By Vir Singh (550-HA '88)
Ten months into married life, I find myself doing many things for the first time, so it did not surprise me to be back at school for my first Founder’s Day weekend since passing out (how I love school phrases!) one-and-a-half decades ago. It began with a mad dash to D-Dun on Friday (October 17) afternoon with Charu. The objective that day was to catch the school play, but more importantly, to show her the Rose Bowl at night, all lit up and packed with people.
To my mind, no other place on the campus can bring together the school community quite like this arc of stone. This is probably why the Rose Bowl was chosen for the school photograph during the Golden Jubilee year (1985) and I feel privileged to have been one of the faces in it. Sitting through the performance and studying the faces in the crowd—proud parents, masters, a few Old Boys and of course scores of current Doscos in their whites—I found myself thinking, “This is what it’s all about.”
The OBs’ dinner and dance was a lively affair. Hired singers and dancers gyrated to an array of sounds, special effects and cloud machines at
one end, while at the other, drunk bartenders were booted out by some extra-enthusiastic Old Boys who actually did a better job. I didn’t really know a whole bunch of people but there were enough familiar faces. That warm feeling, the booze and butter chicken from the President hotel made the evening a memorable one.
D-Dun looked basically the same—just a lot more crowded. School, however, was a treat for the eyes. Of course, everything was spruced up for Founder’s. But it’s obvious, after a gap of 15 years, that a LOT of money has gone into the place. New buildings, better facilities…the general upkeep of the place also seemed a lot better. You see a lot of new stuff, along with remnants of your past. For instance, all of the bogs had been renovated—new toilets, sinks and showers—but the shit mugs were still the same! Huge metallic contraptions with their worn out and perpetually unclean look.
For me, the best part about Founder’s Day was being able to stay away from crowds and official functions so as to really enjoy the campus. Charu and I ambled through Martyn House (Chestnuts House during my first year at school), the Rose Bowl, the Tuck Shop and Hospital area, then the Main Building, almost without running into a soul. A familiar figure emerged from one of the arches on the ground floor. It turned out to be Doc Arora locking up a classroom which had earlier hosted the German exhibition. At the Founder’s Day dinner, I ran into my former Hindi teacher MC Joshi who still has the same classroom and his jerky insect-like head movements. Then there was the new Headmaster, Kanti Bajpai, who appears to be very much at ease in his role as well as extremely accessible. I met him at the Old Boys’ lunch the next day, where he showed up in games clothes! This had been his “fancy dress” during the morning’s Pagal Gymkhana revelry.
Of all the supposedly difficult subjects taught at school, I remember my biology lessons best. It was great to meet up with the per
son responsible for this, the inimitable D.C. Bhatkoti. Some of the others at the lunch were: the creator of bullet-proof chapattis, R.K. Walia; the ever affable Sunil John David, who plans to migrate to Lucknow after retiring at the end of this term; a still active O.P. Malhotra (the only teacher to have taught me and my dad!); Gurdial “Guru” Singh, probably the school’s best known geography teacher; S.K. “Bond” Vohra, who excused himself as he had to get back to umpiring the traditional cricket match; and of course the man who intimidated so many Doscos but was more like a friend to me—my headmaster, Gulab Ramchandani.
One of the high points of the weekend was running into ex-Dosco Sanjiv Bathla and his lovely wife Stuti, both teachers at the school. Sanjiv chucked up his corporate job in Delhi a few years ago and clearly loves what he’s doing. Because of their warmth and hospitality, the Bathlas’ home served as a watering hole for Old Boys such as myself after a long and active day on campus.
While Charu was happy to share my memories, and I more than willing to dig them out, I still found myself wondering what school is like today. It was hard to really sit down and engage with Doscos, preoccupied as they were with all the functions and unlimited food! Sanjiv and other masters suggested that I come back during a normal week to talk to a class, to walk around and to take part in some of the regular activities. Not a bad idea at all.
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