My School And The Pandemic

My School and The Pandemic

The bright Sunny day,

Start of a new school year. My grade 7th was, Exciting wasn’t it!

Tired with the yearlong online classes,

Bored sitting in front of the laptop.

There I stood, in front of the school gate,

with a big empty bag for books.

As I stepped in, I heard “Welcome back “,

as the gate embraced me.

But my school was not the same.

My school was never so quiet.

The school ground was sad.

No cheers,

No games,

No shouts,

No sports.

There was a silence, Very scary, very different.

The corridor;

Once filled with hustle-bustle,

Was not the same anymore.

No kids running no music of chit-chatting,

No more excuses for water breaks,

No more long queues.

It was strange,

It was quirky.

I saw the lunch hall.

I could smell the aroma of spices,

sambar, noodles, Manchurian, fried rice.

I could see the spread-out variety of Friday feasts.

I could see us, friends,

Tasting each other’s food.

Sharing those fun stories, those gossips.

Just then I realized ;

This was just a fiction of my imagination.

No friends, No aroma,

Just the empty lunch hall.

I peeked into the classroom,

I remembered it as chaotic.

Excited were the desks & benches.

I didn’t step in, they stood staring at me.

The blackboard was as shiny as it could be.

The furniture is as clean as it could be.

The SmartBoard missing to be smart

The whispering between the teacher’s lectures,

The shouts and chit-chatting,

All lost in the deep silence.

I stepped outside,

I saw those school buses,

Standing alone in a corner.

I remembered;

The rush and the push to get on and off the bus.

Those fights for the seats,

But all was somewhere lost.

I miss the library,

Those isles, that wonderful smell of books.

I miss the sneak peeks into the staff rooms.

I miss those hearty moments

I miss those funny sibling gossips.

I miss those happy cheerful days.

I miss my happy, cheerful and bright school.