Reunions

First Reunion of this batch after 38 years of passing out from School.This batch is the last batch of the Old S.S.C (11th Std), which passed out from St.Vincent's in the year 1975. Organizing such an event needs involvement & cooperation from the school and batch mates. A small group was formed in August 2013 to look after the various planning aspects. Basic objectives of such a reunion were - To meet our childhood classmates and get re-acquainted after a gap of 38 years. To celebrate our wonderful school memories and friendships and deepen our bonds of brotherhood. To meet with and felicitate our teachers and staff, who had a hand in laying good foundations for our lives. To reconnect with the school and its current management. To build an active & enduring 1975 batch community. First we set about locating all our classmates. We started with those whose contact details we already had. Ateeque Malik did a superb job of surfing the net (Facebook, LinkedIn . . . ) sending off emails, sms and even phoned many - to trace our classmates. Others too chipped in and soon we had 124 classmates' details. (Sadly, we could confirm the passing away of 6 classmates). Arun Kadekodi, who owns a software firm in Kothrud, formed a Google group to facilitate easily communicate with all batchmates. Then the other "shakers and movers" in the planning group (Ashok Sakhrani, Mansoor Lokhandwala, Zafar Momin {Singapore}, Srini Chari {USA}, Ashok Nahar, Ajay Anand, Ajay Chowdhary, Kiran Thuse & Raymond) went about attending to the minute details of the three events planned. One session for only classmates at the Boat Club to re-acquaint ourselves with one-another. The second session was the next morning at Gulati hall with Teachers and Peons who served us during our school days. This session was also quite emotional for us as well the Vincentian Ex-Staff members. The third session was with our wives at Oakwood Hotel. Our wives' remarks warmed the cockles of our hearts. They were amazed at how their husbands were behaving like "little boys" with their classmates of over 38 years ago. Such an exciting spirit to behold that one of the wives (Varsha Nitin Kshirsagar) composed an apt poem in Marathi to commemorate the event. We were blessed to have between 75 to 80 classmates who attended, with plans for more such meeting in the future. - Raymond Rebello