The Sun Settles on the Horizon (Part 2)

With the incidents of half an hour ago still fresh in my mind, I felt reluctant to go ahead with our practice for the thoroughly unprepared performance we were to deliver in about half an hour's time.....yet, I felt that perhaps a distraction would be welcome, as it would drive away the negative vibes that this day had unfortunately generated. My greatest fear, at that point, was that the events earlier would perhaps convince some of my friends to boycott the special assembly which we would be conducting for 14 young mentally challenged kids who would be arriving as special guests to our school, in the hope of sharing in our Christmas joy! But thankfully, by then, the anger had faded away to a great extent, and though for some, it was replaced by a sense of apathy towards the school, any change in mood at all only seemed favourable at that stage!.......

The assembly rolled on, and after our young guests performed on stage for the crowd, I was glad that they were treated to warm applause! The anger had clearly ebbed away! With that said, we stepped up to our mikes to dole out our last(and least prepared) performance in STCS! Just standing there gave me enough joy to last a lifetime.......the reaction no longer mattered! The song was "eventful" to say the least! In between, Kichchan grabbed the mike and seemingly refused to let go......forcing Sidharth to walk over and share my mike, causing a ripple of laughter among some of the audience! Overall, the reaction was mixed, while some said we performed very well, others blamed the mikes(which used to be our excuse all of last year!) and said nothing could be heard clearly, and the music critics in the crowd agreed that we umm...."SUCKED"!....Whatever the reaction, I was just happy to have the opportunity to sing in front of my friends for 1 last time.....nothing else ever mattered!

The last 3 periods breezed by with laughter and cheer, the occasional song, the "We Will Rock You" chant(which has been an STCS anthem since i joined in 6th)......and whateva other disturbances we could create! I made a short trip in between to 8-D, to give the kids I'd had to boss around as a prefect all year a well-deserved treat! But it was only once the final bell rang that the realization truly dawned on us....School was over!....and from that moment on, the emotions flew unchecked and unbound! WE chanted and shouted till our throats ran dry! WE shouted for our friends, we shouted for our class, for our school, our teachers, for everything that had defined our lives for so many years! Seeing Vishnu sobbing uncontrollably only re-inforced the magnitude of this moment! Every student whose eyes met mine seemed to be on the verge of tears! It was joy, ecstacy, sadness and agony all at the same time! We jumped, howled, laughed, cried and resorted to every ANIMALISTIC means of displaying our pent-up emotions! I lost track of how many hugs I shared with my friends, and how many times I said the words "Love you da","Take Care" and "I'll Never Forget You".........damnit, my eyes well up with tears even now as I blog about it!

If you ask me to be honest, then NO, my batch wasn't perfect! We had our flaws and our shortcomings---perhaps we weren't as loyal to the school as we ought to have been, perhaps we were a bit instinctive at times, and let emotions judge our reactions,......we weren't the most disciplined, perhaps not even the brightest(for that can be judged only by our teachers).........but we were what we said we were, a group of straight-forward, honest, talented young people, who were just kids at heart and wanted nothing more than to enjoy each other's company and to give each other memories to cherish through eternity! Given a chance, I wouldn't wish to be part of any other batch, in any other school! I shall never forget the faces of these people I saw today......May their star shine forever brighter than the sun!