When I went for my undergraduate degree, at St. Stephen’s College, I encountered the question of where I did my schooling every other day. Your school becomes your passport and identity.
Currently, in my postgraduate LLB degree at NLSIU Bangalore, this question is no longer relevant. But to me, Pallikoodam will always be a place worth revisiting. Like every adolescent, I had my fair share of ups and downs, every corner of the brick walls housing a faint memory of laughter, tears, friendship and joy.
It has to be acknowledged that many life skills that helped me at different stages of education, be it reading, writing, public speaking, or working in a team, had their roots here. The ability to express yourself clearly and precisely to others is a skill that goes underappreciated, and without the opportunities that school provided, I would have fared poorly with my academic peers.
At present, most of my evenings are spent in the library, furiously typing away to submit assignments by the deadline. The days spent in school, without social media and its unreasonable expectations of productivity, remind me of the time I found joy in doing seemingly mundane activities like going for a swim at 6.00 am or writing a play for the Morning Assembly. For giving me a reality that can comprise of studying and everything else in between, I have my school to thank for.
