A  Aloysian, Always a  Aloysian! A Freak Out Bash of 1975 Batch of St Aloysius HS

A  Aloysian, Always a  Aloysian! A Freak Out Bash of 1975 Batch of St Aloysius HS

A Aloysian, Always a Aloysian! A Freak Out Bash of 1975 Batch of St Aloysius High School-Mangaluru at Mangalore Club on Friday 24 November 2017 or Let’s Call it a REUNION?

Mangaluru: “Once an Aloysian, Always an Aloysian!”- that’s right. And especially during a Reunion of classmates, it’s always a history, where past memories are shared and cherished. Yes, reunions-they can be excitedly anticipated or painfully dreaded. Either way, the first hour or so can be awkward as classmates shuffle in from all over. Reunions should include time for catching up and renewing old relationships. Getting past that awkward hour will get a little easier, if there is lots of fun and easy reunion ice breaker games. And for that matter, the reunion or call it a get-together of a bunch of classmates who shared the same classroom or may be shared the same benches came together to have a social night out.

Yes, Class Reunions or Alumnae Reunions are a chance to brag about what they may or may not of accomplished. Some there is the fear of what has not been accomplished. And there are some, that are just interested on how far people have come. There is also a chance to look at the humorous side of things. Spending time looking at the fashion and the hair in old photos, and is also a chance to look back at some of the stupid things that were done while being classmates. But last evening a bevy of Classmates of St Aloysius High School -Mangaluru during the year of 1975 got together at Mangalore Club on Friday 24 November to cherish the moments and fun that they had when they were students of this prestigious institution.

It was a nostalgic journey down the memory lane for us classmates who came together for the Reunion Bash. The memoirs of yester years were once again rejuvenated as we all shared our memories of those olden, youthful, cheerful days full of happiness and joy. To enliven the atmosphere there was not only food and drinks, but a few of us of the 70’s grabbed the mike and unleashed our talents of singing-or let’s call it a karaoke. The golden voices of Mukesh. Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi were brought to limelight by some of the revelers at the party – and not to forget some Western oldies like “Bachelor Boy”, “Beautiful Sunday”, “Hotel California”, “Suzanna” and few other English hits of the 70’s and 80’s. And apart from dancing and lots of friendship cum fellowship, there was a sumptuous spread of food that added spice to the occasion.

Being a old student at St Aloysius High School 1975 batch, I had the immense pleasure of meeting many of my buddies whom we had lots of fun during our HS days. Sadly few of my classmates have already turned grey, some have gone bald, some have lost teeth, some have become rich and some are trying to become rich, some are still hanging around in Mangaluru involved in various profession, some entrepreneurs, while some are abroad, and some minting money in the trade that that they are attached. But compared to all these “Old Guys”, I looked quite young YOUNG- I guess it’s all in my hormones? (Shhh.. I didn’t tell them that I dye my hair to look still young!). Oh well! Even though this was my First such meeting with my class buddies after decades since I was abroad, but it felt great to see the old faces that we used to see everyday during our high school days. But it was indeed fun to meet all of them, thereby interact and share our news and views over a glass of our favorite drink!

Okay let me introduce the 1975 batch of St Aloysius High School who turned up for the bash- Jude Rego ( at the helm of Insurance business); Rayan Aranha ( Coffee Planter); Sunil Rego ( Real Estate); Terrance D’souza (Entrepreneur/A R D’souza & Son); Purshotham Salian ( Pharmaceutical Dealer); Naresh Kumar ( Auto Industry); Madhukar Rao ( Telecom Systems); Shivanand Rao ( Automobile Dealer); Vijay Nayak ( Chemical Engineer); Nanda Belliappa ( Coffee Planter); Arun Bhat ( Employed at Kudremukh Iron Ore Plant); Premlal Tellis ( International Travel Agent/Consultant); Rohidas Mallya ( Entrepreneur in Textile industry/Shares dealer); Ravishanker Rao ( Professor at Mangaluru University-Konaje); Julius Alvares ( Transport business); Sunil MR (Jeweller/Usha Jewellers) and Yours Truly (Alfie D’souza- NRI, USA).

During the get-together we shared our naughty things we did during class hours-throwing paper planes at the teacher, bunking classes and spending time at Mangli’s (Ananth Shenoy) Sugar cane juice shack; whistling and making noises etc- but we were still good grown up kids. We never had iPhones/iPads/or laptops during our time-like the spoilt present generation- we were in our own world- no selfies, no sending SMS’s or chatting/Whatsapp-ing etc. We all loved our school days at st Aloysius and we still cherish and have fond memories of those yester years. We still remember our strict and disciplined Headmaster in Higher Primary school-Fr Denis Coelho, fondly known as “Shivaji” (because of his appearance) and in High school, Fr Lawrence Pinto, whom we all loved very dearly.

We the bunch of this Class 1975 express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to our Alma mater-because what we are now is only because of the education, training and discipline given to us by the Jesuit priests, our teachers and not forgetting the non-teaching staff- and also our thanks to Kairanna Sir for being a sportive physical director. Thank You, St Aloysius Institution for making a difference in our lives- and once again we the batch of 1975 express a big Thank You- long live St Aloysius Institution- and Long Live the 1975 Batch! Cheers until we meet again for yet another get-together of the “Brady Bunch?” of the 70’s?