Vijaya High School Calling!!

Last Sunday marked a rare, one-of-its-kind sort of occasion...We, the ex-students of Vijaya High School, Class of '99, got together and celebrated a much-awaited reunion. The idea was spear-headed by Pradeep BR, implemented by a gang of enthused boys and appreciated by a whole lot of us who marked our attendence with an unconcealed, bubbling pleasure! Aside meeting long-lost buddies and chatting away to the oblivion, it also brought with itself a sense of acute nostalgia...And even before I realised, I had put on memory's precious hat that eclipsed active thought-process....

This school happens to be not just my alma-mater, but also the place where I came into contact with the big, bad world, as they say it. Not that my classmates were vile, wicked types ( Infact our most heinous crimes were limited to bunking classes while still in school, designing pranks that couldn't possibly originate from a sane mind and the like....;-))
But for the kind of person I had grown up to be, after a sheltered and protected childhood where I used to be the queen of all that matters, an apple of ma 'n pa's eye, my teachers' pet, after winning scores of competitions, unbeatable, energetic to the point of being restless and adored, I suddenly felt like I was in this maze where I HAD to find my way. That was the absolute first time I got a taste of people, in true variety.

There were people from various social, religious, economic backgrounds. Which in it's collective unison contributed to chalk-and-cheese difference in the outlooks of people out there. For me, who had grown up in the cocoon of like-minded people, it turned out to be an indispensible learning-process.. There were times when I just couldn't understand why people behave the way they do, or why do they talk about certain important things in such a careless manner..... when I look back, I only see how much THAT experience has helped in shaping me up. Because, beyond the initial moments of blunt shock, once I learnt to adapt myself and not take anything personally, I realised that this is precisely the way people are..that no one is better or worse, everybody out there is present to have the best time of their lives and it is purely a matter of acceptance that people ARE different from one-another, that this difference spurs off a different code of personal ethics, that even the most unethical person is living by the law HE has defined for HIMSELF. And most importantly, cliche as it may sound, it reminded me of Mother Teresa's words that said,
" If you go on judging people you will have no time left to love them"

Well, I understand that loving the entire humanity is a steep Teresa-like quality that atleast I am not capable of, but for the good of my own soul and to maintain my saneness of purpose and comprehension of mind, it is indeed much better to not analyse, but appreciate people and enjoy them!

Vive la difference!!

PS: I will put up some of the pics of the event in my next post where I shall write more about the event itself