Of the many blessings the Almighty bestowed us with, I am sure all of us will place our Alma Mater right there on the top. The role our beloved school played in shaping our destinies and character is unsurpassable. For me personally - and I am sure I speak for most - there are very few days that go by when I don't attribute something going on in my life to the beautiful times I spent at school. We have now come a long way since the day we left school in the quest for a living. Most of us have now started reaping the fruits of the efforts that went into shaping us as credible human beings at school. And the time has now come to replay some of our debts to our dear alma mater... in whatever little ways we can. Let me dwell on a few ways we can contribute to this glorious cause:
1. Financial support to the cause of the school - Our school being a government entity, with the Ministry of Defense and the State Govt having stakes, I am not sure if financial contribution directly to the school is an option. However, there are numerous ways to help the cause of the school through the registered Old Boys' channel - Build the support infrastructure for the Old Boys' Association, contribute in re-creating the Sainik School brand through media and participation in social causes, sponsoring meritorious students in education both inside and outside school, rewarding meritorious children of Old Boys, et al. If life has been kind to any one of us, we owe a large part of that to our beloved school, and we should not let anything come in the way of our duty to repay the debts! Read this article to see what members of Old Boys' fraternity are doing for their respective alma maters: Old Boy Donates to Mumbai University. Let us not be left behind and found wanting in the ways we can contribute financially to our school...
2. Active participation in Old Boys' Association: Let me assure you, there isn't a single member of our community who is idle and not consumed by the demands of today's life! Career obligations, professional and social commitments, family responsibilities, children's education, living up to the stressful demands of today... show me one person who is not affected by these necessary evils! But keep your hand upon your heart and ask yourself if this excuse is tenable when it comes to being an active participant in the efforts and achievements of our alma mater's Old Boys' Association! If anything, such participation can only act as stress busters, providing us the much needed succor we crave for! Can any association with our school mates leave you unfulfilled? For most of us (if not all, I daresay), meeting school friends, juniors, or seniors acts as an emotional catharsis! One emerges from such encounters re-energized, invigorated, refreshed, and more-than-ready to face another trying day! So, let's all come out of our perceived busy lives and put a lot more efforts in helping the cause of our alma mater... Guaranteed... it's the most integral recipe for the good life we all aspire for!
3. Be the Brand Ambassador: There can be no greater brand ambassador than each one of us for our beloved school! No amount of media advertisement, articles in newspapers, magazines, or journals can enhance the image and credibility of our school as much as each of our conduct in the respective worlds we live in today. How we engage with all our communities - professional, social, family, friends, relatives - will endorse the values that each of us believes we have been imbibed with by our school. Conducting ourselves as gentlemen cadets - whether or not we are in the defense forces - and propagating all the values and qualities we have in us is a bigger advertisement of our school's brand than anything else can ever be! It requires of us to be visible proud of our school and speak very highly of how our school has unleashed a community of worthy citizens upon this world. Let our chests be inflated with the pride we feel when we talk about our most beloved Alma Mater... Let's go ahead and advice the community to let go of their children, even put our own children in such schools to dispel all the negativities that has crept upon the Sainik School Goalpara brand.
Let's all work together in restoring the lost glory (due to some aberration recently!) of our alma mater in the world! Let's all put our heads and hearts together and repay every penny's worth of debt we feel we owe to our school!
Sarv Mein Saddham! Jai Hind!
Rgds,
Indranil
Roll 1934
