It was spring of 1999. I was sitting in a wedding hall that they had converted into a test centre. I was taking my O” Levels examination.  A lot many students from different schools were there. The good schools, like Aitchison (for boys) and Covent of Jesus & Mary (for girls) had instructed their students to take these exams while wearing the school uniform. Rest, the majority and not-so-cool schools had not given any such instructions. So it was like a carnival for us – as I was from one of those not-so-cool schools.

So to take these exams, we had to do two kinds of prep – one for the exam itself and the second was to flaunt a decent wardrobe. Now that I look back, I feel that the kids from those two schools always stood out – because of their uniform… they always looked better… and they had one less thing to worry about. School uniforms look so sassy. Our school should have asked us the same. A girl from Covent and a boy from Aitchison – were quite a thing during our time and their uniform played such a strong role. Anyone could recognize them. They were the stars. Or may be, I felt it that way.

Anyway, I think I was already half-impressed. But coming back to my story. That particular day, I was there to take Pakistan Studies exam.

We were all seated in our spots. The invigilator was only 5 minutes away from handing out the paper to us and there was a pin drop silence in the entire hall. And then suddenly, the door opened and a little girl, wearing the ever-so-impressive Convent uniform barged in. She was late. of course!

She was petité, looked like an eighth-grader. She looked genuinely confused, running to the invigilator, asking him about her aisle/spot. Then I saw her running to a line where all those girls were seated with white uniform and red sash. She finally found her spot and seated in. By that time, invigilator had handed out the exam paper to us. I tried to look at her one last time but by then, she was already lost in the sea of students. I looked at my paper and started writing…

That was the last time I saw her. But there was no doubt that she had made her first impression on me.

Was it the bewilderment on her face or her very short hair (somewhere between a bob and a boy-cut) or her petité personality that made me notice her? I don’t know. She was running in the hall and it amused me. I think I was smiling at the fact that somebody was late… I don’t know But I do remember looking at her and having a smile on my face all along.

Now, in this time and age, if you read this script then you might wonder whether I’m straight or not. But back then, our imaginations and concepts were very clear and innocent. I am straight (just to make that point clear – lol). But I liked her. I had noticed her and then she got lost.

Before writing more about her – I really want to digress here. I want to talk about those people who make their very strong first impression on us. It’s not necessarily a love at first sight. I’m not talking about that. Just in general… there is something unusual about some people that make you notice them. They can’t necessarily be weird-looking, or too-beautiful or too ugly. I don’t know. It’s about picking something peculiar about a person that you may or may not like. You can feel disgusted as well, you never know. And then, when you see them later, you remember them.

This concept is important to me. Because, I’m NOT detailed-oriented and my observations are generally very superficial. I don’t remember people. In my entire life, I have noticed just two people whom I met later & then had a vivid memory of seeing them earlier. One was this girl – and the other one was a person I met in a professional environment later on. That’s it.

So this girl was special. I had noticed her in a very clear context.

Anyway!

I’ve just started a series on my best buddies… and I wanted to start it with A.

I’ll complete this in the second part…

Until then, have a HAPPY Monday!