ST. PAUL’S ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
The association was inaugurated by Rev. Bro. Dominic, Principal, St. Paul’s High School on March 12, 1978. This association late culminated in to St. Paul’s Alumni Association which came into existence on April 25, 1997 under the chairmanship of the then Principal Bro. Lawrence D’Souza and the Presidentship of Mr. Kamlesh Bhargava, 1955 Batch(Former Director CCMB).
The year 1979, was a great deal more than just our graduation year – the year we 70 of us went our separate ways and began our lives as young adults. It was a year of many other beginnings. Most significantly, it was the beginning of a new youth inspired social consciousness and idealism in India”.
Exactly after 35 years in the wilderness there was no better place than our school to kick off the event in the place where we were all together again to remember those wonderful times we spent at St. Paul’s – when we were together almost every day – did most of the things together – when we formed many of the values we now hold dear, and many of the most intimate, precious and lasting friendships of our lives. While we were in high school right here in St. Paul’s we had the greatest heroes the best rock ‘n’ roll of all time. But most important, we had fun. We welcomed one another – with hugs – to our 1979 reunion. There was nothing more special than walking down those old familiar corridors. Peeping into the same old class rooms.
“Do you remember that guy? That teacher/ what was here name again? Do you remember the time so and so did such and such / anyone know what happened to him? Etc. save for the sounds of school shoes rushing to class the hallways came alive with the fantastic memories of happy days gone by.
All this happened because of concerted efforts by one and all. After mulling over the idea of whether or whether not to organize a reunion, few enthusiasts decided to contact the school Principal Rev. Bro. Sudhakar Reddy and Alumni Association of the school to take on the task of organizing our reunion in the 50the year of school foundation. When asked why we did it, our answer was simply how could we let 35 years go by without celebrating and seeing one another. We are so glad that we did it. Everybody roped in with their bit and the collection of these bits made the event a colossal one. We all brought with us our time our money and more than everything else our spirits and energy to make our reunion a memorable one and an event worth emulating. We left no stone unturned to see that everything we planned fall in places.
What a fun night it was, Reminiscing about our day at St. Pauls, looking at our childhood photographs, sharing stories about our lives…. As everyone began to arrive it was poignant to see everyone interacting and catching up. Old friends were reunited and the familiar smiles and laughter was infectious. With a view to reliving the yesteryears magic we all sat in a classroom dressed in our school uniforms with blazers for tete-a-tete with the media. Reminiscing about our school, all the things which we did, which we could not do and what not and more importantly studying in St. Paul’s meant what to each one of us. As a part of social responsibility we collectively decided to adopt two schools which are starved for funds and facilities which we felt are necessary for academic nourishment to take place. One such facility which we thought of doing immediately was to help a school in having wash rooms for girl students.
The joy and the satisfaction that we derived when we felicitated our teachers is unquantifiable. All the teachers who taught us were rewarded. The teachers who were not doing well economically have been handsomely compensated. The karma of giving back something to teachers who taught us is one which we imbibed from our teachers during our school days. The past Principals too who had been corner stones in our journey have been felicitated. That has been the ethos and principals the school and our teachers have inculcated in us. It is just a corollary that we replicated the ethos when opportunity came to us by way of reunion. All this could not have been possible without able support by Principal and the school staff and guidance by St. Paul’s Alumni Association. Their magnanimity and sagacity helped us in so many ways which ultimately led to the success of the event.
This was a well-attended ever, attendees ranging from yester year batches to current batch of students of over 2000. The audience was enthralled to a musical evening and more than that we were all over privileged to have a special guest of honour Dr Srinath Reddy a Padma Bhushan recipient who was our ex student from 1966 batch. All the guests and the invites were treated to some lilting music which filled the soul and with a laving spread of dinner which filled everybody’s belly.
We are glad we took the time to celebrate 35 years since we graduated from St. Paul’s and we all can honestly say, we looking forward to living the next 15 and sharing them with familiar faces again marking the golden jubilee celebrations of our graduation year.
Before the beginning of the event we thought “Together we can” and after the successful completion of the event we heaved a sigh of relief with a feeling ”Together we could”.