(From top) Vinod Neotia, the president of the Birla High alumni committee, inaugurates the programme; Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee chats with present students; old boys get into the groove; A former student greets retired teacher K. K. Pandey. Pictures by Anindya Shankar Ray

Classroom caper

In our busy schedule, we do not find time to meet even our closest friends. The days when we do are always special,” smiled Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee as she interacted with the students of Birla High School for Boys at Homecoming 2009, the 12th annual reunion of Birla High School alumni in association with The Telegraph on January 10.

Industrialists B. K. Jhawar of Usha Martin Group and Vinod Neotia of Ambuja Realty Group were only some of the 1,200-plus ex-students who again walked the school corridors, sat in old classrooms and shared jokes with friends they met after years. S. K. Birla, the chairman of the school’s governing body, released the annual souvenir, Setu, on the occasion.

“With 600 members, the alumni is still in its infancy. We target 2,000 members by 2011,” said Vinod Neotia, the president of the alumni committee. “The reunion has students from the batches of the 1950s up to 2008,” said principal Mukta Nain.

For one day, discipline took a back seat as the school courtyard was transformed into a dance floor with present and former students swinging to the beats of Om shanti om and Bachna ae haseeno. Singer Arun Daga and his group performed back-to-school numbers like Yaaron.

“I would rather have a game of volleyball with my friends than drink soup with them,” said Bipin Newar of the 1992 batch, as he checked out the new games court. “I liked the old court with sand better than the new concrete one,” he rued.

Students cheered retired teachers as they were felicitated. “It’s heartening to see my students come up to me, no longer students but fathers and grown-ups,” said K. K. Pandey, the physical education teacher from 1963 to 1997.

Dilip Bhuwalkar of the 1975 batch missed his old teachers. “I wish all my old teachers were here.”

“We played hand cricket and the school pillars served as wickets. My friend Raj Kumar Jagnani would climb the school wall despite the fear of punishment,” he added nostalgically.

Jhinuk Mazumdar

Dream to cross the stream

UNITED COLOURS: US consul-general Beth A. Payne hands over school uniforms to students of St Stephen’s School. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

A school for underprivileged children tucked away in Phears Lane played host to US consul-general Beth A. Payne on Monday as she dropped in to distribute uniforms to the students. “I know how hard it must be to struggle with no space and poor lighting at home. But if you have a dream, anything is possible,” said Payne as she interacted with students and teachers of St Stephen’s School.

Over 200 children of the school, near Poddar Court, welcomed Payne. “I had never hoped to see the consul-general so close,” grinned Nahid Ali Khan of Class VII.

The distribution of uniforms at the school is an annual affair, said Imran Zaki, the honorary secretary of the school board. “Education is the only way to reach out to people. We hope to bring light into the lives of many through the school,” he said. Saris were also distributed to teachers and non-teaching staff.

As Payne toured the eight rooms where classes are held, she said: “It is the students and teachers who make the school. When the twain exist in harmony, constraints like space can cease to be a bother.” Although catering to economically weaker students there is no dearth of initiative here. Karate and Turkish classes are very popular among the students.

Having come from a humble background herself, Payne recounted how, as a child, she too had seen her parents deal with hardships.

“When my father was young he did not even have shoes. But he went on to become a professor. You can also start from nothing and become somebody. Work hard, have hope and never give up,” she said.

Little voices gave confident answers when she asked students of classes II and III what they wanted to be when they grew up. Doctors, teachers, pilots and judges were some of the responses.

Payne also took a tour of the locality, visiting the houses of students, including the one-room house of Sayeed Faizan Kamal, which he shares with his parents and two sisters.

While his mother Yasmin Kamal organises community-based activities at a local church, the children are urged to study hard, with a small shelf of books in the room guiding them to a brighter future.

Doel Bose,
St Xavier’s College