Past Pupil Speak

BACK TO SCHOOL By Ramanujam Sridhar

There is this story of two famous politicians – Mani Shankar Iyer and Subramaniam Swamy who are both alumni of a famous college in Delhi that I shall not name. Both these distinguished gentlemen reportedly do not see eye to eye. At a college reunion Mr. Swamy is said to have written the following comments in the Visitors Book, “What I am today is because of this college.” Mani Shankar Aiyer, whose entry followed, is alleged to have written, “Why blame the college?” 37 years after I passed out of Don Bosco School, I can’t really say that I owe everything to Don Bosco, because I owe a lot to Loyola College, Madras and the IIM Bangalore – I am a proud alumnus of both these noble institutions. But can I ever forget my wonderful school years? I feel nostalgic about my school life all the way from class III to Matriculation although I hardly considered it a bed of roses, then. I must have held the record for the maximum number of days I was in “detention”. I copied the first twenty six pages of my Geography textbook as an imposition and also had the dubious distinction of being caned by Fr. Mallon! That episode, in which the cane broke, warrants another piece. I had also the misfortune of having my elder brother in the same school who, sadly for me was a model student.

Most of my teachers had taught him, thus it was not difficult for them to make comparisons and there are no prizes for guessing who came out second best! And yet I had a wonderful time. I had teachers whom I can never forget: Messrs. William, David, Lourdhuraj, Ramachandran, Selvadorai, Miranda, not to forget Frs. Mallon and Gatti. In startling contrast to some other teachers in my life who were eminently forgettable, particularly those who taught me in college. Today I no longer wear the badge of the school which I wore for several years, albeit grudgingly. But I am proud of Don Bosco and what it did to me as an individual. I am proud to have passed through the gates of 8, Casa Major Road. Are you?

Ramanujam Sridhar belongs to the class of 1968. He is CEO of brand-comm, a company specialising in branding and communications consultancy, headquartered at Bangalore. You can send in your DB experience to ashwin@dbppa.com