An Ode to Loreto: My Alma Mater

For as long as I remember, I have changed schools and met new people.

It was fun for a while to change lives back and forth... until it wasn't anymore.
When you're the "new girl" everywhere you go, there isn't much that people know about you and suddenly you have the power to change something about you or be someone entirely different from what you were before. Nobody would know.

Thing is, how long can you carry on being people you're not and living lives that aren't yours? At some point you get tired and then try to find your way back to when things were simpler and you could be you.

Except, you no longer know who "you" are anymore.

I was lost for sometime back there. Me trying to please everybody, got me into a whole big mess.
Of course, certain people, certain promises and certain circumstances kept me going, but the real struggle was within.

You know those people who have everything figured right from day one? Yeah, I've never been one of them. Quite the opposite.

How do you get from A to B without having an inkling as to what exactly B should be?

Authors are really fancy people you know?
They use these big words and wonderful phrases that make you believe in their stories. Well more often than not, they just remain stories.

Loreto

Of course I was warned. 

"Loads of snobs over there."

"Don't go, too much discipline."

"Don't go, you won't ever have  life!"

"Don't go", "Just don't", "Please don't do this to yourself."....

You ever have that strange urge when you simply have to go do the exact same thing you're told not to? :D

I chose Loreto, just like Loreto chose me.

At first, the discipline was crumbling, the routine was exhausting, the assemblies seemed pointless and the attendance would drive you crazy. It was all too much.

Only after the first 4 months did I realize how much everything had changed around me. 

If you've ever been to Loreto College, Middleton Row you'll know what I'm talking about instantly.

When you step in, there's this invisible wall that comes up. You can no longer hear anybody yelling, or see people roaming around mindlessly. Sure you'll see the ladies hanging around the back lawn or chatting on the benches outside, but nobody stays out during class. 

• There's a way of walking you fall into after 6 months of "Loreto".
• "You all" becomes "ya'll"
• You can no longer speak in broken English, even if you tried
• You finally understand how to hold your grace even when you've let your hair down
• Nobody bumps into anybody on campus
• Nobody dresses inappropriately. (You actually get sent home for that)

When people say, Loreto Girls are snobbish, go right ahead and tell them, "It's called a trademark."

What kept me going though...

Was the batch of 2018. 

Loreto brought me most importantly, close to a group of amazing young ladies who have not just proven but also established themselves in more ways than one in a span of 3 years.

For a former tomboy like me, it was a revelation to see so many girls who didn't care about what moisturizer they used or what brand they preferred. They were driven, determined, goal-oriented just as they were trendy, beautiful and smart. Our class and batch has stuck together so many times on many occasions that it becomes a little difficult for me to narrate everything at one go.

I could describe every single classmate and not grow tired. Just when you think you can't be surprised, Loreto will surprise you. From not being allowed to use the revered "yellow staircase" in first year to grandly exhibiting our new found privileges in third year, we have come a long way.

• Biryanis on Wednesdays
• KFC and MacD on the call
• Practically living in the Geo labs/classrooms
• Cribbing about the amount of cartridges we have to finish
• Cribbing about assmebly
• Cribbing about pass classes
• Playing badminton on the back lawn during winters
• Ramu's "chalo hanste hain" time during lunch hours
• "Bhaiya do samosa, ek coffee" during short break
• smuggling hot coffee into class
• dozing away in classes just to be pinched or shoved awake later
• Being the last bencher with the chattiest people right in your row
• Breezing through classes with raging debates and thundering discussions
• Guarding our rotrings like they were precious jewels
• Personifying our scales as "Deepak" in recognition of their importance in a geographer's life XD
• Staying up for projects, pinging each other, updating everyone about our progress
• Sleeping all through the vacations (since its the only time we got to sleep)

I could go on for a veeeery long time here.

2017 has been too good to me. Me and my friends have been together through too much, when it was fun and even when it wasn't.

I have loved in more ways than one and have had to let go of things and people I'd never thought I'd have to. I have lived for a change and I finally found my place.

Loreto is Home. Loreto has been there in the form of teachers, classmates, friends and family whenever I needed it. I thought I was a feminist when I entered Loreto. But I know that when I leave, I will do so, believing in the equality that others are fighting for.

I finally believe in Loreto. It will always have our backs, no matter what.

But it is going to be very difficult to bid goodbye to Home.

The one thing that strikes you about goodbyes is that there are never going to be enough of them and it is never going to get any easier saying them.

On that note...

Goodbye 2017. I have loved you very much and I will miss you very much. <3