An Ending or a New Beginning…

The Beginning of an End, or the End of the Beginning
It had not struck me till that moment that I was actually entering the 12th standard, and more so as Head Girl of this one-of-a-kind institution. Right then, when we started packing to move to our new house, for “official reasons”, I realized what it must feel like to leave something that you have been a part of, or something that has been a part of you for so long, for fourteen years actually. Fourteen years, the same duration of time that I would have spent in this amazing institution as I will bid farewell next year. Exactly a year ago, in May 2007, I believed that I would be leaving FAPS for a pre-university college. But here I am, by some twist of fate, about to start my final year at FAPS.
Is this the end of the beginning of my life? The part of my life that I spent learning, only learning, not just school work, or the set syllabus, but lessons of life. This has been the part of my life that has prepared me for the rest of my years. Is it then true that my life is about to begin only when I step over the threshold of this protected environment into the “real” world? Or is this the beginning of an end of a phase of my life? The end of the years when I’ve been taught, been nurtured and been cared for not only by my parents at home, but by my teachers, the parents of my second home? How do I look at this situation? Should I be happy that I’m finally becoming an adult, shedding my immature, adolescent years behind me and moving on like a growing snake does when it can no longer fit into its skin? Or should I be sad and depressed that I’m leaving behind so many people and things that matter to me so much? When I graduate next year, will it be with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face? Or will it be with just tears in my eyes?
I sat looking out from my 3rd floor balcony onto a scene that was so familiar to me. If home is where the heart is, then come this Sunday, I’d be far away from my home. And a year from now, I wouldn’t have a home. But is it not possible to begin to love a new place, while still holding close to your heart your roots? Can I not move on from FAPS, a proud Fapsian, ready to take the world on head first and make my mark as every true Fapsian does? I can! If I’ve learnt only one thing from this institution, it is that Courage is Destiny. I have the confidence and the skill to make my future, make my destiny. Though not just yet, I have one more prized year left here.
Looking at the little kids playing in the park, as I once used to, in my apartment, I feel a pang of jealousy. The sight of my juniors who have years ahead of them left here arouses in me the same envy. They have what I soon won’t, years ahead of them that are filled with fun and learning in FAPS. But I console myself with the thought that I’ve been taught everything and more that I could have asked or wished for. I’ve had the most fun only during school, never in the summer vacation or any other holiday. I’ve experienced all that I could have possibly experienced; barring what is to come this last year!
I will step out of school, a young lady cultured and bred by the finest school in the whole of India. Confident, outgoing, smart, kind, helpful, compassionate and as a leader, I will enter the world alongside my friends who are just like me, yet different! In our diversity lies our unity. We will always be Fapsians at heart, emulating the qualities we have learnt from the example set by our Principal, Headmaster, Headmistress, all our teachers, our seniors, juniors and our peers. I know I am lucky, lucky to have been admitted to such a school, full of life, joy and contentment. I’ve had life-enriching experiences, been corrected when I was wrong and been given due credit for achievements, in and out of school. These years of education were the beginning of my life; I will not start afresh, but build on whatever I already have.
As I leave behind this house, so dear to me, and a friend of seven years, I know that though I will not have this house to live in, I will have my friend by my side. Just like that, I will have the spirit and soul of FAPS with me as I leave behind my second home to move into a world, undiscovered and unknown to me.
I am part of the blessed group of students, I am a Fapsian.