Growing Pains.

   Cutthroat silence filled the room, our twitching ears ringing at the lack of the usual hubbub and everyday hustle of school. The loud conversations, unfriendly remarks, witty jokes, all silenced at that moment. We were hunched over on our tables, disbelieving the contents that our exam papers have presented us. Some of us were deep in thought, concentrating hard on the task at hand. Others were peering left and right, winking and signalling to anyone kind enough to offer them salvation. It was a battlefield of sorts, a long, silent battlefield. Where knowledge was power and defeat usually meant a tough time in the future.

   I sat there, my answer sheet filled and shaded to whatever I knew on the topic. Checking it time and time again, making sure that every doubt I had about the paper had been cleared. Finally, satisfied with my half-baked answers, I closed the sheet and plopped my head on the desk, letting my thoughts flutter to wherever they see fit. I was jolted awake by a booming voice. The preschool next door was having some sort of ceremony, and with any ceremony, our national anthem was there to kick it off.
   
   The familiar opening melody of our national anthem opened up and then the singing began. The enthusiastic and high-pitched voice of hundreds of preschool children filled the air. I could see the annoyed faces of some of my peers who were still busy with they're papers. And so, I sat there, listening intently to the piercing sound of pre-puberty girls and boys singing their hearts out. Their voices so loud, so eager, like they were all competing for a prize. Even though I couldn't see them, I could picture their smiling faces, jolly to be singing anything at all.


  I fondly remember the time when i was like that, so full of life, so oblivious to all the problems of the world. I enjoyed every little thing with a smile on my face and laughed at the silliest things. As I take a good look at the people around me, I realize that I wasn't the only one. As we all aged into puberty, we seemed to lost the zest that we all had as children, that desire to explore and touch everything. That never-ending optimism we had towards everything and anything we do. Laughing it off as we went on our way.


  I'm realistic enough not to dabble in this destructive nostalgia. But it does pose an interesting concept about growing up. Does growing up necessarily mean letting go of the little things that made us happy as a child? Many at times, my friends would throw a comment at me, calling me childish and asking me to grow up. Grow up? I believe growing up is nothing but an abstract. We never grow up, we just learn how behave in public and accept responsibilities under our stride.


  Nowadays, whenever I happen to stumble across children, I smile fondly to myself at the thought of them. So innocent, so enthusiastic, so.... happy. It almost pains me to see them grow up and face the realities of the world today.