Friends: From walled world to virtual world
By Aboli Lokhande
I entered the class
late. As my home was at a walking distance from school, in recess I used to come
home (in fact, four of us, the siblings) to have lunch and managed to go back
to school in time. But that day I saw all classmates were in class and teacher
had just entered. As soon as I sought permission
to enter the class, all eyes were on me. Some might not have seen me. They might
have been busy in settling down for that period. I was feeling awkward for being late. This is
the incident when I was in 10th standard.
Years later… same
class, same classmates on the platform of WhatsApp group and I entered late. Forty
one students were already in the group. All eyes were on me but some might not have
noticed me. They must be busy in their day to day life or must be good in not
losing concentration. One of my friends from those days and who used to be one
of the toppers in the class, added me in the group and it stunned me with the
same feeling. The feeling of entering late in the class was a little awkward.
At the same time, I was excited. In a fraction of seconds, I felt like I was still
in “school days”.
All friends, who I
remember distinctly, started coming in front of my eyes. I automatically started
looking for those in the list of classmates. I just felt like I was walking
through the sand and I found a gem shining somewhere, I took it and immediately
I got another and one more, and to my greatest surprise there was a chest of
treasure, which I could see clearly. Just like that, one after another I
started recognizing my classmates. Some had changed drastically and I could not
recognize some of them quickly. All this made me nostalgic. Every moment, which I spent in the class as
well as in the colony where I spent my childhood rolled swiftly like a film before
my eyes.
As days are passing in chatting
with old friends, I can sense that the class has not changed in many ways. Many
are busy with their class work and studying sincerely, many of them are not
participating in the class activities, many of them are silent observers, many
are occupied with the work of their choice only, and many are still talking in
the class as ever. And talkative students are keeping the WhatsApp class cheerful.
Innocence was the
spirit of the class that used to fire up friendships without any barriers of
caste, standard of living, complexion, and type of tiffin we used to share. It
seems, it has now got replaced with the syllabus of the worldly matters that requires
high alertness for running in life’s race, which we had to join in after
passing out from our walled world of school. Laughing without inhibitions on
trivial things has become a lost art as age and achievements have become the
new permanent measures in life.
I cannot imagine what
everyone else feels on joining such a group of school-day friends. But, I can
say that classmates who have entered my life again have brought a lot of
happiness to me. I can see that the sincere work they did for their future, has
rewarded them. They are enjoying the sweet fruits of their hard work. All must
have gone through ups and downs in life, which shows up in the matured moves of
every friend.
I may not be able to
see all my friends in person, like I used to see them from my bench in the
class. But it surely has made me look inward to see where I stand. This newly joined
old friends’ group has got a place silently somewhere in my life. To seek is human
nature. Everyone seeks something better than what he has in hand. It may be in
worldly things, spirituality, emotions and so on. After every major happening
in life, everyone automatically invents oneself. This old friends’ group also
has a share in timely re-invention of myself. Thanks to the group administrator
and all friends for giving a moment of pause to me for a while, while running after
life.
The bond of friendship
continues – from walled world of school to the virtual world of social media.
21.09.2017
(The author is
alumnus of Vidya Mandir Koradi, Dharampeth Arts College, MSS Institute of
Social Work, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Institute of Management Technology and
Research , Dhantoli, Nagpur. The article was first circulated on WhatsApp
on 21.09.2017 )
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