1. The sprawling Rajendra Sinhji Institute at 50, MG Road, Bangalore was the venue for the "Upsainian" get-together on 08 June 2008. This historic meet was made possible thanks to the relentless efforts of many upsainians who are presently based at Bangalore but Tej Pratap and Abhishant Pandey were instrumental in finally making it possible. They have been at it for the past six months or so (I think that is the time they started collating data regarding Upsainians in Bangalore).
2. We had booked the main lounge for 35 guests and it was a pleasant surprise when everyone who had confirmed turned up. People started coming in at 6.30 PM. Some attendees turned up with their families which was another welcome sign. It was a motley mixture of serving Army and Air Force officers, ex-officers, businessmen, engineers and professionals. The common bond (stronger than 'Fevicol') was UPSS (needless to mention !)
3. A sombre note in the midst of gaeity was introduced by Tarun Jauhari when he touched upon the sad demise of Lt Col B.K.Das, the illustrious Principal of our school in the sixties besides being a renowned educationist and a fine human being. I had the privilege of joining the school when he was at the helm of affairs. I still possess the marks sheet which bears the flourish of Col Das' signature in turquoise ink (that used to be his fetish !). Led by Tarun, all of us stood up and observed a moment of silence praying for the departed soul.
4. The proceedings of the evening are depicted in the following photographs :
Oldies hitting the Bar : From left Col D.D.Pande, Col Ashok Soti, self and Ashwini Tripathi
(who is definitely not an oldie !)
Achtung !! Beer Guzzlers. Wingco Naveen Misra can be seen in the background.
Col Pundir, Col Pandey (both still in service),
Tarun Jauhari and self. A word about Tarun -
he hasn't changed one bit since he left school.
Col Ashok Soti, the seniormost Upsainian present(from the first batch - passed out in 1965),
introducing himself and talking about the school.
Col D.D.Pande following suit and remembering his time spent at our 'alma mater'. He still retains his
wry humour and wit.
"Blowing my own trumpet !!"
Tej Pratap (Upsainian and IITian) talking about himself.
All Ears ! C.P. Tiwari, Tej, self and Wingco S.N.Misra.
"Birds of Feather" All these guys are from the same batch and stayed glued to each other
(understandably) throughout the evening.
Reminiscing ?? Divik Kishore standing in the background.
High Spirits !! (C.P.Tiwari has his right arm up and the arm on the right belongs to Abhishant).
Divik, meanwhile,has his arm raised skywards.
Mrs Jauhari speaking about her memories of UPSS. She has a 'double' connection with the
school. Besides being the spouse of an Upsainian
she happens to be the daughter of our revered
Maths 'guruji', the late Mr U.K.Chaturvedi who
went to Chail Military School as the Principal
after his stint with UPSS.
The group photo taken prior to dinner.