I went to visit school. The same silver bus came to pick me up at exactly 7:00 A.M in the morning. I stared at it from my window and my lips curled into a smirk- nothing had changed. I sat on my usual spot, behind the driver, next to the window. Everything was the same, the seat covers, the children, the timings; it was just the driver and my feelings that were different that day. As the bus stopped at a traffic signal, I stared blankly out my window at the red, yellow, and green lights…it felt so weird to be “visiting” school rather than “attending” it now. As the bus neared the school, everything seemed just so surreal. The same guards, the same custodians checking the vehicle up and down, the same Mr. Ravi greeting the buses, and the space spot to park. I meekly got out and made my way to the high school building, trying to avoid the glances of those around me, who thought I was a foreign particle in their school premises. At the high school entrance, I met Mrs. Misra, the epitome of sweetness and friendliness! She greeted me so warmly and inquired me about college and status quo. I was trying to avoid meeting teachers until I had corrected my visual appearance, but I just couldn’t keep myself from meeting her. I dumped my abaya into my brother’s locker and made my way to the office to report as a visitor. Mrs. Preethi Gomez , my high school secretary just smiled at me and told me to report to the office at eight. I met Mrs. Harrison, my VP, and was totally taken aback when she embraced me in a hug! She had always maintained herself as a figure of authority and now coming to know her at this level was quite surprising. Later, I galloped excitedly to the counselor’s office to meet Mrs. Naidoo & Mrs. Priya. After hearty hugs, surprised gasps, and handshakes, I briefed them about my college and about my whereabouts. It was funny how I saw these faces daily at one point in time and now I had to especially visit school to see them. It saddened me greatly. I had just stepped out of the office when I was literally held in siege by Mrs. Sindhu, my lab assistant, Mrs. Yadav, my political science teacher, Dr. Riad, my human biology teacher and Mrs. Saleem, my geometry teacher. I was literally attacked by a flood of fond and warm memories as I met of all them one by one. They were as excited to see me as I was to meet them. It was just amazing! After meeting them all up and promising to drop by into their classrooms, I made my way to Mrs. Lejmi, my chemistry teacher’s room. She was busy working on her computer and my visit came to her as a surprise. Like her usual self, she greeted me with a warm hug and after briefing her about myself, I headed to Mrs. Madani, my Arabic teacher. I wanted to meet each and every one of my teachers, even the ones from middle school. Talking to Mrs. Madani is an experience of its own. Once you start, there’s nothing that can drag you away, even time, but sadly I had to report to the office and it was already getting late. As I made my way down the stairs in the administration building, flashbacks raced through my mind…I remembered the noisy atmosphere around that place when we entered our Arabic class in herds of five to six people, I recalled how I tried climbing the stairs backwards, the frequent trips to the bathrooms downstairs just to avoid Jane Eyre during literature classes…the photo shoots we took when we initially got our gowns, the wilderness that first floor was associated with…I couldn’t help smiling to myself…there were parents sitting in the administration block, there to pay dues and get admission forms, I’m sure they thought I was crazy, looking at each and everything and smiling to myself…but I just didn’t care. As I passed by Mrs. Barretto’s world history class, I glanced around the massive collages of photos adorning the walls…how many times had I tried to look for familiar faces in those collections…how many times I had pressed the palms of my hands and the tips of my fingers on the cool glass cover to find and point at a few familiar faces. I took a deep sigh and exited the administration block…
I was expecting Hisham to pop in any minute. At first, I went around looking for him, expecting him to appear from behind a bush or from under a tree, but to no avail. On my round trip around the school, I visited the library to meet Mrs. Rema, my librarian, a person who had scolded me ten billion times, but still loved me to bits. I had started so many mornings of my school life by greeting her on the library front desk and that day was no different. I can never forget the way she exclaimed when she saw me, “SIDRA!”…I felt so special as she gave me a mighty hug. I inquired about Mrs. Helen, one of the many library assistants, who’d always ask on me like a motherly figure. I heard she had resigned to work at ARAMCO. I had really wanted to meet her, but anyways, I’m happy for her. Seeing that it was almost eight, I ran back to the office. Once there, I started helping them sort the mail out. I heaved the heavy carton from the floor onto the table. It contained letters from the University of Miami. I started taking out stack after stack, sorting them into groups according to grade level. I was surprised to find so many envelopes addressed to people in my class. I separated Ahmad’s, Hina’s, Hisham’s, Naseeha’s, Amir’s, Nawal’s, Hibah’s and mine. As I kept the other mail in neat piles, I got a message from Hisham asking me where I was. I told him about my whereabouts and after five months, I finally got to meet one of my classmates/friends from school! He hadn’t changed at all. The same care-free, I-don’t-give kind of an attitude, disheveled hair and the same smirk on his face. Hisham Siddiqui was one of the most thick-skinned people I had come across in my high school life. But that day was simply amazing. I came to know him at a very different level, I discovered that he was way beyond what I saw him as. It was nice talking to him about the old days- Mrs. Barreto’s history classes, Dr. Riad’s human biology classes and so on and so forth. Sometimes you fail to see what people are really all about and then later you realize what they material they were in one glance. This was something I experienced that day….We went to the canteen, feasted on spring rolls, we went for a walk around the administration building, I engraved “Hisham got into AKU” on a tree in front of the administration building, we explained to everyone that we hadn’t started college yet and how I had gotten rejected by AKU, and Hisham had gotten in on the first merit list, that too on full scholarship covering his tuition and boarding fees. I took pictures of random things- sometimes a bag of trash, sometimes French fries, sometimes the books in the library, while Hisham just rolled his eyes at my hysteria. I confessed to him as to why I had hated him so much and why he had suddenly gained the status of an irritant in my eyes, I’m glad he understood and reciprocated in a positive manner. I’ve never said this to him on his face, but I really appreciate the look of “lack of concern” on his face. It’s a trait I’d like to possess; it comes very handy at times, especially because Sidra Chaudhry sucks at looking all composed. As we were roaming around, we came across a bunch of preschool kids playing in the playground, they all looked so cute running around the colorful slides and swings, so I just had to stop and take a picture with them. And that’s what I exactly did. The kids seemed so uninterested in a camera, they were constantly fidgeting and looking around everywhere except in the direction of the camera. It started to annoy me, I felt like burying them all in the sand with just their heads sticking out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that literally. It seemed to be chilly in the morning, so I put on my new sweater and by the afternoon, it was freaking hot! The sun shone with all its might on me, at that moment I felt as if it was following me around just to rub it into my face. Lol. The day ended with me bidding farewell to Hisham, I had hoped we’d meet up when Hibah came later, but that just didn’t happen. But seriously, if he gets into AIR university, insh’Allah, Anam, me and him will have a gala time. Guaranteed.
I was expecting Hisham to pop in any minute. At first, I went around looking for him, expecting him to appear from behind a bush or from under a tree, but to no avail. On my round trip around the school, I visited the library to meet Mrs. Rema, my librarian, a person who had scolded me ten billion times, but still loved me to bits. I had started so many mornings of my school life by greeting her on the library front desk and that day was no different. I can never forget the way she exclaimed when she saw me, “SIDRA!”…I felt so special as she gave me a mighty hug. I inquired about Mrs. Helen, one of the many library assistants, who’d always ask on me like a motherly figure. I heard she had resigned to work at ARAMCO. I had really wanted to meet her, but anyways, I’m happy for her. Seeing that it was almost eight, I ran back to the office. Once there, I started helping them sort the mail out. I heaved the heavy carton from the floor onto the table. It contained letters from the University of Miami. I started taking out stack after stack, sorting them into groups according to grade level. I was surprised to find so many envelopes addressed to people in my class. I separated Ahmad’s, Hina’s, Hisham’s, Naseeha’s, Amir’s, Nawal’s, Hibah’s and mine. As I kept the other mail in neat piles, I got a message from Hisham asking me where I was. I told him about my whereabouts and after five months, I finally got to meet one of my classmates/friends from school! He hadn’t changed at all. The same care-free, I-don’t-give kind of an attitude, disheveled hair and the same smirk on his face. Hisham Siddiqui was one of the most thick-skinned people I had come across in my high school life. But that day was simply amazing. I came to know him at a very different level, I discovered that he was way beyond what I saw him as. It was nice talking to him about the old days- Mrs. Barreto’s history classes, Dr. Riad’s human biology classes and so on and so forth. Sometimes you fail to see what people are really all about and then later you realize what they material they were in one glance. This was something I experienced that day….We went to the canteen, feasted on spring rolls, we went for a walk around the administration building, I engraved “Hisham got into AKU” on a tree in front of the administration building, we explained to everyone that we hadn’t started college yet and how I had gotten rejected by AKU, and Hisham had gotten in on the first merit list, that too on full scholarship covering his tuition and boarding fees. I took pictures of random things- sometimes a bag of trash, sometimes French fries, sometimes the books in the library, while Hisham just rolled his eyes at my hysteria. I confessed to him as to why I had hated him so much and why he had suddenly gained the status of an irritant in my eyes, I’m glad he understood and reciprocated in a positive manner. I’ve never said this to him on his face, but I really appreciate the look of “lack of concern” on his face. It’s a trait I’d like to possess; it comes very handy at times, especially because Sidra Chaudhry sucks at looking all composed. As we were roaming around, we came across a bunch of preschool kids playing in the playground, they all looked so cute running around the colorful slides and swings, so I just had to stop and take a picture with them. And that’s what I exactly did. The kids seemed so uninterested in a camera, they were constantly fidgeting and looking around everywhere except in the direction of the camera. It started to annoy me, I felt like burying them all in the sand with just their heads sticking out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that literally. It seemed to be chilly in the morning, so I put on my new sweater and by the afternoon, it was freaking hot! The sun shone with all its might on me, at that moment I felt as if it was following me around just to rub it into my face. Lol. The day ended with me bidding farewell to Hisham, I had hoped we’d meet up when Hibah came later, but that just didn’t happen. But seriously, if he gets into AIR university, insh’Allah, Anam, me and him will have a gala time. Guaranteed.
~*~ This blog entry was supposed to be up on November 3, 2008. But since I couldn’t finish it up on time, I had to delay its publication. But I really wanted it to be up because it spoke in heaps about how it felt to visit something from the old days and feel like life had pushed you back and to feel the immense rush of time as you stand and glance at your past. You sometimes feel like you’ve been tricked into a mirage, that you’re watching something on a projector screen, you feel like you’ll snap out of the surrealism, only to realize that the more you try to come out, the more it pulls you strongly towards itself. You suddenly feel too big for the little things around you, that may be little in size, but colossal in importance…and sometimes you feel too small around the humungous things around you, that maybe huge in size, but so petty in reality. And then you conclude that yes, life goes on and it takes us along with it. Like the rough waves of the sea, and we are left to ponder about our forlorn lives in the noise of the tides…
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