“I am adding years to my life,” a beaming 80-year old former principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya–1, Tiruchi, R. Seshadri, articulated as he walked about, sporting his usual verve on Sunday in the Senior Staff Club auditorium of Ordnance Factory Estate township.
Holding a camera with one hand and books on the other, Mr. Seshadri kept capturing in his compact digital camera umpteen facets of limitless joy that permeated the auditorium, on the occasion of first reunion of old students after a gap of over 30 years.
In doing so, he exemplified the ecstasy of his contemporaries and the present batch of teachers over the opportunity to meet and greet old students who had turned up in droves from the nook and corner of the globe, and, of course, various parts of the nation.
As students, a number of them with greying hair, flocked him and other teachers with bowed heads, he kept saying in an emotional tone: “Can there be more happiness than this in the world?” Incidentally, the occasion was a reunion for the retired teachers as well.
And for the old students who had come with their families to savour the occasion, the pleasantness of the situation was accentuated by the loving and caring demeanour of the teachers whom they had only known so far as strict and hard task masters. V. Subburaj, former English teacher and NCC Master, for instance, laughed away his strictness. The smile on Mr. Subburaj’s face never faded as he kept enquiring about the well-being of every student he came across.
Thanks to formation of a Facebook group by two old students Manoj Mathew and Jayashree Dorairaj, the outcome of anticipation created during the past couple of years turned out to be more than fulfilling. “It’s an awesome feeling. In no other alumni meet will one find teachers, parents and children in such numbers,” Saji Titus of the batch of 1984 exclaimed. The sense of spontaneity was conspicuous, observed the newly elected president of the alumni association V.B. Vinod, Associate Professor in English, Department of Humanities, National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi.
Expressing delight over inaugurating the alumni association, the Chief Guest M.K. Mishra, General Manager, Ordnance Factory, explained how the moulding that happens in the school reflects on the society when students fan out after education. He emphasised that educational benefits should be channelled in the direction of societal welfare. Committing to Mr. Mishra the alumni association’s fullest support for the betterment of the school and society at large, its General Secretary P. Ravindran said a strategy would be chalked out soon. “There was more to the reunion than nostalgia. Our schooling has helped us to bring out the best in whatever we do. So, we are into this to do more.”
