A Memoir - My School

I, me and my school!

The memory of my childhood is mostly about the school life for me. While i shifted 2-3 schools due to family movements, my strong memories are of the school in Bangalore, where i spent most of my schooling.

When I reflect, it’s clear that my core personality was shaped while I was at school, and I seem to have picked up a few practices during school days, that have become a way of life till date.

A case in point is the practice of walking and use of public transport. I walked to school, school to home, home to special interest classes, and walked back home - i always walked where ever i went - and i continue to consider walking intuitively, than hiring an auto to commute.

I later used public transport to go to college, and again - that stuck with me later in life too - whichever place i go to - i look at the buses - and how the routes connect to my destination, and navigate through the city. This was a huge advantage when i visited abroad. While my colleagues would spend a fortune booking cabs to see around the city, I’d choose to walk and travel by public transport, one of the best ways to intimately experience the city.

My interest in subjects, vastly depended upon how much i liked the teacher teaching that subject - i was fortunate to have teachers who showered all the love and affection possible, and pushed me on all kinds of extra-curricular activities - from extempore speech, writing essays, arts and sports.

My love for reading, writing and learning languages – unsurprisingly stemmed from my amazingly inspiring teachers at school. They instilled a sense of freshness to learning language. English was a big pull, and i remember my science teacher usually conversing in English with us, just so we become fluent. She used to often ask to meet my parents, and showed them how well i did at school - and motivated them to support me in my interests both in and out of school.

I was the official 'news-maker' in the school - someone who'd read the newspaper for the assembly every day - a habit that caught on even after school laid the seed of interest with current affairs. I continue to love things that i loved as a child. My ease with writing, is a gift from my school teacher, who'd train us on structuring our thoughts first, making it a pleasant reading experience for the reader, and use of colors even in an examination paper. I loved going to school, hugely motivated to travel and represent my school in all the competition nurturing competitiveness through life, even beyond schools.

While life seemed great, there are a few regrets too! I was too busy as a child, never had a scheduled 'play time', Wish I had played a lot more carefree and experienced the joy of doing nothing.

School had grinded social pressures of achieving marks, getting admissions in a good college and building individual excellence - wish i had a head start in learning how to work in group, collaborate and appreciate the collective goodness from early on. Some projects or works of art acknowledging a group's effort than creating individual heros – thereby indirectly learning to collaborate and building trusting, secure relationships.

All said and done, my school experience sculpted my individuality and as a person. These years laid the foundation for me to become self aware, confident, comfortable with solitude yet enjoy the social interactions. My childhood is a treasure of pleasant memories of my school, teachers and friends I made during that time. The world seemed perfect, with full of promises and hope for future. What a good life! J

Article published first in Bayalu, a monthly magazine by Azim Premji Foundation | November 2013