गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरुवे नमः।।

Yesterday was a special day - my school mates arranged a special function on the eve of Vasant Panchami or Saraswati Puja - to celebrate the inauguration of a new deity of Maa Saraswati in the school premises followed by a vegan lunch. It was a privilege to be part of this great get together , meeting my friends and teachers after 33 years - we completed Matriculation from this school in 1988. Only two of our teachers could come - some of them are no more in this world - some residing outside but I must proudly say that, today what we have become, has been possible only for them. They were so much dedicated - they loved us like parents - they guided us as a teacher - they protected us like a king protecting their citizens - they steered us the hard way to learn to face every challenge in life. They were the the man making machine - selfishless, flawless, focused , dedicated - not just getting their job done, like today. Words cannot express those feelings - almost everyone of us broke down in tears - they were our Google - they are our icon and their inspiration will continue till end of life. They have been honored by our Government with the highest award for such dedication and I could still feel it yesterday.

The place is around 100 km from my house and I started around 9 am in the morning picking couple of friends on my way. The excitement to meet school friends after 33 years made us reach there fast by 11 am. Some of our friends came even though they have severe health issues - where there is a will, there is a way. We were greeted with a traditional towel - a symbol to memorize this great day. And I am sure, if you ever met your school friends after long gap then you know how we interact - so much of feelings and togetherness - they have every rights to say anything.

Now meet our very famous teacher Dinbandhu Senapati - his name signifies helping everyone. The appearance has not changed over the years - nor his dedication. Every single student in our school would make sure not to behave stupid if he is around - he always enforced strong discipline - he was also our NCC Officer (Teacher) and for that reason, I was very closely associated with him, me leading the team. We still remember those days when he took us to those NCC camps - learning to deal with difficulty the hard way - that made us tough. I went to a NCC camp in Guwahati, Assam and came back just before a day from the test exam of my 10th grade. As a result, I did not secure good marks but my teachers were serious enough to plan my day-to-day activity the very next day - they all united and put up a plan and informed my parents to live me at their house for tuition starting 6 am and ending 9 pm. We were residing Senapati Sir's house the whole day. That was the dedication of our teachers - they did not even took any money from our parents. They saw the potential in me and nurtured me to do the best to bring fame for the school and teachers. Do you see that today ? Our parents never bothered about us - they knew we were in the best hands.

As other friends joined we decided to honor the teachers with flower bookey and the towel - taking the opportunity to capture it in lens - a memory of life time. After the age of forty there is no difference between highly educated and moderately educated. Sometimes even uneducated people earn more money than educated people. But what matters more is love and affection - that you will find only in friends. There is no differentiation between who is doing what - we all shared the same emotion.

I made sure to take a close photo with both my teachers present on the occasion. On my left side is Upendra Sir - our Sanskrit teacher - who made it possible for me to score 99 / 100 - in just two months preparation. They had that vision and power to ignite the imagination.

The teacher's room - I still remember some of us would go and check before period if Sir is ready to come :) And they will run and awake everyone. We went and visited the back side of the school - I used to play football with big boys then and this was our parade ground.

Another batch has done the development of this pandal - it was good to see various batches doing development activities in the school - this field is huge and has potential to be developed as a mini stadium. I wish, instead of giving free money to people, the government instead spends that money to engage kids / youth in sports activities. Now a days, the kids are not interested for any sports which is bad for the society. Sports teaches us so many values.

This is the small temple that our batch mates contributed to build - many friends who were in charge, worked day and night for more than a month to make this a reality. They personally went and looked after the work for several days to make sure the best is achieved. Having the presence of Maa Saraswati - the goddess of knowledge and learning inside the school will definitely inspire the students.

We all offered our prayers and before heading for the delicious vegan lunch, captured few more snaps.

Meet Karna and Arjun - we played drama in our school and performed these two main characters from the Mahabharata - the entire village called me in that name for almost a year. This was our public speaking training - today we pay a lot for that. But our teachers did it for free - they knew how important it was and how to make us learn that so easily.

The food was delicious - and all the fun of shouting and eating together. Sharing some of the pics from so many captured.

We went back to take some more snaps near the temple and inside the class room.

Someone called the roll numbers and everyone was giving the attendance - so much of fun. A news channel wanted to take some bytes from the teachers and us - we really broke into tears sharing our memories and what this school and our teachers have given us.

It was almost 4 pm and coming back from there was not easy - everyone was saying let's go but no one was actually going. Everyone wanted to spend some more time - that's what happens when you see friends after such a long time - one day out of all personal commitments and digital world - only with friends.

In the interest of time and safety, the teacher advised us to leave soon so that we can reach home before evening. He still has that same love and feelings - he wanted to stay there till everyone leaves. And repeatedly reminding us to inform him once we reach home.

It is a memory forever - to be part of this school which was established in 1901 - good that now the government is providing some grants to make it better. Sometimes back, they came up with an initiative where, they will match the contribution paid by students and many batches including ours, contributed well. It's our duty to look after the school that has made us what we are. Before leaving I made sure to take a photo of the house where we stayed - it was just beside the school. It was everyone's house - my friends would come as they wish and ask for food, sleep, enjoy. Everyone remembers my house because it was the second home for everyone.

You can see how close it is - the house seemed to be abandoned now - one of my friend was telling its on sell. With time, change is inevitable. On our way back, we visited our friends house - she specially requested to come for few minutes.

And what a special moment to end the journey with seeing the kids doing all the fun - their world is amazing.

This post will be part of my Google review for my school.

Edit - Google review link - https://goo.gl/maps/CoJzL1UDcdpx3oBh9

And video on YouTube linking this post :

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