During my recent trip to India to attend the 50th Year Reunion of our Class of 59, I joined several year groups with whom I have built up a bond of friendship over the years. The 49ers, the 54ers, the 55ers, the 56ers, the 57ers, the 58ers, the 60er, the 64ers, the 67ers, the 69ers, to name just a few of the years who went out of their way to greet me and comment on this blog which they have found to be "interesting".
All the time I thought to myself: "Do I have anything in common with all these people who have become my friends?"
So many of them sent us gifts!! The Alumni Association gave me the new alumni tie! Hasnain gave me something Annikki and I love - an art glass piece representing Canadian Indian culture, Sadhana gave me an engraved keychain and Annikki a gift voucher, Prakash sent us a variety of things, the Delhi Cathedralites gave us a beautiful collection of books (photograph featuered in another blog entry).
Some were so thoughtful and considerate enough to give gifts that we would consume and enjoy while in India and not have to cart them back to Finland. Several of them got names for easy identification by Annikki, as the humourous "Head scratcher", a collection of dry fruits and nuts by "Nutty"! :-)
There are literally thousands of others who correspond with me regularly and irregularly. I do not know their faces. I know nothing about their individual lives. Some have inspired me. Others have caused a variety of feelings deep inside me by their brutal honesty. Some do not like my politics, others love it.
But in the main, I learnt that all of them hold this blog in great respect mainly because I have not gone on a rampage against anyone. If I dislike something, I say so, but try to do it in a way that is a sort of constructive criticism.
I may have failed on several occasions, but I have been forgiven.
But let us come to my classmates and teachers - the 59ers. Only very few of them read this blog as they are used to seeing me in my Google Group which I have set up for them. But meeting them all in person, many of them after 50 years sent a thrilling feeling down my spine.
It was a warm glow. It was a feeling that I used to experience when I drank my first glass of rum on a lonely evening sitting in a village about 80 km from Bangalore, faraway from my family. (Considering I do not now drink alcohol and have not touched it for 27 years, it is strange that I still remember that feeling!)
Seeing Bill Shiri (my physics teacher), Joe D'Souza (my history teacher), John Billington (my class teacher in XIA and English teacher), Armeane, David, Hasnain, Indarjeet, Jangoo, Khurshed, Peter, Robert, Venkat, Vikram, after a space of 50 years, was a feeling that caused me to think - "Do I have anything in common with this crowd?" Especially meeting so many of the girls from our class I had not known while I was in school, was yet another surprising feeling!
It so happens, we all had so much in common. We were genuinely interested in each other. Even those who were indifferent at the start of our reunion became endeared by me by the end.
Did I get to talk about their families and their lives in the intervening years? Actually - NO! There was so much about the present to discuss that even a week together did not get us past the last decade!
many of them asked me to cvisit them. unfortunately that was not possible, simply because the number of invitations far far exceeded the days available!
We all spent a great deal of time and money taking part in this reunion. I sort of thought "Was it well spent?"
The answer was simple - YES!
If you are planning a reunion, not just your 50th Year Reunion, but any reunion, focus on just the present, and the past will look after itself!
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