as i said in my previous post....St.Patricks...is still the place i love most...unlike many of my peers....who somehow started developing a disliking for the school as it is accomodating girls now....speaking as a patrician i hate,loathe and despise the idea.......and i honestly think the girls don't have it in them to carry forward the patrician spirit,certainly not!!....though,now i think it was a fair call....with Sodepur and Ukhra A.G.church....on the verge of closing down....come on guys lets spare a thought for the girls....even then,i would not hate my school for more than one reason.....
my years in ST.Patricks....were most cherished yet most difficult...no..i am not talking about..."i fell in love with a girl and then broke up".....kind of scenario....its far more than that...when i was in standard eight....my mom fell ill...'PEMPHIGUS VULGARIS'---an auto immune disorder quite similar to cancer except that the mortality is much less.....i would not go into the case history....she was wrongly treated in Kolkata...i hate the place...for a year....and as a last resort we turned to vellore...she's ok now...but medication continues as the disease is controllable...not curable... point is she has spent the better part of her life since then in Vellore....now she goes to Vellore twice a year for check up.........
i wasn't alone then......i had ST.Patricks,my grandma,Aritra Majumder and sports.....my grandma has been the one who has looked after me during my teens....she's the strongest person i have ever known....both physically and mentally.....i am not even qualified to idolise her....that should say it all....during all this while my alma mater has been my second home...or maybe the first...and with that has come support(i could not find a good enough adjective)....from aritra....its not hard to say that he was and is easily my best friend......with the sickness of my mom....i had three deaths in my family...all close to me and at an young age....at that time...aritra was there...always...he didn't console me...he never even talked about it....knowingly or unknowingly...cause it would not have done me any good.sympathy wasn't something i needed from him...my relatives made sure of that ...he talked about what i liked talking...English Premier League....and so on...my grandfather passed away...another blow for everybody with mom still not out of danger....aritra just said i rememeber...."everything will be okay...."as a matter-of-fact tone...again unknowingly maybe, but it did me a world of good...i needed somebody who would behave as if nothing had happened.....i hated coming back home from school those few years....lest i get another negative report from dad.....i would again go out for tuitions with aritra and come back again with a skeptic heart...i did not talk much when i was home.....i hated weekends for that short period...they were a torture....i did not have a computer then,or else i guess blogging would have started long ago.....
sports....football...cricket and table tennis...they played an unmatchable role...when i did not have
anybody around myself and aritra would go and practise cricket or football for hours.....our competition was fierce....be it sports or studies....he easily came out better in the latter case...but sports we were close.....people at college now give a shrug and laugh mockingly when i practise football alone...they do not know...my love for the sport has got a pretty strong base.....ICSE....mom was home now..in much better shape...i did not fail...89%...people kept telling me i could not have done better with the situation i was in....but i knew that was just an excuse....st.patricks,aritra,football,...my grandma...never left me any space to complain....yes..i do love my mother and i missed her but the people around me never let me feel it......st.patricks nurtured me...i used to feel at home strolling amidst the trees......walking down the boulevard...my plus two...i did have my parents around more often.....but st.Patricks...and evryone else associated were very much there....right behind me...
and so came that fateful day...our last day in school....we were leaving st.patricks...forever...no wonder i choked at the assembly for a moment....people generally while leaving school....are eager to see what lies ahead in life....but i did not care...whatever lied ahead could not be st.patricks...never....so when Ashim sang..."door jake tum mujhse....tum meri yaadon mein rehna....."...i could not hold myself any longer....i cried...for five straight minutes....and so did everyone there....moinak,raunaq,souvik,lodo,ashim....puspen i am not sure...aritra did not cry...he wasn't much emotional anyway...or even if he were he wouldn't show it....the juniors giggled and ponted fingers...i don't blame them...one day,son.......
and so we left...walking out through the very road shown in the pic...i felt a void and that hasn't been filled as yet....that evening after yet another harrowing chemistry test....mcq's....at tuition...puspen said quite casually..."see you on monday..."...he even walked a few steps....then stood by...."no more mondays mate"....i replied....old habits don't change.....St.patricks has left behind a lasting impression.....and even now when i am college where i am supposed to enjoy more.....i find my heart still aching for my alma mater................
there's one person whom i did not mention here...or could not...all i will say is "i still love you and i still miss you.......".....so much for being honest......
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