FOUNDER'S, MAY 2023
This year's Founder's Celebrations at School from May 18 to May 20, 2023 were by all accounts a great success. For the record, this was the 165th Founder's. The Chief Guest was Padma Bhushan Mr Nandan Nilekani, Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited and Founding Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Old Lawrencians who attended will have their own stories to tell of their visit to our alma mater but for the benefit of many of us who did not, here's an informal, personal account from OL Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil, IN (Retd), Class of 1982. Philipose, as you will no doubt know, is the current Vice President of the Old Lawrencians Association (OLA). Over to you, Philipose!!
-Prem Rao, NIL, 1967, Editor.
Three days of frenetic activity. The previous Founders Day was held in Sep 22 thanks to the Headmaster wanting to ensure that the 12 th batch doesn’t miss out on their Founders.Incidentally the actual Founders Day of LSL is on the 6 th Sep.
This year it was back to conducting Founders in May which saw huge attendance, especially from the reunion batches. The T shirts and hats have become a veritable fashion statement of sorts. Innovative designs like the Hawaiian shirts or the 70 batch that replicated the Lovedale station board in Tamil,Hindi, English and the elevation of Lovedale in black with a yellow background on their green T shirts!
The Class of 70 were here in huge numbers,with spouses too actively participating in all events. They provided moral support to their classmate Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa , President OLA at the AGM. The previous President Mr Johnny Paul is also from this batch.
L to R : Johnny Paul, ex President OLA; Elizabeth Beena Belliappa, President OLA; R Adm Philipose GP, Vice President OLA
The standard of all events were exceptional from the Equestrian display to the PT Display, School Play and Variety Entertainment.
The Horse Power. Worthy of mention.
“Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky Brewing heavy weather.’
As lamented Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in his timeless classic, ‘ Heavy Horses.’
The school boasts of 22 fine horses who reside in a truly stable environment thanks to the efforts of my batch (1982) Head Boy a true thoroughbred Kudrai, Pradeep Reddy alias Krishnadev Rao ,the artiste formerly known as Prince.
Incidentally, riding is compulsory for class 5 kids. A fantastic initiative I think. The kids who are interested continue to ride beyond class 5, with many winning national awards. The 15 horses on parade were truly impressive. Mane stay - We witnessed the horses getting their manes plaited the previous day, akin to Bob Marley”s dreadlocks.Reggae Soul & Rock n Roll all the way!
The Large Hall looked resplendent and the plays /dance dramas were really amazing. The hall was packed and the events were livestreamed on a massive I HD screen on the adjacent lawns.
The PT Display had a melange of activities ranging from Yoga to Dance, Taekwondo, fire drill to the grand finale featuring the band. Yoga – ‘Oh God give me patience but make it fast’, saw children demonstrate complex Asanas under the watchful eye of Baby Ramdev aka Sangeetha Jairam . Taekwondo – Crash course in Korean along with mind and body control and the mass destruction of 25 tiles by tiny Ninjas screaming like Banshees. The Dance thing with gals in red skirts was super well coordinated as they moved to popular teeny bop songs… Oops I did it again! Britney Spares no one!!
The torch drill was exceptional . Multi colored torches lit up as the floodlights were switched off. The kids did a series of movements and patterns culminating with NEVER GIVE IN enscribed with torches. The band guys had their arms and legs lit up as they marched in with the lights switched off. They treated us to robo cop kind of movements whilst playing popular marching tunes .
The Parade was excellent and it was an honour to have Padma Bhushan Nandan Nilekani as Chief Guest. His speech was truly inspiring.
The Parade Commander had exceptional drill and word of Command. All kids were well turned out, with smart drill movements and marching. The School Colour (NOT Colours) and National Flag bearers and escorts were outstanding .
Head Girl and Head Boy, Founder's 2023
Girls once again broke several glass ceilings and joined the Bugle band for the first time for instance. The Girl Guards were noticeably more disciplined with hardly any movement prior to the March Past. The 3 rd (Girls) Guard, was adjudged the Best Guard by a panel comprising Cmde VZ Job, Col Samar Chouhan and yours truly, R Adm Philipose PG.
Too many kids walked off the parade ground due to the heat. This needs to be addressed. Glucose prior to the parade plus the age old Capt Abdul Khader (may his soul RIP) formula of curling and uncurling ones toes, slowly raising and lowering ones heels etc. Besides having an indomitable will to stand on parade no matter what.
The OLs March past was nice however in my view we need to restrict it to the reunion batches 20, 25, 30, 40, 50. Now it’s a free for all with all of us jostling for space in the line up. The event is for the students and the Passing out class in particular. We shouldn’t steal their thunder in my humble opinion.
In our time Capt Khader single handedly took charge of us on parade. Currently 4 MRC Instructors help the Military Training instructor take charge of the 600 Gen Zee kids. Apparently it’s a generation thing ��
Beating Retreat (not Beating The Retreat) was a treat as always. Maj Gen Vijay Singh OL 83 was the Chief Guest. His brother Maj Gen Vikram Singh OL 82 was the Chief Guest last year They belong to a 5 th Generation armed forces family. Their father Brig Hamir Singh Vir Chakra was a POW during the 71 war. Both brothers were Vice Head Boy and Prefect respectively and were the best in Games in their respective years. They personify all that is Honourable and all that is good in our fine school. May their tribe increase.
The Head Boy carried the School Flag to the parade ground along with the Nishaan Toli, escorted by a blindfolded drummer who did a perfect job a’la Houdini! Continuity Drill by 18 students, including 4 girls for the very first time was amazing. They looked smart in their shiny new uniforms with their impeccable drill movements. This is the only such silent drill troupe with women, anywhere in the world. The leader of the Air Force Drill team Leading Aircraftsman Chinnathambi trained our troupe for ten days.
Fortunately it didn’t rain during any of the events!
19 May had a series of events for OLs commencing with the Cross Country race conducted by Sangeetha Jairam the OL Coordinator, Past Vs Present Matches by Yohaan Chacko followed by Lunch hosted by the Headmaster. The AGM was conducted in the afternoon.
The past vs present sports events and cross country were keenly contested. The usual suspects Deepika Medappa, Samar Chauhan, Yohaan Chacko etc came, saw and conquered.
The school kitchen worked over time to ensure we were plied with a non stop supply of delectable cookies, cakes, samosas etc. LSL now had a centralised state of the art kitchen which functions from Junior school with food being supplied to the other dining halls by cute auto rickshaws. They have chapati makers, idli and Dosa machines, potato cutters etc.. I was astounded to see mounds of uneaten cookies on trays at tea time! That’s the way the cookie crumbles. We demolished all food within arms length like Chengiz Khan’s hordes.
“Old Golfers never die, they only lose their balls.“ The Golf tournament was keenly contested with all participants enjoying the event thoroughly. The winners were Akhil Handa and Rahul Rao with Sundharam Ramasamy and Abhijeet Dhar as runners up. The event was well attended by over 30 OLs with world class Golf gear sponsored by 8 OLs for the participants.
Sangeetha Jairam the OL coordinator, coordinated all activities with finesse. The Cross Country, race was conducted and sponsored by her including the catchy red Shirts (with the slogan "I ran, I walked, I crawled and completed") as well as the Medals ! As was the impressive Yoga demo at the PT Display.
The OLA under the able leadership of Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa, Class of 1970, did a great job with lots of groundwork done by Reventh OL 13 the Lovedale based OLA Administrator par excellence and the local Committee members Prashant Menon and Tini who pitched in readily. Yohaan conducted the past vs present events with elan as did Gaurav Sharma the OL Golf Tournament.
Rohan Shetty and Shyam Nair the super efficient tech wizards conducted the Learning and Development programme under the aegis of OL Nation very well. The speakers Dr Uttara Vidyasagar, Dr Kul Ranjan Singh, and Mr Rohan Rao were really good and Shyam was the perfect moderator. The session was well received and Class XII A was packed with a mix of enthusiastic parents, students and OLs. We had to turn away folks due to space limitations and will work on a larger venue next year. Mrs Jayshree Balasubramaniam was unwell and sadly couldn’t attend. She will be drafted in for another OL Nation online session at a later date. This session was recorded and will be broadcast on the OLA social media channels.
Jim Tharayil pitched in with advice on fund collection /utilisation. He has regularly jetted in and out from UAE for all our events.
Karishma Sushilkumar the super spirited Secretary steered the AGM with her customary efficiency and Sergeant Major like control. Beena Ma’m apprised us of the achievements of the past year and our future plans. Mr Johnny Paul OL 70 briefed us on the newly constituted OL Charitable Trust that would facilitate painless donations to the corpus including from expat OLs.
The OL Dinner Dance was conducted at Fernhill Hotel on 20 th night. The event was well attended. Mr and Mrs Prabhakar graced the occasion. Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa thanked the outgoing HM for his stellar contribution, welcomed him into the OLA and presented him OLA memorabilia.
This was my first Founders as the Weepy (VP OLA). None of my batch mates came for Founders as they were at a classmates daughters engagement. Hence I took on important tasks like putting up posters for the LDM programme lifting cartons and setting up and helping run the merchandise stall.
The arrangements by the school were very good. From the parking plan for parents and OLs to the metalling of approach roads to Pichees flats and the SBI Ground. The registration process was done at multiple locations. Lunch was served at the cemented basket ball courts next to Top Flats as well as at the Tea Counter lawns and dining hall. The campus looked spotless with an efficient garbage disposal system in place. Kudos to Col Karthik the Bursar who assumed charge just 4 months ago. This was Mr Prabhakar’s last Founders Day as the Headmaster. Over the past 5 years he endeared himself to students, Parents and OLs alike by his sheer simplicity, smiling countenance, super efficiency and love for the school We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
So it’s curtains for another beautiful Founders Day. Each of us has headed back to our day jobs /retirement routine, re charged with an adrenaline shot of Never Give In. The lure of the Blue Mountains and the old school tie will bring us back year after year. Our deep values that set us apart were forged in these 700 acres of hallowed ground. A visit to Lovedale is akin to a pilgrimage where you renew your commitment to stand up for what is right and choose the harder right always.
NEVER GIVE IN.
PGP (OL 82
Thank you, Philipose for sending in your post and pictures.
