Was it the best time of my life? Let's find out.. my memories from school - 100 Days of Steem

The best thing about memories is making them

This is an excellent theme for a post I feel. I am now 35 years old, well almost there. It has been about 18 years since I left school and surely my life is totally different from what it was back then. In my life, I have done through many experiences, both positive and negative, that have helped me become a better person. And my school life played a big role in my evolution.

Experiences of being a minority
I was born in a small town and studied in 1 school during my childhood and teen years. I am Sikh by religion and as part of the religion, I was not allowed to cut my facial hair and hair on the head. I had to cover my head with a turban. Having to look different from the rest of the crowd, I had my own insecurities. I wasn't very confident. I had trouble mingling with the opposite sex because of my insecurities. India is not a country that respects minorities too much. Things are changing but I grew in a time when people were not very vocal about respecting minorities. My different looks and prejudices, often made me the butt of many jokes and led to some difficulties as a childhood.

Building of Work Ethic
Life was not all bad though. I was very academically inclined. There was pressure from all ends to do well academically, as for most people, academic success can mean a comfortable future. I wasn't born in a rich family and therefore academic success was necessary to ensure that I have a comfortable life. I still cherish all the hard work I put in my studies back in those days and sometimes often think about my life back then to feel motivated when I have to overcome challenges in the current time. In fact, there are some nights where I dream about failing in exams. I wake up finding myself amused on most days that those times still come back to me in the most stupid ways. However, all that hard work kind of help me stay like that to a large extent throughout my adult life.

Fun with friends
There was also a lot of fun. Till today, I am friends with some of my closest friends from school and meeting them often takes us back down memory lane. I was quite notorious, specially during the last few years at school. I learnt how to fight all the discriminatory jokes with nice comebacks and that made me somewhat of a fighter in real life. I and my friends would spend so much time at cafes. During my last 2 years at school, the concept of Starbucks like coffee chains was introduced in India and we had one open in our town. My friends and I would sit there for hours and talk endlessly about events in school or just about anything. These memories have stayed with me forever and even today when I walk into those cafes, I am reminded of those cafes and time spent there.

We would bunk school and also watch movies in theaters. Sometimes back to back. In fact I remember, once 2 of my closest friends went and watched a movie and then I went the next day, all by myself to watch the movie. i sat in the front row seats, gave myself a bad neck ache but the movie discussions that followed with friends was priceless!

The other thing was riding bikes. We all had motorbikes. I know that sounds scary because that was clearly a breach of law but back then, law wasn't that strict. Therefore, we had motorbikes. By international standards, they were kids bikes, 100 cc, but by Indian standards, it was still us breaking the law. We would go make trips to a town in the hills called Mussoorie. The road was very hilly and the beauty was to ride the bike up to the town, have some amazing dumplings and on the way, switch off the bike and let gravity take us back home. Down the hill of course, not a free fall.. lol! In fact so much was the craze of going to Mussoorie, I once went on New Year's eve. Clouds had descended to road level and while coming back, I reached home completely drenched in water and fell ill. However, that memory is worth every pill I took and is absolutely priceless. Will I do it again? A 100 times over!

Mussoorie

Sharing each others' sorrow and joy was equally beautiful. Getting ready together for the school farewell, filling scrapbooks and making fun of students and teachers alike during the classroom are also things are remember. I was so evil at times that some teachers would have a hard time taking classes. I have been reprimanded as well a few times but those memories, and the innocent mistakes of teenage years are all forgiven and still something to discuss during get-together.

Those are some of my memories that I cherish from childhood. This post is my entry to the following contest. I encourage you all to participate and also encourage you to vote because 20% of the rewards go to ph-fund, an initiative by @project.hope