A Trip Down Memory Lane…

A trip down memory lane…

The streets were crowded. There seemed to be a rush of madness all around. All, I could hear were continuous honking of vehicles trying to get a little parking space.  And yes. There were kids too! In coloured costumes, some tiny tots and some in their early teens, stepping out of the auto with their parents to catch the best seat and head backstage for their performances.

As I walked through the stretch between Balaji Temple and Sai Mandir, which on most days was silent, without any bustling traffic or the honking, it didn’t seem to be the same today.  And then I my eyes immediately caught the attention of a few students dressed in a brown coloured uniform, which seemed quite familiar. It was the same uniform from the school (Fr.Agnel Vashi) where I spent my growing years as a child, a teenager learning the values of life. Spending thirteen years in an institution out of the twenty-five, which makes it almost fifty percent, I remember not really being a bright student but fairly good as a student when it came to academics. Sports, well I wasn’t really good at that too! So in a school, strictly governed by a strict disciplinarian principal, where both sports as well as academics formed a part of the growing years, I just considered myself to be average unlike the many geniuses the institution over the years managed to churn out.

But the most important thing I would look forward to was our Annual Day, Sports Day, mostly held alternatively in an academic year. That was when we as students would get a chance to unleash the little bundle of talent within us, be it in the form of song or dance. We did have a cultural programme but all I have is a faint memory of being placed in one corner of a stage dressed as a flower or a bird! So in that respect, annual day was much bigger and grander, when it came to performing on stage. And yes, I can’t forget those little snacks we as participants used to get. Maybe, that was the reason we as little kids would wait to participate for and eagerly wait for the Annual day each year.

And today, many years later, it was exactly the same situation, which re-created in front of my eyes. The only thing was, I wasn’t a part of it anymore and it wasn’t the same as before too! The venue had changed and so the stage and sound system. I remember my Annual Day being held at a small garden behind the old school building. A few years later it was shifted to the basketball court. And today, it was being held at a large astro-turf ground with a huge stage, adjacent to the swimming pool and sports complex building, built largely for the benefit of upcoming sports players not just from my own school.

I remember the sound and light being fairly simple consisting of halogen lights and a few coloured lights with gelatine papers stuck to it to give the pub feel, as I call it! The stage today, resembled nothing less than set for a concert of international repute.

Watching students do the backstage rehearsals, the musicians doing the sound-check, and a glimpse of a few teachers, who taught me when I was at Agnels, was enough to trigger the wonderful memories spent at the institution as a growing child.

Things have changed a lot over the years but the memory of the brown uniform still remains. And the best part is, even when several schools within the vicinity have changed colours, I am proud that the brown uniform has managed to raise its bar each time!

The last memory of going back to school was in 2009, when we had a 20 year celebration dinner. It was a time, when a few of my friends were still a part of the institution completing their engineering, while some like me going ahead with their career. It was then we met our teachers, who recollected the kind of students we were in school. And it goes without saying that a few teachers remembered me well for all the pranks and otherwise. I met my principal Fr. Almeida as well, who even now, at his old age, is as fit as a fiddle.  I remember him calling me as a naughty student, patting and encouraging me with his words of wisdom.

My encounters with father continue even now, when I occasionally see him during my evening walks at Mini Sea-shore. And he never fails to recognise his students!

This evening truly will be remembered as I walked through the street, watching another bunch of smart students in the brown uniform, celebrating their Annual day with great fervour. With times things have changed, but memories remain. This perhaps is a realisation that (maybe) we are getting old! But watching the kids, their spirit soaring high and ofcourse the glimpse of the teachers, who once were a part of your growing years, this truly was a trip down memory lane!

I desperately tried to search for that one last re-union picture taken during the 20^th year celebration, searched my Facebook friends and their profiles, but couldn’t find it. Maybe that one picture will be enough to get the bags packing and go “Back To School”!

30th January 2014:

Hi Friends,

So finally after much searching for the reunion picture, I managed to find it on our school’s website. Here it is….

To The Memories…
To Those Days….
To The Class of 2004!

Father Agnel – Batch 2004 – 25th Year Dinner Celebrations