MY First Reunion - Suma

MY FIRST REUNION-BATCH OF 1987 KVAFS AVADI Well, let me leave out the usual, formal introduction me suma etc…Jus read along.It was all too sudden messages started pooping up on Orkut.Yrs back when everyone spk abt. Orkut I too registered in it. But not a frequent visitor. A call from one of my students asking me to log on to orkut for a surprise was reallyPuzziling.Orkut was banned at school so I too forgot I had an account in it. Logging in I wasreally overjoyed -2 of my school pals with whom I had lot touch were sending me a lot ofscraps. That was Victor Jones Milton martin asking me my contact no. And it all started. That was 2 months from 2day. Then calls and Messages were pouring in from the stunning vandu and vicky the 2 grt. V’s who made this reunion possible- at least for me and I ‘m thankful to Orkut for bringing back my school pals. Big plans and chats over the reunion went on. Just checked the tickets & all in WL. A shift of mind not to go for it this time .Vandu”Aana yar bohut masthi karenge”Vicky-“You r going to make it up OK…That’s it.” Thankx Vicky n Vandu but 4 u I would have missed some grt days of my life Hari said he can’t come along, left me more in a dilema. Each day passed without tickets being booked. Then felt “chalo man kiya to tatkal or flight”. V’s kept in touch frequently. It was one such calls from Vicky-“Enna un phon eppovum busy.Enna ne un school principal aa?”I said,” S.”Then the news spread-Namma kulli KV principal da! I thought let it go on anyway the news will unfold when we meet. Finally on 5th I decided 100% I’m going to make it for the reunion and managed to get a tatkal ticket to Chennai. Started my journey with mixed feelings. Heavy feeling of leaving Hari behind and thrilled to meet childhood friends after a long gap and wondering” will my classmates b the same fun loving? Will they B serious 39+?I consoled my self” chalo joe ,vandu , uma n vicky r there na.” and may be that was the reason why I could’nt sleep the whole night. Gazing at the clear sky and twinkling stars,I went down the memory lane recollecting incidents of school days. I reached my uncle’s house at Annanagar. The trip to our school was planned for the day and Alby was to pick me up from there. A call from Vicky announced change of plans. Shocking start? The previous night, Vasu said that she might not b able to make it up due to ill health. I tried my luck again in the morning to find her better. So I coaxed her to join me.” I could come from Kerala to b here and U’re right here at Chennai. Shame on you” That pulled her out and I was relived when she agreed. When I reached there I realized that I had to travel very less compared to Sam frm N-pole & Venki 4m s-pole. Call from Vicky at 9.45-”Get to a good hotel nearby and pack 35 lunches.”We reached “Hot Chips” by 10 am and ordered for the lunch. The time I expected to see old faces. Time was running too slow. The heat and the waiting were tiring. To sit in the hotel, we sipped down fresh fruit juice one after other. It was 11.30 and the excitement of meeting old friends was growing stronger. At last at 11.45 one grt.person flashed in potbellied -Vicky. Next came in a gentleman- Tapas. Ice broke just when Vicky saw my little baggage & asking me “Enna dress onnum kondu varilliya? Only UG’s eh?” My mouth opened wide and never did it close till we departed. Everyone needs some time to get in the groove – inertia as Newton called it. But this gang was right into it with no delay. Boarding the bus and hai n hugs it was a grt feeling to meet after 22 long years.The ride to the school was enthralling. The so called AC bus slowly crawled and raced along the tarmac catching up the chennai traffic and beating the kathri heat.. The warm and thrilled ride in the bus, the music, the company and a panorama of sights – the known buildings the areas where we stralled in our childhood etc was the boost for our untiring journey to AFS Avadi –our destination sport for the first day. Once KV HVF was sported the gang transformed from 39 to sweet 16. ALL- “this was d school we wrote our 10th.” CRPF- Vandu on her feet “betta this was where mamma lived” Vicky mocking” this was the spot Vandu’s doggie died etc” HA -AFS my memory went back to the nursery classes in the Air force school. The waiting outside the big gate for papa to pick me up on his bicycle. DC-1 Rakhi on her feet “beta mamma lived here” and so on…. The sight of our school ignited our energy .We were traveling by 2 busses.I hadn’t seen Chander yet and Joe warned me that he was the one with the make over.So I was not in a for surprise when I saw Chander-Bappy Lahari(minus) Gold. Spotted the real nostalgic spot-the out grown roots which always made our chatting place during ourschool days.Photo session begins…. And then I sported the rest of my old pals at the enterance- Sunil, Sam and Tyagaraj, Chandrakanth ……Settling ourselves with hai’s and hugs in the entrance was enticing. The evergreen memories of school days veiled in excitement towered above us all. It was already mid day and the heat beating us and we in search of shade. Our cameras clicked for snapshots to capture life in pictures for sweet memories. As we reached during the holidays we were less interrupted by others. We were a gang of ran sackers rushing for memorable spots in the school. Still more Snapshots-Batch of 1987. Jothi Vasu and me sneaked a few minutes to our primary wing the land where we had hopped and played during our childhood innocent days. The giant banyan tree, the statue of Buddha still stands as the landmark of our school. Cameras clicked non stop. It was the call for lunch- lunch break. We enjoyed the lunch. Each one of had ideas to go and visit the place where we stayed but then we had to drop plans to stay together. The next halt was at Vicky’s sis’s place.The rooms were kept cool and for us. Beating the heat of kathri was a real need of the hour. Some of them even dosed off on the floors. Freshening up at their place some of us went to meet Vicky’s mom who stayed next door.I was excited when Aunty remembered me rather recognized me. Never endingchats…..Chander had brought some of our childhood snaps. Again the excited lot childlikepulling the snaps trying to identify each other…..The clock struck 4.It was time to move.Rakhi wanted to meet Ragi’s parents so Rakhi, Sam,Vandu and me went in search of Raji’shouse.A short visit there- recollecting old days and knowing abt.latest whereabts, we took leave. Our bus was parked at Uma’s resi. So got a chance to say hai bye to her parents and siss. ( Sam don’t forget the lemon episode and Tapas- those kacha kelas –at last who ate them????)Just a reason to laugh for the guys. I missed Sunil in that bus. Once again our bus raced along the Chennai traffic. The sun was down but the heat stilldisturbing. Hot talks, laughter and unconditioned AC of the bus kept the journey buzzing. Out of the city traffic we could feel some cool breeze and stopped at a stall for a littlerefreshment which quenched out our thirst and put us back into action from dehydration.And we were back into action. At 8.30 landed back to our destination spot.Nature at its best with the never-ending beach of the Bay of Bengal, Was an intoxicating spot for the reunion-The Mamala Resorts. A gateway heralded our transition from the busy city of Chennai to the beaches of the Bay of Bengal. Wow the place was splendid Thanx again to Vicky for deciding upon this wonderful place. We were led to our rooms where we quickly freshened up and then hurried to the dining hall to satisfy our hunger’s call. We were not as hungry as a horde of famished barbarians still we ate well and enjoyed. Our gang was one intoxicated by some laughing gas. Every time we had some thing to enjoy. At 10.30. We decided to meet at the coconut groves to chat over. Some of them retired to bed and missed some of the great experiences each one had to share right from where we departed-1987 till day. The cool and fresh breeze from the sea ignited our energy. It was an eventful night for us and I a person, who loves adventure, certainly fell in love for the experiences of Mr.Sunil and Mr. Tapas. And for all my other boyfriends, I’m proud I have friends with rich experiences and flourishing in life at present. I could visualize our little and timid then Sunil in the snow peaks and the war front fighting so called enemies and gunning down 30 men all by himself. And for grt. Tapas-Had I been a little taller I would have chosen to fly a aircraft. Right in front of me hangs the Indian Air force calendar that he gave me. The hawk fighter flight –I can imagine my friend’s experiences in it…. By midnight, everyone was burping in contentment and ready to retire to bed. We had a long day in front of us. Oh what a sweet joy it is to be in deep and satisfying sleep all through the night!! Especially when you are snugly tucked in under a blanket in a coolroom during mid summer. Sam n venki and Joe n me were shifted for men’s and women’s retire rooms for the night. Only Viki - uma n kiddu, Tapas n fly,Sunil n fly, Chander n fly, Rakesh n fly, Shekar n fly slept in sweet slumber. Vandu n hers kids, Rakhi n and her kidu too must have slept well. Joe and I kept talking abt our famalies n donno when we went to sleep. The chirping of birds woke me. It was jus 6am in the morning of 15th.I didn’t have any intention to be in bed at that hour which was otherwise if I was at home and that too on a holiday. The sight outside was grt. Sunrise n the tiny waves on the sea that stretched ahead was a refreshing sight. Decided to wake up others who didn’t mind some more nap. But was it really for napping we r here????. We did not change out of our night attire and began our usual chit chat and laughter for no one knew why. It was a true treat. Everyone can’t laugh in contentment like us. Sipping tea we also had some serious –matured talk’s .A stroll in the beach was refreshing. To keep up the food timings of the resort we went back to the rooms to freshen up and meet at the b’fast table. More chats and laughter. Most of us couldn’t keep our mouth shut ,so dropped the plans of outing that day. Instead we all ended up in the swimming pool. I was really not prepared to b in the pool for 2 reasons- I was not in a shape to wear a swimsuit in front of my boyfriends and thought once I jump into the pool there will b a lot of loss of water –displacement…’coz I’ve learnt swimming only through correspondence course. But who can resist the temptation of enjoying splash splash with friends. I managed to push Rakhi into the pool then how will I b spared. So into the pool violating the dress code we both plunged in a jeans and top. There were warnings frm the authorities’ abt the dress code in d pool. Who bothered???? We enjoyed in water for a long time splashing n sharing lessons of swimming.Out of water, we decided to deck ourselves as Indian beauties in a saree.Another set ofphoto sessions. Jothi who was supposed to leave to pondi had to drop her plans 4 me. Asumptuous lunch and more chitchats….Alby too joined us . It was already evening and wehad a cup of steaming tea. Back in casuals we moved on to the beach. At the beach were signs of human intrusion, so insignificant in front of Nature’s grandeur All evening chander and wife went crazy romantic in the Bay of Bengal. Some of them jumping along the waves…..Vicky, Joe Alby and me sat on the beach enjoying their madness in water. Once Chander was out of water Tapas buried him in the sand and Viki invited a doggie to pee on him….hahahaha…It was all so memorable. We managed to pull back the rest out of water by tempting them abt. The evening’s campfire. 1hr for the fresh up. The lawns with lush green grass around with an overview of the majestic Bay of Bengal were enthralling. The place truly came to life when we decided the spot for our campfire. Music and drinks were set .I really wanted to make the night eventful n memorable. So what next I went bonks, it was like an intoxication of bang -V danced along jumping,rocking,twisting,gliding with the beat of music. I’ve never done so in my life and it was a grt experience. Some more treat for the camera. Great poses for the remembrance of an event like this.Uma with her sexy movements,Sharmi with her grt steps, Rocking chander,Amuture Reena’s josheli steps,Rakhi’s twists,Mad Sam n Alby, Tarzan tapas,Shammi kapor-Devanand- Sunil ,never on the dance floor Jothi,Rakesh rocking jus with betterhalf ,And Vandu n me going bonks. Vicky the caretaker jus vigilant so that no one gets hurt… Nature too got aroused with our madness and the land and skies shook and danced along with us alas bringing with them thunder and rain. We ran for shelter to the dinning area. The dinner was already waiting for us. We were still in the mood of dancing. But we had to refuel for the rest of the events that lay ahead. Vicky swiftly made arrangements at the auditorium for the rest of the party. We decided to have our dinner till the music system was rearranged in the hall.The lightening, thunder and raindrops added to our mood. The menu was rich with variety. Still most of us enjoyed and lined up for the steaming fresh appam with coconut milk. We thoroughly enjoyed it. After dinner some of them decided to retire to the rooms. But Uma, Vandu,Vicky, Venki, Sam, Tapas, Sharmila, Rakhi, Sunil, Reena, Chander, Joe, and me decided to keep the music going and feet moving. We started playing anthakshri- a small gap for our food to get settled. Once the speakers started to bang with music we were on our feet again. We crazy folks went on n on till 11pm.It was real late for the kiddus to retire to bed. So mamas decided to put the babies to sleep. But that was not all. The day wouldn’t end for the rest of us. We chatted and laughed at the made jokes. . Always being with little kids, my language was too simple and innocent but coming here I realized it could even have a underlying meaning and could be laughed over it. We shared our grt. Experiences and truly no one can digest and laugh in contentment like us..I really enjoyed the company of the new comers-Sharmi-Tapa’s wife and Reena Sunil’s wife. We were forced to bid g’night at 1am for; Sam was to leave at 3.15 am. Joe at 6 am, Venki and me at 9am .So all needed some rest. We went back to the rooms. But Rakhi still wanted a midnight stroll at the beach .Tapas too nodded approval. So Rakhi, Sharmi,Tapas and me walked back to the beach. The watchman wouldn’t allow us to the beach so we collected some chairs and sat on the lawns-From hooligans to star gazers… Cluster of stars forming an unknown constellation. The night sky stood out – a mix of deep blue, silver and grey – against the black silhouette of the sea below. It was a great experience.Tapas explained to us his expertise in finding directions. We chatted unto 2.30 am.It was my maiden experience out with friends at this hour of the day. The lights in the rest of the cottages were out so we too went back for a short nap.Morning of 16th was not very inviting. Time was flying too soon.The dream was comingto and end.I had to spend at least half a day at my uncle’s place to escape from familytaunts.So I did quite some quick pack up , breakfast and bidding bye to Jothi. It was 9am. The cab had arrived for us. With mixed feelings of elation and gloominess, promises to meet at the next reunion and with lots of memories to remember of this trip I bid g’bye to the rest of my dear school friends who had another day together.SUMA. K.P