If you are in Mumbai and reading BT(read Bombay Times) these days then you might have noticed that off late BT guys are publishing an article titled When I was 16 .This article shares information about life of various celebrities and artists at the age of 16.I wished that someone published mine too.....that's when I thought of posting it here.

16 is the most beautiful period of the teen's.It's the age when you just spread your wings to fly into the new world yet are stuck to your cocoon.It's the period when you discover yourself.It's the age of experimenting and exploring.It's the age of getting attracted and getting attention.Life at 16 is new,refreshing and full of energy.It's totally different and amazing.

When I was 16,I shifted from Mumbai to Cochi after my 10th board exams with my mom and brother.I had to leave my friends,my dad and lots of memories back and settle in a place which I had never seen in my life.Moreover,my dad was not with us so we had to be more careful and prepared for the most challenging situations.Being the eldest child I felt very responsible and concerned about my mom and brother.

Even though I am Malayali I did not know how to read and write in Malyalam.In Kerala,all the buses have destination boards in Malayalam.So,the most difficult challenge was traveling alone in the city.I always loved coming to Kerala for short trips during holidays.But this time things were different,I had to stay there forever.I was feeling like an uprooted plant trying hard to anchor my roots in a new soil.

However, things changed after I joined St.Antony's HSS,Cochi.It was a girl's school.No boys!!!( read heaven)The most naughty and fun filled memories of my life are attached with this school.Our teachers were the best teachers I saw in my life.We had a special way of greeting them.We had to bow down and wish them Good Morning!I got so much used to this way of greeting that I still bow my head while wishing someone.We had a prayer room where there was a Bible, Quran and Bhagvad Gita.We were free to choose and read.We were told by our teachers to visit this room before entering our classroom.I daily went to the prayer room,bent down and prayed on my knees.The whole process gave a feeling of meditation,it was quite relaxing and helped me a lot.

We had a novel (The Count of Monte Cristo) to study in English.Our teachers took us to a theater to watch the movie based on the novel.It was such an exciting feeling to watch a movie together with the whole class in a theater and that too when a movie was being exclusively screened for us.Similarly,the students who had Malayalam as second language had a novel Agnisakshi.A screening of the movie based on this novel was arranged in our computer lab only for Malayalam students.I had opted for Hindi as second language.So,I and my few friends who had Hindi were not supposed to watch the movie as it was not a part of our curriculum.But I and my few friends managed to sneak in and saw the whole movie with my other friends.

I was in Cochi only for a year and came back to Mumbai.I loved my life in Kerala.I still miss those days.Those days made me more independent,more polite,mature and bold.The tough times and the best times in Cochi made me a new person with a different set of ideas and outlook towards life.