GROWING UP ON WOODEN BENCHES

Every Indian student knows the smell of a dusty classroom and the hard, unforgiving surface of a wooden bench. To the world, it's just furniture. To us, it was a witness.

It saw the first day we walked in with oversized uniforms and even bigger dreams. It felt the weight of bags that got heavier every year-not just with textbooks, but with the silent pressure to rank, to perform, and to belong.

This is not a story of heroic triumphs or dramatic romances. It is a quiet reflection on the years spent sitting still while our worlds shifted beneath us. It's about the friends who became home 🏠, the teachers who saved us, the marks that defined us, and the moments we stopped asking "why" and started learning to pretend we were okay.

From the first bell 🔔 to the final farewell, this is the honest journey of a life lived on the edge of a bench.

#20 in thoughts
#20 in deep
#5 in student life
#1 in school stories