Life - Now and Then

THEN - Look at those innocent little faces (I'm the lil boy with the blue shorts) ...could you guess that these little brats would grow up to be the infamous AVM batch of '96 - They reeked havoc on the teachers (locking some in toilets) destroyed school property (we had to pay a surcharge over the already steep school fees to make-up for the damages) and possibly the only class to be given a psych-eval (to see if we were a danger to others if not soceity as a whole)!

We were also the first brat-brigade to complete all 13 years at AVM Bandra (Nursery to 10th grade) and see the school grow from a one storey primary academy to one of the best ICSE schools in all of Bombay ...

A decade out of the sanctuary we called AVM, and the batch of '96 has been sprinkled all over the globe ... (visit http://avmite.org/1996studs.aspx for a full listing of how far the peebles have landed)

NOW - thats me ... (well a low calorie avtaar) ..

Life seems so much simpler taking in the views at Lake Bohinj (Slovenia) .... Reminds me of how life was at school - sheltered with few variables and excessively policed (by parents, guardians and teachers alike) which I am sure was the reason we rebelled like we were fighting a cause greater than teenage angst!

I still recollect the mixed emotions that flooded my mind after struggling through the last of the 10th grade examinations (a gruelling 3 hr Hindi Lit exam) that would seal each of our fates for the forseable 'academic' future - A smile on our faces and a cheer in our heart, we walked out of those gates - thinking we would know each other for ever!

How naive of us - or is that just the sarcasm that life breeds into each of us!

I borrow this from a friend's blog, for it seems so appropriate for an old sod who has lost a bit of zest...

'I would rather be ashes than dust!

I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The function of man is to live, not to exist.

I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.'

- Jack London