A trip down the memory lane: St. Aloysius High School

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders
A view of the chapel on the St. Aloysius High School premises, the oldest English medium school in Visakhapatnam./ Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu
A view of the chapel on the St. Aloysius High School premises, the oldest English medium school in Visakhapatnam./ Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

Six classmates of the 1961 batch of St. Aloysius High School met after five decades at their alma mater. Reminiscing the old days, Narayanswami, who played cricket for Andhra, said it was in this courtyard that he picked up the rudiments of the game.

A group of six classmates met after five decades to relive their naughty days at St. Aloysius High School, here on Saturday.

Though, into their late 60s and early 70s none appeared to have lost his youthful vigour. Hopping from one classroom to another, going around the expansive courtyard, and calling their buddies by their nicknames, the six went on a nostalgia drive.

A group of seven friends who studied in St. Aloysius High School meeting after five decades on the school premises to relive the old days in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu
A group of seven friends who studied in St. Aloysius High School meeting after five decades on the school premises to relive the old days in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

The old students of the 1961 batch who met were P.R. Narayanswami, former Director of Physical Education in Andhra University, M.A. Raihan, former Commander in the Indian Navy, V.N. Natarajan, Chief Manager of Indian Overseas Bank, Fr. George Kottam, Arun Panse, former Hindustan Shipyard employee, and Md. Ali Khan, a retired officer from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust.

Accompanying them was Rohinton Kapadia, who was a couple of years junior to them in school.

Incidentally, Fr. Kottam was not only an old student but also principal of the school during early 1980s.

Reminiscing the old days, Narayanswami, who played cricket for Andhra, said it was in this courtyard that he picked up the rudiments of the game.

“We are always ahead of the rest in athletics and games. We had the best boxing team in the district. In fact, ours was the only school that had a proper boxing ring. Even the ENC, then INS Circars, would borrow our ring for their tournament,” said Raihan.

We also had a strong NCC contingent and 80 per cent of our students were from the Anglo Indian and Muslim communities. But we never experienced any sort of discrimination based on religion, caste, or creed, said Arun Panse.

On how strict was the school, they came out in chorus, “Fr Eliemeynet, a French national, who was our principal, and our teachers were strict, but they gave us the rope to be mischievous too.”

According to Fr. Kottam, the schooling then was about holistic learning.

For Md. Alikhan, the association with the school has been for three generations. His son also studied in the school and now his grandchildren are studying there

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Sumit Bhattacharjee / Visakhapatnam – September 21st, 2014