Chennai: The students of the 1969 batch of the PS High school are an excited lot as they are about to celebrate their golden jubilee, since passing out of the school. The reunion will be organised by the school itself on its premises 16 June.
However, before the reunion, Karpaga Ganesh, who also belongs to the batch revisits his school days.
Speaking to News Today, he says, “I studied in the school right from my sixth grade to 10th. The PS High school which we studied was vast and now it has been bifurcated into three schools. There used to be eleven sections in our batch out of which 10 belonged to the Tamil medium and one English medium, with a strength of more than 300 students. We have managed to stay in touch with 80 to 100 students, who will attend the reunion.”
ALUMNI MEET
The 1969 batch had already celebrated their golden jubilee some months ago where they honoured twelve teachers, who are all above the age of 90. “We met our batchmates after 25 years on the occasion and decided that from now on we had to meet quite often. Now the reunion is conducted by the school itself which provides us an opportunity to meet again,” he says.
He says that from America, Kuwait and other places many people are coming to attend the alumni function unmindful of the distance only to cherish the memories of studying in the school. “More than a celebration it is a reunion and we wanted to contribute something towards the school for its development,” he adds.
BACK TO SCHOOL
He then traverses back to his school days, “Even though the area has changed, everything is in our memory and we cherish it. Those days we used to walk all the way to school and we did not even thought of any other mode of transport to reach the school. I can still remember the kulfi ice creams that we ate after the classes. One of our classmates named Gunaseelan used to have a thick pen with him and we used to call him Gundu Pena, even after years, we remembered him with the nickname.”
“We also participated in a lot of sport activities. We had a big ground and we played cricket with cork and rubber balls without any protection. We used veragu kattai as the bat. Those days we never entered our homes and roamed around the neighbourhood facing the world boldly,” he adds.
MESSAGE TO STUDENTS
“During our days, the inter-personal relationship between the students and teacher was very good and school kids these days don’t get that often. Even if they do, they must maintain it throughout their lives. School friends are also very important and one has to keep that bond for the rest of their lives. I believe childhood friendship has got an additional value and the current generation must value these things,” he concludes.
Contact Karpaga Ganesh at 94441 27708.