Minal Shaik, in collaboration with the Class of 2021
Dear World,
We’re halfway through our school year and half-baked at best to face the world. Honestly, none of us thought we’d be facing the world we’re facing today. We’re a bit confused, but we got the spirit.
We’re buried to the neck with responsibilities and decisions for the life we’re going to lead after we walk away from the shelter that is the school and spread our wings. With dark circles, and late nights, feverish click-clacking of keyboards, and the scratching of pens on paper, we’re very busy. We’re very busy building our launchpad.
Some of us are going into medicine. Others into engineering. We have people who want to pursue business, or pure sciences, or computer science. We have students aspiring to take up psychology, design, or architecture. Our batch cannot be defined by one major, one discipline, or one goal. We are so very different from each other. That’s our charm.
Some of us will leave the country to pursue our education. Some will stay in India. Some are not sure. But we are all sure of one thing. We are approaching a crossroads. And things are going to change. Very quickly.
The people leaving are filled with a potent mix of nervous excitement. Excited at the prospect of moving to a new place filled with new experiences and new opportunities but nervous because they are essentially starting over with a completely blank slate. They can’t wait do make the big leap though.
The people staying have the comfort of their own country but have to deal with the fact that their friends are now scattered across the globe. What makes home home other than the people that live in it? Most of us are in denial of this fact right now. We cannot see much further than the next few weeks. Will I pass this exam? Will my essay be up to mark? Will everything go alright? That is the current monologue in all our minds.
Every student has that drop of doubt, growing in their soul that none of what they are going to do is going to work out. We promise that it will. Something will. We have that much faith. If not in ourselves, then in each other.
The Class of 2021 is branching out. After we graduate, we’ll be doing very, very different things.
We all have plans that will take us far, far away from the school. And from each other. Is this a cause for despair? We don’t think so. We’re growing up, not growing apart.
Friendship is not confined to the boundaries of a classroom. Our unique circumstances proved that pretty easily. We have each other etched into our personalities, whether we like it or not.
We’re the batch that lived their senior year online. We spent our final days in school on a screen. We had so many traditional school experiences and customs taken from us, leaving us to feel that we didn’t make full use of the moments we got.
Going through school, most of us thought we would have another chance to make these memories. The school days seem endless. Looking forward, there aren’t so many after all.
Rather than despair, we decided to take this news with a beautiful bittersweetness and turned our school days into a mosaic of tradition and improvisation. In the end, we’re trendsetters. If we’re not allowed the regular school traditions, watch us invent completely new ones. We’re still young, and we’re still not done. We’re determined to have fun this year.
Of course, we still fret over the fact that we’re missing our last Ethnic Day, Children’s Day, Christmas, and final days in our classrooms. We are despairing over our lost Goa Trip. And we’re devastated over losing our graduation party. But we brought our school life online. From online house competitions to Teacher’s Day celebrations, we tried our best to make our year worth it. And now, we’re bringing Ignite online. We’re making it work, with whatever scraps we have.
When we meet again, years down the line, we will have made our own lives. We’ll all be grown, however ridiculous that may sound. We will look back on our virtual substitutes, and we’ll be grateful for them. Because it may not be the school year we envisioned, but it’s still our school year.
There’s something about our batch. Despite you trying to keep us down in the toilet bowl, we’re just not ready to give up. We’re determined to make this a memorable year. If we’re going to have to burn, we might as well light it up.
Just you wait. We’ll blow you all away.
With Love,
The Class of 2021
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