Memento

Memento

 

The Teacher’s Common Room door opens to a surprise for Jaanvi, a pleasant one at that. The 20 X 20 feet room, known mostly for an insipid silence amid the vibrant din of the campus, gloomy tube-lights, antique ceiling fans, mammoth bookshelves along the walls, empty chairs and desks with books and notebooks scattered on them most of the day, while their occupants, the teachers, would be engaged in delivering classroom sessions, now looks packed with people – senior students, colleagues and support staff. Often synonymous with inactivity, except for tea-sipping, cookies-munching, lesson-planning, assignment-checking tit-bits of conversation spells among colleagues, this room is now buzzing with movement and activity. Jaanvi’s colleagues and students, mostly known faces, are engrossed in candid, enthusiastic group chats, as if they have met one another after ages. The room has been decorated with balloons and streamers, freshly lit with white CFL bulbs. The congregation