. . . . . .And So Began the New Academic Session

Dawned 5th April and I headed for school, having to navigate through the hordes of Gabrielites; on cycles,on bikes, in rickshaws, in cars.. all intent on reaching school.Their morning faces, fresh with eagerness and in anticipation of new teachers, new classes, all in shining spotless white spread, broken by the gold and blue tie and belt. It seemed all roads led to St. Gabriel's.

The assembly began with a prayer song sung with enthusiatic loudness. After the Princy's speech, the pupils shuffled to their new classes with the teachers following suit. Not much of studies and the school closed at 10.25am with the students dispersing for their homes. ( I wonder the newly arrived 12th class did so) However the teaching faculty remained behind for a special event: to bid farewell to two of their collegues: Mr. A.K.Madan and Mrs. Shastri; well known for teaching maths and biology respectively. Yes, they were retiring after 25 years of dedicated service to our school. (I had not the chance to be taught by them as I belong to the 1969 batch). Awesum ! Kool ! 25 years - - a generation and a half had been taught by them. They had passed a quarter of a century in teaching in our school ! ( Blows the mind).

The farewell began in the staff room with a welcome speech given by Mrs. Kusum (PGT CHEM) with the two sitting in the chair of honour beside the Principal, Bro. Cyriac and the Headmistress of the Junior school. Mrs Mrinalini, the librarian praised the two; followed by words of praise and appreciation by the Princy. And not forgetting Mr. Rathi (The Coach) Then Mrs. Shastri and Mr. Madan were given the traditional shawl-draped-on-the-shoulders honour meant for the gurujan and handed the momentos on behalf of the management and the teaching faculty of Gabriel's.It was now the turn of the two to speak out. And speak out they did, choked with emotions and tinged with the sadness of parting, simultaneously, happy to have served Gabriel's, a stalwart of an institute on the education landscape of Roorkee. Being a lady, Mrs. Sahstri found it difficult to hold back her tears,though try she did; whereas Mr. Madan waived away his emotions by cracking a joke and two.Overall, it was an emotionally charged time (and the teaching faculty were all stoic about it), colled down with some snacks shared together by all.Later the staff members including the Princy, escorted the two to their respective homes. There, we were all invited to lunch at Hotel Prakash ( on the Delhi-Hardwar highway) the kool hangout for the Roorkiites. A wonderful way to spend a couple of hours more with the retiring faculty in the cool ambience of  informality. Well, that was the ending to the first day of the new academic session.  The doodle above does somehow represent a feeling that ran among us that day.  Henry David Thoreau says: Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.  Well, till next time........take care