It’s been amazing past few weeks filled with excitement of re-connecting with old friends from childhood. You can feel the excitement in the air as some of you have decided to take a long trips from around the the world to be there with old friends. I must admit - it has inspired me and has left me wandering down the memory lane — from the fan-less class rooms to the open play-grounds, shaded by those aged Neem trees that were often used as stumps, to the Prarthana Mandir where everyone had a story or two to tell, to the endless farm-fields where we’d run and hide away to escape uneventful classes, to the Rang Bhavan which used to be the citadel of our cultural activities during the cold December nights — the list goes on and on and I’m sure, I’m not the only one having these sentiments. But our school gave much more than these great childhood memories, it made us who we are today! Yes, I was a rebel. Yes, I thought it was cool to rebel against the no wrist watch policy of our beloved school. Yes, I thought we should have fans/AC in our class rooms. Yes, I thought it was cool to be part of the great escape that the entire class “C planned and executed almost flawlessly during the 9th grade, to oppose some those strict policies of the times. Yes, I was late once in a while and had to run around the blocks - the punishment that was bequeathed upon the late-comers, often resented by the punished, a legacy of one of our great teachers Ishwarbhai - with a cool head, showing no emotions what so ever ( and I’m sure his intentions were only to teach us the importance of timeliness and punctuality ). Yes, I didn’t quite understand why such punishments were justified and how we rebelliously tried to devise strategies to escape the omni-present watch of our teachers at the school entrance. Yes, I also didn’t quite understand why we were required to to wear “Khadi” uniforms, while most of us rarely chose to opt for the fabric outside of the school(although, now a days, we all wear “Khadi for high fashion with the built-in appreciation from school days). Yes, I was quite naive and if I may take the liberty to say YES, we were all quite foolish and ignorant;-)! In hind-sight, I wish I was smart enough at that age to see the genius of our school’s founding fathers and I wish I understood the values of equality and simplicity they were able to ingrain in our character. Little that we kew - those very principles that we didn’t exactly like at that time, those great teachers who were tough on us at times and the great enchanted environment of 80 acres of CN campus, deeply seeded the values of honesty, character, leadership, ambition, equality, friendship and above all the Gandhian “simplicity”. What an amazing role it has played in our lives and making us who we are today! Those foundation years have built our moral fabric that I know we will be passing on to our next generation. I consider myself fortunate and blessed to have spent my most precious wonder years of my life at CN with friends like you all! અમે નમીઍ તને ચીર સાથી, સાથી વિદયાવિહાર… Unfortunately, I will be missing this reunion and all the fun to re-live those days and drive down the memory lane filled with great memories. But I want you to know that you all will be in my thoughts and heart and look forward to meeting you all sometime soon before next 30 years! Love, Peace and Simplicity, Shripal.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:39:17 +0000
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