“Sign my autograph book, please,” Arshad, who sits to me, says as he hands me his book.
I have been signing autograph books of my classmates the whole morning. In turn, I too have been asking my classmates to sign my autograph book. Actually everyone seems to have an autograph book each and we are busy, writing into each other’s books. After all, today is our last day at school. Tomorrow the long holidays begin and our class ceases to exist. Thus everyone is busy collecting each other’s signatures to keep as a memento of our days together.
There are no lessons and everyone is in a holiday mood. The boys have decorated up the classroom a bit with some balloons and streamers. The girls have prepared some titbits and drinks and we all wait for our teachers to arrive before we begin our farewell party.
Presently our class teacher Miss Lee arrives folloWed by the other subject teachers. Our class monitor Yee Ping starts the party by calling everyone to help themselves to the food and drinks. Soon the party is in full swing. No one cares about how much noise we are making, for the other classes are having their parties too. In fact, just about every class is having some sort of celebration on this last day of school.
No party is complete without some games. So we play musical chairs and other games thought up by our class genius Raju. The winners receive gift-wrapped prizes of soap and other ordinary things. The teachers too are having a ball of time judging by the smiles on their faces. Some of them have to go to other class parties. Yet some teachers appear after attending the other parties. All in all, it is great fun. Never before have I seen the teachers having fun like this. Usually, there are so serious. I suppose they have to be serious when they are teaching otherwise the students will learn nothing.
At the end of the party, we ask Miss Lee to give us a speech, The poor woman breaks down in tears after her short hardly audible speech. Farewells are not easy to say, so I can understand why she cried.
Then we all bid farewell and good luck to each and every person present in the room. Most of the teachers will still be teaching in school next year, but none of my classmates will be here to study. Most of us do not know exactly where we will be and the chances are that we may never see each other again. So it is with a touch of sadness when we took leave of one another.
There is no bell to be rung in school today. We are free to go home anytime we wish. So I leave the classroom for the last time and walk down the corridor to the bicycle shed to get my bicycle. As I made my way towards the main gate I pause momentarily to have a long last look at the school. Again a- feeling of sadness rise in me for this will be the last time I ride out of the school. Nevertheless, I must go. I take a deep breath, give my bicycle a push and soon my last day at school comes to an end.