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!!