I attended the alumni meet at my school today. I am one of those rare people who studied in the same school from kindergarten to class XII - a whopping fourteen years (actually fourteen and a half, if you count the extra six months of UKG that I studied because I was underage for first standard). I have many pleasant memories of school.
All the teachers who taught me, except two, have already retired. Today's meet was wonderful because the retired teachers had attended it and I was able to meet all of them after nearly two decades. I met Miss Meenakshi (chemistry), Mrs. Peace (biology), Mrs. Jacob (chemistry and physics), Mrs. Sulochana (chemistry and biology), Ms. Vasantha (primary school science), Ms. Visalakshi (Tamil), Mrs. Kameshwari (history/geography), Mrs. Annamary (PT) (who told me that Mrs. Rao has passed on), Ms. Evon (Primary English), Mrs. Subbulakshmi (Tamil), Mrs. Rajalakshmi (Hindi), and Mrs. Alamelu (Tamil) (who looks unbelieavably old ). They have aged quite a lot, but their enthusiasm remains unbroken. Most of them remembered me by name, but a few really really old ones were muddled. But all of them were very happy to see their old students. The earliest alumnus was from the 1957 batch. She was older than some of my teachers who have retired ! There was only one other girl (?!) from my class who attended - Shantakumari, and even she left early because the school brought back memories of her mother, who has recently passed on. I recognized a few seniors - Niveditha, Usha Jayaraman, etc. and one junior - Anusha Sundaram.
Ms. Evon asked for volunteers to sing the school songs - someone who knew both - "All hail" and "Onward Holy Angels", I believe I was the only one who knew (and remembered) both. I was part of the choir that released the "new" school song, "Onward.." during school assembly when we were in ninth. I surprised myself by remembering both songs completely, in addition to the school prayer "Our Father in Heaven..." After twenty years ! I am impressed.
If you were/are from HAC, the school exudes the same aura - it has been maintained well. The neem tree at the junior's assembly ground continues to thrive. The sad part is that the playground with all the "apparatus" - swings, merry-go-rounds etc. have given way to more classrooms. There is a new basket ball court. The rock garden at the entrance has been replaced by a pillar with the school emblem on top. The chapel is still at the same place, but the pews have been removed, so it is one large room with the alter at one end. The junior class rooms (classes 1, 2 etc.) that were to the side of the junior assembly ground have been pulled down, and there is a high wall on Raman Street side. There is a new gate opening out to Lodikan Street.
I was so caught up with catching up that I completely forgot that I had a camera phone until the very end of the meet.
Recent Comments