Article in Indian Express on Pratibimb 2005
Express News Service
Hyderabad, Dec 26
"Every batch thinks they are the naughtiest. But yes, they made us strong" was a remark which had the audience in splits. But the audience must have been used to the irrevocable charm of the speaker. As she was their teacher years ago when they were her students. At PRATIBIMB 2005,the first reunion of Kendriya Vidyalaya School, Picket, one word described the mood-nostalgia. Alumni ,former teachers and principals came together on Saturday for a fun-filled afternoon at the school.
As many as 200 alumni were present on the occasion, much like they used to come for the morning assembly. What was unique about the reunion was the presence of former teachers and principals. They came on the dais to speak to their erstwhile students, some still fresh on memory of how some of their students were weak in their subjects.
Baljit Kaur, a former teacher, evoked laughter and tears with her speech.” I’ve realized that four walls don't make an institution, but people do",she said.Kaur pleasantly surprised her students when she showed the gifts they had given her on various occasions like Teacher's day.
Others like Nalini Gopalkrishnan, a former teacher in the primary section of the school, spoke extempore on a request from the gathering.” Most loyalties are difficult to explain and loyalty to one's school is no different,” she said. The 'talk' afforded students and teachers alike an opportunity to say what it feels like after years of passing out.
To liven up the atmosphere, some alumni presented popular Bollywood songs intermittently. A photo exhibition of sports days, group photos, picnic photos of various batches was also put up. A dinner for the alumni was organized in the evening by the former students association.At the end, the views were unanimous: the tradition of reunion should continue.
posted by Picketian @ 1:21 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Hello All,
Firstly Happy n fun filled New Year 2006.
Congratulations to all of us, we've done a commendable job. I'm sure this success story continues forever and ever and ever.
Long live Picketians....,Long live PRATIBIMB....
regards,
Madhukar.
Whenever I think of School, KVP comes to mind, although I have studied in seven of them. It occurs to me that the reason is what Kumar (Krishnamurthy) mentioned in his speech viz. that KVP taught us to compete with ourselves and not with the crowd. When the school was new, I joined with my brother and sister in 1965. There were no benchmarks for us and competition within the school was almost non existent. Hence, we just went ahead and competed outside the school whether it was debates, quiz, GK or cricket. The teachers did what they could to support and encourage us, providing only words of encouragement. It occurs to me that they were like parents who think that their children can do no wrong! Whether this was born of naivette or just their positive attitude, this had a great impact on our mental and psychological development in those formative years. Not knowing whether we were really good or not was a great help! Sometimes we did spectacularly well or we failed mightily and went back the next year without any preconceived notions. Oh how I love these guys who never discouraged us ever. Can you imagine that I was sent to Pune for a Science Exhibition with two of our teachers, Mrs Premlatha Reddy and Mrs Padmaja who were also attending a Science Teachers' conference. I took a model of an electronic piano made with the help of one of my friends who had some knowledge of electronics and who was in college at that time. Mr Sukumaran said the proper equivalent of Go Man Go! I did not win a prize but that did not diminish me in any way, thanks to the faith the school faculty had in me. From what I saw from the interaction in the egroup and in Pratibimb, the teachers have been similarly inclined over the years and that is what makes this school really great! Sorry for the very long post but I had to shout this out loud!
hello Mr Krishna,
These are few drops of the vast ocean of cherished School days....in simple words these are just few instances of myriad memorable days.....and i say all of us have relived the past.....with PRATIBIMB going over successfully.
Dear Every Picketian,
I got back to Bahrain yesterday, after one of the most interesting, satisfying, nostalgic and emotionally rewarding evenings that I have ever had in the last 35 years!
I must say that I came to the reunion with some amount of cautious uncertainty as to what it would be like - for it is not easy to bring together people who have moved on to pursue their ideologies and aspirations and transport them into a world that was hitherto embedded into the innermost recesses of memory.
My cautious uncertainty was pleasantly met by the mix of spontaneity and organization that the evening bore. The evening succeeded in each one of us reinforcing that connection with KVP that is so individually unique. Each one of us was able to identify that special rapport that he or she had - incident-based or personality based - this is why so many of us related and shared these special moments with the rest of us. School life is so virgin in its education - devoid of the prejudices and reservations that adult life is so fraught with - as are childhood memories that are so vivid and pristine that one looks back at them with fondness and warmth. This is what the reunion succeeded in doing for us.
What did I take back from the evening? An innate sense of satisfaction at having connected with the roots of values that the school imbibed in me. Often we move on from the school, not realizing that the sense of values we developed during our formative years have served as the foundation for our success in later years. I made this connection.
I should be grateful to the people who made the reunion a reality - Maheep, Biswajit, Salil and the huge numbers of Picketians that worked tirelessly for it.
I am also grateful for all the teachers and principals that made it to the reunion - speaks of volumes of commitment.
On a concluding note, the dinner, the ghazals and the dance-party thereafter were really fun! The food was excellent and some of us pre-1970'ers enjoyed dancing with the post 2000'ers, though not with the same ease!
The reunions of later years will have a high benchmark to live up to!
Best,
Kumar Krishnamoorthy
1970 Batch
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