When a 1000+ accomplished grown-ups gather at an otherwise non-descript place on the map of the country and turn instantly into teenagers - jumping with joy as they hug each other, calling nick names and cracking silly jokes, exchange stories around making maggie on mombatti and upgrading fire crackers into precision time-bomb using an agarbatti, and such - without the fear of being judged - you know it has to be a special place and a special occasion.
The place was my alma mater, Sainik School Tilaiya (SST), a fully residential school where I spent the seven most precious, memorable, and formative years of my life. The occasion was its Diamond Jubilee celebration last weekend.
Two intense and action-packed days passed by in a flurry as ~100 of my classmates, and many more seniors and juniors laughed, played, partied, and re-lived a snippet of those seven beautiful years.
The whole place reverberated with energy and emotions at a scale that I have never witnessed before.
With my classmates, it felt like a 100 souls vibrating as one in perfect harmony to the tune of some cosmic composition.
I realised once again how blessed I am to have 100+ friends who lived, laughed, cried, struggled, competed, and collaborated with me during those seven years away from home and who are now around to cover my back all my life despite my own flaws, fears, and insecurities.
Since school, we have all gone on to achieve much bigger things in life but as we met, we recounted how no other place has had as much positive impact on each of our lives as this glorious institution.
Education transforms lives. That's what Sainik School Tilaiya did for all of us.
Forever United, Forever Grateful...
...We are the boys of SST!
#SainikSchoolTilaiya #DiamondJubilee