Many literatures of different languages and religions see old age as the second childhood. But what I am talking is not about that. I am talking about a different second childhood – the one many experience when they move from their school life to their college life. As the goodness of something or someone is felt in its or theirs absence, we feel bad for leaving the school after we leave.
Some of my friends posted a meme about school life on social media: “We cry the first day there and do the same the last day.” It reflected many of our feelings. Though we always wanted school life to end when we were in there, we are now sad that it ended.
We miss the teachers, both the kind and the harsh ones. We miss the panic of the morning. Our parents running around, trying to get us ready and at the same time getting ready themselves. We miss eating our breakfast in a hurry. We miss getting up late, vowing not to ever repeat that but doing the same the next day and getting our parents’ scolding. We miss the television shows that we watched in the mornings even if we had some class tests in the first period of the school. We miss the heavy heart with which we said goodbye to our parents for some six hours. We miss sharing our snacks with friends in the interval. We miss the interval most of all. We miss the fights we had during the intervals over some pretty big issues. The anger on our teacher’s face when she sees us fighting. The momentary silence it would create among other students. Teachers threatening to call our parents. And sometimes doing so.
For freedom
We miss starting the classes thinking about the last period. Thinking about who handles the last period that day and how that day will end. The happiness when the last hour’s teacher was on leave. The happiness when the teacher of the subject in which we haven’t finished our home work is on leave.
We miss us worrying about the home work given to us that day. We miss how we forgot all that when we got home and sat before the television and remained there till our parents literally dragged us to do our homework. We miss that little fear and panic we felt when we saw our father arriving home from work.
Sometimes the excitement that he might have got something for us. The way we feared showing our progress report to our parents when our marks were low. We miss much more than I can describe.
But what this had led to is more interesting, I would say. We actually are trying to recreate that, knowingly or unknowingly. As far as I know, many of us tried this by watching the cartoons and other TV shows we watched those days. Getting out of school actually made us to want to go back there. That made us realise how much we liked it.
Truth to tell, we never want to get away from our childhood. All our actions in adulthood are just attempts to bring back that golden period we will never get again but only can witness in our children and grandchildren.
siva15.8.1999@gmail.com
