Upcoming Meet

 Had an amazing meet with alums of two Hyderabad Public Schools in Bangalore a couple of years ago. Or was it a year ago? Anyway, point is, we are going to have a meeting of my branch of the school, Ramanthapur, soon. My batch got out (alive) in 1977, and lots of us are still alive and kicking.. not all, though.

We have had the usual careers, and some have had unusual ones too- like a Chef in Canada. Kartik. And a couple of entrepreneurs in the U.S. Of course, a lot of corporate jobs as well. A smaller set of us met about 2 years ago, but this is likely to be a bigger group, with Bangalore, Indore and Mumbai represented. Apart from the US. 

It was tough recognising a few the last time around. Hope it gets easier now, before the BIG FADE happens!

Hyderabad Public School

This was HPS Ramanthapur, which I attended from 1972 till 1977, first at its temporary campus in Punjagutta, and then at its permanent location. I learnt many things here, starting from looking after myself -it was residential. Getting by on limited rations apart from the mess food, and the compulsory physical activity kept me healthy and disciplined. Study hours were also fixed, but so were the sports timings. As I played cricket, we actually played a lot on Sundays too. On the rare occasions that we were allowed to go out, I remember seeing some films like Sholay and Shareef Badmash, and Guns of Navarone in the excellent theatres at Hyderabad...lots more came later at Osmania engineering college!



Also, the debates, quizzes and library which was well-stocked, kept us engaged. I was reading the news (usually the sports news, because I could also cover our own matches), and that stood me in good stead when I became a reporter who wrote about sports at IIM Bangalore while doing my MBA a few years later. We also had an early exposure to the photography lab, and this got strengthened with a similar lab in college later.

Writing happened on a regular basis after I reached IIM B, and editing a magazine and year book there was an experience I will never forget!

Meeting a Long-lost Friend

Met a schoolmate after 1977. It is one of the wonders of email that I traced him (or he did me) recently, and discovering that both were in Delhi, proposed that we meet. So we did.

Narendranath works in the Telecom department, in the central services. Was also a faculty member for a while within their training establishment, and might still do a Ph.D. We were together at Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur from 7th until 11th- those days school finished in the 11th (CBSE did). Reminiscing about many of our classmates after such a long time (since we only met a few over the years, was tough, but we did recollect some vividly.

A classmate of ours is a chef abroad, some are entrepreneurs, and some in the public or private sector in service. I am of course, in academia. Nice to know most are successful in their own chosen lines of work/entrepreneurship, or retirement!

I recommend this highly to anyone at anytime. Booster dose of enthu and medicine for the blues, if any.