My school, my 'Alma Mater' - Saint Joseph's Convent Higher Secondary School, Bhopal was this lively place run by missionaries.  (Well it cud've added to this already existing liveliness had they not made it an 'all girls' school in 1969! (Sigh!) Ours was (correction is) the best school in Bhopal (No offense Carmalites!) No wonder we were addressed as 'Josephites' all over the town.

Having run by nuns, there were three things that the authorities stressed upon: Discipline, discipline and discipline. We were subjected to a daily after-assembly bombardment of 'measured-with-a-metric-tape' long words emphasizing the value of character, personality and virtue by our Principal, Sister Francais Joseph. (Does 'Crystal Clear Concentration' ring a bell?)

Getting up at six in the morning was sure an ordeal (I still hate parting with my bed in the mornings)..but then school was fun!!

I remember the names of all my class teachers but a handful of them have left an indelible impression on me!

On the first day of my school, as my mom came to drop me off at the bus stop, I met this extremely pretty girl. She was introduced to me as 'Sumana' . She, having spent an year in school before me, took me as her protege. In no time, we became inseparable. Every evening our 'gang' used to play for hours at a stretch. I hardly remember myself playing the usual 'girlie' games. I was more into outdoors, may it be playing or freaking out. We were/are so close to each other that any little thing and I'd run over, cross the road and reach her house to break the news to her. Even now, fortunately she's in Madison (US) and so I do get a chance every other weekend to run up to her. :)

In class V, I was this shy and reserved little girl with waist length hair. (Almost opposite to what I am today!). I have a threadbare photo of class V in case you wanna check it out.

Class VII marked the beginning of my 'I-think-I've-grown-up-now' phase! My class teacher Mrs. Asha Sharma conspicuously favored our quartet (Shraddha, Shagufta, Samarana and me!). Obviously! We were among those very few who took interest in what she taught - Hindi and Sanskrit. (Yeah, I loved both the languages!) And so we were allowed to act like 'cool dudes' of our class.

This year also saw the strengthening of my friendship with Shraddha (ala dimpy..dimpz..dimpoo..well, anything sounding chic and stylish is welcome!!). Very pretty and feminine, extremely fashion savvy and ferociously possessive..! Well, this is the twelfth year of our still-going-strong friendship and I couldn't be happier for having shared some of the most beautiful moments of my life with her!!

Class VIII we were shuffled up (oh how we hated that, didn't we?) and my new class teacher was this tall and petite lady, Ms. Iqbal, who lived just across our school.Very strict too! But I liked her! (I hear she's retired now)

Another teacher who I always associate this year with, was Ms. Shireen Quereshi who taught us maths for three consecutive years. She was nowhere near a conventional maths teacher that you'd imagine! She was the most stylish faculty, who wouldn't settle for a not-so-maroon shawl over her maroon salwar-kameez. And boy, were we influenced by her or what! I can still picture her in that peacock blue chiffon saree and same shade shawl, tip-toeing in her stilettos. (Also guys, remember her rift with Shalini Khanna?) 

I met Tripti Tondon this year and we instantly clicked! She was this live wire of our class oozing with energy 24/7 and Mrs. Rukhsana Aarif(our work experience teacher)'s regular target!! She was also a very fine basketball player!

Class X was the best school year I've had! I made dozens of very good friends! In fact whole of our class of 66 students was very tightly bonded together! (If any of you wonderful people hit upon this page, please please get in touch with me!)

To begin with, we had this group of 'Naughty Nines' - Prachi (Soni) and Mrinalika (Singh); Nidhi (Adhwaryu) and Divya (Bhadoria); Tripti (Tondon) and Neha; Anuradha (Mathur); Yasmeen (Zafar) and I !! We used to always sit together blocking consecutive desks. We'd pass around chits during the class, burst into giggles or place a pencil box on someone's chair as they stood up to read!

Nine of us in class Xth (1995)

Our class teacher Mrs. Shetty was dedication impersonated! Ask any Josephite bout her and she'll rave bout this tall and robust lady with waist length hair tied up in a bun. She kept us on our toes by giving us surprise tests, vigorous revision sessions and regular homeworks!! I'm sure she's touched more lives than she'd ever know.

;Another of my favorite teacher during this time was - Mrs. Sunita Pathak! Apart from securing the first position in my list of most-pleasing-and-charming-teachers, she also takes away the credit for teaching me any and everything bout the language - Hindi. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have got half the marks that I got in my Hindi board exam paper!

Yet another influential teacher I came across was Mrs. Meena Bagchi. She was so polished and sophisticated, you might be lead to believe that she's this english-lady-with-a-hat-sipping-herbal-tea-from-her-expensive-china-cup' character misplaced from an earlier era. Need I mention that she taught us 'english'?

As my major in Higher Secondary, I took 'Maths-Physics-Chemistry'. Why? Just coz I heard that it is more challenging than other streams.

By the end of class XI I was sure that I'm gonna pursue engineering, only, the 'how' part wasn't very clear.

In class 12th, my 'Anil Agarwal classes' - for PET (Engg. test) [to be read as 'NIGHTMARE'] - began!

They used to say that he's a strict disciplinarian. If in his 5 am class, you reach at 5:02, you couldn't enter inside. Three unannounced leaves - and you were checked out of the class. He could ask you anything under the sun during any minute of the class and if you couldn't answer, you'd be immediately bestowed with 'Get Out'.

It didn't take me more than a week to realize that 'they' weren't wrong.

Three months and a 'Get Out' (for using a rough notebook in class) later, I chucked the class and decided to work on my own.

Inside the counselling room in 1997, I was offered computer science field in two colleges- RKDF and OIST! There wasn't a reason why I'd not choose OIST. Obviously, I knew that it's merit listing was better, it was nearer too my house than RKDF and my friend Sumana studied in OIST. But when my turn came and the guy asked my choice of college, I said 'RKDF', the reason for which, I've still not been able to fathom.

If you're one of my college friends, you might wanna check the next page containing 'My Undergrad Memories'