We are constantly in the habit of glorifying our past. Phrases like "good old days" and "those were the days" aren't unheard of. I've heard a lot of people glorify their school days—the golden years of their lives, they say. But a nostalgic return to the past only brings to memory the happy and fun events. Nostalgia is selective in what it brings back from the past. Think of your school days for a moment (almost forgot, if you are still in school, please stop reading this article right here because you're going to hate me if you proceed further). Chances are that when you think of school days, you'll think of friends, of the one(s) you had a crush on, of the fun you had cutting classes and of your participation in some sporting event that made you popular with the ladies. 

These happy recollections are justifiable but let me refresh your memory of school life a little more vividly. A typical day at a boarding school: Wake up at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of the warden blowing his whistle loud enough to pierce through the walls of sleep at this insane hour and to leave you with a hearing disorder for the rest of your life. Noncompliance to the warden's rude wake-up call will result in any form of punishment that he deems appropriate. His approximation of appropriateness is as unpredictable as the temperature of the water in which you will have to shower. Both are usually very cold. Having completed your morning ablution, it's time to leave the hostel and hit the books for an hour at the study room. Boredom hits rock bottom as you pretend to study the pages of your textbook for an entire hour. Absolute silence is to be maintained throughout. The idea of having a conversation is tantamount to breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not speak to thy neighbor! In the stillness of the study room, it becomes almost impossible to not be tempted to fall back to sleep. After what seems like eternity, the ringing bell announces the end of a torturous one-hour… and the day is only just beginning.