The thing about having an elephant's memory is that you remember minute details about things that happened in school way back to the first standard. I am fortunate to have other 'elephant minded' friends (Alpana, Ritika, Rupika) and meeting them and reminiscing about 'old times' has become one of the must do events of every trip that I make to Delhi.
I suppose every school evokes fond memories amongst its students. However I can't think of a single other school that has such a lethal combination of excellence - in every aspect. Apart from the usual academics, sports etc etc, which other school can compete in sheer goondagardi, badmashi and the wild west- ness of Modern School - at least of our era. Bunking class, sneaking off to BM for chaat or Refugee Market for chai and samosas, sitting for hours in the naali next to the basketball court, playing rowdy holi, taking pangas with teachers even getting suspended en masse in the 10th standard for setting off patakas in class. Can any other school top that????
Okay so I'm talking about the antics of the erstwhile 'C' section home of many luminaries. Maybe we were particularly deviant and many of you did not partake of such dubious and multifarious opportunities presented by the school. But it would be hard to find a Modernite impervious to the charms of the red brick building and its vast sprawling fields. I don't know how old the building is but the quaint charm of the 'howlers' (why on earth did they get that name?!) linking the long snaking corridors, the classrooms with their adjoining verandah's, the somewhat strange wooden bridge leading to the girls loo, the geography class perched in one corner presided over by the formidable Juggi (one of my favourite teachers), the banyan tree, the red bajri, the pigeons flying atop the rafters of Shankarlal Hall. I could go on and on.
Over the years nostalgia has tinged all these memories with a warm fuzzy glow. I live in Mumbai. I suppose living away from the old hometown makes all opportunities to meet old friends even more special. I miss the comfort of randomly bumping into people one has known since the year dot, or of evenings that are steeped in chatter about 'those days'. Life moves on and so do we. But whatever we do or wherever we go it is not possible to take the "Modern" out of us. The camaraderie, the friendships, the 'never let the side down' spirit, the sheer joy of being a Modernite. That is something that will remain with us forever!
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