Yo! Mate…
If you could re-live 5 years of your life, which ones would they be? I’m betting the school years would surely be a part of the answer for most people. Especially for us lot, who went to an amazing school at an amazing time and had – yes, the time of our lives!
Come to think of it, school is a pretty funny place. Your folks dress you up and bring you in to plant you as seedlings in shorts and skirts with bags and tiffins. Then a system goes to work on you kneading you through tests and trials for a whole bunch of years. And finally you are ejaculated into the big, bad world at an age when you are full of primal instincts and carnal intentions, to go forth and conquer!
At that point when find your ‘freedom’, that school building looks like the one place you couldn’t wait to get out of. Then life goes to work teaching you a thing or three and slowly you get to re-think ‘freedom’ as you pay the daily price. But at some point down the line when you’re older and wiser, you look up in the rear-view mirror and that school building starts to look like the Taj Mahal in sepia.
As a host of experiences pop up in the mind when you think back, one common thread is the carefree days of freedom and fun. You know that isn’t coming back any time ever and so you miss it more than ever as you travel further away in time.
But then we found a way.
We started like the others, with a 25th anniv bash in 2005 and repeated in 5 and then 10 years later – evenings of fun and nostalgia, but even that was just a party for a few hours. Then two years ago, we did Corbett! The one place Centralians of our time relate to, thanks to Dang and our ‘trips’ each school year.
22 of us from across 4 continents packed off into cars and drove down to Corbett for two unbelievable days. There was everything from safaris to assemblies to uniform shots and a beautiful little movie that captured us in our schooldays connecting to our times and our music, bringing our yesterdays alive. Every shitty thing we ever did, from chalk to chicks was recycled to much mirth late into the night and early into the morning. There were songs, dances, jokes, enactments and every kind of fun, like you were sitting out in a founder’s day after-party in the music room and just being alive in the moment. In sum, we managed to create two days of carefree fun in the middle of the crazy lives we are fortunate to lead.
The craziest thing is how we bond instantly, the moment we meet. For those who weren’t there, you have to see it to believe it. In 10 minutes, we are back in class 11 and it’s total déjà vu as everyone goes back to their teens unchanged. The weirdos are still weird, the jokers are still jokers, assholes are still assholes and the nice guys didn’t finish last. Unfortunately, only the guys landed up otherwise I coulda told you the girls are still as pretty 😉
This time it’s Ranthambhore and we have an even more scintillating ride planned. We’ve found a great place to stay, full of Rajputana regalia and set up two fine evenings. We’ve even taken two safaris and checked out the tigresses for you. One of them almost chased us, but we told her to wait till we came back with Bully.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up and land up. The more there are, the merrier it is.
Life is a blur and we are all on that spin. Let’s grab those two yesterdays and frame them afresh while we still can. Speaking for myself, I’d rather go when I don’t need to take my dentures and walkers…and when that sherni still reminds me of my biwi!
And we’ll be leaving one chair empty in that group pic this time – for Anupinder.
You will be missed mate!
Bolega bhai bum!
The Bash of 80 