 10 C, class teacher Rekha ma’am. I am quite sure anyone from class 10C who is reading this, already has a smile on their face. Well, this year was so special for everyone.
Let me start from the beginning. So, summer classes, summer tuition classes, everyone speaking about how important this year was, pressure from so many people to do well etc. This was how it began. After about 2 weeks of classes, we had our summer break, I don’t quite remember what I did in that vacation. I just remember one thing- not being very excited to go back to school.
I was wrong. I started as a backbencher, who sat in a dark corner. I was tall and teachers thought I was a very studious kid, so I would be a perfect student to sit in the last bench.
Well, Danish, the naughty kid had other ideas! So in a month I was back to the first bench in the middle row and guess who I was sitting with? Hope you answered that.
Honestly, the best part of class 10 was the people. Let me start with our class teacher. Rekha ma’am, a very supportive teacher, more like a friend to most of us. I would always ask her to get us something she cooked, so she got us fried rice one day, I was so happy about it. Looks like the class was very happy too, so I ended up getting a spoon of fried rice. Imagine, a class sitting together eating food that their class teacher got for them. Well, no that was not my class. It was one student getting the box and running all around the class and the others running behind that person for the box. Yes, that was my class! Rekha ma’am always told all of us one thing, that was to always do whatever made us happy.
So during the first few months, it was just the study part and the exams where I and Rashmi would fight over who took more extra sheets. We had our way of having fun even during exams. Like getting the expected question, would mean a smile on all the faces and if not a scratch on each one’s head.
There are so many things in my head now, I can’t write about each one of them so let me pick up the five of the best things and write down about them-
1) Trip to Nainital – I loved this part of class ten. One week away from all the tension. We flew to Delhi and took a bus to Nainital. Pleasant weather, great food and the best people. Boating, long chats, 20 of us eating gol-gappa, unlimited shopping, eating others food, talking about horror stories, some tiny fights, safari in Corbett where we only saw some deer but lied to our parents about a tiger passing in front of our jeep, just to make our parents feel that the money they spent was actually of some use, slow-motion dance with Ruhani and Meghana, giving life lessons to Vidhusha, having a water drinking competition with Sarah and then not being able to find washroom and struggling with a filled bladder for about an hour and running to the washroom once we found it, throwing the toy lizard on our physics teacher Sherin ma’am, oh her reaction was something I can’t forget ever. The flight back was an adventure all over again, that story is better a secret.
2) Our class play – we had to do a play in English where we extended a chapter and made our own story. It was a chapter based on people in England but we crazy students included CID into it. I was ACP Pradyuman and Daya was this thin, short guy named Rishikesh. So the great dialogue, “ Daya, Darwaza tod” was the only dialogue I had. Rishikesh broke the door even before the dialogue so that too went unheard. The round of applause Rishi received for breaking a cardboard door was more than the appreciation original Daya would have received. Each one of the 34 students had something to do and each of them had a small part in the play. The best part of it all when our English teacher, Noey ma’am said that this one of the best plays she had seen in her career, that truly meant a lot for us.
3) Walks back home- walking back home with Radhika, Namitha and Vidhya and making fun of each other. Radhika has this weird way of laughing which made all of us laugh. We would laugh for no reason. They would tease me about ending up dating a truck. Makes no sense right, none of the conversations made any sense. It was in this one year that I made friends for a lifetime.
4) Shiksha –I would always get caught doing some weird thing, like looking at the fan for no reason or breaking my pen cap and the whole class would start laughing that was fun in a way too. Raj sir taught me discipline. I would wake up every day by 3:30-4:00. You know this feeling of being appreciated by someone you look up to, where others don’t understand but for you, it means the world. That’s how I felt every time sir appreciated me. Late-night classes, early morning classes but loads and loads of fun. The best part is from being a student in Shiksha to now working with Shiksha as a teacher, it’s a great journey.
5) The last day – It is supposed to be a sad thing for most but for me the last day of school too was special. In my grade 10, I tried my level best to keep my teachers and friends happy and this day all of them made me happy. We had a small session together, where some awards were given and some stories were shared. I was lucky enough to get two awards for music that day, the way the students cheered for me, brings me in tears every time I think about it. I kept telling all my friends that I would not cry but I was the first one who started crying. It was a journey of 10 years that I had spent here. I still remember my class teacher crying and telling me that she would miss all of us a lot.
The thing many students forget is, whoever we become in future, these wonderful teachers have played a major role in it. They too put the same effort as our parents.
Damn, writing this got me emotional all over again. The journey was so beautiful! I couldn’t cut down the blog anymore. Thank you to those Wonderful souls who kept me happy during the 10 years of school. I am sorry about missing out so many names.
It is important to work hard and stay dedicated, but equally important to create memories. It is a balance that we have to maintain. Many people often forget that both are important. Don’t make life all about marks, money or some comforts, because if ever you decide to start blogging you might not be able to write more than a blog about it. Like they say you meet everyone you meet for a reason. Maybe one of the reason is to create stories that you can share, to put a smile on some else’s face too.
School is done, time to enter the college gates.
Before and After