It's been a while (not just since my last post)!
25 years, actually...
Only the other day, RV (short for R Venkatraghavan) reached out to members of the facebook group titled PSBB (Class of) 1990:
"Did you all realise this is the 25th year since we left PSBB? In recent years I have heard from PSBB alumni (current PSBB parents) of other batches that they organised their 20th or 25th reunion at PSBB. Maybe we should plan on a reunion at PSBB sometime around Mar-June 2015?
RV"
However, Hamsini (elder twin of Harshini, both daughters of my mom's younger sister), had reached out to me even earlier, albeit on a different note:
"One small request., whenever you find time, can you please write about how much chennai and Psbb mean to you? I've always wanted to read your version about them..."
Needless to say Hamsini and Harshini both go to PSBB! So did their brother Harissh. My son went there too and would have stayed if I hadn't moved to the US, but we'll save that story.
What I will tell, as we sit here on the cusp of a New Year, one that will mark the Silver Jubilee of my graduation from PSBB, is the one story that has stayed and comes first to my mind when I think of what PSBB means to me...
I love the school's Anniversary Program! A 3-day event that happens sometime Jul/Aug, it's the quintessential showcase of the not just the students' talent, but the ability of the teachers, the support staff, the management and the parents to all come together and deliver an event of great, grand scale...
The theme for the program is chosen months in advance and right from the time school opens for a new academic year in early June, staff coordinators are allocated for specific routines, students (spanning 3 branches and all grade levels) are chosen for the various parts to be played and rehearsals are held after school hours every single day leading up to the event...
Every single parent gets a printed invitation with the details of the program, children are brought in early to school on the days of the event for make up and other preparation and then bussed to the venue, which is usually one of the large prestigious auditoriums in the city...
Every routine includes elaborate sets and the right elements of music, lighting, props, computer graphics and even special effects. Students, teachers, parents and even celebrities make up the audience. A show grander than this is legion only in the world of Indian Cinema...
Even though I had the fortune of enjoying this event for 14 years in a row, plus one (when I went back as an alumnus to receive an award), it's one little thing from the year 2006 (when my son was in Lower Kindergarten - LKG), that stays top of mind...
The theme that year was "Dhanam" meaning charity, sacrifice or simply "To Give"! One of the routines was the story of Lord Vishnu's Vamana Avatar. The essence of the story is how the Lord taught a powerful but vain king a lesson on humility. "To Give without pride or ego"...
The Lord appears as a puny peasant begging for alms at a ritual the king is performing with pomp and show. When urged by the king to ask for anything at all that he may want, he asks for just 3 paces of land as measured by his tiny feet...
The king, consumed by his arrogance is amused by the peasant's ask but grants him his boon anyway. The Lord, who then assumes his true form, in his first step, measures up the entire earth and his second, the heavens and the entire cosmos...
When time comes to take the third step, the Lord asks the king where he might place his foot, then the king realizes his mistake, bows in humility to the Lord and offers his very head for the Lord to place his foot on...
This routine was being performed by 7th and 8th grade students. The character of the puny peasant though was played by a kindergartener. The moment that took my breath away was the point in the play when the Lord assumes his true form...
At the cue of the mighty king laughing in arrogance to the peasant's ask, the lights went out for a matter of a few seconds and when they came back on, the stage was filled with kindergarten students playing the king and his retinue and an overgrown high school kid playing Lord Vishnu!
And as the Lord placed his foot on the king's head, the music reached a crescendo...
Thank you for your request Hamsini! And I'll do my best to be at the 25 Year Renuion RV...
Whether it's 2015 or the end of time, I'll always remember PSBB as the place that taught me what BIG IDEAS are all about...
Happy New Year Everyone! Have a Healthy and Peaceful 2015...
25 years, actually...
Only the other day, RV (short for R Venkatraghavan) reached out to members of the facebook group titled PSBB (Class of) 1990:
"Did you all realise this is the 25th year since we left PSBB? In recent years I have heard from PSBB alumni (current PSBB parents) of other batches that they organised their 20th or 25th reunion at PSBB. Maybe we should plan on a reunion at PSBB sometime around Mar-June 2015?
RV"
However, Hamsini (elder twin of Harshini, both daughters of my mom's younger sister), had reached out to me even earlier, albeit on a different note:
"One small request., whenever you find time, can you please write about how much chennai and Psbb mean to you? I've always wanted to read your version about them..."
Needless to say Hamsini and Harshini both go to PSBB! So did their brother Harissh. My son went there too and would have stayed if I hadn't moved to the US, but we'll save that story.
What I will tell, as we sit here on the cusp of a New Year, one that will mark the Silver Jubilee of my graduation from PSBB, is the one story that has stayed and comes first to my mind when I think of what PSBB means to me...
I love the school's Anniversary Program! A 3-day event that happens sometime Jul/Aug, it's the quintessential showcase of the not just the students' talent, but the ability of the teachers, the support staff, the management and the parents to all come together and deliver an event of great, grand scale...
The theme for the program is chosen months in advance and right from the time school opens for a new academic year in early June, staff coordinators are allocated for specific routines, students (spanning 3 branches and all grade levels) are chosen for the various parts to be played and rehearsals are held after school hours every single day leading up to the event...
Every single parent gets a printed invitation with the details of the program, children are brought in early to school on the days of the event for make up and other preparation and then bussed to the venue, which is usually one of the large prestigious auditoriums in the city...
Every routine includes elaborate sets and the right elements of music, lighting, props, computer graphics and even special effects. Students, teachers, parents and even celebrities make up the audience. A show grander than this is legion only in the world of Indian Cinema...
Even though I had the fortune of enjoying this event for 14 years in a row, plus one (when I went back as an alumnus to receive an award), it's one little thing from the year 2006 (when my son was in Lower Kindergarten - LKG), that stays top of mind...
The theme that year was "Dhanam" meaning charity, sacrifice or simply "To Give"! One of the routines was the story of Lord Vishnu's Vamana Avatar. The essence of the story is how the Lord taught a powerful but vain king a lesson on humility. "To Give without pride or ego"...
The Lord appears as a puny peasant begging for alms at a ritual the king is performing with pomp and show. When urged by the king to ask for anything at all that he may want, he asks for just 3 paces of land as measured by his tiny feet...
The king, consumed by his arrogance is amused by the peasant's ask but grants him his boon anyway. The Lord, who then assumes his true form, in his first step, measures up the entire earth and his second, the heavens and the entire cosmos...
When time comes to take the third step, the Lord asks the king where he might place his foot, then the king realizes his mistake, bows in humility to the Lord and offers his very head for the Lord to place his foot on...
This routine was being performed by 7th and 8th grade students. The character of the puny peasant though was played by a kindergartener. The moment that took my breath away was the point in the play when the Lord assumes his true form...
At the cue of the mighty king laughing in arrogance to the peasant's ask, the lights went out for a matter of a few seconds and when they came back on, the stage was filled with kindergarten students playing the king and his retinue and an overgrown high school kid playing Lord Vishnu!
And as the Lord placed his foot on the king's head, the music reached a crescendo...
Thank you for your request Hamsini! And I'll do my best to be at the 25 Year Renuion RV...
Whether it's 2015 or the end of time, I'll always remember PSBB as the place that taught me what BIG IDEAS are all about...
Happy New Year Everyone! Have a Healthy and Peaceful 2015...
