- you own atleast one red bag & pony
- you try your hardest to stand next to a tall girl and ask her to 'saath saath chalo' in an attempt to hide your dirty shoes from the watchful eyes of the teachers
-you've heard a million stories of coins or a lizards tail found in the school samosa but you buy it anyway
- you've sneaked your way into the bio lab just to see the dead snake
-you've experienced
the feeling of pure, utter dread when a teacher said 'come with me to Sister Pilar/Sister Monias office'
-you've gotten up in the middle of the night just to polish your shoes
- you've heard scary stories concerning the skeleton in the bio room
- every play, article or function you've organized or written was value-based
-you've heard or hoped at some point that a swimming pool will be constructed in the heart-shaped ground in the junior section
-you've gone to school with a temperature of 106 instead of staying home to rest - just because.
-you've noticed that Mrs Khushtaba has never repeated an outfit yet
-you'd chuti-marofy rather than go to school without the essay Mrs Khan asked for
-you hear the words 'Oh God I beseech thee, ardently to desire, prudently to study.. rightly to (you know what's next)...' and a flood of memories rush through you
-the bench in the basketball court has been your safe haven at one point
- 'do you believe - cher' reminds you of every meena bazaar you've attended
-you've tried atleast once to enter Thevenet Center and perhaps been successful too
- you call cjm your second home
- you've wondered how many saari`s mrs william owns
-you've been told off because a strand of hair slipped out of your otherwise tightly made pony
- ringing the gong to mark the end of a class in junior school was once the biggest honour imaginable
- you remember asking around for an extra-shoe polish or nail cutter before break ended
- you can almost feel the sharp tiles/rocky edges of the computer lab wala corridor as you walk from the jr section to the canteen (it's freaky how your hand's literally all tingly right now)
-you've dared to have a water fight in the physics lab using those plastic water bottle thingies
- you were fooling around with your friends infront of asnas corner once, only to look up and see a teacher peering down at you - and then you ran with as innocent an expression as you can muster towards the shed out of her sight
-you remember waiting upstairs in the sr section for the outgoing class to 'entry marofy'
-you have the display pic of this group somewhere in your PC
- you can proudly say you've never paid for a single burger from Maria's Cafe yet (thanks to your friends in the nutrition class)
- you remember entering the hall, heart beating fast, in a straight line with all the seniors already inside casually turning around and clapping... welcoming you to the senior section on your first day in grade seven. your first taste of pure intimidation.
-you remember sitting at the back of the charachter-building class frantically copying the weeks 'value' from a friends copy
- you still have that copy lying somewhere and you're wondering where it went
- you begged and pleaded the teacher not to change your house
- you remember asking your friends for just five more ruppes for the poor box so that your house could 'win'
- you aren't / weren't - aware of any world outside Convent
- you've discussed the grammar vs convent debate countless times
- you've felt a wonderful sense of unity when everybody prayed collectively for the death of a loved one of any student
- you've known most of your friends for at least 8 years.
- the teachers know you as 'blahblah's younger sister' or 'blahblah's daughter' - 'blahblah's grand daughter' isn't a surprise either
- you remember Sir Pauls music lessons and his piano on thursdays
- you're never too old to slide down the 'bari wali slide' or take pictures with Mr. Elephant
- the simple line 'walk fast, don't stamp your feet girls' reminds you of a break ending
- you peer into every car that has 'I (heart) Convent of Jesus & Mary's sticker on its back
- you greet your friends by screaming LOUDLY
- everything in your world is red and white
- 'ABBAS UNCLE/BUNNET DO COKES AIK CHATPATA' - rings a bell
- you can include no less than 12 girls in your 'close friends' list
- you're in the habit of referring even to your brother as 'she' within the school premisis
- you think that everything bad happens to YOUR batch (changes in school timings, courses, school trips, exams etc etc)
- the announcement of the council is/has been the most dramatic event of your life
- only you can understand what the games teachers mean when they say what they do
- a lower position of your house flag on the house flag board is a matter of personal insult
- no one does the 'tarareereeruureera' and drumming the benches better than you
- 'sh*tttt, duppataa!!!' is always followed by you running all over sr, jr and kg section looking for one before an islamiat class
- you're pretty sure that none of the above will make any sense to an outsider and that's the beauty of it all.. These are just some of the things I could remember at the moment, feel free to suggest more bell-ringing memories that bind us and i'll add them to the list. =)
--- You helped me realize that all the things I ever wanted to be, I already was. So today, I thank you for being you ---
