School Uniform

My School Uniform

The little things? They aren’t little. This one line takes me down the memory lane and make me realise how lucky I was to have such a beautiful journey of school. I had amazing times with wonderful friends who now have turned into family. I have changed a lot of schools for various reasons but each school holds an important position in my heart. I started schooling at the age of three and half years old. My first school was kid zone play school in Ghazipur. The very first time I saw a uniform for myself, I was very excited to wear it and go to school. It was a yellow long half sleeve shirt and a red tunic. On the right side,the school name was written on the tunic with doubled stitching. The uniform was knee length and added to that there were small socks and black shoes. My mother has still kept all my school uniforms as a never fading memory. The second uniform after play school I had was a white half sleev shirt with red and black checked tunic. It was a very different kind of a school uniform I ever wore. I liked it a lot. There is a reason I liked it so much as a child because it was very dark in colour and each time I accidentally dropped something it didn’t show up that evidently. The last school in Ghazipur I had joined was Shah Faiz Public School and there the uniform was again a white shirt with a green tunic. This time I had tie. It was a great feeling wearing a tie for the same time as it feels that we are older than these small babies who roam around without the ties. The most favourite of all these uniforms of childhood was my first uniform. It holds a very special place in my heart.

I was almost ten and a half when I came to Varanasi for better education and environment. Varanasi is a beautiful city and has given me so much to hold and remember throughout my life. I joined Rajghat Besant School, KFI in fifth standard. The uniform was pretty simple here. Just a white shirt and with that there was a choice for colours of skirts. We had three choices; white, grey and dark blue. For four years I loved to pair my white shirt with blue skirt and in the last two years I switched to classic and most chosen colour that was grey. The most beautiful and memorable days that I have lived in school comes from these years only. My school uniform has seen a lot of work and endless fun that I had. Out of everything that I remember, the most funny thing used to be the mornings in my home. My siblings went to other schools and they had to wear tie, belt, batches and what not. They envied me on the days they were late because of the heavy uniform code. I like the idea of simplicity. According to me educational institutions should keep their uniforms as simple as possible because that’s how the correct representation of every child should be. A simple,plain space without any school name or any tags or batches. Where one creates his own identity and doesn’t abide by the batches or houses selected randomly.

Now moving towards my last school uniform. In my eleventh and twelfth grade I changed my school from Rajghat to Delhi Public School. After so many years, I again encountered tie,belt,houses and some rules to stick by. It felt a bit different at first but eventually I loved the way I looked in my uniform. The uniform consisted of white shirt and white skirt with green belt, green tie and black adidas shoes. Apart from the regular uniform, my house was yellow which is called the wisdom house. I wore the uniform happily each day without realising covid was going to happen. After the pandemic noone could go to school for an entire year. We only went to school to give exams and vivas. All the girls in my class planned that on the last day of school we would play with soil and turn the white into brown but that day never came. It feels very sad for missing out on so much but I am glad I had one school shirt where all the classmates and friends have written stuffs about me. I started off with bright red and yellow and ended with classic white. This uniform journey is very close and beautiful to my heart. I would like to conclude it on the note “बीते वक़्त की बातों को लौटा दो कोई मुझे, फिर वही स्कूल के कपड़े पहना दो कोई मुझे”