Whenever the thought of ‘farewell’ comes to my mind, it takes me back to the dusty road of Alamdar Colony that ran between green fields and led to a green-coloured building, that of R.P.S. Those three letters encapsulate within them the best years of my life, beginning from 2007, spent in Radiant Public School.
I still remember the day of farewell when we felt that we had finally become free of the endless classes and the 9:30 am to 3:30 pm schedule and the super strict teachers and the surprise tests. And so in that joy I wrote my first-ever poem, in which I paid tribute to my classmates.

Saliq, Adnan and Saman
Momin,Eman and Sheezan
We all are genius
But very mischievous
We all have a different aim
And are good in every game
Kamran is our monitor
Hashim and Qaiser are topper(s)
Owaid, Huwaid and Obaid
Basit, Rahiq and Junaid
We all love each other
And pledge to be together
Together we eat our food
Also in studies we are good
Nomaan, Wasil and Arsalan
Soleh, Nazim and Abdul Manan
We all are best friends
And no less than brothers
Umar, Owaise, Sami and Mateen
Haris, Tawqeer, Shariq and Fateen
We respect our elders
Also we love our teachers
Azka, Fahad and Faizan
Asrar, Suhaib and Sarhan
Together we play and together we fight
Together we read and together we write
Asad, Jerjis and Areeb
Masroor, Mohsin and Faheem
We hold tightly each other’s hand
Being united will we stand
Sky is blue, green is grass
The best will always be our class

We were a bit sad but happiness ruled our minds. We were having blissful dreams about our future life. Hardly did we know how short-lived this happiness was! It has been just 2 years from that day and already I feel sad and jealous of that happy young me. It is human nature that we value a thing only when it is lost. How we used to enjoy and chill out without a grain of worry in our heads, except of homework! feel sad at how life just took a U-turn and landed me somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It brings me to tears when I think of those blissful moments of my life, the moments spent in the classroom that often sounded like a fish market, and all the fun and games we had together. But I am also thankful for the memories of those wonderful days. The memories are no less than spectacular. That blissful phase of my life is at least going to be forever in my heart. Even as the thought of those days being gone makes me sad, it also provides me with joy and the courage to live happily with the memories I have collected in the diary of my mind. It is so peaceful when this thought comes to my mind that even if I suffer from Alzheimer’s disease in the future, I will still have with me my childhood memories.

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Wasil Shah