VI - D

I know this post will hardly make sense to most of the readers here but I need to write this…to honour a part of my life that has made me who I am today and given me the strength and confidence to shed all insecurities and inhibitions and put my best foot forward – Class VI-D.

We all came from different sections…randomly picked from three sections and bound by norms rather than affection. Come lunch break, we’d all split into tiny groups and run to the sections we’d known for the last seven years. We didn’t have the freedom to sit with our “section people” and I disliked the girl who sat beside me and the feeling was rather mutual. She was a vegetarian who didn’t like the fact that I had non vegetarian food in my lunch box. Even though our desks were joined, we’d consciously maintain this invisible border which was not to be crossed. Then there was this girl behind me who laughed so loud that she’d put Santa Clause to shame! The big, tall girl who I’d seen around school and who I’d assumed was a bully was also in the same class. My “section friends”, even though in the same class were nowhere near my seat. Everyone seemed so alien…there was a girl who stammered, but seemed sweet…her friend seemed anything but sweet! The new girl from class V, who bragged way too much and butted into everything, was also in the same class…oh, then there was the school’s yoga-girl…a girl with Einstein-hair…a girl who wore studs in only one ear…there was even a girl who looked like Johnny Lever(!!!)…and a dozen others I had neither seen nor heard about before. TWO girls in the class had the same name as mine…it was a nightmare. To top it all, we had this old woman as our class teacher who had made it her life’s mission to keep us away from our original sections...she restricted us from running off to our old sections during breaks, shuffled our seating arrangements periodically and forced us into group activities. I didn’t like her one bit.

I don’t remember the exact moment or incident but it seemed like the woman’s persistence conquered us. All of us started mingling and discovered that we had more in common than we thought. I think we all learnt to be a little less judgemental and a little more accepting. It turned out that the girl beside me and another girl in the class learnt dance from the same teacher who taught me as well. The girl who stammered turned out to be the sweetest singer and was impossible to anger…even if I made her sing “My heart will go on” all through the lunch break. She is now one of my best friends – a brilliant writer who can probably talk her way out of trouble! Her friend turned out to be rather sensitive and she has the softest hair which she’d let me mess up anytime I wanted. She became my other best friend- a rare, wonderful blend of critic and confidante. Einstein-hair was a laughter riot and we had so much to talk about! She is currently my walking, talking dictionary of music/movies/books. The new girl was no longer annoying; instead she was rather sweet and a powerhouse of energy! Johnny Lever and her friends became fans of my lunch and I thought our Johnny Lever was funnier than the original one.The tall girl I assumed to be a bully, turned out to be easy going and cheerful; infact her house became our regular den! Then there’s a very special girl whose ingenious community which still helps us stay in touch from all parts of the world, inspired me to write this humongous article…back in school she believed she was 2 millimeters taller every morning…heehehe. And another girl I hardly knew became my drool-over-Cole buddy…her wit and intelligence, a class apart.

The earliest memory I have of us bonding was Teacher’s day. Despite being a good dancer, I’d always been a little apprehensive about coming forward and taking the lead because I was probably afraid that people wouldn’t think I was as good as I thought I was. But VI-D was magical. The girl who used to sit beside me, who didn’t like me much, whom I didn’t like much…put me in the lead. Together we choreographed (my 1^st choreography) “Cotton-eye Joe”…made up strange names for steps to make it easier to remember…decided formations and practiced together during breaks and after school. For the first time in my school life, I was being recognised for a talent I was so proud of and it felt wonderful. That year, my class-mates also made me deliver my first (impromptu) solo performance for one of the teachers I was most afraid of…yes, I was mortified but at the end of the performance, I received the most wonderful gift – a hug from the very same teacher.

That year was also our class teacher’s last year of teaching before she retired…and what a mark she had left in our hearts. On the last day of class, all of us went out to our junior classes and consoled the girls who were as horrified with the thought of section D as we were a year before.

We all bonded with each other more in that one year than we had in the past seven years. Section D was probably the only section where we didn’t have any kind of groupism…where every little talent was cherished, every occasion celebrated…where every single girl was rediscovered in a new light. Over the years, the bonds in Section-D only became stronger and our unity reflected in all our activities. Section-D produced the highest number of Vice-captains and prefects and some of the most brilliant students of our batch. It might be something too insignificant for the school to acknowledge and honour…but for Section D, it’ll always be remembered.

Everyone’s come such a long way now- some pursuing their dreams, some discovering new ones…making it difficult to stay in touch constantly. Amongst everyone, I have probably drifted away the furthest – never by choice, but by my incapability to balance my dual life. Yes, I choose the words dual life because college for me has been a complete detour…the oddness of it taking me completely away from my cherished school life. Where school had been about opening up and being nothing but myself, college was about forming walls and protecting myself. But never for once has the importance of my friends from VI-D been diminished in my life. I know, I talk non-sense and make a total ass of myself around you all…but I fail to express myself when I require it the most. I feel overwhelmed when I think about a promise we’d made in the turn of the new century, way back in VIII-D…it seemed so distant and unrealistic then, but today, just 2 years away from the plan actually materialising…it is only the most anticipated event!

May God bless all of you and may the magic of VI-D remain in our lives forever…