From the Days Gone By I Still Recall...

Gone are the days when the school reopened in June and we settled in our new desks and benches. We queued up at the book depot and got our new books and notes with the school emblem on them.

We wanted two Sundays and no Mondays and yet managed to line up ourselves for the daily morning prayers.

We learnt writing with slates and pencils, and progressed to fountain pens and ball pens and then micro tips. We began drawing with crayons we evolved to colour pencils and finally to sketch pens. We started calculating with tables and then with Clarke’s tables and later with computers. Days gone by are not going to return again.

We chased one another in the corridors in intervals and returned to the classrooms drenched in sweat. We had lunch in classrooms, corridors, playgrounds, under the trees and in cycle sheds.

Gone are the days when a single P. T. period in a week’s timetable was more eagerly awaited than the monsoon.

Gone are the days when cricket was played with writing pads as bats and socks rolled into balls.

Gone are the days when few played “Kabadi” and “Kho-Kho” in the scorching sun while others simply played “book cricket” in the confines of a classroom.

I remember flashes of fights but no conspiracies, of competitions but seldom jealousy.

Gone are the days when we used to watch live Cricket telecast in the TV’s in the shop windows during the interval and lunch breaks. Few rushed at 3:50 to conquer window seats in school bus while few others had “Big Fun” – “peppermint”, “kulfi” and “road side pani puri” at 4:00

Gone are the days of Sports day and the school Annual day and the one-month long preparations before them.

Gone are the days of the stressful Quarterly, Half early and Annual Exams and the most enjoyed holidays after them.

Gone are the days of tenth and twelfth standards, when we spent almost the whole year writing revision tests.


We learnt, we passed, we failed, we played, we won, we lost, we enjoyed, we laughed, we cried, we fought, we thought. So much experience, all this and more.

Gone are the days when we used to talk for hours with our friends.
Gone are the days when we played games on the road.
Gone are the days when we used to chat with friends on grounds.
Gone are the days when we studied just to pass.

Gone are the days when we shouted on the road. Now we don’t even shout at home.

Gone are the days when we had no money in our pockets and yet the world and out hearts were full of happiness.


Gone are the days but not the memories which will linger in hearts for ever and ever….