After a long long time, today when I entered the auditorium of MPS Jodhpur (a school in Jodhpur) I started missing my school again. As we grow up, we begin to get indifferent to things from our past. But that auditorium, those young kids in uniform and those teachers shouting at them to shut up, brought back happy memories from my Vidyani days.

We were invited by the school administration to give a two-hour talk on engineering, entrepreneurship and basic motivation. Having an experience of giving talks many times, this particular event was special for us. It was the first time we spoke in front of school kids. We had brainstormed a lot and tried to find out ingenious ways of presenting in front of these young lads. The key hurdle was to guess their level of understanding and intelligence. We as college students tend to take certain things for granted which are not very obvious at a school level. But somehow we managed and it was a hell of an event!

So as soon as we entered the auditorium, the students started to gaze at us as if we were some aliens. Remember the times when we as school kids used to gossip and stare at anyone who is new? Being at the other end of the dais made me realise how creepy we used to be! We were felicitated by the Headmistress of the school and then were invited to start our talk.

The talk consisted of us telling our stories and sharing our regrets with the students. It was mainly ‘gyaan’ and more importantly, we had to put it in a way that they can relate to. Slowly as we progressed, surprisingly and to our amazement, those students opened up and started to ask some beguiling doubts. We were startled by their level of knowledge, enthusiasm and the curiosity to know things. They knew the basic mechanisms of a business including marketing, sales, product development and funding! Things which I personally learnt only after getting into college.

Whenever Himanshu (the other person who was speaking with me) spoke, I intently watched how the students reacted. The way they were looking up to us and expecting something great from us made me realise how influential we can be. As seniors, we have the power to mould them in the best way possible and as one of the teachers of the school put it, “Students can easily connect with people of similar ages!”. Whenever they got a chance, they used to jump out of their seat and come running to us with all sort of questions and believe me it is very difficult to convince a 16- year old school kid who won’t leave you unless he has a perfect answer.

And when we were walking out of the room after our talk, everyone in the room started clapping. In that one moment, one small moment, I lived one of the best times in my life. It feels satisfying to see that you caused a change in someone’s life. We were again felicitated in the principal’s office and were offered with snacks(a big thing for any hosteler!).

Even while I am writing this, I received a mail from one of the students seeking my advice. That is enough to prove that we succeeded in our endeavour in some small way. The whole experience was rejuvenating, nostalgic and enlightening to say the least. This day will certainly be remembered for a long time to come.