Batch of '71..photos from the past

There were these photos that were sent to my school alumni mailing group. A bunch of b/w photos of folks from the batch

of 1971...sent by one of that batch's guys. Some faces had names...some were left blank...it felt kindof surreal to look at

those pics and at my school (the school in question is called RSK Higher Secondary school, Trichy).I had this urge to go

home and pick up my class photos and have one long look at each of them (and probably check how many faces i manage

to map to names). Its been 10 years since i finished high school, and it feels spooky to think of reaching a stage when it

would be 34 years beyond high school.

One of the photos carried a pic of one Hemalatha Thyagarajan(HT). She went on to become a Math prof at REC trichy. She was

called HyperTension(HT) in REC cos of her temper. In 11th grade i was attending her IIT Math classes, and was ousted from her

class. (She produces a few IITs every year, she used to, not sure if she still teaches. For a small town like Trichy, that is

something. She commanded a lotof respect from our school's intelligentia - deservedly so).She bluntly asked me to leave the class

and not to come back (i had flunked one of her tests real badly). She thought i was not IIT material and thought aloud(and rightly so).

I kindof dealt with it quite ok i guess...i gave up on the idea and started playing Table tennis with ruthless abandon...and then the rest

of my life until this point happened (which had very little to do with TT or IIT)...

Anyways, those photos brought back some bitter-sweet memories...and kindof makes me want to get back in touch with some school

buddies who were close pals back then (some, witnesses of the 'ouster' act!)...meanwhile there is code to be written, deliveries to be made,

and a job to be kept...lets see how long this thought stays and how far i go with the idea...

 

mads, if u're reading this, thanx for passing those photos along..

 

Rechristened

I never really liked the earlier name ('To be continued'). For one, it wud've become factually wrong at a later point...and like a friend who commented somewhere on this blog, 'what am i, a soap opera?!!'...Anyways, 'Enroute cemetery' is pretty much an absolute (well, almost, i mean unless i perish in an avalanche or a landslide, i'd most probably head to a crematorium, not a cemetery). But I kindof relate more to the concept of burying the dead. At times you'd want to run away and seek refuge in a place, a physical entity, which is strongly symbolic and representative of a dear one who has gone away...at times you'd want something more than just memory to hold on to...
Now, why am i talking about death, its imminence and (the aftermath?). I dont know. I never discuss such things when i am sober, but then, exceptions are common. 'Tuesdays with Morrie' says 'Be open to discuss death, reconcile with the concept of death and be prepared' or sthing to the effect. (am not particularly fond of that book, it was too didactic and sappy for my taste, but then parts of it were hard-hitting and thought-provoking). Anyways, thought i'd have a title that is definetive about where i am headed. Like someone said, 'In the long run we are all dead'.