Brought back to Life

Today, my class had a test.

A simple test. On everything they'd learnt

this past year.

They prepared for this for two weeks.

Most, if not all, were ready.

And as I was looking at them,

going about the rows,

Amid the scratching and the sighing,

I knew that at one point

Life would happen to them.

I knew that at some stages

they would be as drunk as a skunk,

they'd be harassed,

laughing till they'd hurt,

they'd fall in love and have their heart broken,

they'd yell at someone, for next to no reason,

they'd have kids, be happy, separate,

divorce, cry and pray for themselves,

or for someone they love,

or for someone who's gone,

or about to.

I knew they'd all know their bit of shamefulness,

their awkward moments,

their flashes of treachery, of deceit,

of contrition, absolution, desperation.

I knew that most of them would never be ready for this,

but on the other hand no one is ever ready for life.

Life just happens,

quicker than lightning,

bitterer than the bitterest lemon,

sweeter than the sweetest kiss,

yet Life is that most precious thing

which ever happens to us along the way.

I also knew that they'd come to love and hate it,

to protest against its manifold proofs of injustice,

to groan under the buffets,

but in the end I knew they'd realise that,

as I was going about the rows,

as they were answering questions

for an ultimately stupid test,

years from now,

they'd smile and remember this bit of their lives

as one of those engaging moments when

all things are vested with a different shade of life

with so many layers of meanings and interpretations

that

after the soberness, the drunkenness, the elation,

the disappointments, the breaking and the healing,

the mess and the bringing back to the surface

Life would essentially be the same

for each and every one of us,

though time changes and levels,

come what may,

perspectives be grim or endearing,

life would be, all things weighed,

all paths considered,

such a mighty gift that

it'd be sheer madness to spoil such an opportunity.