As a child, I wondered why my school gave away award plaques as prizes all the time. These plaques simply go to a show rack and are forgotten forever. I thought it could have been interesting had it been a game or a puzzle book instead.
Today, as I was clearing my old stuff off from my cupboards, a few of my plaques and awards of my school days crossed my eyes. The very first one I had won in school was for a competition among high school students. As a part of the competition, we had to represent an aspect that needed our country’s immediate attention in the form of a drawing. Around 500 students participated in it. And I remember it took such a long time for the results to be declared that it had even gone off our minds.
On a busy day, after one of our exams, I heard that my name was put up on the school notice board. Clueless, I did not know what to assume. When I rushed to the spot, I could hear voices of many of my friends congratulating even before informing me the reason for it. It took some time to get the point that I had won in the competition and I am selected to take part further in an inter-school competition. The award ceremony was announced to be in the following week.
What I am holding now is the one I had received on that big day!
Twenty years past now, as I read my name engraved on the plaque, it brought back those warm nostalgic memories. The concept I had chosen for the competition was poverty. It was hard to realize that even after several years, this pathetic state of our country had not changed at all. Immediately, I set aside my awards and memories and pulled out all the old clothes that I had not used in years to be given to a nearby charity organization.
I understand now why my school gave away plaques as prizes – games and books might have been used for a while and forgotten away. Truly, it is such personalized plaques that speak the little joys and the little achievements of the bygone days, for whole of our lives.
Indeed, these plaques speak!!!!
This post is sponsored by www.award.com