Schoolies

Between then and now, so much have changed. School was the foundation that sustain us, and has a big role in what we are today, our teachers were our nurturing mother, and schoolies our earliest friends with whom we carry lovely memories to reminisce. February 15th 1992 was our farewell day, and many of us have never met since then, some of them had become thick of friends, always together and few others, just in touch. We have moved and are scatted across the globe nurturing generation next, some have taken up their journey to the heavenly abode as well. Unfortunately we did not have a common directory of all class mates then. Thanks to technology, slowly we started catching up - first with Orkut, then with email groups, which moved to Face book page which brought us to a whatsapp group created with the intent to unite and bring together as many of our schoolies together. After 22 years few of the , class mates met on 4th May 2014 at Powai; and so began reunions. It was not just an yearly affair, it happened as and when possible, all across; few of us visited school together in August 2015 and had a get together with our teachers as well. 

First it was St. Judes School, from where a couple of them joined the new one. Patel Miss, Betty Miss, Jessy Miss, set our basic foundations. Amazing long walks with Raju and Rajani - either with their parents our ours, cannot be forgotten. As we travel down the memory lane, we remember the morning school assembly, the news, prayers and exercise, how we got into classes after that in line being checked by council members for the tie, badge and to see if the shoe is polished. Late commers were always made to stand out. Oh Man! We can go on and on. Charlie Chips, popcorn and Vada pav from canteen served by Girish Bhai and Raju Bhai. Being a girls schools; there were only handful of guys, we got to met in the school campus - The watchman, two office staff, two bhai's in the canteen, and for a very short period of time a PT Sir. Did all the girls together make Yadhav sir run away from school? How fortunate were we to have Gladys Miss as our English teacher, who was in the same school as the likes of Girish Karnad and Shashi Kapoor. An anglo Indian, she was the only teacher in high school who used to come to school wearing frocks, we did have Colin Miss in the primary schools, who still played guitar for school annual day events. A school for girls founded in 1974, owned and managed by the Maharashtra Holy Cross Sisters Society, a member of the religious congregation namely "The Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross" founded by Fr. Thedosius Florentini and Mother Maria Theresa Scherer in 1856 in Switzerland, our principal then was Sr. Mercy, Senior, we also had another Sr. Mercy Junior who used to teach us science. They inculcated in us Gandhian value of 'Simple living and high thinking'. We did have couple of other sisters as well teaching us like Sr. Neeta who was very strict and very particular about handwriting, Sister Jaya, but most of them were teachers, Few of them were a terror to all, some of them were liked by a few but others felt that they torchered them, while there were few teachers like Geetha Miss who was liked by all. She was always in the forefront, weather it be for Annual day, sports day, Guide, and was always one among the students. The various plays that she used to teach children for annual days were unique and outstanding. While Geetha Miss, Nigam Miss and Savita Miss helped us improve our Hindi, Lathike Miss, Louis Miss and Ghokhle Miss helped us with our Marathi. Kalyani Miss set our base with Mathematics, which was developed by Jessy Miss and polished by Prasanna Miss. We used to be in Aww of Alice Miss hair and often asked her how she maintained it, she taught us Chemistry, while Lathika Miss taught us Physics and Omana Miss taught us Biology, with the science class been taken by Beena miss. Our introduction to social science was given by Vikshalakshi miss, while Annie miss took us into the world of Geography, letting us live in igloos, tropical forests and greenlands. Sister Neetha and Sister Jaya, had a tough time making us remember dates and events from history and introducing us to the civics. There was another Jessy Miss who introduced us to economics, Bharathi miss helped us improve our drawing and craft work, while Aahere miss ensured that we participated in sports activities. We had PT period once a week, and Mass PT every Wednesday with different uniform. Motto of our school was 'Truth and Duty' ; with emphasis on love of God and service of man. So in high schools, girls had an option to choose between guide, social service and LTS. Margret Miss along with Geetha miss thought us different knots, songs and took us camping and hiking during our Guide sessions, praising Beden Powel. Margret Miss along with Chandoke Miss taught us English during the initial days. Rita Miss and Geeta Varghese Miss had set our basics. 

When they played an important role, in who we become or have become, it was schoolies, who helped create memories, each unique with varied talents. Over the years, some have developed it, and some have turned out into an all together different individual. It is so nostalgic, enriching and blissful to get in touch with each one of them, to learn and understand from them, and grow with them. With many people comming together, different groups could be formed, for charitable purpose, to meet/have fun, and to provide mutual help, which are all so rewarding. There are also differences of opinions, priorities, and needs. Hope and wish that we are able to find all our schoolies, and remain together - because Har dosth jaruri hai.