Note:- This post was guestblogged by Bhagyalakshmi Daga. She was my classmate in school for 2 years, is smart, beautiful and worth 5000 crores.

Ok. Introduction first. I’m Bhagyalakshmi Daga and my friend Kishor Krishnamoorthi asked me do this guest blog. I thought he was on crack.

He wasn’t.

Anyway. I’m here to talk about, yep, you guessed it. School. And yes everybody knows my story, but I’m always willing to repeat it again.

In Hyderabad, Where do you go after 10th? You either go to a junior college or you go to The Hyderabad Public School. I chose the latter. Did i make a mistake? We’ll come to that.

I can’t say i was happy initially. My friends, the one i left behind in my old school, decided to join junior colleges. I was the only one who joined Hps. And it wasn’t even my decision. No, all thanks to dad.

And i can’t say i was happy on the first day. Anything but. I was nervous as hell. And when i entered that hall full of kids (of my own age. help!), i knew i was going to hurl. Hps students were all known for being pretty forward and audacious (no offence) and i believe my old school was always considered beneath Hps. ‘What am i doing here?‘ was my initial response.

From there, i walked alone to my “new” classroom. On the way, i had the chance to notice how really pretty the school was. But i wasn’t going to let that change my feelings. I was still scared about everything.

In class, I sat down alone. Occasionally the girls would try to talk to me, but i was SO scared, i hardly talked. I probably came across as rude then.

And like things couldn’t get worse, our class teacher, Mrs. Michael asked my name in front of everybody. “Bhagyalakshmi” i said and the class burst out laughing. Oh well.

And lets not even go to the ragging part. The seniors came down to our class and asked us to be ready for some fun. And then they took us out and made some of them dance, some of them sing, and asked one to slap somebody. Oh and they asked me to say something i wasn’t able to and so made fun of me. Wait, didn’t i say we won’t go to the ragging part?

After this, i fell sick. No, not because of the ragging. Like really badly sick. Which resulted in missing nearly 4 months of school. I wasn’t complaining. I like being at home. But you know what happens in those first 4 months don’t you? Groups are made. Best friends are found. Bottomline - i was going to be alone again. And that bothered me. I enjoy my occasional seclusions, my solitude but loneliness is a harsh feeling.

You’re thinking, what exactly is she talking about? Did Kishor give her a place to simply vent all this out? No. You’re wrong. That was the first part. Now this, this part of my life, this tiny little part, is called “Happyness” (Ha ha. Way to copy Bl!)

My first happy memory, was being welcomed back. Real warm welcome. When i entered the classroom, nearly everybody jumped up to greet me. Everybody was SO genuinely concerned, that it was hard to push the tears back. Suddenly, i was happy to be back. I smiled my first real smile that day. I had arrived.

And the whole finding friends in those first 4 months thing? Yeah. Bogus. I made great friends almost instantly. And ok, maybe they started talking to me only out of concern, but hey, it was a start.

Things started to look up. And with time, i made best friends. Guys who hardly ever talked to girls, started talking to me. Girls thought i was “adorable”. Haha. Lunch time was my bonding period. I remember Fatik, Sohaila, Kishor, Rithvik, Basheer, Urmez and i would sit and talk about ANYTHING possible.

Came Mrs. Jhansi, our commerce teacher. I thought it would be rude if i don’t mention her, so i decided to. I truly, honestly believe, that if it weren’t for her, our class wouldn’t be half as exciting as it seems. Putting our heads down when she’d teach. Making fun of her for the random-est of things. Making buzzing sounds. Shouting at one another to interrupt her. Eventually she’d yell “Sprain in the neck you all are” and stop teaching. God, we did SO much to piss her off.

And Mr. Babu, our accounts teacher. I will teach my little ones all his excellent one liners. “Kaman kaman, open all of you”. Haha. Long Live Mr. Babu.

And then, came the dance concert. The one event that really bonded us all. We bunked classes, we danced, we laughed, we cried. Getting into the costumes, and making fun of them, yet somehow feeling each one looked their best. The salsa that we were all excited about. Rang De Basanti would get us in a patriotic mood. And Superstar! How the guys cheered when the girls danced. Wanting to hold on to every moment. Giggling like crazy on the shouts of “once more!”, and actually really wanting to dance again. Getting disappointed when the principal said no. We bonded over it all. “Class 11 is the best year of my life” i once told Krutika. She smiled. She knew it was true.

But it was short lived. Class 12 brought some nasty surprises. For all of us. I’m not getting into that. Because this is supposed to be the happy part.

So what I’m going to do is, I’m going to list the top 10 moments of Class 12, In my opinion. :

10. End of board exams.

9. Watching Germany Vs. Argentina’s match at Abhinav’s place.

8. Bunking Mr. Sanjeeva’s class by simply hiding in the girls room.

7. Teachers Day.

6. Dance performance at the Horlicks Wizkids.

5. Freshers at school.

4. The last few days with Mrs. Mira Raj.

3. Sports day preparations.

2. Music competitions.

1. Mrs. Jhansi’s classes.

So yeah. That more or less sums up what i wanted to say. I might have hated coming to Hps, and i might have hated the people initially, but that opinion has changed over time. I may still not call Hps the best school in the world, but it is most certainly the one school that changed my life, for good. It made me more informed, more mature, more friendly, more confident and made me an all new person. It gave me some of the nicest friends and some beautiful memories that i couldn’t possibly forget.

Back to where we began. I chose the latter. Did i make a mistake?

Still need an answer?

I think not.

*Hums the school song and walks out.*

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 6:15 pm and is filed under Friends, Guest Blog, School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.