I rolled my eyes twice over before I could take in the enormity of the Assam Valley School. With a polished, locked trunk and little other baggage I entered the threshold of the school to find almost nothing understandable. Life changed; it felt like an opera melody on fast-forward with a montage of faces to remember and a thousand reminiscences to be cherished for a lifetime.
Much though I would have liked this last piece of writing on the pages of the Assam Valley Express to be nostalgic, I find myself laughing at the contrast of emotions. I knew that I would one day have to leave this school, never to return as a pupil again, but I had not given it much of a thought until now. Bidding adieu to the Assam Valley School is going to be one tumultuous thing to do. I find myself wan from the pangs of homesickness that I have already begun to feel, for this school is my home.
Luring me with literature and drowning me in soulful musical splendour: there's just too much I owe to this school. This haven that I have learned to love has not only given me a plethora of opportunities to delve into but it has also let me build unforgettable friendships with like-minded individuals. Sprinkled with incidents sillier than one's vivid imagination can come up with, and with pranks more foolish than those a four-year old would try to have a hand in,my first years in school were bliss.Insouciant as ever, I must have trespassed into impermissible land at unholy hours; seldom must I have jumped on my friend's bed, using the creaking bed as a trampoline; and movie marathons on Saturday nights spilling over to Sunday mornings must surely have been a favourite.
Today I may not be a nanotechnology genius or anything of that ilk, but there is a sense of pride within me when I am able to strike a conversation with a perfect stranger; a feeling of certainty that I will not be lost in the big, bad world; and the assurance that I'm one of the privileged few in a nation so fraught with competition who has been able to avail a sound education from the Assam Valley School. Having been here since 2002, I now realize how so many of us have had to toil under the scrutinizing sun to bring this school out of oblivion and back to it's present state of greatness.
I do recall having my times on stage. All the agonizing seconds where I was left trembling below the nonchalant veneer while delivering a dialogue or reading a speech. Yet, of all these, what veritably glitters through is music. For of all the things left done or undone, music has a hold over my heart. The scenes in cloistered cubicles with the piano; my first solo performance during Founders'; the conflicts and temptations; all of it embarrasses me but, at the same time amazes me. My heart fills with immense gratitude as I think of all that this school has bestowed upon me; it goes beyond the common measures of education.
Now as I am at the brink of my school life, there is too much to contemplate upon, and one is tired of fighting time. This Founders', as we, the batch of 2010 are all set to lead from the front, I hope that this will be the most memorable Founders'. I know that I will sail stormy seas as I go beyond the sheltered and sheathed gates of my cherished school but I am braced for what lies on my way, owing to the strength garnered from the day I had stepped into this domicile of knowledge and wisdom.
Published For AVE- Founders' Issue-2009
