Last week, when I was looking through the hac98 group site and some pics I noticed things about my old classmates that I had never noticed when I was with them in school. Not the best thing to say, but I could see how different we all are. Things that I believe none of us saw when we were there together [thankfully]. Yeah innocent kids, and in true uni-forms! Sigh reminds me of the poem we read in hac about the bud being stronger than the flower wrt to the *evil* winds & about how as you grow, wordly vices creep in - anybody remembers the name? I am too old :(

As I looked through more photos & read the names and references on hac community on orkut I went down this memory lane and saw some of the funtimes and incidents that happened at Holy Angels Convent, ISC, Trivandrum. Couldn't help smiling

And it all seemed so remote, yet so fresh. And then I remembered this huge conversation some of us had in school in our 10th grade about keeping in touch after we grow up. We wanted to be practical & realistic. Some of my friends said that these *future* plans never materialize because people forget old ties and attachments, promises are conveniently shoved under the carpet and life goes on. Some referred to their cousins and parents who went through the same phase when young and then never met their school friends later due to work/family etc.

We were teenagers, young and enthusiastic, believed that we were smart and could make targets and meet them even if it was after a long time. So after some brainstorming sessions we decided we would try and meet yearly if we were in Trivandrum or anyplace close to TVM [I don't remember what 'close to' meant then. Delhi, I remember, seemed far away]. However, this would not be possible for many, so we decided to have a big milestone which everybody would try their best to meet. After some discussions this was finalized as 10 years after 10th grade. And then we wondered what date, something that everybody would remember - Republic day? Independence Day? … lol, finally we settled on Children's day Nov 14th. That should be easier to remember, we concurred. We also decided around which spot in school we would meet at )

I think some of my friends in TVM met up the on Nov 14 for the first 2 or 3 years after our 12th grade on children's day. I didn't go to any, I wan't in TVM. I would occasionally hear updates and whereabouts about my ex-classmates from some friends over phone. It always made me happy to hear people were in touch and meeting. Then with the internet things became better when a lot of of us had computers at home. With an egroup in place, we started as a small group and expanded slowly to include about 30% of the junta. Very few of us were there all the way from 1st grade to 10th grade in HAC. And even fewer all the way till 12th grade. I am one of those few people who spent their entire schooling career at HAC. So, yes I am obviously very attached to the school, and love hearing about teachers [who left, who's still there etc] and students [batchmates, seniors, juniors, present students, how the school has changed etc]. But I like knowing things doesn’t mean I know them. Unfortunately, except for a few batchmates, I am out of synch with every-thing/body else related to school.

I remember how 10 years seemed like a very long time then, we spoke [probably in not as many words] about how different we would be in 10 years … in all likelihood with a husband and kid(s), some working, some in Kerala. I think at the back of mind I also assumed that I would be in India [for some reason I think I thought that I may be in Delhi at the time of reunion and that I would make plans to come down to TVM for this meeting]. We finished our 10th grade in March 1996.

So, it has been exactly 10 years now. Most of us had almost forgotten, about how time flew and that it is time for the grand re-union, in the daily humdrum of our lives. I know I am not going to be able to fly down to TVM this november, but surely, I am thinking about school and all the fun, frolic, laughter, li'l fights, games, throwball, seven tiles, dodge ball, drill, punishments, antakshari sessions, chemistry lab, math classes [my favorite ;)], movies, birthday parties, the great lunch breaks[yummmieeee], dancing attempts, long conversations, moral science chapter 4 in 8th grade, passing li'l notes in classes & all the memorable times we girls had at hac. And I think with all the unprecedented changes since then, we can say that we haven't really broken our promise. We are in touch, and that is all that matters

If you are a hac98-en and are reading this, drop me a mail/comment about (at least) one good memory from your time at hac. It should be fun seeing how different/similar these are