1968 Batch of P S School; Meet in 2018 and Rewind to the 70s

Documented By Preeti Srivatsan

It was an opportunity they would never miss. After all it is not everyday that a golden jubilee happens. For the alumni of the 1968 of P. S. High School, it was the time to reminisce with old friends and make new ones. 

As the old boys trickled into the school on June 17, nostalgia took over. They went around the school, slowly savouring each memory as it came. The ground where they played cricket, the canteen where they had their vadas, the classrooms, the tree under which they had their lunch. 

It being Alumni Day, they even got a chance to meet and greet with the most recent batches, sharing their memories along the way. 

For R. Sivakumar, an alumni of the 1968 batch and a resident of East Abhiramapuram, the experience was so unforgettable that he decided to come back and serve the school in an official capacity. He is now the correspondent of P. S. Senior Secondary School. He says, "We  have been finding it a little difficult to locate the students from the older batches, in those good old days, each batch had more than 300 students. So to get all the alumni together under one wing, we have now formed an alumni association which will include students from all the batches. The main purpose of this is to ensure that the funds collected are used towards scholarships for the underprivileged students of the school". 

He fondly remembers his science and English teacher K. Kuppuswami Iyer and his principal and maths teacher R. Narasimhachariar. 

K. Vijayakumaran, a past student of the same batch says, "In 1962, mid day meals were introduced by the then chief minister late K. Kamaraj. K. S. Manickaratnam, a teacher and NCC officer, would regulate the students during the mid day meals. A kitchen was started in the school for that purpose. The cook there also got permission to operate a separate canteen for the students. We would get upma and vada for about four annas only".  

Travelling to school, he says, was always fun. "We would go doubles on the cycle but that was not allowed at that time. To avoid getting caught by the police, we would go take the inner roads. I stayed near Sanskrit College and so my friends and I would go through Karpagambal Nagar and Nageswara Rao Park to avoid getting caught by the police and then enter the school via the ground. The school had three entrances at that time".

He fondly remembers his maths teacher and headmaster R. Narasimhachariar, Gokula Bala Sharma, his English teacher, V. S. Veeraraghavachariar, his history and geography teacher and V. Arunachalam, his tamil teacher. 

S. Chandran, a resident of Balakrishnan Street, Mylapore, was a Tamilnadu State champion in table tennis in 1967. He says, "The school always encouraged us to pursue sports and I am very grateful for that. It was our second home. We were very friendly with the teachers and so learning was not a strenuous process then. In fact, we had nicknames for all our teachers which were used by the teachers themselves sometimes. They always took everything in the right spirit".

"We had two grounds then, one of which is currently occupied by P. S. Senior Secondary School. We were never in a hurry to go home after school, we would always stay back and play for some time before heading home". 

Old students of all batches can contact the alumni association at 24641675, 24957591. Email:pshssaa1905@gmail.com. 

MORE MEMORIES

DRAMA TO FUND MEALS

Vijayakumaran says, "Noted film and drama artiste and an alumni of the school Cho Ramaswamy would stage benefit dramas at the school. The funds collected were used to sponsor the mid day meal scheme".

SOUNDS OF THE TRANSISTOR

Regarding his childhood days, Sivakumar says, "I remember participating in music and Sanskrit competitions. Atleast a dozen of us would sit together everyday and have lunch. When India played with West Indies in 1967, we would excitedly listen to the cricket score on the transistor. Our teachers would give us a few minutes during class to do so".

A VISIT TO THE MOUNT

Says Vijayakumaran, "I remember going to Wellington, near Ooty in 1967 for a ten day NCC camp. We would also go on excursions every year. In 1965 we went to St. Thomas Mount, it was fun trekking up the hill".

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Photo caption: 97 year old alumni of P. S. High School Lt. Gen. Sundar Rao, who passed out in 1937, lights the lamp at the Alumni Day event. Another nonagenarian L. Swaminathan who passed out in 1939 also attended the event.