On Saturday 4th July 2009,l had the proud privilege of taking my friend M.C.John, back to Loyola School, 31 years after he had left the premises for the mid term journey of his life.I say that it was my proud privilege because I was able to observe the reactions of MC from the time we entered the school compound.He saw with awe the new auditorium cum indoor stadium with a seating capacity for 3000 persons.The best part was when he tried to identify the mango tree from which he had fallen off,near the canteen,an adventure which had given him quite a few stitches to his head.There are three mango trees now and he did not know which to blame for his dilemna in the good old days.We then went to the junior school section of the past,now the CBSE school.The single storey structure had been converted into a three storied building.Though a holiday we were lucky to meet Fr.M.M.Thomas and MC was quick to recollect the maths-trignometry,calculus and pythogoras theorems taught by the old time guru, that laid the foundation for his journey into Engineering college and the prmises of nothing less than the Ford Car company in Detroit.We then saw the class room where Mrs. Muthanayagam taught us in the 4th Std and MC recollected Fr.Thundiyil sneaking silently down the corridor,with the cane inside the sleeve of his cossack and peering into the windows to catch the odd mischievous fellow up to his tricks while the techer was taking the class.We then went to the Senior section and saw the honour rolls with Ramdas Nagarajan's name shining prominently representing the '78 Batch.The quadrangle and the assembly steps brought memories of "Rev.Fr.Principal,Respected teachers and my dear friends....".We then met Fr.Edasserry the Vice Principal and on the way out MC suggested we make a surprise visit to Pradeep Jacob's house(one of those privileged few who used to stay right in front of the school).

                               With a little difficulty and help Pradeep's mother was able to quickly identify MC and as Pradeep was on vacation from Brussels we were able to meet him years after we had split off.There was quite a lot of memories to recollect and then Pradeep sprung up with the very good news that he had finally decided to tie the knot(of bondhood-to which many of us have been privileged to,for so many years-Loyola '78 wifes excuse the statement).We didn't educate the poor fellow on what he was getting into but gracefully accepted the card which says "Take me to the church on time" on 17th August 2009 at Trivandrum.

                                 We felt that the trip to school was a complete success with the added bonus of being able to meet a long lost friend who is now stationed in Brussels adding to the truly international status of Loyola '78.                Shajy Thelly