Reflecting on the first Alumni Meet of the first batch students of Mahe college 1970-72) -Part 1

I returned from Mahe today after attending the First  Alumini/Family  Meet of the first batch (1970-72) students of Mahatma Gandhi Government Pre-Degree college held on Sunday (13/09/2015).Before going to Mahe thanks to the ground efforts done by one of my former students A P Mohanan  I could  get down at Calicut and move up towards the famous tourist spot , Wayanadu, in the god’s own country , for a brief spell of two days and one  night in the pleasant company of one of my students from Kashmir. After five days travel I feel tired, but also refreshed.  

The meeting of my old students who are at 60 plus now along with their better-half ,children and grandchildren was indeed a memorable  one off event – the most pleasantest occasion which will ever be cherished in memory. Many of them were  in the  early teenage and a quite a few of them were on the threshold of twenties then. The college and the principal as also the faculty members were all new and many had their access to education because of  the establishment of this new college. Despite the ageing process on both sides I could  see  the same boyish and girlish enthusiasm, inclusive of the sparkle in their eyes and smile on the face were clearly visible .M Balakrishnan,who  came to be later  known  as  Kodiyeri Balakrishan(former kerala Minister and currently MLA and an important CPM politburo  member) our  third group student, was the special invitee to inaugurate the Alumni meet and  he delivered  the inaugural address.this is my third trip in the last three or four years.That means for nearly four decades plus since my delinking of Mahe I could neither visit the place nor meet my former students with the exception of one or two in the Pondicherry town or university campus. Like a child I had my own longing to see my mother/nature and like an ardent lover I also wanted to see and smell the waves of the Arabian sea fused with the Mahe puzha(river) and the air breathed by the students who are old now, but not forgetting the past.The event proved that past cannot be a false memory