The Back Bench Band

  Another day of college and I was walking towards the bus stand. I was very late and was hoping to catch a bus as soon as possible and one with a seat in that. Guess I was lucky that day, I got a window seat! As I was enjoying the cool breeze, I was thinking of an excuse for being late that day. Of course, I cannot tell my mom that I went for a treat. Only after sometime did I realise that I was humming the tunes of Mundhinam paarthene from Vaarnam Aayiram along with the radio in the bus.

  We were in the 10th std. when that movie was released. Some might think that movie was awesome and some might think it was bad. I was indifferent about the movie but the memories that are attached to the songs are priceless. A few friends of mine and I used to sing in class, especially math class (No we are not singers not even close). We never listened to class, never bothered to know what they were teaching. One of them used to help me out with the lyrics cause I was always bad with learning by just listening and then we would start. I still remember mimicking the chords and trying to play the drums by hitting the bench which was an epic fail. Of all the songs, Yethi Yethi was a hit!( Not among others but ourselves. Others used hate it because of our highly trained vocal chords) It was because of the lyrics of the song.

  Once, a substitute teacher came to our class and just let us free. As usual, we met up in the last bench (No our class is not huge, we just sat in different places) and started singing. Mundhinam Paarthene, Adiye Kolluthe, Nenjukul Peithidum and of course, Yethi yethi. The teacher thought that we were practicing for some competition and almost wished us good luck. It was then that some of our classmates named us "The Back Bench Band". (If you're one of those critics, I'm sure you're probably thinking that the name doesn't make sense. It should have been last bench band and not back bench band. But come one, it alliterates, it sounds good and we like it!)

  One hell of a time we had doing all that. I miss those days. I wish I could just rewind the time and start all over again. If only that possible.

-Shreeji

I want to escape

   There is still a lot of time before my semester exams are gonna start, but I'm stressing already. I'm worried about my marks and I hate myself for that. Is circumstances making me feel like that or have I turned into one of those geeks. Well I hope it's not the former. My nights.. well, let's just say they are not 8hrs per day and I'm definitely not sleeping because of Facebook. Roaming and hanging out with friends have decreased immensely. All this, but I'm not studying either. I think it's just the stress that is making me do all this.

  I want to escape this hell that I'm living.. Somewhere I can live with no worries, eat ice cream and not worry about falling sick, sit under shade and read a book.  Some place where I can feel the breeze hitting my face and messing up my hair. May be a place where I can fly a kite, swim, and just relax. Take a bike ride without any idea of where I'm headed. Dance in the rain and not care about what people might think. Feel every drop that's touching me. A place where I can do whatever I want without being criticized. Feel like I'm walking on sunshine. Feel like all is gonna be fine. Think about nothing. No Electronic Devices and no books under the same name to learn. No exams to take. No goal to be reached. No commitments. No responsibilities. Nothing. It's just me and the happiness in me.

 

I want be without thinking about what might happen tomorrow, what should be done tomorrow, and how things must go the next week. I'm just done planning my life like it's gonna happen the way I plan. I'm just done making others happy. In all this I feel I have forgotten about myself. I have stopped spending time for myself.


   I don't remember the last time I went on a vacation. I don't remember the last time I went out with friends. I don't remember my best friend's voice. Makes me wonder what I'm working for, what I'm living for. Makes me  wonder a of things. I'm just done thinking and analyzing my life and circuits. I'm just done doing what people ask me to do. I just want to escape.

-Shreeji