The Emperor's New Clothes..

Again, this was written when i was in12th grade. I think I have tried to dramatize my feelings then, and I have horribly messed it up. But I'd just leave it like this-cos' "Whatever is written remains forever"
june 9th, 2008

That was a usual story ......once upon a time, there lived an emperor........
but the good it did to me is known only to me.......
i was a 4th grade student then, when this story of a foolish emperor who beleives the tale of 2 strangers
who comes to him to find a job and ends up in losing all his reputation by going naked in front of his
subjects was taken up by my teachers as a play that was to be enacted during the annual day.
i was chosen as the emperor , of course i was proud enough to be doing the major role in a play. i was excited
even as i had to endure the hard practices, the lasting tempers of all teachers who wanted perfection.
the play went excellently well, more successfully than anyone had imagined. everyone were happy including
the headmistress,Mother Domnique, an angel of our time in school , my parents, granny , all of them.
now after almost 10 years of time that has elapsed since the play was enacted my teachers(primary school)
remember me as the emperor. a few of number of meetings with those teachers showed that they all remembered
me as the emperor as yet, but i wasn't sure if they would remember me as that always, i thought it was just
a period of time when they would forget me, my name, my role, everything else about me,but today i was
proven wrong!!!
After 10 years of time they still acknowledge me as an emperor. they welcome me into their staff room as
"helloo! emperor.....how are you feeling?" i was dumbstruck as they all unanimously said "oh! emperor,
come in please, take your seat your majesty", i thought some of them would recognize me as an emperor but never even
in my dreams did i expect that ALL the teachers would still remember me in the same way. On my note of thanks that they
still thought i was worth of being remembered for my pretty role, they said " Of course how can we forget
you? that play was the best one in many years and none of the other plays till date have been as successful as
yours and every time we need to find a new play for the annual day, we first remember you ,the emperor, the
play and the time we had then. it is very hard to forget you" . well now that they had said it i must admit
that no one until date had said it . i was on the ninth cloud.probably somewhere even beyond it. that was a
wonderful moment.
not just the teachers, but also the previous headmistress ,Mother domnique, who also remembers the same
girl of 4th grade. Meeting her after 10 years in itself was a joyous moment , and above all listening
that she, the best headmistress I've known, still remembered me for the role i played , was beyond words.
My voice box didn't get the right impulse at the right time to produce even a faint sound, leave alone to express what i was
feeling, but i was sure i hadn't felt that happy any time in life. and today to double my happiness my teachers
were there.......they are the teachers who gave a strong base to my learning, and the way they have
moulded me and all my friends is shown in us as to what we are today...a fine platform was erected by them,
ready for us to mount......indeed they have proved themselves as the makers of our lives........
the warmth that they had given us away is miraculous. and i am still in their memories, as an emperor....
the feeling of being recognised by your best, favourite teachers after a long time is THE feeling to be experienced.
It is a chosen blessing bestowed upon you that could bring in a rapid yet eternal feeling of satisfaction
and happiness...

18/08/2005
swathi- the emperor or shall we say the empress?!;)