Look at me I'm so cool!!!

I used to have a Spice Girls slam book in school. In tenth standard. For no reason except that I thought it was cool to have a slam book. I used to approach all and sundry to fill it up, so that I could know about their ‘Spicy Birthdate’, ‘Spicy Memory’, ‘Spicy Ambition’, and their ‘Spicy words about me’. Gah.

Of course, everyone had a slam book in 12th standard, when it suddenly strikes people that school is getting over, and we want to know as much as possible about our classmates whom we previously had no real interest in. It’s a tough decision to make- do we finish writing our record books that are due for submission tomorrow, or should we fill up the slam book? After all, there is so much about me that I’m sure all my classmates are eager to know. Now is the last and final chance to show them what a delightful and witty person I am. Screw chemistry record book.

School was a magical time, wasn’t it? The time of learning, loving, growing up, teenage crushes. And also the time of a million trends that would make us cringe now when we think back on it.

Here are some of my time:-

# The bright, shiny friendship bands that came free with Top Ramen noodles and pretty much everything else. I used to wear two-three at the same time. Ewww.

# After the Malayalam movie ‘Niram’ came out, everyone was ‘da’. “Hi da’, ‘hello da’, ‘No da’, ‘Of course da’, ‘Get lost da’. Sheesh!!

# You know the colourful beads that used to be a fad at one time? I used to braid my hair in thin plaits and wear those beads. At all times. Even to school. Not just beads, I used to have tiny clips shaped like butterflies, toffees, tweety bird, etc. I used to be known in school for my ‘cool hairstyle’, till one sour old fart (read: a teacher) told me that we are not Africans to be wearing beads to school. Hmmpph.

# Eyeliner. To school. What was I thinking??

# My socks always used to be rolled down or folded down, and my skirt was never below the knee. The effect of watching too much of “Hip Hip Hurray”, “School Days”, “Just Mohabbat” etc on T.V. and whatever came on T.V was cool, right?

# I also refused to tie my hair in two plaits or ponytails when it grew longer. It was always one pony, even though the end of my hair used to look like a comma/question mark. And then they made it mandatory in school to wear two plaits/ponies. Determined to come across as ‘cool’ even then, I wore red satin ribbons instead of the normal ribbons.

# My nails never NEVER used to be nail-polish-less. And they never used to be short. As if wearing one colour was not enough, I would put two colours at the same time. Double ewwww.

# Oh wait. How could I forget nail tattoos!

# Multiple stickers on pencil boxes. I bet all of you have done this. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, The Little Mermaid, theme stickers, even Flag Day stickers. Anything and everything used to find its way to my pencil box. And then we would compare our coolness in class.

# And ooh ohh!!! Pencil pouches!! Not boxes, but pouches. I had a variety of them!! They were SO cool, and they could fit in so many more pens and pencils. By the way, I used to collect pens too.

# It was so totally cool to bring cold water to school. It was, like, THE most happening thing ever. And those with Milton water-bottles ruled this game. It was also very happening to bring Maggi and any other variety of noodles to school.

# How can I forget those notebooks with film stars on the cover? Mammootty, Mohanlal, Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan etc.. I used to have a huge crush on Madhavan at that time (and still do, actually), and would ask the store-keeper to particularly give me only those with him on the cover. And then I would sit and look at his face and fantasize about an Alai Payuthey-esque scenario during tuition class. Did I mention I had compartment in my 12th standard Physics Board exam? Ahem.

# Bell-bottoms jeans!!! I had one too many of those, and this, unfortunately, continued till college.

What were the cringe-worthy cool trends of your school days?


(An apology to a certain reader for writing another post that is about I, me, myself. Not entirely my fault. My muse refused to let me write about anything else. I have reprimanded Miss.Feisty for the same.)