SILVER JUBILEE REUNION FOR THE MILLENIUM BATCH

                                            CJM 2000 Batch- Silver Jubilee Special

                            

Those who’ve been following my social media feed would have by now become bored to death after seeing the never-ending updates about the grand ‘Silver Jubilee Reunion of the Millenium Batch of CJM’ but for the uninitiated, it might be somewhat refreshing. As for the CJMites, it was a complete treat to watch the event coming together, wait with bated breath for it to happen and then experience the moment live.

                                                         

                                                               A Proud Millenial

We are what the world knows as Millenials…..yeah yeah, I know we sound outdated ever since the Gen Z, Gen Alpha and now Gen Beta have come to the fore, nevertheless, I think, we definitely are the most happening lot. This generation is more energetic than their younger counterparts, still enthusiastic about things in life and more appreciative of what they have than the Gen Z juniors can ever be. Most importantly, we don’t use AI to express our emotions!

So, while I can go on gloating endlessly about how lovely our generation is, this post is certainly not about that. The writeup is about how a bunch of Millenials, pulled off a successful reunion after 25 years of graduation from school.

The idea germinated at a birthday party of a batchmate who was visiting her parents in Doon. The blessed thing that Whatsapp is, she pinged on the class group about her birthday party and invited all those who were in Doon at that time. It was March 2024, an unlikely month for me to visit my parents, but my sister had come alone to Doon for the first time after her wedding 19 years ago. I had to make the most of this visit, so I too took a ten-days break and landed in Doon to relive our childhood. No spouses, no children, only Maa-Papa, Didi & I. I spoke with that friend that even though I’m in Doon, I won’t be able to make it, since I cannot leave my sister behind. The funky one that this friend is, she told me that didi was more than welcome. Now who would want to miss a chance of getting together with old classmates! So, there we were, 6 of us, all dressed up, partying away the night.  That’s when it struck us that 24 years had gone by since we left school and just in one year, we would be the Silver Jubilee Batch!

                            Section A                                                                     Section B

                                             GRADE XII CLASS PHOTOGRAPHS                            

The idea was floated on the Class WhatsApp group, volunteers requested to come forth, and within a month, we had a team of 10 planners – The Reunion Core Committee.

Since this team had two members from US, members juggling work & home, the only time we could get together for online meetings was on a Saturday night and I don’t need to tell anyone how difficult a Saturday night meeting can be when most of us reserve it for socializing. Despite this, we tried to keep up the meetings even if we could never have 100% attendance from all the members. Minutes of the meeting would be shared on the ‘Core Committee Group’ after every meeting so that the ones who could not attend could at least stay in loop with what was being planned.

The first challenge of planning the reunion was to arrive on a date. The most obvious choice was March 2025, since that was the month when we had last met each other 25 years ago. Another one was June 2025 when the Summer Break would be on, and the third one was December 2025 Christmas break. A poll was created asking for choices of attendees and June 2025 received maximum responses. So, the first hurdle was over.

Over the course of one year, we enjoyed planning nitty gritties, brainstorming, having minor differences of opinion, then arriving at common decisions, the venue, the souvenirs, decoration, and so on and so forth. The last three months before June 2025 arrived were the craziest. Our families got so sick & tired of our endless planning that even the mention of the word ‘Reunion’ became a taboo in our homes! Notwithstanding, we moved on relentlessly like warriors on a mission, hell bent on making this reunion successful. Then came the time when just one month was left for the D’day. It was time for us to hype up the reunion. Whatever the amount of planning, time & effort one puts into organizing a reunion, it entirely loses its point, if nobody turns up for it.

Some of us had kept meeting on and off in the last 25 years but there were many who had completely gone off the grid and nobody had any idea where they were. Class group photographs were dug up, names recalled, connections established, and people contacted. The point was to bring out people from their confines and have them attend the reunion. Some even required coaxing & cajoling as they were uncomfortable with the thought of being completely out of touch with their erstwhile classmates. Finally, we had a list of a good number of attendees. Every day we proudly saw the list swelling with numbers and lauded ourselves for encouraging more & more of our long-lost friends to join in the reunion.

We believed the ‘souvenir’ is the most important part of a reunion as it is a quiet reminder of the beauty of that day and of belonging to a certain community. For this, we were sure that we had to have something that one can use daily, should not be a bother by occupying space (like a frame/shield/item of display) & should also not be something to wear as then it can be used just occasionally (not to forget the ever-changing sizes😉). After putting in our heads together, we came up with the beautiful idea of having a fridge magnet (customized for this special occasion), two ‘Author signed’ books, one written by our own classmate and the other by our senior (and elder sister of our classmate) whom we all knew personally & a beautiful piece of jewelry from our classmate’s venture.

                                               

                                                          A Glimpse of the Souvenirs

The most beautiful part of planning the reunion was when the visits to invite the teachers took place. A list was drafted and teachers who were available in Dehradun but had long retired were contacted. The joy on being called upon by students and invited to a reunion was so immense for them that they assured us they would come, despite some of them being so old as to using a walker to walk. Our Hindi Teacher for Grade XII went so far as to cancel going on a vacation with her daughter’s family. Sadly, we couldn’t have our English teacher onboard as we lost her in June 2024 in a tragic fire accident at a hotel in Pahalgam. A total of fourteen teachers confirmed their attendance and as the tempo was building up in our class WhatsApp group, it was building up at the same level in the ‘Teachers’ Whatsapp’ group created for the reunion.

                               

      L-R - My Grade XII Hindi Teacher (Ms. Sharma), History Teacher (Ms. Dewan) & Economics Teacher (Ms. Mukherjee)

The last month before the D’Day was the most exciting. We asked everyone from the batch to share pictures of school time, of trips, events, competitions, Sports Day, Farewell, anything they could lay their hands on. There came the pictures flooding the group daily with people digging out old albums, long lost slam books, and last day signed shirts & what not. The nostalgia was at an all-time high! Everyone loved reliving their childhood. Anecdotes and memories were being shared, and the group was as alive as being back at school where there was never a dull moment.

The last few days of Grade XII

With so many life commitments, it was not possible for everyone to join even though they were yearning to do so but whether attending or not attending, nobody had to be left out. We planned on having reels so that everyone from around the world could feel they were right there with us. The atmosphere was totally charged! Instead of our weekly meetings, we came down to twice a week, then thrice, then daily and then at any time of the day. We were eating, sleeping & breathing reunion.

The time arrived when we had to travel from different parts of India to reach Doon for the reunion. Girls flew in from Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR & drove down from neighboring towns leaving behind their tiny toddlers and kids, taking leaves from offices for being able to just be themselves for a day, live life like a schoolgirl again, giggling on silly jokes and acting crazy without having a care in the world. Few friends arrived a day early & who were we to waste the opportunity! Aakhir reunion baar baar toh nahi aati….

        

                         Early Morning visit to the School & Gang of girls at the Reunion 

We barged into their hotel room just half an hour after they had arrived & spent the night chatting away, sleeping for just 2 hours and then waking up to make an impromptu early morning visit to our school. This was followed by a street side breakfast outside our city park. We then split reluctantly to meet again in a few hours for the Grand Reunion.

Finally, the evening of the much-anticipated reunion arrived! Girls or should I say ‘ladies’, arrived dressed to the nines! Each one looking absolutely stunning. Then the teachers came in, picked up by our friends who had graciously volunteered to bring them along. The whole venue sparkled with smiles of people meeting each other after two and a half decades, hugging, chatting & catching up on lost time. The place was resplendent with the glory of Convent of Jesus & Mary, Batch of 2000!!!

The event kicked off with video messages from friends who could not make it physically to the event but had been an integral part of the reunion planning.

A tribute to our English teacher, Ms. Gill and our friend Gurdeep (whom we lost right after Grade XII to a freak river accident) was made.

Then teachers were requested to express themselves and they spoke so fondly and lovingly that we all became emotional. Our dance teacher obliged us by performing for us, the Accountancy teacher summed up the event in a poetic way, the Physics teacher sang a song & our Hindi teacher spoke as eloquently as she used to back in school. We missed our English teacher and her polished speech though.

This was followed by a group photograph with the teachers seated on chairs and us standing or sitting on the floor. Next came the cake cutting ceremony. The cake yet again was baked by one of our very own and was customized with our pictures from yesteryears and nicknames we had given each other back in school. Mine for e.g. was ‘Pandit’ as within a week of my joining the school, my Hindi teacher complimented me in front of the entire class by saying – “Tumhari vaakya sanrachna bahut hee prabhaavshaali hai”. That’s how the leg pulling started and I acquired this name. Thankfully no one had overheard when my English teacher had heard me speaking in the morning assembly, had called me, asking me whether I was new to the school and that I had an impressive Bombay style accent :-D No idea what nickname that would have led to!

                                                                  

 

                    

Then came the much-awaited part, drinking & dancing. Having stayed sober for far too long, the ladies were now itching to drink & take to the dance floor. All of us took our hair down, kicked off the fancy heels and danced like there was no tomorrow.  Multiple dances, videos, video calls to friends who could not make it & scores of pictures later, the evening finally came to an end with us grumbling that we wanted more but as all good things come to an end, this one did too.

                                                                       Happy faces 

The reunion ended with happy faces, tired feet, content souls and the ‘Core Committee’ taking a bow for having pulled off this feat.

Lekin picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!

In the days that followed, moments captured beautifully in videos & pictures kept cropping up on the Whatsapp group, but not once did we feel – Enough is enough! The sheer nostalgia and pure joy that we all experienced in those few days cannot be replaced by anything. They say school time is the best and they say it for a reason. I’m sure you all would agree. Am I right?