I visited University yesterday. Met several school friends and as they spoke, recalling of a coming up Get Together of the 2011 group, one of them asked whether I’d join that day. I said ‘yes’, promptly. For now I have made plans to go. Reunions and party like gatherings generally put off me a bit as they require long plans about what to wear and how to go. But someone said that I should not miss it. Because it is once in a life time experience .It reminded me of memories and leftovers.
Clock hands move fast. Yes. It got me thinking that way when I realized that I’m about to finish my undergraduate studies. I am only left with a handful of university moments. And that includes a three day orientation program where I slept almost , a senior boy who threatened me with a scissor to cut my hair because the plaits didn’t look nice , up and down visits to the Examinations Unit to collect admissions , assignment submissions , deadline issues and a few hours of exam torture .
But school years were different. Looking back , I went to school with two objectives. To play with friends where ever and whenever possible . Second, to hold meetings , raise funds for events and extra activities like concerts . Nothing in between the interval has inspired me. I was never on time for lessons .And was not in class most often . Most days. Every school day was like an out –of –class activity time for me. I have countless bad –day- school stories. I got in trouble for the general mischief.
Apart from lessons in fact school years are a lot like reunions. You would find a jing bang around you doing different things. They’ll laugh together with you. They’ll bully you. They will annoy you. They will make faces at you when you get on the stage. They will make phone calls and tell you to be present in school the next day for some important meeting and then go missing when you come to school. It is certainly a unique gathering of people that you want meet again. There are sad days and stories. There is disagreement and fight.
The reunion is over now. There are two things hanging. Leftovers and memory.
Think of some bread crumbles left in your meal .The left overs will only keep for a week or so. They’ll soon turn into some fungi. But if you freeze them or make a bread crumble pudding out of it you can make it last for several months.
I took Chemistry only until O/L’s .After second grade there was no reason to go back to elements. I remember how I read the back of a shampoo bottle while taking a shower and realized I could draw most of the chemicals mentioned on the wrapper. This was a year or two after O/L’s. But now, six or seven years later I think I can do it. Not sure though. It’s vague. I remember how I handled an industry system alone with another friend when everyone else in my group didn’t know how to program it. But no longer can I create systems now. I barely remember the coding techniques for Visual Basic or C++ . Life has a way of making leftovers. Take a cup full of water. Empty it. Now you would see tiny drops left although the glass is empty. It takes some time for the cup to dry. Until then there is a drop or two left. Likewise some things you learn will stay for a day or so. The moment its purpose stops, they go out of the system.
Memory is what you said and did. Or the experiences you have had in school or elsewhere.
I hated French. I remember how I sneaked out of class even without telling the Teacher. My books were almost empty. And always kept promising to cover up them the next day. However, promises were never kept. I had friends who took my books home to write notes for me. This is how I got through A/L’s. The girl who sat next to me often got scolded for failing to keep me in class. I remember how I and other friends kept pressing buttons in elevators when teachers got into them and made them stay in the same level over and over again. During free periods we were in grounds playing cricket or elle. I remember those days when we were switched into different classes and how I managed to be in my friends’ class through out. I could recall our grade 12 Accounts teacher, Mrs Perera who caught me several times for playing cricket in the classroom and always believed that I should stay home and not come to school because I was only interested in other things and not lessons. I was always organizing something even when I was not a member or an office bearer of such clubs and societies. Clubs and societies have made me what I am today. They have taught me to to risk or give up. To respect and have patience. To beat time no matter how slow I am and was during the process.
This is the devilry in school, about teachers, about learning and memories which took much longer time to make than a few class periods which I still remember.
So, let me tell you this. With time you will forget Pythagoras. You will not remember what involves in making CH2O6 or what transactions are debited and credited. But memories will take you a long way. It is always good to save some time to make memories while acquiring knowledge.
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