Chapter 8

"Vishnu, I have a request to make. Can we be friends again? Can we bury the enimity which rose thanks to that spelling of irreparable? Can we bring about that unity, which helped the school in many ways, in our personal relationship too? Can we become friends again? Please?", said I.
"Yes, definitely, we can be friends again", said Vishnu.
"Treat, Vishnu!!", shouted Saraswathy from the crowd.
Following this, both of us, amidst the thunderous clapping and cheering, came down the stage, hand in hand, with the hosts singing "Yeh Dosti", as we got down stage. The friendship sworn was just mouthsake, but I had won!! I had made Vishnu admit friendship to me, someone who wouldn't have even done it in his wildest dreams!!

It was our farewell. All of us had come dressed in our best clothes. The ladies were in gorgeous sarees, and the guys in stuff of their choice. If Suresh, Sairam and Nishant were in formals, people like Pradeep, and myself were in sherwanis. It was a great deal of fun. First we had a few snacks like samosas, and bhel puris. This was followed by the programmes arranged. First the school pupil leader Adi was called to talk. He managed a decent show. Then, to my own surprise, I was called. I went on stage, and spoke from my heart, about what the school and in particular, its maths department meant to me. I spoke about how much the school had done for me and how it was impossible for me to repay what it had done for me. I spoke about my feelings being like the teardrop of a newly married bride, sad to leave her parents, the school here and happy to join in a new life with her husband, here the college. I could see from the reactions of the audience, that for a change I had struck a chord with the audience. I got off stage amidst cheers, and then as a class we presented a card and a book gift to our principal.
Following this were a few dance and musical performances following which we came to the most awaited segment of the evening. The mock awards. The mock awards were no Academy Award ceremonies, but to school guys, they mattered equally much, or probably much more. It was quite a feeling to have been there, done it. To get a mock award, and have your time to bask in the glory of the school stage was one feeling in itself. I was nominated for two awards. None of the other lastbenchers were. Sairam got one for bunking maximum, and stuff like that. One award I was nominated for was that of the best all rounder in school, but rightly Soumya, the assistant cultural secretary won it. But the other award I was nominated for, with Vishnu, and won, was by far, easily, the biggest cheered award of the evening. That was because, the whole award had come into existence to honour one thing, the greatest rivalry PS had ever seen. It was an obvious answer, even before the nominees had been read out. Vishnu and I went, hand in hand, on stage, amidst so many cheers, to recieve the award, thanking all our mates, for have put up with our nonsense of a rivalry for the last two years. Then I took the microphone for a personal request.
"Vishnu, I have a request to make. Can we be friends again? Can we bury the enimity which rose thanks to that spelling of irreparable? Can we bring about that unity, which helped the school in many ways, in our personal relationship too? Can we become friends again? Please?", said I.
"Yes, definitely, we can be friends again", said Vishnu.
"Treat, Vishnu!!", shouted Saraswathy from the crowd.
Following this, both of us, amidst the thunderous clapping and cheering, came down the stage, hand in hand, with the hosts singing "Yeh Dosti", as we got down stage. The friendship sworn was just mouthsake, but I had won!! I had made Vishnu admit friendship to me, someone who wouldn't have even done it in his wildest dreams!!
With this, the function was over, and we went about presenting gifts to teachers, and taking pictures with one another. The better days of life were soon fading out like the sun at dusk. It was very difficult to think of this as one of my last chances to roam about freely in school, with a freedom, only a student posseses!! The farewell was over, and so was the schooling part of my 8 year old career in PS!!