Friday, 27 August 2021

'The Gala 159th Annual Day Celebrations...'

27 August 1994 | 159th Annual Day

#memoriesfromdiaries

Same day, 27 years ago | HSC Days 💕

Today was a red-letter day for our School! 🥰

Morning woke up at 5.30! Went for roll call to the playground.

We read the daily newspaper and then our favvy Tinkle, before making our way yet again to the playground!

My personal diary entry, 27 August 1994

Today we had the 159th Annual Day Celebrations of our School. 

A beautiful tent was erected for the purpose, with extra decors on all possible sides. 

Flags and festoons were also lined up on either side of the roads leading to the venue.

Our Additional Director General of Police Shri R. Rajagopalan was our Chief Guest of the day.

The ambience was so cool and lovely, thanks to the previous night’s downpour that had quenched the heat of the place, and a resultant cool breeze was palpable on all sides of the venue.

from my personal diary entry, 27 August 1994, page 2

Then the three of us – Sunil, Ghouse and myself - we went to Hotel Suprabha, and had barottas (6.50/- each), dosais (5.50/- each) and rose milk (4.00/- each).

A current screenshot of a review on Hotel Suprabha

Hotel Suprabha was known for its yummilicious food and hence we hostelers used to flock to this hotel, whenever we stood a chance!

A current screenshot on Hotel Suprabha's closure

[Well, just this evening, a tad bit curious, I wanted to google for Hotel Suprabha, just to know if the Hotel is still up and active, but to my shock, google tells me that, ‘Hotel Suprabha has been permanently closed!’]

From my personal diary entry, 27 August 1994

Coming back,

We all had our bath, dressed up sprightly in our uniforms, and then played chess for some time. 

Then we went ahead to witness the various events as part of our 159th Annual Day Celebrations.

Yes! Our 159th Annual Day Celebrations! This present year (2021) happens to be the 186th year of our School's inception! 

Midway through the events, Sunil and myself, we quietly made a quick escape for our routine ice-cream treat. After having relished our blessed ice-cream time, we came back, right in time for the arrival of our Chief Guest who had just then alighted from his car, to full police honours.

As per protocol, he went to the Headmaster’s room and then came to the playground.

A huge crowd of parents and children were already seated in the neatly decked up chairs in the playground.

Around 1.30 pm, the track & field events like running, long jump and high jump took off to a grand start.

Students from the North East performed a beautiful Bamboo dance.

Then we had a song, followed by a drill performance by 480 students from classes six to eight!

This was followed by a speech by our Chief Guest of the day, Shri R. Rajagopalan.

He instituted a prize for proficiency in Std 10, valued at Rs.1001/- and he said that the Prize should be named the Director General of Police Prize for General Proficiency.

Recollecting fondly on his childhood days at MCC School, he said that, he used to come to the playground here to play cricket, during the years 1958-59!

He also said that, we should help others in need.

Our MCC Principal Dr. Gladstone presided over the function.

Our OBA [Old Boys Association] also participated in a variety of events.

We had the routine rope race or the tug of war, which was quite exciting till the finish.

In the first round, our students won hands down!

But our AHMs Mr. Jayaraman and Mr. Sunder Singh did an amazing tug on the rope and they ended up having the last laugh.

Our warden Mr. Ranjan also got a Prize, and when he went to the podium to receive the prize, we hostelers gave him a standing ovation!

Two prizes were instituted by our old students.

And that brings us to the end of the 159th celebrations of our School!

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