Saturday, September 24, 2011

Back to Sainik School - Day 2


September 24 was a momentous day in the history of my alma mater -- the day when 20 former teachers were felicitated during a programme called Guruvandanam, by the school and the Old Boys Association as part of the school's golden jubilee year. The senior-most teachers, who are now over 80 years old, joined the school right at its inception in 1962.

Pending construction of the 500-acre sprawling campus, then defence minister V K Krishna Menon laid the foundation stone at the Pangode military campus in Thiruvananthapuram. The school moved to Kazhakootam, about 20 km north of the capital in 1964. Much of the present campus was forested area. A few years ago, quite a lot of the 'waste land' was handed over to the Kinfra (Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation) by the defence ministry. I feel sad that the forested area has now been barricaded from the school. As kids we used to go to those areas as part of childhood adventure and boast about having seen the 'pond' where tigers used to come to drink water!

Alumni meetings began in 1969!

Alumni meetings are now common, thanks to easy networking. But Sainik School's Old Boys Association was formed in 1969. Every year the OBA has been meeting, usually in June-end or early-July. In those days, forget mobile phone, there were no proper landlines even. All the networking was done by post, usually through the card, which during those days cost 10ps or so.

On 24th, the programme began with laying of wreaths and lighting of torches in memory of departed alumni and teachers. We all then moved to the auditorium, where the Guruvandanam programme began with a presentation: 'Down the Memory Lane"; then followed presentation of mementos to the former teachers. Some of them made short speeches recalling their days in the school and offering inspirational thoughts to staff and students. This was followed by a musical programme by a troupe led by an alumnus, in memory of late P C Satish Chandran, former director of All India Radio. After lunch, former students and teachers got together for informal interactions. In the evening there was a friendly volleyball match between alumni and school teams.

Kazhak bonding

What sets Sainik School apart are the quasi-military routine, a team of very dedicated teachers and administrative staff; and the extra-curricular activities. The invaluable formative years spent together in the campus have created a strong bonding among the students and the alumni. There are now Old Boys Association chapters in almost all cities of India, and many cities abroad. The Kazhak spirit is something we all can bank on any time. Recently, when I had an occasion to travel to Japan on an official assignment, the first thing I did was, like many others who travel to a new place, to put out an e-mail in the alumni e-group asking if there is anyone there. And there was; Prageeth, many years junior to me, working as software engineer in Osaka. And thanks to him, I was encouraged to extend my stay to take a holiday and tour places like Hiroshima, Kobe and Kyoto.

After tea, my father and I moved to the residential quarters side of the campus. I went to B-2 quarters, where I spent the first 23 years of my life, from 1965 to 1988. This is one place I never miss when I come to Sainik School. As usual, it's always very emotional. The pathways, roads, culverts, drains, trees, houses and other buildings, doors and windows – everything seems to have a story to tell. I spent some half an hour near B-2. We spent some 15 minutes in the house. I paused occasionally as a long train of thoughts passed through my mind.

Those two days seemed like some 20 years; gave me a feeling as if I had been to an entirely different world; an enriching and reinvigorating trip.

(Photographs will follow soon)

1 comment:

  1. Dear Pradeep,

    Those words, took us readers also back to the school . Atleast some of us can't forget B-2 , where we as Junior house guys in class 8&9 used to come to NBN sir for clearing our doubts in Chemistry and discussing the weekly question papers he used to write in his inimitable handwriting ( I used to try to form my handwriting in those lines and still can write them )every week.That was the epitome of dedication to the profession fo teaching and Gurukula education in the modern Days. On some days we never realized that the classes like this extended into the evening studies time . Luckily for us , we had a very understanding house captian in Sam Abraham in Prasad Juniors and Mr P Mohammed Kunhi as house master who knew where we would be and did'nt let us taste the fruits of indisciplne . There were occasions when , we used to taste Semiya Payasam given to us by NBN Sir and the taste still lingers with the memories of the many cats watching all around with envious gleaming eyes.

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