Nostalgia

By Rupak Roy Choudhury

Thirty one years ago this a class of 40 children passed out from DM School. The school was a fertile ground for forming lifelong friendships and memories.  When all is said and done, what brings us back after 31 years is the magnetic pull of the memories and the classmates. There’s a sense that we lived in a more innocent time in the 1980s, with the community spirit that revolved around DMS.  I am continually amazed at what my friends remember all these many years later. A small sample, when it was the Annual Function time in our school, I remember how Sankalpa and me would try immensely hard to stage a skit composed by us.  We used to go hunting for the skit characters in the junior classes. Missed our math classes of  Mrs. Sandhya Mohanty for practice and rehearsals and it was always me who was at the receiving end.  The skit titled “The Cunning Compounder” was finally staged during the April of 1981.  In retrospect, I remember vividly some junior students who casted in this skit- Suman Sinha, Nandita Moitra and Sumana Routray.  Also remember how Sankalpa slipped his chair and landed on the floor with a pain in his butt during the rehearsals. The girls had a hearty laugh while my dear friend looked embarrassed.  Oh how I miss those companions who walked the canyons of my mind, long ago. God Bless them all!

By Kaumudee Pattnaik

We used to get on the Khandagiri school bus for 1st trip, leaving home by 8 am and wait for the school to start at 10:20 am.  The wait was not monotonous one, as it involved wandering in the school field or sitting by the side of the drain.  Neither we nor our parents were worried about 'waste of time' even in std IX or X!!  Most probably that time did not belong to "the great competitive world" as it is now!  Similarly, the 2nd trip bus especially in the winter, sometimes we used to wait in the dark for the bus to return from the old town trip.  Our parents were not having any apprehension of kidnapping or any other anti-social activities.  There were no mobile contacts as well! We were in the era of peaceful and trustworthy society.  We lived in a real world far better than the virtual world which has almost engulfed our children.  We lament and think about the fun and frolic of those days and despair for the future generation being devoid of a carefree nature. No doubt, our children are living in a much technologically advanced world but the carefree nature has vanished due to virtual world mishaps.  Wish I could take my child to that time...... To our time!

By Sankalpa Basu

I have a guilty memory (actually I've several). I am going to share one with you. Girls please forgive me.  We were having one of our first music lessons. The convent girls volunteered to sing a song. It was Minakshi, Sipra and Sonal I think. They sang a lovely song: 'Joth se Joth milate chalo, Pyar ke gange bahate chalo.'  My Hindi was very poor, but I knew for sure that pyar was something I was supposed to avoid. So I was embarrassed at the forwardness of the convent girls wanting to make a flood of love. I was deeply suspicious of the 'Joth se Joth milana' as well. I made up my mind that whatever it was Sankalpa Basu wasn't going to be part of that.

By Pradeep Kumar Sahu

To succeed...You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you....Its my school...Proud to be a DMS Alumni.

By Minati Satpathy

I am sure we all have memories of school days starting from music competition (with our time popular songs like, “rail gaddi.chhuku chhuku, dhaphli bale, ik deen bit jayaga”), debate competition, fancy dress competition to sports days. In addition, DM school has a diverse population which has its own beauty and strength, that explicitly displayed during our annual functions comprising of odia, hindi, english and bengali one act plays besides songs and dances. I still remember those opening and closing songs like…”Dhanedhane puspe bhara Amari he basundhara” and “hum honge kam yaab ek din”, and dances like odissi “kadaschit kalandi” to sambalpuri "haigo rangabati he rangabati"& bhangara… “balle balle balle balle… yanhoo yanhoo”. Gone are those days but still memories are crystal clear in our mind even after 30+ years. At this juncture of our life, we only cherish those moments and treasure it in our hearts. Of note, a bit of academic remembrance; Rubik's cube 3D puzzle was launched into Indian market when we were in the school and I still remember Mr. Kameshwar Rao, our math teacher  was the first one to solve this puzzle in our school and became someone to be admired among the students!!  

The DMS '83 Watering Hole - Inception.

Siddhartha Shankar Padhi

The morning sun, resplendent in all its glorious majesty, starts the day on a soft warm note, much as the caressing warmth of a mother awakening her child. Its the beginning of another wonderful day and the child's excitement is evident in his haste to run out of the house and play. To explore the world around and make new friends. The energy seems boundless, the list of activities, endless and the satisfaction of fulfillment of purpose always inadequate. It is that time of the day when there is so much to be done and there is apparently the whole day ahead to get all that done. It is the magical period of youth.

It was one such morning in 1977 when a diverse bunch of kids enrolled at DM School in Std V. For the next five years, until midday, they would indulge in a mad melee of activities that would range from adventurous and serious to downright comical and ridiculous. They stuck together like limpets, jesting and jousting, running and shouting, smiling and pouting until the lunch time bell, when they had to go their separate ways. 

The sun was now overhead and it wasn't easy playing outside anymore. Each had to seek out his or her own temporary respite from the searing heat and take on the onerous task of completing assignments, personal goals, commitments and most importantly, earning a livelihood. The morning games had been tiring but fun-filled. Now, all of a sudden, it had become hectic, monotonous and uninspiring and to top it all, there was this insistent urgency of completing all tasks at hand before sunset. The sun was now past it's peak but the heat was still relentless and forbidding. Yet they stuck to the task at hand with determination and unperturbed defiance, harnessing the Sun's energy to shape their unique lives.

Later in the afternoon, when the heat had come down considerably, and with some time still left for dusk, a little bird flitted around from house to house tweeting a happy tune that a party was being organised in the old school building. Everyone who heard the news was gladdened. It brought forth sweet memories and an irresistible urge to meet each other and relive the experiences of the morning's fun and games. Some were quick to gather, while others who were far away took time to reach. Still others were unable to make it but did ensure that their thoughts were conveyed to all those gathered together in celebration. There were even a few who did not care to get distracted by these events; they were indeed too busy to notice the time of the day.

It was a great occasion of celebration, rejoice and merry-making and everyone had a gay time reminiscing and catching up with each others activities and humdrum. They rejoiced at each other's achievements and shared their sorrows. They made sure they would stay connected.

They created The Watering Hole, where each animal would come at the end of the day, at his own bidding and timing, to slake its thirst and hang around in the comfortable company of the herd before going on into the darkness and the endless night.

As we are poised in the afternoon of our lives, let The DMS '83 Watering Hole be a source of inspiration, joy and gaiety and a convenient meeting place for wallowing in the mud before we fade into the oblivion of night.

Memory shots

What is a memory shot?

It is a memory, doesn't matter whether it is the best or an average one, whose recall opens the floodgate into a past that triggers smiles, laughter, and sometimes, a silent tear, and of course, a wistfulness that brings by default to mind, Gulzar's Dil dhoondhta hai phir wahi fursat ke raat din...

One of my fond memories of school.....waiting for the second trip bus after school. Then have as many Karamanga. Had to bring the salt from home or ask the Kakudi wala during recess for some extra lanka/ luna mixture and save it for later.

 

- Neeta Mohanty Nayak

 

 

A cherished memory from schooldays - sneaking into the mango and tamarind orchards of the RCE campus during lunch break with Sailaja and Meeta to get raw green mangoes and raw tamarind pods before the gardener spotted us. We crawled through barbed wire fences, stood on each other's shoulders to reach the lofty branches. It's a wonder we never got hurt or our white shirts dirty.

 

- Sipra Pati

 

What was so unique to DM School was the celebration of Saraswati Puja, Ganesh Puja, and Biswakarma Puja. Going on the bus on an idol immersion trip was very special to me.
Another event that made me feel really proud - our Independence day parade : our NCC Cadets were the smartest and the best of the lot.

- Minakshi Mishra



DMS ’83 Batch mates’ poem

Memories, someone once said, were not unlike The Eagles’ Hotel California,

- “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”.

Many of us, the students from the class of 1983, left school that year (some continued into 11 and 12); but let us assure you as this song from the late ‘70s and the verses, we collectively put together, say, we just never left…

 

1.     Come on batch of ’83  

Let’s have a special Golden Jubilee

Write a line, put your thought  

Let’s make it fun and hot.

 

2.     'N while ur gonna have some fun,  

Make sure its sane, ol' chum.

 

3.     Merry band were we... of girls and boys,  

Who made a whole lot of noise...  

'Coz we knew we had what it took  

To be the best,

And the rest…

Simply had no choice.

 

4.     Let's not rest on our laurels of yore  

Let's come together to do an encore.

 

5.     ‘Cannot recall a time when expected

Not to put our nose to the grind

Yet in those dusty classrooms,

Camaraderie we still did find.

 

6.     The discovery of fire,

The fossilized remains of a human in Java,  

Adiabatic cooling, the cosine of degree

And from Vesuvius, the lava.

 

7.     Nothing but the units of work and energy,

The Muslim invasion,  

The carrot-shaped outline of a continent;

Yet to laugh was treason.

 

8.     The capitals of Europe, those of India,

The algae and the pteridophyte  

Hydrogen sulphide gas, the Indian Preamble, 

And the Refraction of Light.

 

9.     Imparted all of this and more,  

Some for knowledge, some for education  

And amid all this, masti and mischief and fun  

Became our un-copyrighted creation.

 

10.  The whirr of the electric saw,  the sparks in the Metal Room,  

The printing press and black ink,

Mineral resources on an outline map

Joules and Dynes,  and gases that make up the stink.

 

 

11.  In Civics we were told Man,

Other than being Political and Social,  was a Gregarious Animal  

Sounds of instruments and untrained voices from the Music Room  

Paint in the art room, et al.

 

12.  The click-clack in the Typing Room,

Kitchen smells from the Home-Science Lab,  

Colliding with the noxious fumes of Chlorine and H₂S  

From the Chemistry Lab.

 

13.  It was not the era of fingerprints, but  

There were several left on our cheeks for sure,  

On the bench we stood, in the corridor too,

The hard concrete our knees did endure.

 

14.  Running up and down the stairs and hallway so forbidden

The Shakespearean tragedy with Calpurnia and the Roman countrymen

 

15.  Like many, the goddess of music and the god of wisdom

Were revered as well in our school

What was unique was we also paid obeisance

To the god of many a tool

 

16.  Saki and O’Henry, Ezekiel and Browning, Shakespeare and Tolstoy;

The analogy of a train with life, the muddle-headed man in Baku… Boy, oh, boy!

 

17.  The sounds of harried feet trying to make it

Seconds after the clang of the bell;

Every morning to the sounds of the National Anthem

And ‘Victory to India’, our chests did swell.

 

18.  The jingle-jangle of a million keys,

The leather chappal, the creased starch of white khadi,

Fear, awe and respect for this man,  

Who wanted to make us educationally hardy.

 

19.  Little did we know it then

Every Moment of School would seep so deep

And Bind Us Forever while letting us Free

Spread Across The Globe, shall we remain

The ‘Unprecedented’ Batch of DMS’83!

 

 

- Put together on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of DM School, Bhubaneswar, Dec 2014

Composed between Nov 4, 2014 and Dec 14, 2014

Conceived by:

Siddharth Shankar Padhi

Verse contributions:

Siddharth Shankar Padhi, Sandeep Dhawan,

Satyakam Patnaik, Biswaranjan Jena,

Rajesh Srivastava, Sipra Pati

Ideas and Inspiration:

Our teachers, our school, and all our batch mates

 

Also published in the DM School Golden Jubilee Souvenir, 2014

 

10.In Civics we were told Man,
Other than being Political and Social,
Was a Gregarious Animal
Sounds of instruments and untrained voices from the Music Room
And the paint in the room of The Samal (sic.)

11.The click-clack in the Typing Room,
Kitchen smells from the Home-Science Lab,
Colliding with the noxious fumes of Chlorine and H2S
From the Chemistry Lab.

12.It was not the era of fingerprints, but
There were several left on our cheeks for sure,
On the bench we stood, in the corridor too,
the hard concrete our knees did endure.

13.The Jingle-Jangle of a million keys,
The Leather Chappal. The Creased Starch
of white khadi,
Fear, awe and respect for this man
Who wanted to make us educationally hardy.