“COME BACK. EVEN AS A SHADOW, EVEN AS A DREAM..” (Euripides)

After nearly three months of summer break, educational institutions have reopened today. Early this morning, I was standing by the roadside & i observed students (especially those who were kids & had little chance to meet their friends during vacations) going to their schools, with their ordinary bags extraordinarily filled with books. Each one of them was neatly dressed, neat like dewdrops & looked as wonderful as fresh rose buds. Listening to their mesmerizing laughter felt like listening to one’s favorite music. The sparkling eyes of the random kids gradually took me back in time, & suddenly the world seemingly stopped. I couldn’t hear the mesmerizing laughter, nor could I see the sparkling bright eyes of the random kids with their heavy bags, going happily to schools. My eyes blacked out & the world felt darkening, but it was like


“یہ اندھیرا بھی روشنی ہے مجھے”

I saw myself going to Oriental Public School Mardan , with a bag on my shoulders loaded with registers and books. I saw myself walking with Qari M. JUNAID, discussing with each other the cheating we did in summer vacation tasks. With an apparent sense of happiness, blended with the latent sensation of worry, we entered the main entrance, and saw hundreds of students standing in the ground in small groups. Some still had their bags hung over their shoulders and others apparently have kept their bags in their classroom. We went into our class, put our bags on chairs & started meeting our friends.


“ہائے کیا لوگ میرے حلقۂ احباب میں تھے”


Each one had brought an interesting story of their own. As usual, Umar Zahid , Arbaz Khan, Muhammad Sufyan & Junaid Khan Lala Yousafxai (Lala) had brought something new to their stories, love stories of course. Another group which included Noorul Hadi , Abbas Inayat , Maaz Ahmad , ANAS & Abbas Ahmad were discussing their homework & HADI was, as usual, telling them how many times he had revised the whole course. Hassan Ali & Zarak were sitting together, talking about God knows what.
In a single moment, I saw all my teachers, each one of them. As Wordsworth had put it: “TEN THOUSAND SAW I AT A GLANCE.” I saw SIR NISHAT, SIR SHAHID, SIR KALEEM, SIR SHOAIB, SIR ABID, SIR WASIQ, SIR SHAHID, SIR FAHEEM, SIR ZAHIR, SIR NAVEED, SIR WAQAS, SIR ANJUM, SIR SHADMAN, SIR ZAFAR, SIR MADANI, SIR JAMIL, SIR NIZAR, SIR AJMAEEN…………ahhhh its a lonnnng list…. I can’t name them all, but I saw everyone, & everything: my friends, my classroom, my teachers, the playground. For a moment I even felt the tension I used to take for my homework. I relived the past, the good old days…. Ahhh the good old days.
Today, these kids going to their institutes don’t know that this is the prime era of their life they are living in. & someday, in the future, when they are grown up men, & when they see other kids going happily to school on September 1st, I’m pretty sure they too shall recall their past. Saghar has said:


وقت کی چند ساعتیں ساغر
لـوٹ آئیـں تـو کیـا تـماشـا ہو