Bollywood veteran Zeenat Aman on Saturday dressed up as a “70+ old schoolgirl” in a nod to the time she had spent with her friends at her boarding school during her formative years.

The actress recalled her stint at St Joseph’s Convent, a girls’ boarding school in a hill station in Maharashtra, in a long post on Instagram. “St. Joseph’s was run by the Daughters of the Cross and they were wonderful, compassionate and firm mentors. Routine and discipline were paramount and this rigour advises my work ethic till date,” she wrote.

Dropping pictures of herself in a long black dress and a vintage white shirt underneath, Zeenat said her photographer thinks she looks like a “septuagenarian Wednesday Adams” from the 2022 Netflix series.

At the beginning of her note, the actress mentioned that a childhood friend of hers often jokes about how a wonderful childhood makes for disappointments later on in life. “They’re being silly of course, but there is a grain of truth in the statement. If those early years are filled with love, insulated from cruelty, and soaked in camaraderie, the inevitable realities of adulthood can come as a shock!” she said.

“Don’t we all know someone who was the very best version of themself in school, and then struggled uncharacteristically later on,” added Zeenat, who completed her schoolgirl look with a plait and black high heels.

Saying that her childhood memories remain “sublime”, Zeenat went on to reminisce about her time with friends at the boarding school. “Playing hockey on tableland (I was usually the goalie), strawberry-picking field trips to Mahabaleshwar, clandestine midnight feasts in our dorm, the thrill of being called to the ‘parlour’ because I had a visitor (usually mummy and uncle Heinz, laden with tuck),” she wrote.

The veteran actress also recalled how she used to sneak out of the campus as a teenager but never got punished for it. “In my teens, when I grew innocently wayward — sneaking out of campus to go to town with my friends and other such antics — they countered in the most delightful way. Instead of punishing me, they gave me more respect and responsibility! It was an invite to rise that I happily accepted,” she stated.

Zeenat said going to school with girls from diverse backgrounds and nationalities helped shape her personality. “Then there was the fact that my school friends came from an international milieu. Girls from India, Australia, the Middle East… I’ve lost touch with them all, but such a diverse crowd taught me so much about respecting differences and finding commonalities,” she explained.

“So! Here I am dressed as a 70+ schoolgirl, and asking to hear your defining boarding school memories,” she signed off, clarifying the reason for her schoolgirl look.

On the work front, Zeenat will be next seen in the film Bun Tikki alongside Shabana Azmi and Abhay Deol.