Earlier this month, on the 2nd of May, a great soul departed...
She's my reason, my foundation and a positive answer to the question, 'Can anything be eternal?'
What follows, isn't a tribute because tributes are for those who do not make it to the present.
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| To the woman who I owe my present to: Ms. Shirin F. Darasha. |
What we say, cannot and never will be enough. There are those rare events, or people in life, who you can never describe just because they are eternal in a sense and saying anything, however genuinely expressed, will always be limited. This limitation, however, does not apply to feeling.
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| School Hall, Quadrangle. The old piano in the hall, accompanied our songs: Little Wooden Head, Inch-worm, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, All things bright and beautiful, and many more. My mother remembers playing Saankli on the freshly waxed floor, as a child and I can never forget the times we've got sore throats singing (almost yelling) Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai! J.B. meri Hai! The teachers are nice, they are full of spice, Come to J.B, Come to J.B J.B. meri hai! |
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| Quadrangle Where I learned to win, whether I won or lost the match. We assembled here to welcome her back, after she'd retired. What a day that was! |
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| Bulletin board outside the Principal's office. Trademark J.B. style. |
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| Overhead buttresses, passage She taught us all that. How to identify a Doric pillar from an Ionic one, and which European structures had the most impressive Rosette window |
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| Library steps / Home for Commerce students. Each tile tells a story. Just listen. Two years, after I'd passed out, I was still sitting here. So much so, that I was asked to stop haunting the school (against popular opinion), by someone who was never quintessential 'J.B.' |
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| Staff-room passage The light at the end of this passage is but a symbol of their warmth. By far, the most important people occupied the little room at the end of this narrow passage. You should know it's my future work-place. |
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| Pen stand, Staff-room What the mug says: major understatement. Ever Forward is J.B's motto. But we imbibed it because it was also her motto. |
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| Low wall, Passage Used to peek through these holes to see if she'd left her office. Poke your head out: balcony seats for Basketball matches |
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| The same passage, again. To my left, the ONLY air-conditioned room (Computer Lab) in school: I always found a reason to be here. To my right is the 'milky-chai' smelling room, where a helpful peon or maid could always be found. |
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| 2nd floor Balcony, Primary Wing, directly facing the Principal's Office. Stood here to cheer (Jasmine House) for any match I wasn't a part of. |
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| Staircase, Primary Terrace Our Yoga classes are held here. These steps are also a hide-out for students who're bunking class. More importantly, the windows by this staircase have an amazing view of the Victorian buildings in the vicinity. |
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| The classroom that always got flooded, due to the leaky ceiling. Find me a prettier room to learn in than this one, you probably won't be able to. |
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| Black and White close-up of the high wall. Dead pretty. |
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| Tree outside the window, Classroom Stole looks at it as often as I could, while I learnt about the Aztecs and Kachina dolls, the decimal point, it's damned existence and the Venn diagrams, the Savannah grasslands and the Pygmies and as I struggled to memorize Mora re Mora! |
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| Main staircase. The sound of urgent footsteps of several students on this staircase, just before a big match, still brings a smile to my face. The warm sunbeams on the dark wood make for a pleasant sight, a lovely play of light. |
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| Window, close-up, Main staircase Saturday afternoons, post Math tuition, were spent sitting right here. |
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| School Bus I could write the story of my life, by simply narrating incidents that took place in the school bus! The place to make friends, to play pranks, to sing your heart out, to finish left-over food in your snack box so that your mother doesn't scream at you, to share secrets, to practice balancing skills, to find space away from a broken family, to copy home-work before reaching school, to... |
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| Basketball net. Location: RIGHT under the Principal's window-sill! Score! My team didn't beat the opposite team, but I beat my double-vision with a 2-pointer! The sky always seemed this beautiful. |
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| School-bell. Good friend. Those friendship bands convey the respect felt for this huge, brass bell as Patil rang it 5 minutes early when your teacher was boring and 5 minutes late when you had a test. (Not) If you were nice to Patil, he let you ring it. I was always allowed to ring it. :) |
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| Entrance, School building, J.B. Petit High School for Girls, Fort. First home, first family. Indebted to you, to her, for life and more. --------x-------
And these are just some of the many responses that I've read.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150274953083247 http://www.facebook.com/groups/307361206004953/ |
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