Over 850 alumni along with past and present Teachers and Principals assembled on the School Background on 5th January 2013 to spend a few precious moments with friends and batchmates to relive their memories at St. Stanislaus High School. It was an evening when grown men became boys once again.
There was Class of 1988 easily recognizable with their self-made custom T-shirts just for the evening. There were alumni from as far back as 1942 to as recent as 2012 all sharing one passion “Proud to be a Stanislite”
You can view images of this glorious evening HERE
The school was beautifully illuminated in the school colors of green and yellow. Alumni were greeted at the entrance by the SSESA Committee as the school's Boy Scouts stamped their hands to mark an entry to a place full of memories, The school backgrounds. The hosts for the evening were Mr. Neale Murray (Class of 1977) accompanied by Mr. Al Nasser Zakaria (Class of 1985) who welcomed all while the two artists captured the mood on canvas.
The evening’s program commenced with the School Captains looking resplendent in their house sashes and each proudly holding aloft house flags leading Teacher Rose D’sa, School Principal and SSESA President Fr. Jude Fernandes SJ, School Manager Fr. Errol Fernandes SJ, Ex Student Mr. Noshir Dabboiwala, SSESA Vice-President Mr. Brian Almeida and committee member Mr. Mahavir Chopra to the dais where the traditional lamp was lit.
Fr. Jude Fernandes SJ then welcomed the guests and invited alumni to join in the effort to take St Stanislaus to greater heights and help meet the challenges of the next century. He lauded the efforts of ex-students Dr. Keki Gharda (1945) and Mr. Venkatesh Srinivasan (1987) who had generously donated money and their precious time. On behalf of Dr. Gharda who could not attend due to ill health, the Principal read out his appeal to alumni exhorting them to come forward and donate to their Alma Mater and join him as he pledged Rs 1 Cr to the school’s 150 years fund.
Fr. Jude spoke about Mr. Venkatesh Srinivasan who had committed a considerable amount of resources and his precious time
over the last four years to the Jesuit Certificate Program, a program that helps prepare our boys for today’s highly competitive globalized world.
SSESA Vice-President Mr. Brian Almeida read out the message from the Jesuit Provincial of the Bombay Province, Fr. Vernon D’cuna SJ who congratulated the school on its 150 years and for being the oldest Jesuit school in Mumbai which had also seen many Jesuits themselves pass through its corridors. He thanked the alumni for putting together a concrete plan for the school and was confident that with this St Stanislaus would prepare itself for the coming years.
The highlight of the evening was recognizing and felicitating alumni and teachers for their achievements and dedication. Among alumni felicitated were Mr. Prakash Hinduja (1962) of the Hinduja Group, Mr. Sunil Kaushal (1981) CEO SE-Asia of Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Ramu Ramanathan (1955) eminent theater personality, Mr. Francis’ D’silva (1977) Senior Consultant at Accenture Norway, Mr. Fredun De Vitre (1969) – Supreme Court Lawyer , Senior Counsel at the Bombay High Court and eminent legal luminaire, Mr. Feroze Vevaina (1956) – Retd ED – ITC Group and consultant, Mr. Mehernosh Kapadia – ED Taj Group of Hotels, Mr. Vivian Almeida (1981) accomplished sailor who represented India in sailing at the World Championships and Asian Games,
Teacher Sushma Bhatia, Master P.N. Rai, Teacher Noeline D’costa and Teacher Gladys D’souza were all felicitated in appreciation of the many years of service.
As a token of appreciation for their generosity while donating to the school’s 150 years fund a few alumni were also presented with the School’s Sesquicentenary Gold Coin.
All of the evening’s entertainment was provided by alumni of various batches from the skits written by Warren Dsylva and enacted by Leandro Dsylva & Nikhil Alves who took alumni back to their typical school days filled with Bandra school lingo to Francis Xavier a blind alumnus who sang a few nostalgic Hindi pop numbers and reached a crescendo with the Beat Box musicians Alan DeSouza and Neil Valles who call themselves Boxy Turvy
As always the function then took the emotive, nostalgic and solidarity fervor with the singing of the School Anthem by over 50 school boys led by Tr Yvette, and joined by all the alumni present.
With over 50 prizes distributed and lots of merchandise (T-shirts and Umbrellas) in their hands, alumni happily posed for pictures with their batchmates. With contentment and joy in their hearts, delighted to have celebrated the 150th year of the school, batchmates exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet again as they left the portals of their Alma Mater.
A food court served variety of Chaats by alumnus Mr. Anthony Gomes, Briyanis from the famous Lucky Restaurant run by 
alumnus Mr. Mohsin Hussaini and Kebabs by A to Z Kebabs and Tikkas
The evening culminated in the presentation of two beautiful paintings that vividly captured the School and its ethos and were happily grabbed by Mr. Rohington Polishwala (1985) ) and Mr. Dean Leal (1995) at the auction that followed.
A vote of thanks to all those that helped to make the evening the biggest Bond of Boys to date was made by the Vice President of SSESA Mr. Brian Almeida.
Thank You for making this the Biggest Bond of Boys yet.
Best Wishes,
Your friends at SSESA
mc@stanislites.org
Province:
- Bombay (Mumbai)
City:
- Mumbai