As the bus passed the ghats, I felt the pangs in my stomach, a mixture of feelings. The same that I used to feel five years ago— like nothing had changed.
Homework to be submitted, rules to be followed, friends to catch up on, crush to be stalked, ground to be played on, the Prefect duties to have fun at, gossip to be discussed.
I was going to be back with those familiar faces. So familiar that we hated them. We were bored with them. But we loved them anyway. They were family. A dysfunctional family that we hated and loved, with rules that we loathed on the inside, but we're clueless without. But that wasn't going to happen. The rules didn't apply to me anymore. The walls I used to call home, have become stone-cold now. Only the very old of my family remained. Replaced by unrecognised masks of familiar emotions. They were the same people, just living in a different era.
Note: Still from Taare Zameen Par shot at New Era High School (Courtesy: Aamir Khan Productions)
I can't enter the gate anymore, and feel the fear of Ms. Zarine, or sneak in chocolates in the bottom layer of my bag. I cannot secretly rebel against unfair rules, because when I entered the gate, nothing changed for me. The gate meant nothing. No rules applied to me anymore. No one knew me there, to tease me about the fact that I wore funny pants. No one to stop me from talking to a boy, or enter the amphitheatre... simply no one.
The library I used to call a temple (because I used to go there every day, at the same time) is just a locked door now. The ground I used to worship is just sand and floor now...
Nostalgia fills you with tears because you know that nothing will ever be the same again. Everyone grows, everyone changes. If the dead buildings can change so much, how can we even expect the people to stay the same?