Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. How true is Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s word; Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. Today, as I sit in front of my computer, memories are flooding in, memories of things I found almost impossible to bear some years back! Today, they are nothing but memories…My mind is traveling at a speed of 1000,000 miles per hour or even more, I don’t know where to start or how to start but I have to start from somewhere!
Hmmm…High school…I remember vividly my very first day in one of the state’s prestigious girls ‘high schools. I couldn’t sit in the car because I couldn’t bear to see my pleats disappear, I was prim and proper, looking really smart in my white sleeveless blouse on a neatly tailored dark blue pleated skirt, with white socks and brown sandals.
My first week in school was quite eventful and I still remember my chance meeting with the girls that later became my best friends in the school. We were all asked to assemble in the school auditorium for the principal’s address. Before the principal’s arrival, the school prefects were there to maintain decorum in the hall. In front of me sat this ‘white’ girl( whose name I later found out to be Helen), flanked by several other girls who appeared to be so engrossed in what she was telling them that they didn’t even notice the prefects’ presence. ! I became really interested and I joined them.Well, we didn’t hear the principal come in and we were all asked to come out in front of all the new students and kneel down! On my first day in school! What really got me angry was the fact that when the principal asked the prefects to call out the noise makers, the ‘white’ girl’s name was not mentioned,but those of us around her were called out despite the fact that she did the talking and we only listened. The six of us were on our knees for what appeared to be the whole day but later turned out to be just 45 minutes. I was very angry, not because of the humiliation of kneeling down in front of the new students, but because the culprit was spared because her skin was too tender for the hard floor!
That day, the six of us teamed up against Helen and we promised to make her suffer for what she did. However, Helen somehow found her way into our group and we found out she was a really nice girl, and it was even better to have her for us than against us. That was how I became one of the most popular girls in my school within one week!
Helen’s presence in the group was good in a way, but it opened my eyes to the racial segregation that exists in the society (more on this later)... She made us get away with so many things. My days in high school were full of events and I always ran into trouble. The good thing about me and my friends was our outstanding academic records that made us the envy of other students,making me and my friends even more alienated. Helen changed school after one year but the fear of me and my friends had been instilled in the minds of the seniors such that even when she left, we remained untouchable! The sight of wicked,cane brandishing seniors didn't bother us because we knew we were untouchable! We all missed Helen but life goes on they say, we moved on. Gradually, what started as a group of seven became a group of four, and later just three.
Life as a senior student was fun for us because,maybe due to fear of karma,we were very nice to junior students and they did things for us even without asking them to!
Looking back now, I can’t believe I did most of the things I did in high school. I have learnt from them, they are memories I won’t trade for riches because I know I can’t have the opportunity to do half the things I did back in high school again. Truly, it is surprising how much memory is built in things that were unnoticed at the time they happened and later become fond memories in future!
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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