Once An Aloysian, Always An Aloysian! Classmates of St Aloysius HS 1975 Batch host Reunion

Once An Aloysian, Always An Aloysian! Classmates of St Aloysius HS 1975 Batch host 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. For 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. And last night 2 January 2020, a bevy of Classmates of St Aloysius High School -Mangaluru during the year of 1975 got together at “Blue Lagoon”at Eden Club, Mangaluru to cherish the moments and fun that we had when we were students of this prestigious institution.

Since this Reunion was planned at the last minute by two of our classmates, not many could join in the social get-together, either due to their prior commitments, and quite a few had to attend Roce, Wedding Receptions and other parties. But about twenty of us joined in the Reunion bash last night- and we made a decision that our next Reunion will be planned well in advance and in a grand scale- and we will do it. Those who couldn’t make it last night for the party, have assured us that their presence for the next ‘1975 batch SAHS Reunion’ will be 100%. Cheers!

Yes, 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 shared some jokes and fun things we did in and out of classroom. And apart from lots of friendship cum fellowship, there was a sumptuous spread of food that added spice to the occasion.

Being a old student of 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, while 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 they are attached. But compared to all these “Old Guys”, I looked quite YOUNG- I guess it’s all in my hormones? (Shhh.. I didn’t tell them that I dye portion of 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 away in US for 24 years, 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 !

Members of Hair Club for Men? Bald is Beautiful……

Okay let me introduce the 1975 batch of St Aloysius High School who turned up for the bash : Rayan Aranha ( Coffee Planter); Purshotham Salian ( Pharmaceutical Dealer); Naresh Kumar ( Auto Industry); Shivanand Rao ( ‘Rao & Rao’ Automobile Dealer ); Arun Bhat ( Employed at Kudremukh Iron Ore Plant/ also owns Hotel Mango Grove-Balmatta)); Rohidas Mallya- Entrepreneur in textile Industry/Shares dealer); Neville Moraes (Retd Accounts Manager); Michael Colaco ( Manager Administration-NMC Healthcare, UAE); Lloyd Pinto ( Coffee Planter); Harold D’Cunha- Employed in a Dubai company); Ludovic Lobo- Stocks Analyst, Mumbai); Blaize Prabhu sequeira ( Senior Business Analyst, Canada); Satish Prabhu- Manages Overseas Education Consultancy in Mangaluru); Roven D’souza (Accountant)  Keerthi Raj- Accountant in Abu Dhabi, and Yours Truly-Alfie D’souza ( NRI-USA)

And few of our classmates who couldn’t make it at the last minute were- Jude Rego ( at the helm of Insurance business); Terrence D’souza (Entrepreneur/A R D’souza & Son); Madhukar Rao ( Telecom Systems);Vijay Nayak ( Chemical Engineer); Nanda Belliappa ( Coffee Planter); Premlal Tellis ( International Travel Agent/Consultant); Ravishankar Rao ( Professor at Mangaluru University-Konaje); Julius Alvares (Transport business)- Oh well, you all missed one heckuva get-together blast! You all better show up for the next Reunion with no excuses!

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 etc- but we were still good grown up kids. We never had iPhones/iPads/or laptops during our time-like the present generation- we were in our own world- no selfies, no sending SMS’s or chatting/Whatsapp-ing etc. We too had girl friends, had intimate affairs, but we never took extreme steps (suicide) over broken relationships like some of the present youth do-for we respected our precious lives – and therefore we are still alive and kicking! 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 SJ, fondly known as “Shivaji” (because of his appearance) and in High school, Fr Denis Rasquinha SJ and Fr Lawrence Pinto SJ , whom we all loved very dearly.

After a joyful social gathering last night, and waking up quite sober this morning, a bunch of us made a visit to our beloved SAHS, where we sat among the students in the classroom for photo session, also took a bunch of snaps in the campus. Then came the precious time of the day, meeting our beloved High school headmasters- Fr Denis Rasquinha SJ and Fr Lawrence Pinto SJ, who are residing at Fatima Retreat House, Mangaluru. More than we were overjoyed to meet our mentors, the Jesuit duo were also extremely overwhelmed to see us and they happily interacted with us. Surprisingly, even at this Golden age, both Fr Rasquinha and Fr Pinto recognized us, and even remembered our names.