Alma Mater Reloaded

Nine years ago, I wrote my first blog titled 'Alma Mater'. It was an accidental attempt at blogging, stimulated by an absent minded humming of my school song during the wee hours of the day. Today after so many years, this one comes as a sequel to the first blog, this time stimulated by a visit to my alma mater. I owe it to my school for this one too, apart from the many many other things.

It was January 26th, the 70th Republic day celebrations were going on in full swing all over the country. I was excited for two simple reasons, one that it was a holiday and two because it was Alumni meet at school and I was going back after almost 15 years, and that too with my little daughter. She was equally excited, as was visible from her actions, she seemed to be on a trampoline all day. 'How will your school look like? Does your class have small tables and chairs? Does it have a play area? Do you have a ma'm? Will she scold me if I talk to you?' There was no time to think, it was a rapid fire round and it was in my best interests to give a valid reply.

It was a nostalgic moment for me as I entered the gate. Not much had changed, I was overwhelmed to see the old trees, the playground where we played baseball and khokho, our sliding board which was forbidden after 5th std, our classrooms and library (all were locked up though). The stage brought back memories of assemblies, Bible week, Children's day celebrations, Investiture ceremonies. Not even the colour of the paint had changed, a combination of pale blue and off white. The neat handwritten quotes on the black board behind the stage reminded me of Teacher's day and Workers day celebrations. How we used to play with those coloured chalks!

I was awed to see girlies from the 1973 and 1975 batches, they were the ones in larger numbers. It was evident from all the beaming faces that they were all proud to be part of the Dominican fraternity. On demand from the students gathered, we started the event reciting "Our father in heaven", this took me back a couple of decades. Surprisingly I could recall about 80% of it. The office bearers called upon volunteers to share their thoughts. Students from different generations shared fond memories and spoke about the impact the school had made on their personalities and behaviours, and how it shaped their lives.

My little one turned to me and asked 'Aren't you going to speak?' Before I could compose myself, her plan unfolded. 'Mamma speak first and then I will follow.' Wow, just then her plan dawned on me, I wasn't prepared for this though. She had asked me how she could reach the mike a while ago! So I carefully diverted her attention and chose to listen to the others.

My tiny companion reminds me constantly of my childhood days and it was a valuable evening spent with her in a place I cherished the most. I would love to go back again to spend some quiet time, reliving those carefree days. Though I missed my gang, my old friend and me had just enough time to quickly catch up while we were also busy minding our little girlies.