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If you can dream but not make dreams your master, If you can think and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with both triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same . As we were passing through Raiwala, Kanak Singh stopped briefly regaling us with his South Indian jokes to tell us that Avinash Vashisht [356 H '65] ran a tourist center in our old haunt. Immediately a call was put through and we were invited to tea and pakoras. The bus was duly directed to this charming resort through which flows a water channel. After the refreshments Avinash bid us adieu with hugs. Some of us would meet him a few days later in Delhi where he threw a party for his grandson; his son went to Doon and so will his grandson. In the evening we all togged up for the HM's dinner and admired his tastefully lit up residence. Apart from the bus contingent, the two classmates to join us at the dinner were Visvjit Singh and Vikram Thapar and his wife Jyotie. The members of class of '53, also at the dinner, seemed few and far between. Some board members were present and so was its chairman. Talking to Gautam Thapar it became immediately apparent that the school was in able hands. He was conscious of the changing times and the need for the school to adapt and move forward. The HM was presented with a set of the two class books, one written in 2007, and the other just completed. He was also handed over the Diary of an Organic Farmer by that pioneer in the field. The next day was spent roaming the renovated, modernised school that looked resplendent under the mild winter sun. All the Houses - the boards feverishly examined for names of prefects -- were visited, another set of the class books deposited at the library, the swimming pool, the gym, the main building, the various fields were all toured even as masses of photographs were taken in all kinds of poses. The music centre and the arts centre, for now that is what they are, were duly appreciated. We ended up at the Pagal Gymkhana and were delighted to bump into Ajay and Usha and Alok Dhar Jayal and family where we ate chocbars and Kentucky fried chicken; in that order. Before commencing our Dehra Dun dinner at the Solitaire, we observed silence for our classmates who have left us. Diyas thoughtfully provided by Harish Sood were lit in remembrance of Siddhartha Chand Rajeev Sood, Ajai Kapur, T ejeshwar Singh, Amarbir ' Singh, Appan Menon, Basant Sharma, Harsh [Push kin] Sanwal, Kalyan [ Shinu ] Raman, Sanjay Gandhi, Ravinderbir Singh [ Robin of [ind ], Scampi, and Anil The stars at the School Main Building Chandra [ Cheelo ]. We were happy to have in our midst the wives of four of them: Brinda Singh, Hema Chand, Renu Sanwal and Neeta Sood. There was music, some favourites during our time, to which we danced. And did we dance. The ladies stole the show: Shivani, Padmini, Tara, Pammi, you should have seen them move. The men were at it too. Lot of vigour, no grace. But we must praise them for effort. The boys were delighted to catch up with their guru, Gurdial Singh who came from Chandigarh, and A.N. Dar and his wife; Dar is at a school in Noida and was with the first [aonli expedition, for us a momentous climb. We were privileged to have among us Nalni Jayal of the class of '43. He is most concerned at Kobad Ghandy's predicament and keeps enquiring how he can help. Indresh Narain and Ravi Katari, members of the board of governors joined us, and so did Haripal Singh. At the Delhi dinner our dear friends from other classes were present: Nirmal and Bharti Gaur, Darshan and Tutu, Manjit Singh, Harpal, Surinder Singh and his better half, Indrave Mann and wife. From our class, Karanjit Singh and Minnie were there; unlike the fortieth anniversary celebrations when we rafted down the river they were unable to be with us on the Kikar adventure.' After the dinner and the dancing, Peter McLaughlin was presented with a cheque of Rs 5 lakhs by the class rep. to be used for the benefit of the subaltern staff. The amount was collected through donations by the classmates. On the following day at the AGM headed by Moin Qureshi and RPN Singh we got an idea of the current concerns of the DSOBS. Since the gold / blue ties were not available at the memento section, I settled for these dandy cuff-links and a copy of the Dosco Record which has finally been produced. Our class made its presence felt: dressed in green T- shirts, we occupied an entire row. At the lunch I was able to say a quick hello to Mike Rose Bowl January 2014119

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