Out with the Old, In with the New

 I love quoting high philosophers like Nietzche, Camus and Kant on my blog. Today, I continue this trend as I remember the words of Sharpay Evans, the greatest character of the High School Musical trilogy. 

"It's out with the old, and in with the new,

Goodbye skies of grey, hello skies of blue"

The past month has been a whirlwind of change. The boards ending, to a twenty day break, to new schools, to new seasons, to new music, to Akela getting into more fights, it's been a lot. Not to mention, the jackets have been stuffed in the back of the shelf and my dinosaur shorts from Camp are the new staples. But I digress. 

What I really want to talk about is Daksha. As the end of our tenure approached, I saw people getting emotional and turning to cliches like 'It's the end of an era' or 'We're reaching the next level of life', but I shrugged it off. What is the big deal? We all knew this was coming. We knew it since we were in first grade. But people are like a painting. You can only appreciate them when you are at a distance. Otherwise you'll only find the hairs up Mona Lisa's nostrils.

While at school, we could only see the lows, the bad days, the exhaustion, the disagreements, the misunderstanding, the relentless study. My first day at my new school changed that for me. I went from a tiny, close-knit group of fourteen to a sea of students. Everything was familiar at Daksha. We walked about like we owned the place. All teachers known to us, all children familiar, all helpers who had cared for us since we were toddlers. The comfort of being known and taken care of is beautiful, and I can't explain it to you now. I missed it terribly.

Now, I look back and I remember cracking up at lunch, playing games during the breaks, getting in and out of hot water together, going out for movies, celebrating birthdays and sharing experiences. Love it or hate it, that was all I had known for so much of my life and it was weird to not have it anymore. 

Recently, our group reconvened for a final celebration at Jubilee Hills Club organised by our principal, Anita aunty. We had spent 20 days apart, but the second we saw each other everything was easy again. We didn't have to make an effort , because friendship is a reflex. It can't be helped, it just happens. 

That's not to say PORPS has been anything less than fun. It's a wonderful experience to make friends, to meet new people and to learn new things. But at the same time, I'll always carry a little piece of our purple elephant with me. 

This is a huge thank you to all the teachers of Daksha, all the helpers, all the bus drivers, all the faculty, all the students and all my batchmates. Thank you for everything you've given me