That time of the Year

Its March again and spring is here. Well officially there is no 'spring' in Bombay but there are subtle changes in the weather. Its that time of the year when I'm nostalgic about my school days. March nowadays means tax filing time. But once upon a time, long long it used to mean exam time. Trees begin to sprout new tender leaves which are in amazing and unique shades of green. Yes, look carefully and you can see these changes even in smog filled Bombay (wonder if that is the reason why green happens to be my favourite colour). I was going out for a client meet yesterday and chanced upon school children reading their textbooks on the way to exams. How I miss that period of my life. OK, I don't miss the exams per se, but I definitely miss school. I love the chatter of the children while they were boarding the school bus, the 'imliwalla' outside the school, boys pulling the ribbons of girls...some things remain the same.

I miss:

- Studying on my building terrace during exams.

- The disgust felt because you got that 1 mark 'fill in the blank' question wrong during exams.

- All my friends gathering in my building compound between two papers because it was close to school and very quiet and peaceful.

-The cuckoo singing and we teasing it and it reciprocating.

- The climbing of mango and jamun trees and plucking of raw mangoes and jamuns and the fighting for them when they were being distributed.

- Dreading the open house day.

- Coming out of the school with a big smile and your parents proudly announcing to the world that you that you are one of the toppers.

- The Enid Blytons that you used to devour during the vacations.

- The exchanging of story books.

- The playing of 'saakhli' and catch and hide and seek and 'daba is paais' till late.

- The coming back home with bruises and cuts.

- The gossiping on the compound bench till 10 in the night.

- The Rs. 5 'bhel' and 'rasna' parties on the terrace.

-The going to your grandparents place for the holidays.

- Watching the late sunsets from the terrace and the lovely hues the sky has during dusk.

- The chirping of the birds in the evening.

- The playing badminton in the compound after dinner.

- Discussing how great life would be once we started working and blowing money on clothes.

Ahh... those were the good old days...