Doses of Nostalgia: From school buses to flights
~ A Nostalgic experience in the form of a blog, written by Swagato Das.
The day has been exceedingly tiring, with academic commitments consuming both your mental and physical stamina from dawn till dusk. At last, you find yourself in the confines of your room, your home away from home, and you sink into the untidy mattress with a sigh of exhaustion. Seeking solace and distraction, you resort to scrolling through your smartphone.
Abruptly, a notification pops up on your screen. It’s a message from a friend, notifying you of their return home for the holidays and expressing eagerness for your reunion. An unsettling sensation settles onto your mind as you contemplate how to tell them of your regrettable inability to join them, owing to a forthcoming internship assignment in another city.
Your thoughts inevitably drift back to a time when the burdens of life were minimal, confined to the occasional concern of unfinished homework. These recollections are akin to treasured gifts, each one evoking an era when life was less cluttered, and tranquillity remained unburdened by layers of stress. Indeed, there was a period when the anticipation of school days, social interactions with friends, the contemplation of expressing affection to a crush, and engaging in sports like football and cricket were all that the essence of existence was comprised of. Life was devoid of almost all anxieties, allowing you to genuinely enjoy every moment. The excitement of planning weekend getaways with friends, even if these plans often unravelled owing to one reason or the other, was a cherished ritual.
Oh, how this significant transition stealthily approached each and every one of us. This transformation, shifting from traditional chalkboards to modern screen projectors, and from school buses to air travel, symbolized the departure from our sheltered childhoods and marked the commencement of our enduring struggle against the harsh realities of the world. Over time, one comes to realize that they have gained newfound freedom. However, they might ponder whether the price paid for this liberty was steeper than they had anticipated. Returning home after curfew no longer carries the same thrill when there is no authority figure to reprimand them. The desire for personal space away from family and friends loses its rationality when one starts to miss family dinners and gatherings. Lastly, the universal plight of hostel residents across the nation; the meals prepared by one’s mother don’t appear quite as unpalatable when confronted with the monotony of cafeteria food day in and day out.
An anonymous person once said that school is the place where we enter in tears and depart in tears. Truer words have never been spoken. The recollection of initial separation from parents, the endeavour to forge bonds in a totally unfamiliar environment, and the solidarity formed with those who battled the trials of life alongside us — breakups, isolation, struggles, and pain — persist in our memory. Somehow, we navigated through these waters to the point where those friends evolved into a second family, bidding us a teary farewell as we ventured into the next phase of our lives. Even today, regardless of spending the entire day with college friends, late at night, when loneliness creeps in, it’s the friends from those school days that we reach out to. Perhaps the calls do not always connect, but when they do, they transport us momentarily back to the same era of sleepovers and school parties. The rarity of such calls adds to their significance; during these exchanges, you discuss current events in our lives, enjoy inside jokes, and revisit the endearing memories from our school days.
Suddenly, your phone rings once more. It’s your friend calling you.
“Hello, my friend,” you respond :)
Check out the Author:
Instagram: @seagate_1412
