June 1st And A Flashback

Although it has been eight years since I left my school, June 1 will take me back to that red castle. Today is the reopening day for schools. That’s why I wrote in my Facebook Time Line: “Adieu May. Welcome June, the month that school kids hate now and later becomes a part of their good old memories.”! Every school on this day will have a new fragrance. Everything like uniform, bag, books, etc will be fresh. Moreover, kids will have a bundle of stories of vacation to share with their friends (now it may not be true as they are always connected through internet and cell phones).

Friends at school are very special for the reason that you learn and sense the joy of friendship first from them. I had met a few of my school friends last weekend. Coming to the story, I saw my school friends on our batch mates’ marriage reception last Sunday. Bridegroom was my classmate from LKG to 12^th which means we learned to speak, write and color together. May be because in our primary school talking to another gender was not encouraged, I’d say our friendship was not as deep as 14 years. Still I was surprised when his sister told me that my face is familiar to her. Bride was my batch mate in higher secondary class. She has got a wonderful pair of eyes that I always admired.

In short, their love was nurtured by everyone in our class and so all were eagerly waiting for their marriage invitation. I was invited by both of them for the marriage and reception. On Friday, Yadu called me to ask whether I am attending the marriage. A busy engineer from Mumbai, he rarely comes to Kerala for vacations. It has been years since I met him and his twin brother Vidu. In his strange Malayalam slang he spoke for more than 30 minutes in spite of all roaming charges. Next day, he messaged after the marriage that both Madhavan (bridegroom) and Ponni (bride) look perfect together.

By evening, I received calls from other friends who attended the marriage. They gave me the count of friends who came for the function. Next day I went for the party. I and a group of guys (Jas, Shamin, Jose, Subin, Muneer Babu, Sumesh, Muneer, Sarjun) were the attendees from our batch. Many of them were engineers and doctors in reputed institutions. But for us, we are just schoolmates. All were just enjoying a meet after many years. In between, some of them addressed me as ‘village girl’! “She might publish in her blog all the happenings here. Beware!” while taking a break from his try to finish eating a full plate of rice, Subin warned other guys.

When I left the hall I remembered one of my junior’s words: "Are you coming to School Tomorrow"? Golden words that can never be used again… The unforgettable journey of life...