SSKZM80_eBook

50 Years of Togetherness

1980 Batch Sainik School Kazhakootam

Dedicated to friends who departed

Editor‟s Note

There are occasions in one‟s life when time stands still to meet you - our Golden Jubilee celebration is one such occasion. When we celebrate our fifty years of togetherness, it is our collective privilege to have a coffee table book that will keep the memory line as close as possible and stay as still as possible, facing the past

Fifty years is a long time, especially when the second half of one‟s life is faster than the first one. When we desired to bring out a coffee table book, the expectation was that it would be a collaborative effort, and we can say with pride that it was. Without commitment and contribution from each one of us, an idea like a coffee table book would've ended up as a catastrophe The contents that would ensure its success belong to us. The team that worked behind the CTB only compiled them into a final product that will meet our expectations.

Let me mention something else that I discovered. Not many school alumni have made a coffee table book! Probably because schools come too early in one‟s life and bonding does not last the alternations of life thereafter. We should be pleased that we have ventured into it, probably because we love to be connected by the thread of friendship, camaraderie and love that lasted these fifty years, in spite of our differences at times. It reiterates the fact that in the end, it is friends and family that really matter.

The CTB team is proud to present a coffee table book with pages you will adore Let‟s together discover the abundance of memories flowing through these pages

A word of thanks to S. Radhakrishnan who helped with diligent follow up for profiles and photographs, Roy Mattackal for design and printing, Sashi Nair for content ideas, Joseph J Poovattil for necessary logistics, Sam K Abraham for Photoshop work, Tripti Nandakumaran for her inspiring narrative, Sridevi Nair for her suggestions and support and to all friends who contributed to make this book memorable.

We are also grateful to Living Leaf Publishers, Kottayam and Sterling Print House, Kochi for making this book happen.

So, here it is

Jagadish Nair

We promise…..

This is the Golden Jubilee year of the SSKZM80 batch. In these past fifty years we lived as if we were one big family. We lived loving each other, fighting one another, holding each other together when needed, and tearing each other apart when it suited us We were a chaos, a triumph and a phenomenon

It was in the year 1972 that a new batch of ten year olds were taken under its wings by a grand tree i e , our beloved alma mater. As the seasons changed, we the nestlings grew from strength to strength, flying to distant lands, cornering fame and glory one after the other, all serving the nation in their own rights and merits… securing its borders, safeguarding its citizens or contributing to its economy It‟s time for us to sit back and cherish those journeys…. at the same time to go back and perch on the branches of that grand old tree from where we began our flights in pursuit of our individual dreams.

They say friendship is not something we learn in school. But as a batch we found that even if we did not learn our curriculum well enough in school, we did learn friendship and its meaning in our school days Here we are at our Golden Jubilee year of joining our beloved school. Even as we reminisce about our life and times of eight years of schooling as teenagers, we solemnly promise to keep our spirit of friendship unimpaired and our camaraderie of a tight knit SSKZM squad bound together through the uncertainties and perils of old age that is not too far for us to envisage.

“There are three things that grow precious with age; old wood to burn, old books to read and old friends to enjoy.” – Henry Ford.

Revisit

glancing at initial days of the school

The Writers

To recapitulate

The first decade after independence was a traumatic one The wounds of partition, communal holocaust, resettlement of millions of refugees, integration of the five hundred and odd native states, the daunting task of linguistic reorganization…. Added to this was the problem of military reorganization. It was observed that our defence forces lacked a truly all India image, character and ethos. The officer cadre still remained a monopoly of the so-called martial races and regions and the alumni passing out of the highly expensive, elitist Public Schools which were beyond the reach of all but a few.

The high levels of physical, mental and intellectual attainments needed for induction into the officer cadre could not be nurtured in the common schools mainly because of the lack of infrastructural facilities. A laissez-faire policy to leave it to the already existing, posh Public Schools would be grossly unfair to the bright young children all over the country for whom education in a Public School was beyond their means. All these prompted Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon to envisage a chain of Sainik Schools, one at least in each State They would serve as feeders to the NDA Further, they would act as role models and influence other schools by their example and performance, towards a paradigm shift in objectives. In the pre independence years and to some extent even today, our system of education is syllabus examination oriented and not aimed at all round development and enhancement of competitive skills.

Thus Sainik Schools came into existence as a system of schools managed by the Sainik Schools Society under Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Thus began the story of SSKZM

The inception of Sainik School Kazhakootam took place on 20 January 1962 in the military barracks of Pangode, Thiruvananthapuram. Very soon, a sprawling campus of 225 acres situated on a hillock blended with vegetation, was chosen as the location for the school This location was 18 kms away from Thiruvananthapuram on NH-47 near Kazhakootam and was ideal for a military based residential institution. The foundation stone of Sainik School, Kazhakootam was laid by VK Krishna Menon, on 05 February 1962. During the 60 years of its existence, the school has been serving as a feeder institution to NDA and INA Over 5400 students have passed out of the portals of this school so far and have made their mark in various walks of life It is a matter of pride that so far approximately 1000 Kazhaks have joined the Armed Forces

School crest

The light blue, dark blue and red stripes in the School Crest are symbolic of the three main arms of the Defense Services and the integrated concept of training in the initial stages.

SSKZM is under the aegis of the Defence Ministry. Control is vested in a Board of Governors, presided over by the Defence Minster. Chief Ministers and Education Ministers would be members of this Board. Further, there is a Local Board of Administration, composed of officers of the State Government. The Principal, Headmaster and Registrar would be service officers on deputation. Teaching faculty would be entirely civilian (as in NDA). A liberal system of merit cum means scholarships would ensure that lack of affluent parentage would not harm string children from economically weaker sections of society.

Over the years, the school has been contributing to nation building by transforming cadets into brave officers of our Defence Forces. It is commendable that the school has adopted a unique value based curriculum and modern training methods to enable the cadets achieve excellence in all aspects of life. The school is steadfastly fulfilling its noble task of grooming youth for the Armed Forces It is a matter of great pride, that apart from being an excellent academic institution, the school is also a centre of sports, games and community development programs. Last but not the least; Sainik School Kazhakootam is also making public school education accessible to the common man.

Some facts about SSKZM…

 At the inception there was only one teacher for each subject. A total of one hundred and twenty boysjoinedtheschoolinClassesV,VI,VII&VIII Six months later class IX began with a dozen students.

 The founder Principal was a veteran Infantry OfficerLtColBKSomaiah. TheHeadmasterwas SqnLdrBabuLalandtheRegistrarCaptTVSNair.

DefenceMinisterVKKrishnaMenonwithfounderPrincipal LtColBKSomaiahattheinauguration

School flag

The School flag comprises of three colors light blue, dark blue and red which are the symbolic of the three main arms of the Defence Services.

Some facts about SSKZM

 In the beginning, the ISCsystem was followed, to be changedtotheCBSEpatternfrom1972. Classeswere then from V to XI In 1977 theplus two system, with classesfromVItoXIIwas instituted Admissionsystem wasmodeledontheNDAentrancepattern comprising of tests in Mathematics, Language, Intelligence and General Knowledge followed by Physical proficiency andsoundhealthasrevealedbymedicalexamination.

Sittingfromlefttoright: Mrs.MarykuttyJoy, MrGeorgeJoseph, Mrs.JessieJohn, Sq.LeaderBabulal, Lt.ColSomaiah,Capt.TVSNair, Mrs.MyrtleJacob, Mr.MadhavanNair

Standingfromlefttoright: MrPEThomas, MrPeter, MrAnandaRao, MrPurushothaman, MrNBalakrishnanNair, MrCVSankaranarayanan, MrGDTekale, MrBCPande, MrRamanandaRao, MrRajendran.

School Motto

ChiefMinisterRShankarinspectingGuardofHonour

Some facts about SSKZM…

 ThefirstbatchoffourcadetsfromSSKZMjoinedNDAearlyin 1965.

 TheschoolhaswontheDefenceMinister'sTrophyforthe highestintaketotheNDA,quiteafewtimes.

 Manyalumnihavebeengivenawardsforgallantryinaction,the mostoutstandingexamplebeingthatofColNJNair(Ashok Chakra-posthumous),besidesanearlierKeertiChakratoo. Quiteafewofschoolalumnihavebeenmartyredinaction,in thehighesttraditionsoftheservices.

The School Motto „Gyan, Anushasan, Sahyog‟ purports the three most essential qualities needed for a career in the Defense Services namely knowledge, discipline and esprit-de-corps

DefenceMinisterYBChavanatthe school

living through heydays of the batch

Recollect

Tagore House

House Captain K. A. Latif

977 - Hansraj K V 979 Hynus N M 981 Parameswaran Unni 983 - Joseph T A 985 - Robin Netto L 987 Krishna Kumar M P 989 Biju M Paul 991 - Benny M Antony 993 M N Pradeep Kumar 995 Radhakrishnan S. 997 Joseph T V 999 - N Muraleedharan

Prefect N J Jacob 951 - Unnikrishnan C P 953 Mani P Mathews 955 Benny Paul 957 - A V Suresh Kumar 959 - Rajeev K K 961 Sabu N John 963 Venugopal A 965 - Ganesh V 967 Sreesankar R 969 Tonychan Jose 971 Vinod M 973 - Baburaj 975 O M Nirmal Kumar

1001 - Madhu G. Nath 1003 Jose J Kattoor 1005 Abraham C Mathew 1007 - Zacharias K Antony 1009 - Sunil Kumar P S 1011 Shyam Kumar P 1013 Nandakumaran K 1015 - Jayadev D 1017 Nanda Kumar B 1019 Shaji Mathew 1021 Venu G 1023 - Rajan G 1025 Ajith Kumar Varma

1027 - Mathew George 1029 Jose P Uthuppan 1031 Manoj C P 1033 - Roy Mattackal 1035 - Suresh Kandiyoor 1037 Shaji Abraham 1039 Rajesh Kumar Nair 1041 - Tojo Jose 1043 Sam K Abraham 1045 Shibu A R 1047 Ashok K C 1049 - Mukta Pande 1053 E J Mathews

House Master K. Krishnankutty Nair

Matron Mrs. Williams

Prefect P Rajan

Tagore

SittingLtoR 1.N.J.Jacob,2.MrsWilliams,3.K.Joshi,4.K.KrishnankuttyNair,5.MrsThomas,6.K.A.Latif,7.P.Rajan,8.MuktaPande

StandingfrontrowLtoR 1.K.K.Rajeev.2.AbrahamCMathew,3.ManiPMathews,4.M.N.Pradeepkumar,5.ZachariasKAntony,6.TonichanJose. 7.O.M.NirmalKumar,8.SabuNJohn,9.B.Nandakumar,10.MathewGeorge,11. JosephT.V.,12.P.S.Sunilkumar,13.L..RobinNetto,14.Venu.G, 15.M.Vinod., 16.P.U.Jose, 17.A.V.Sureshkumar,18.K.ParameswaranUnni

StandingmiddlerowLtoR 1.M.P.Krishnakumar.2.JosephT.A.,3.P.Shyamkumar,4.Rajeshkumar,5.AshokKC..6.BijuPaul.7.RajanG, 8.A.Venugopal, 9.JoseJKattoor,10.K.Nandakumaran,11.SureshKandiyoor,12.BennyPaulC,13.N..Muraleedharan,14.ShajiAbraham, 15.ManojC.P.,16.ShajiMathew,17.Baburaj

StandingbackrowLtoR 1.V.Ganesh.2.K.V.Hansaraj,3.N.M.Hynus,4.SamKAbraham,5..E.J.Mathews,6.BennyMAntony.7.C.P.Unnikrishnan, 8..RoyMattackal,9.S.Radhakrishnan,10.MadhuGNath.,11.A.R.Shibu,12.AjithkumarVarma,13.TojoJose,14.D.Jayadev.,15. R.Srishankar

952 R. Jayashankar 954 Rajeev Maroli 956 - P. Sasidharan 958 Manranjith U. 960 G. Murali 962 - P. Ashokan 964 P. Muraleedharan 966 G. Premanandan 968 R. Ullas 970 - Jackson Mathew 972 Sabu Kurien 974 Sreekumar M. Kartha 976 Jimmy M. Thevara

Veluthampi House

978 Joe Jose 980 C.G. Krishnakumar 982 - K. K. Kuruvilla 984 Arun Kumar V. 986 Jayakumar V. 988 - P. Jagadish 990 Jose K. P. 992 Biju M. Thomas 994 Sekharajan Pillai 996 - Abdul Gaffoor M. 998 Jagan Joseph 1051 Shaju Alexander

1000 Jose Numpeli 1002 - Sheshadri P. K. 1004 Niaz M. A 1006 Saji C 1008 - V.R. Sathish Chandran 1010 Sunil T 1012 Srikumar K T 1014 K. Sudhir 1016 - Shaju Jacob 1018 Joseph J. Poovattil 1020 Antony K A 1022 Yahiya P M 1024 - Jacob Thomas

1026 K. P. Sohanlal 1028 - N. Anilkumar 1030 P. S. Sajiv Kumar 1032 M. N. Varghese 1034 - Dennis M. Paul 1036 Sudesh Kumar P. B. 1038 Gopakumar N. 1040 Sathikumar 1042 - Manoj Mathew 1044 Pradeep N 1046 Shaji V. P. 1050 Ramesh Venkateshwar 1052 - K. J. Jayanarayanan

House Master C. G. George Matron Sarojini Sridhar

Prefect S. Rajookrishnan

House Captain K. Jainendra Kumar

Prefect K. Arun Kumar

Veluthampi

SittingLtoR 1.K.ArunKumar,2.SarojiniSridhar,3.K.D.Rai,4.C.G.George,5.RaniMathai,6.SaraswathiAmma,7.S.Rajookrishnan, 8.K.JainendraKumar

StandingfrontrowLtoR 1.G.Premanandan.2.V.ArunKumar,3.DennisM.Paul,4.N.Pradeep,5.P.Muraleedharan,6.K.P.Sohanlal. 7.K.T.Sreekumar, 8.SreekumarM.Kartha, 9.P.Sashidharan,10.Sathikumar,11.JoeJose,12.P.M.Yahya,13.ShajuJacob,14.BijuM.Thomas, 15.ShajiV.P., 16.V.Jayakumar, 17.G.Murali

StandingmiddlerowLtoR 1.C.G.Krishnakumar.2.M.A.Niaz,3.P.Ashokan,4.N.Anilkumar,5.SuilT..6.R.Jayashankar.7.K.J.Jayanarayanan, 8.JaganJoseph, 9.JosephJ.Poovattil,10.SajeevKumar,11.JacksonMathew,12.T.K.M.A.Gaffoor,13.ShekharajanPillai,14.Sudeshkumar, 15.V.R.SatheeshChandra,16.RajeevMaroli, 17.M.N.Varghese

StandingbackrowLtoR 1.K.A.Antony.2.Gopakumar,3.ManojMathew,4.Manranjith,5.JoseNumpeli,6.JimmyM.Thevara.7.K.Sudhir, 8.R.Ullas,9.SajiC., 10.SeshadriP.K.,11.K.K.Kuruvilla,12.JacobThomas,13.SabuKurien,14.JoseK.P.,15.P.Jagadish

Down the nostalgic path

1972 India had just won a war Even the common man knew Sam Bahadur The armed forces were on a roll.

A hundred kids and their parents from across Kerala were also on a euphoric roll as these kids had just won the first battle in the war of life. They had just qualified to join Sainik School, one of the finest public schools in the state then (it still is) after a very tough entrance examination, an interview (by none other than the Principal, that too in English) and an exacting medical check-up. This would open the gateway to join the Armed forces for at least some of them.

This bunch of wide eyed ten year old babes in arms entered the precincts of Sainik School Kazhakootam, carrying black trunk boxes, bit too oversized for them together with their parents. Whilst some of them could afford a ride in a taxi or a private car, most kids trekked up the winding route from the main gate of the school The huge arch at the entrance and the seemingly endless walk to reach the admin block did definitely invoke a sense of awe in them.

The Historic Ad

It all started with this advertisement It kicked offtheprocess of a hundredodd blacktrunksbeinghauledintotheschoolpremisesinJuly1972.

.

“Happiness is meeting an old friend after a long time and feeling like nothing has changed.” – Cris Dar

Soon they were allotted roll numbers, a new concept for them which was to stick with them for their next eight years of life in the school and beyond (They did realize later on that the roll number was the magic key to connect with an alumni who they had never met). They were divided into two groups, namely houses, Tagore and Veluthampi.

Thus they began their life‟s journey…..…..

For most of them, it was a shock Plucked out from the comfortable homes and parents‟ care, one evening, they found all alone with just another kid in the neighbouring bed for company.

The housemasters, matrons, House Captains, prefects...the support system was strong. They taught them to wake up in the morning, tie shoe laces, fall in and march in a squad Wearing a pyjama and kurta to sleep was compulsory So some of them wore it over the PT dress so that there was no double effort in the morning. Pyjama off and one was in PT dress.

The Grand Trunk

The black trunk that carried the belongings of theyoung offendersastheyenteredtheprecinctsoftheschool Itwas anassortmentboxthatcarriedahugelistofoffensiveitems fromblackshoestobuttons,pyjamastopolishandraincoat tonailcutter Nowitcarriestrunkloadofmemories

The Grand Abode

Thewings where thegreenhorns rested atnight…. Thewings wheretheyhadtheirinnocentfights thewingsthatprepared them for their latter-day flights….. The A & B wings of the dormitories.

There was an 'after you' for the toilet and a rusted iron bucket

During the PT, they saw for the first time a six and half foot man with a beard and a handkerchief ball on his head who shook everyone with his shout, „cover up, bloody man' It was during the assembly that they saw this tall Sikh man standing rock steady amidst the casuarinas and cadets swaying to the strong sea breeze.

Life was opening its avenues

Academics, extracurricular activities, sports, games and other activities that were not part of the rule book Opportunities to excel were plenty. One had to just choose a field And most of them did excel in something or the other And they grew.

Living together for the next eight years made them psychologically inseparable The sports fields and the boisterous activities they indulged in, did some special bonding

The Academicians

Ashokan,Kuruvilla,Jayashankar,Seshadri…eachofthemkeptclimbingontopinacademicsreplacingeachotheryearafteryear….untilCGK becametheapogeeofacademicsinthefinalround.

Other mischievous activities of the teenage, like sneaking out of the campus without permission mostly to watch a movie, plucking mangoes and coconuts that were abundant in the campus but declared out of bounds for the students acted like fevibond for this band of brothers. Getting into trouble together and getting out of them gave life‟s valuable lessons. The foundation their teachers laid over which they developed their destinies was super strong

Boxing was introduced in School. The authorities were tentative. But kids took to it with passion. Their batch had some of the finest boxers the school ever produced. They also excelled on the playgrounds.

They listened to Beatles and Mohammad Rafi sitting on Gul Mohar branches prior to one extra glass of coffee to help keep awake for preparing for NDA entrance exam. And also Edava Bashir by breaking bounds. Most of them got through the written exam. SSB was the next adventure. A hugely respected teacher later stated that theirs was an intelligent batch, so the number joining NDA was not extraordinary Those who didn‟t too did extremely well. They are all achievers in their own right…..

The Achievers

WhileAshokanwonthetrophyfortheBestAllroundCadetfor1980, JoseJKattoorwontheBestAchievementtrophyin1980,SabuNJohn withBestAllroundCadettrophyfor1979 andJayashankarreceivingtheKrishnakumartrophyfortoppingintheAISSEin1979.

As the batch approaches “shashti poorthi“ (some have already touched that milestone), some of the batch mates have already left for their final destination. Some left too young

Today, as the batch completes 50 years of joining the school, they thank the institution which shaped their lives

And offer a prayer for the departed friends to Rest in Peace

And pay gratitude to each other for being part of this extended family and remain friends who can take the shirt off one's back and give to a friend in need.

God speed and Fair windsto the Batch of 80.

The Champions

RadhakrishnanreceivedthetrophyforBestHouseinAcademicsforNehruHouse Venugopalanwas adjudgedtheBestAllroundSportsman. C. P.UnniwastheBestFootballeroftheyearandKCreceived thetrophyforShivajiHouse,theBoxingwinnersoftheyear1980.

The Campus

Some of the most memorable days of our lives are those that we spent in the sprawling campus at our school tucked away from the madding crowd into the rolling country side at Vetturoad, Kazhakootam. It had a place carved out for every student, the studious, the sporty, the naughty and even for the wicked young minds We shaped up from little thumb sucking young lads to confident young teenagers full of camaraderie in the lap of this mesmerising campus

Beyond that it's our sprawling campus that helped shape our destinies. The parade ground, the rope gallows and the beam, the numerous play grounds, the sprawling foreground beyond the garden in front of the school building with the precast cement reclines overlooking St Xavier's church

Theparadegroundand theropegallows,the obstaclecourse,the sportsstoreand the adjacentbarbershop, theCSDcanteen.

Hidden amidst it is the piggery, the dhobighat and 22 range even beyond, the old poultry farm and obstacle course on to the south east, the forbidden land beyond the church at Chandavila, the area of the pump house towards the south with the foot track leading to Kazahakootam market (which was carefully used for many a nocturnal adventure) were all intrinsic to our growing up besides the grand edifice of our school, the library, the labs, dormitories, auditorium and the mess.

Each day they grew deeper into us and have remained inseparable from our life and times at the school. It offered many opportunities to hone our skills and grow up and pursue goals of our choice

The coconut canopy and the sea in the far away distance with its evening breeze and enviable sun set to the west, the mist capped western ghats when the dawn was just breaking with mild cold breeze in company while we went to sip our morning coffee to the east with the towering Agasthya peak in the far ground are scenes which will stay with us till as long as we walk this earth. The Madavoor Para, its cave temple and the Pothencode Palace in the foreground are other land marks etched in memory. Sandwiched between all this was our mesmerising school campus The outer ring of staff quarters on either side, the cashew, coconut and mango groves and wild shrubs all around, the patches of tapioca farms and banana farms.

Theunfinishedclocktowerofthe70‟s

ThechurchatChandavila

Theschoolmessduringthe70‟s

Theschoolauditoriumduringthe70‟s

Thedormitory

Principal‟squarters

Boys and naughty we were to varying degrees and indulged in nocturnal adventures like plucking mangoes, bananas, coconuts and even jackfruits. And some sneaked out of the campus for a movie at the local cinemas. Each one to his own ability and interest! The campus gave us huge opportunities for all of it. Many a Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry would have envied our spirit of adventure!

The Sportstars

The NCC buffs…

Sunilkumar,SreekumarKarthaandNandakumaranenjoyingTheTajMahalaftertheRepublicDayparade in1977, whileSashidharan andSohanlalmarcheddowntheRajpath on 26January1978aspartofKeralaNCCcontingent TheschoolNCCteamin1979and JoseJKattoorescortingtheGovernortoinspecttheGuardin1980.

The School Teams – 1979-80

The playgrounds are the jewels in the crown of SSKZM. It is hard to find another institution that could boast of eight football courts, two cricket courts, four basketball courts, two volleyball courts and two hockey courts apart from a tennis court, a boxing ring that once was, a couple of net practice areas for cricket, and a swimming pool added later. The main ground could conduct a 400 metre race, a couple of long jumps, triple jumps and high jumps along with a javelin throw, a shot put and a discuss throw thrown in.

The monthly cross countries through the narrow village terrains of Kazhakootam that left the villagers amused was another exciting sporting activity that caught the fancy of many It developed a sense of adventure along with stamina and perseverance. So were the hiking trips that were organized to Pothencode and other surrounding areas once in a while. The school offered something for everyone to excel.

Theschoolvolleyballteam

There was something for everyone. You could choose some game that you enjoyed. If not a game, some item from athletics. If you weren‟t a fan of the outdoors, you could play caroms and chess in the dormitories There were some who couldn‟t be satisfied with all the above and chose to excel in socks ball cricket and basketball played inside and outside the dormitories.

Most of us discovered cricket after joining school and fell in love with her. Besides the regular intake in the school mess, over the years, we also feasted on a lot of cricket trifles and trivia from the early days of taking to cricket Those sagas have had an impressionable effect on our outlook towards the game in our formative years. The most venerated spiel to this day was spun by our classmate, Sashi P. It still occupies pride of place among all the extemporaneous rigmaroles concocted in the annals of Sainik School Kazhakootam.

The Pataudi saga

Indian captain Pataudi, once, while facing a fast bowler, surreptitiouslytooktheincomingballinsideoneofhisbatting pads. ItwasacloakanddaggeroperationbyPataudi. While doingsoheperformedthemandatoryactionofalofteddrive thatgentlemencricketersdoinordertolifttheballfora six. Theballdematerialisedintothecottonofhispadsofastthat no one thatbelongedtoHomoerectusandTribadeerectus speciesstanding on the field or sitting in the stadium saw wheretheballwent. Whileeveryonewenthiggledypiggledy, Pataudiranbetweenthewicketsandtook216(twohundred andsixteen)runs Attheendofithewas soexhaustedthat hestoppedrunningandgaveup on histargetofsurpassing SirGarfieldSobers‟365ashefelthehadmilestogobefore hereachedthere

Tailpiece Nothingis knownabouttherunner at theother end Minions have no claims to history No trust worthy informationas to whothebowlerwas However,restofthe storyisfromtrustedsources.

Theschoolcricketteam

Theschoolhockeyteam

Vivian and the vagaries of Googly

The ball when it leaves Chandrasekhar‟s hand does a cinematicdance AnaddledRichardsmoves totheright to strike the ball, and the ball turns to the left. Then a muddled Richards dances towards his left with all vengeance,andtheballdancestowardshisright Finally a befuddled Richards swings the bat in frustration and gets out. Vivian Richards had never seen a Bollywood movie and didn‟t know how complex Indian cinematic dancecanbeonitsdayandpaidthepriceforhismissing tutelageonBollywooddance.

Those who were still thirsty for more sporting activities could fly paper planes and play book cricket during study time in the classroom during evening studies or free periods.

And those game for a bit of adventure had more activities beyond the classrooms and playgrounds. These were plucking of mangoes initially and thereafter graduating into coconut, jackfruit and the banana plucking. Only most of them were nocturnal adventures and had to evade a three fold security, of the house master, the wardens and the guards deployed by the contractor. But that was the adventure they looked for

Theschoolathleticsteam

Theschoolbasketballteam

The Staff

The kind of teachers needed in a residential school and that too, in a Sainik School, was qualitatively different from that in a day School. Not only impeccable academic qualification, years of experience in institutions of higher learning , skill in various games and other types of co curricular activities, but also high degree of communication

Skill, empathy, equable temperament, willingness to accept a seven day, twenty four hour stretch of duties and very few holidays Further, they along with the Matrons would have to fill the void in emotional support and sense of security, inevitable in small children who miss their parents and home life In the early years, they did find such teachers. But are they able to find now?

SittingLtoR 1.SangeetaDubey,2.MrsThomas,3.M.K.Poonacha,4.S.H.Sharma,5.T.P.Ramachandran,6.A.GeorgeJoseph,7.SqnLdr S.S.Dubey,8.Lt.ColK.N.Sardana 9.MajT.R.Reddy,10.P.M.Kunhi11.G.SomanPillai,12.S.V.Sharma13. TBD 14.ThomasMathew

StandingfirstrowLtoR 1.V.R.SathishChandra.2.SabuKurian,3.K.K.Kuruvilla,4.C.G.Krishnakumar,5.AbrahamCMathew,6.AjithkumarVarma.7.SunilT, 8.P.K.Seshadri, 9.BijuMThomas,10.DennisMPaul,11 P.S.Sunilkumar.,12.k.ParameswaranUnni,13.JosephJPoovattil,14.TojoJose,15.K.ShekharajanPillai., 16.JacobThomas, 17.C.P.Manoj,18.K.Jayakumar,18.AntonyK.A.,19.V.Ganesh,20.G.Murali

StandingsecondrowrowLtoR 1.G.Premanandan.2.N.Anilkumar.,3.K.J.Jayanarayanan,4.Rajeshkumar,5.ManojMathew..6.K.V.Hansaraj,7.S.Radhakrishnan, 8.K.Nandakumaran,9.M.A.Niaz,10.JimmyM.Thevara,11.N.Muraleedharan,12.JosephT.V.,13.JoseK.P,14.ManiP.Mathews,15.RajeevMaroli,16.JacksonMathew, 17.ShajuAlexander,18.JaganJoseph,19.P.U.Jose

StandingthirdrowLtoR 1.N.M.Hynus.2.BennyPaulC,3.M.N.Pradeepkumar,4.SajiC,5..P.Shyamkumar,6.P.M.Yahya.7.K.T.Sreekumar,8.BijuPaul,9.R.Ullas, 10.RoyMattackal.,11.C.P.Unnikrishnan,12.T.A.Joseph,13.ShajiAbraham,14.K.Sudhir.,15..R.Jayashankar,16.JoeJose,17.ShajiV.P.,18.P.Jagadish,19.D.Jayadev

StandingfourthrowLtoR 1.P.Ashokan.2.P.Muraleedharan,3.E.J.Mathews,4.K.P.Sohanlal,5..AshokK.C.,6.MathewP.Koshy.7.MathewGeorge,8.O.M.Nirmalkumar, 9.SabuN.John,10.B.Nandakumar,11.P.Sashidharan,12.SreekumarM.Kartha,13.G.Venu,14.JoseJ.Kattoor.,15..N.Pradeep,16.MadhuG.Nath,16.JoseNumpeli, 17.A.Venugopal

Campus Flashes

Photo ops

Camaraderiecomes fromtheheartandcannotbewishedaway Itlastsforever andguys meetup ateachother‟shomesandtoshareeach other‟sjoyousmoments.

reminiscing happy days of yore

The Writers

The Grand Complex

The grand edifice, or the school building as we call it, is an engineering marvel Those who care to gaze at it in its entirety find themselves admiring its symmetry and uniformity. Together with the 11 dormitories that stand scattered at the centre of the campus, the design looks magnificent. A modern looking auditorium from where starts an open corridor that leads to the Academic Block with the well equipped laboratories on the south side, and the art and craft classes and the library towards the north

And right in front is a quaint garden with a view and remnants of an aeroplane of a bygone era, The aircraft and its position are no longer same.

The grand old Mustang has been replaced by an HPT–32 Deepak and its place has been shifted to where the boxing ring once stood.

From the garden one gets to see the Western Ghats in the east and the Arabian sea in the west, both boundaries of God‟s Own Country.

Go straight westwards and you reach the Central Hall and the Clock Tower. A glance at both sides and one sees two rhombus shaped structures that contain twenty classrooms, the administrative section, and the staff room The Clock Tower today looks complete unlike the 70‟s when the half finished structure had steel bars strutting out during the eight long years of our stay

The simple, nameless auditorium now bears a prestigious name, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Auditorium. Equipped with modern looking seating and sound proofing, the auditorium today rivals any modern public hall for gatherings and stage performances. One could recall the old days when many an excellent stage performance was defiled by the primitive sound system that left the audience wondering what was being communicated.

.The school mess is no more in clutter and litter. It has been tidied up and christened 2nd Lt Radha Mohan Naresh Hall, though sensation of flavour remains the same.

The swimming pool, that remained a dream in our times is a reality now But the boxing ring is gone!

The Scholastic World

July 2022. I opened my classroom, wanting to see the chair on which I sat for six hours everyday, my table where I kept my Fundamental English text book and learned the first lessons of Queen‟s language…...

Alas! They weren‟t there The army green, iron table that had spots of rust at every joint and opened with a squeaking sound had gone. So did the wooden chair with iron hand rest that made a creaking sound every time I pushed it behind to stand up in the classroom to say something. They have been replaced with awful wooden desks and benches with backrest. I looked around and found that many a thing in my beloved classroom has either been replaced or it looked different

Theclassroomasitlooksatpresent

The black board has been shifted towards one side to accommodate the inevitable modern day gadget called the LCD screen. The podium remained as it was but a lectern has been placed by its side. There were fans in the classroom, a luxury we never enjoyed The only things that had not changed were the door and the windows that offered us the beautiful sight of the coconut canopy and the Arabian sea beyond

What amazed me was the sight of school bags and water bottles…. Something which we never owned. I pitied the students who miss the luxury of coming to the school with only their beret in their hand And also the jovial trips to the central tower to drink water from the water coolers And while you were there…. taking a sojourn to the toilet next door. Forgot to mention…. The paints on the door and the windows retain the same colour even after half a century.

The learners were the life of this room. They breathed life into this realm. They opened their minds here, spoke their hearts out, nurtured friendships, They listened to the teachers silently, and when in doubt questioned them….. But learn, they all did…. in this classroom and in the bigger one that is the world outside I missed that „school of thought‟ in this classroom of 2022

The Golden Jubilee

4 July 2022. It was almost to the date fifty years ago that they had joined the school, wide-eyed and bewildered. The massive campus was both intimidating and liberating at the same time. It was here that they spent a good part of their growing up years. It was here that they learned the basics in life. Learnings that stood them in good stead in their latter day journeys in life. Fifty years thence they were back in the school with gleaming eyes and broader smiles .

Most of them were accompanied by their spouses. It was a first for at least some of those spouses as they were mesmerised by the sheer expanse of the campus and the facilities thereof. The old boys were exhilarated and effervescent to be back in their alma mater after four decades and the young girls were thrilled to see the nourishing mother of their spouses in their formative years.

It was a year ago that a suggestion for a golden jubilee celebration came up in group discussions. When the idea of a celebration in 2022 was mooted in the batch meeting, the consensus was to choose dates as close to the joining dates fifty years ago as possible With a broad consensus,

corresponding dates in 2022 were chosen as the days for the get together

A visit to the school was on top of the agenda and welcomed avidly by all It has been something most members of the batch had been dreaming about for quite some time.

The batch was extremely happy to be back in school and to see the infrastructural changes in the campus and the multiple measures initiated to enhance the learning experience as well as living comforts of the cadets.

Above all it was a long awaited trip down memory lane. Reliving all the memories and visiting the alma mater after fifty years of separation was a series of unforgettable moments for the batch with bursts of emotions, bonding and nostalgia

Ashokians,thepeacemakers

Nehruvians,thesocialists

Prasadians,thescholars

Shivajians,thewarriors

The Hall of Fame

JoseJKattoorentersthehalloffameastheschoolcaptainfortheyear1979-80,A.Venugopalforbeingthebestallroundsportsman forthe sameyearandC.G.Krishnakumar,bestinacademicsinthesameyear.

The Seekers

WhileVenuandNumpelifindtheiroldseatsintheclassroomandareexcitedtolearnafewthings Madhulooksdelightedtofindthetable where he learnt a thing or two. Even as a bunch of Prasadians findpeace inpunishments and makemerry … Rajesh findspiece in his favouriteporkandmakesacurry. AndEJ,aloneinacrowdandlostincontemplation. ForMukta,itwasamoreprofoundandoverwhelming experiencetofindthehomethatwashersonceuponatime Shestoodtherepensivelyforafewmoments

The Performers

Theperformers set thestage on fire AsLakshmi, AVSuresh,Zacharias,Sohanlal, Nirmal and CG Krishnakumarperformed for the crowd,thecrowdsatspellboundinthenostalgiathatengulfedthem.

The Bullies

OnethingthatstoodoutintheGoldenJubileecelebrationandthewalkaroundintheschoolcampuswasthateveryoneenjoyedthe trip. Itwasn‟tjustatriptotheschoolbutatripdownmemorylane.

The Benign

Memories Galore

Thesephotographscarryastockpileofmemories. ShajiAbraham,Kuruvilla,Jayakumar,Shekharajan,EJ

friendswhoare

Memories Galore

Afewfriendslandingup at thehouseofthebatch‟s firstcoupleostensibly to celebratebutwiththetrueintentionoflearningfromthe schoolteacheralessonortwoonlifeaftermarriage.

Aplenty

Aplenty

Aplenty

documenting cheery days of the past

Recreate

The Writers

Indelible imprints….

K. Nandakumaran

Marking ink…

One item, in our list of items to be brought when we joined one of the best schools in Kerala was “Marking Ink” For my father, a teacher, marking was always done by chalk, on blackboards and on slates on which we kids wrote. Ink was only for writing, that too on paper. None in our small village could explain marking ink. We could not get hold of it in the biggest stationery store in Chalakudy, the nearest small town. But they said that we may get it in a store in Broadway, Ernakulam My father was not going to miss a chance of putting me in a good school for want of marking ink So off we went, to Ernakulam and having got a bottle of marking ink, completed my inventory.

With a regulation box containing the „inventory‟ including a bottle of marking ink, we landed up in the school in June 1972, where on completion of formalities, I was allotted a bed, half a cupboard and a Roll Number.

As we entered the precincts of a building called a dormitory, which would be my home for the next year, we were welcomed by our House master and the Matron, who would be my parents for this one year Before putting the stuff into the cupboard, the Matron asked me if we had brought marking ink. My father gave me that look, “see, marking ink is so important without which maybe they wouldn‟t have let us in.”

Everything including the marking ink out, the Matron pulls out a long stick from behind her ear and starts writing my newly allotted Roll Number on every piece of my inventory and both me and my father are enlightened.

My father having left, I am on my own New surroundings, new friends and a new routine now take over my life and along with mine, that of another 89 who joined along.

Revielle, PT, classes, breakfast, classes, lunch, siesta, games, bath, night studies, dinner, roll call, lights out, ha a hectic routine In between, there were extra curricular activities, co-curricular activities, sports competitions and one weekly activity called “dhobi clothes.”

Once a week, washermen from netherworld came to the dorms, collected the soiled linen and made a bundle of it and returned to netherworld These came back washed and pressed a week later. The right piece of clothing finding its rightful owner was only because of the Roll number marking on it. That was the importance of marking ink.

A Dhobighat

Our forays beyond the forbidden road increased. Our world startedgettingbiggerandthedhobighatprovideda kindoffirm baseforalotof forbiddenactivities

“Plucking” was one suchactivity. It was an activity which was highlyhierarchical Subjuniorscouldonlypluckthewildberries along the school garden front. Juniors graduated to mangoes andcashewapples,andtheseniorspluckedcoconuts,akindof pushintomanhood

Dormshadaninherentriskofthehousemasterwalkinginwhen the plucking group returned triumphantly with the booty So dhobighat was the patrol base from where operations were launchedandreturnedto.

The dhobies slowly became friends and gave a hand in numerousnefariousactivitiesotherthanplucking. Smokingwas another. Theysuppliedtherawmaterialsandtookacommission as cut Andthebondinggrew Theybeinglocalscouldofferto showanoddshortcuttogetaway fromaprowlingwardenor a contractor. Onceina whiletheywouldsneaktoo. Thatwas our firstlessonon“doubleagents”

Netherworld?

It was a world we did not know because the world beyond the road along B&C quarters was out of bounds for us students. Marking ink connected both these worlds

As we grew in years, our clothes started reducing in numbers and their visits to the dhobighat too reduced Marking ink was never a part of inventory after our first bottle. Each one of us could identify few pieces of our clothes.

But the Roll number which the matron wrote with that Marking Ink, remains with us for the rest of our lives like those indelible memories.

…..and a Piggery

Veryclosetothedhobighatwasapiggery. Havingseenonlyscraggy blackpigletsinAngamaliandaround,mostofus wereseeingthose huge,pinkYorkshirepigsforthefirsttime. Someofus hadfunjust watchingthemcavortinginahugepoolofmuckywater.

Between the Cadets mess and thepiggery,it was a selfsustaining ecosystem. Theleftoverfoodfromthemesswasfedtothepigs. And when thepigs became fatenough, the cadets ate them. The pork curry ofthemess couldmakemanyforgettheirsorrows andmany a fondmemory is ofanevening whenone was theservingboy,pork wasinthebilloffareandyoucouldmanagetoserveanextraspoon inyourownplate

When the missions became bigger and Top Secret, the firm base shiftedfromDhobighattothepiggery Afterall,animalswouldn‟ttalk

Oneofthehighlightsofa muchawaitedOldBoysmeet evenyears later,remainstobe,theporkcurrysourcedfromthesamepiggery

The Zulu dance

G. Venu

SOIRÉE 78 was indeed a novel idea for a batch to independently host a cultural show in the school Soon the creative minds of the batch lead by P Sasidharan and several others got into the act. As usual a Malayalam drama was planned to be the show stopper. To bring innovation to the fore we decided to stage an African Tribal dance. Jayakumar was the prime mover behind this idea. The darker darlings of the batch were to be the key participants The half-naked men, all of nine, were to be painted black and minimally dressed using green leaves and were to be armed with makeshift spears. They were man-eaters who would celebrate around their prey, a white man in tattered clothes. Their attire was to represent their primitive and ferocious temperament.

Practice commenced for the tribal dance In full throttle on many fronts and the budding directors (all in-house) became busy sequencing and arranging their part of the show. The rest of the show was makeovers of what we were used to seeing during the School Annual Day, year after year. The tribal dance therefore, was expected to bring greater acceptability and appreciation for our efforts. Hence much of the attention of the entire batch and the organizing team was on this masterpiece that was in the making

Jayakumar became the principal director of the event. There were many other minions helping the sequencing and piecing together of the event. The costume couldn‟t have been simpler than what was thought of The spears were improvised & the participants were selected All except the white man were the darkest handsome hunks of the batch. To make it more impactful, the leader of these primitive tribe was to spit fire as the dance reached its crescendo. The shiniest dark guy was the natural choice for the villain of the piece for his complexion very curly hair and muscular build. Ideas kept pouring in and each day many things got added while some cuts were made to make it even more impactful

As days passed, the practices became more impactful and a synergy began to take shape. Then came the idea of adding a song to the dance instead of just the beats and wild utterances. Soon the music wizards were trooped in to hunt for a suitable song. It was not long before we homed onto a song believed to be an African rhythm It rhymed “Jilleyle Jilleyle Hao Hao Jilleyle”

Next in agenda was a cassette player and Mathew George volunteered to get it from his father at Pattom. We were running out of time and we couldn‟t have waited till the weekend to fetch it Permission on a working day to get it was only a pipe dream Sure enough, a conspiracy was hatched and the director and MG bunked one afternoon and got the player and cassettes required before dinner, the earliest time when a head count was likely. The song still remained unrealised. It was only heard by the music buffs at Sreekumar Theatre. Yet another adventure by the same duo along with the tech savvy Sasidharan and we had that in place too duly captured on to a cassette and duplicated for safety With the song added and steps decided, the practice was in full swing. The makeshift venue was the front enclosure at our Cadets‟ Mess for daily rehearsals post dinner.

We Shivajians decided to brew some liquor ...

Getting together the raw material was the first milestone !! The bottles for storage was foundfromthefewempty bottles ofKissanSquashthatwe had boughtfromtheCSD Thefruitwasnobigissueastherewasenoughcashew appleeasilyavailableinthecampuswiththeskillsperfectedovertheyears. To strainthejuicesome sterilegauge wassmuggledoutfromtheMIRoom. The fermentationcompoundandsugarwasthemoredifficultthingtolayhandson AspecialoperationwaslaunchedintotheSchoolbakeryunitlocatedadjacent tothemesskitchen.Themissionwasexecutedwithsuccessbutitindeedwas atouchandgooperation

Around this time yet another idea was thrown in The tribal leader was to sacrifice a chicken and smear the gushing blood on to the face of the white man whom the tribesmen tortured before he was to be taken to the altar. The idea had a shock factor and found huge acceptance But at the last moment, the tribal leader chickened out on learning that he will have to sacrifice a chicken. He didn‟t turn up for the rehearsal that evening This happened just four or five days prior to the final day.

Thenon a moonlitnighttheplanwasputtoactiononthe "ShivajiRock "just behindShivajiSrs. Thebottleswerefilledwiththepulpyextract andsealedto fermentwithanextradoseofyeast. Nonewantedittobeanylesspotent. For safetyandundisturbedfermentationitwasquietlyburiedinthegardeninthe toiletquadrangleforfearofloosingthefruitsofour labour Therewas along and anxious 21days to allow the broth to mature. But every other day the mastermindusedtokeepawakewellpastmidnighttojustcheckoutthesafety ofourproduct

Finallyitwasthe21stday Wewaitedwellpast11pmwhenourhousemaster MrPCNmadehisfinalroundofthehouseandhislightsupstairswereswitched off. Wewaitedforalittlelongertobedoublysurebeforeweweretotastethis hard earned nectar But lo and behold suddenly there was some cracking noiseandthewholewingwasstinkingoffermentedbroth Thosebottleshad cracked and given way !! The rest of the night we were only washing and moppingthefloortoget thestinkandbrokenglassbitsoutofourwing. The greatanticlimax!!

The director and other participants were all crest fallen So was the batch. Expletives were not spared for the unplanned exit by one of us. But Jay was in no mood to give up yet The pride and prestige of the batch was at stake. By then word had gone around to others that something new is being cooked by the batch departing from the beaten track and that was more the reason we had to keep up the tempo of our preparation

It is at this critical juncture that VenuG, not so dark by the standards in place, volunteered to fill the sudden void He had the build to fit in the void but was not as muscular as the role demanded. But that was secondary now. VenuG‟s candidature was immediately accepted as presenting the show was very important. The practice recommenced with renewed vigour. There was an unusual gusto to stage it even better, present it more stunningly and make it a bigger success than was originally planned. We had by then, through the Mess Manager, requested for two live birds, one for the dress rehearsal and the other obviously for the final day The Mess Manager had only one condition, post sacrifice; the birds must get back to the mess kitchen.

Meanwhile Krishnan Kutty Sir had made arrangements for makeup artists critical to our makeover into primitive tribes Simultaneously our friends proficient in KB Rao sir‟s art studio were put into action to make many hand crafted invites for the entire academic and administrative faculty. A select group with the right temperament went around inviting everyone in the campus and we were set for the final day, a Saturday. Everything sailed smooth until the dress rehearsal

On Friday evening prior to the show torrential rains lashed the campus without any mercy. The heaviest rain we experienced over the eight years of our stay at the campus, poured. The campus flooded with all possible drains overflowing and electricity snapped There were recommendations to even postpone the show But by around four in the evening the weather cleared and we were set for the final show. A generator was also brought in to cater for any trouble.

The event sailed off smooth on that day. The dance was before the Malayalam play. The rhythm of the song and beats took the audience by surprise, the fireballs flew, and the blood gushed out of the sacrificed bird and was smeared on the poor victim. The audience were spell bound. Unlike each time where the longish Malayalam play used to be show stopper; this time around our dance stole the thunder The tribal dance had indeed taken centre stage. Such an event had never been performed on stage in the annals of the school. The show was widely accepted for our ingenuity and creativity. Sure enough, the Principal had no difficulty in selecting the event for a repeat during the school Annual Day.

…and boil some tapioca!

Themoreadventurouswithascientificorientationwentastep furtherwiththeirmachonocturnalengagements Butitwasall teamworkandonlymeantforthemostdaring. Sotheywent for thetapioca! It couldonly be had after doubleboiling and thatiswherethescienceeducationcameofhelp

Good bye to Jay, the principal director of the event who left us for his heavenly abode in 2022, fighting cancer for several years. We miss You Jay and your never say die attitude We will cherish your feats until we too join you in the clouds. Until then…. good bye!!

A stove or a boiler was required. This was improvised with great ingenuity and practical application of theory that we learnt withgreatpassion. The electric coils fromthephysics labalongwithbitsofcableweresmuggledout andmounted inside wet clay prepared out of mud available aplenty anywhere in the campus to mould a decent open electric furnace. Oncethiswasreadyandtested,theironbucketsin the bathrooms were cleaned and was then used to boil the tapioca. Thesebucketswerenotgiventothetoiletanylonger. Thefavouritespotfortappingelectricitywas theswitchboard providedattheexitintothecorridorleadingtothewashrooms from thewings . For thechutney thechilly, onions and salt weresmuggledoutoftheschoolkitchen. Thiswas executed much like a raid in true military parlance. The final product surely was not very tasty but conquering Everest could not havegiventhatkindofrawsenseofmissionaccomplishment. Wegobbleditallupwithgreatpride. .

Iss ka Piss ka….

WingCommanderSunandaRoywhotookchargeastheprincipalofSainikin1974wasinstrumentalinheraldingmanychangesinthesportsarenaof the School. Thefactthathewas afighterpilotanda nota career administratorinAirforcemighthavetheybeenthereason forhisoutofthebox thinking.

Perhaps the mostsignificantchangeWing CommanderRoychampioned was the introduction ofboxing to SSKZM. The outdoorboxingring was constructednexttothetenniscourtin1974andthefirstinterhouseboxingcompetitionas heldinearly1975(beforethesummerholidays). Tothe surpriseofallstudents,PTmasterUnni,whowas knowntobeafootballexpertuntilthen,turnedouttobeaboxingcoachandaprettygoodoneat that.

The Boxing competition was moved inside the auditorium that year because of rains and the ring was set on the stage. True to his Form, Shiby George the pocket dynamo delivered the first win to Shivaji and did the boxer in the Mosquito weight Paddy also managed to secure a win in the mosquito weight. MNP fought Rajesh in the finals and came through fairly easily. Jimmy waltzed his way into final round and the judges were unanimous in declaring him the winner (Jimmy also won the best boxer price in that year for his performance). The finals fight between Sunil T and Antony in the fly weight was particularly engaging Sunil T packed the strongest punch, but Tony had this never say die attitude In the first round Sunil T managed to land punches on Antony‟s face and his lips started bleeding.

Mr Poonacha, who was the referee, was concerned seeing the blood , and perhaps wanted to stop the fight. But Antony would have none of it. He brought it on to Sunil T, bleeding lips notwithstanding Sunil T went on inflicting blows and Antony kept coming back It was perhaps the bloodiest fight in the history of the school ever. The audience‟s standing ovation must have been more for Antony‟s grit and resilience than for Sunil T having won the match.

The penultimate match of the tournament in the Bantam weight between Mani and Robin was the equivalent of the Mohammad Ali Joe Frazier fight. It was “The Fight”. Both were yet to lose a fight in their boxing career, both had good techniques and temperament and Robin being couple of inches taller had the advantage one would have thought Form the first round after Mr Poonacha shouted out “box”, the two of them showcased a bout of boxing at its best. On display was the skill of throwing left hook, right hook, upper cuts, straight jabs, inside jabs, smart ducking, great footwork and feigning.

The fight was too close to call and everyone was holding their breath when at the end of three rounds, both the boxers were called to the centre of the ring for the referee to announce the result. And finally, the announcement came, “Well-done Red, Blue is the winner” and Mr Poonacha Raised Mani‟s hand. The Shivajians in the audience jumped out in jubilance as their star had delivered one of the toughest fights ever Robin Netto would be awarded the “Best Loser” for his stellar performance and subsequently the school blue, together with Mani. (It must have been the only year when two blues were issued out in one year for the same event)

KC was watching the drama unfold from the side lines and he couldn‟t care less as Shivaji had won 6 out of the 7 matches and his match would be an inconsequential one, as the trophy was already decided He suddenly found the entire Shivaji team congregating on him and urging him that he had to win his bout, for Shivaji to script the history of winning ALL the bouts in a boxing tournament Suddenly, KC found himself under pressure to deliver. The bout which was an inconsequential one in his mind, had suddenly become the centre piece and the fight became a do or die matter for him He had come through the first round quite easily beating S Krishnakumar of Nehru House. Waiting for him in the finals was Thomaskutty Joseph (One year junior) from Ashoka house.

The boxing minutiae

For a boxer to gain a point, he had to land his punch in the opponentstargetthatwas defined as thefront portionofhistorso from waistupwards, and below the hairline, ears being out of the target,as alsothearms(waistbeingdefinedbytheredor bluebelt thathehadtowear,dependingonwhetherhewasfightingfromthe red corner or the blue corner) Punching an opponent below the waistline (or the belt) was forbidden as the it could lead to very serious(evenfatal)consequences.

The veterans’ saga

Somefromthebatchhadtakentoboxinglikeducktowater, whenitwasintroducedin1975. The4names thatstoodout were Mani P Mathews, Jimmy, Sunil T and Robin Netto. Theywerethenaturalboxersfromthebatch Jimmywasall style, technique and Elegance, Sunil T perhaps had the hardest hitting punch, and Mani and Robin had a flair for boxingwithacombinationstrongpunchingabilityas wellas theabilitytotakehitonthechinwithoutlosingtheirbearing, andlaunchcounterattacksattheslightestofopeningsmade availabletothem

Thomaskutty was a fearless fighter and Robin Netto must have given him the much needed insights into the nuances of boxing. There must perhaps also been a purpose of avenging Robin‟s loss to Mani. KC was fighting from the red corner and from the word “box” onwards, it was a no holds barred fight. Whilst the previous bouts had displayed style and techniques, this was a bout which was all about winning, style and technique be damned (In any case when one gets punched in the face, all the training and advices given flies out of the window and the thought just comes down to seeing how to land one back) Halfway into the 1st round, KC realised to his horror that Thomaskutty could punch equally hard with both his hands. The classic approach of the boxer holding his guard while not making an attack was given the go. Round 1 of 90 seconds seemed like a lifetime, with receiving blows and giving them back in equal measure Mani who came as a second, was trying to give some tips, but KC perhaps did not hear any of the tips.

In round 2, KC found that Thomaskutty was tiring a little faster than him. That feeling gave him that extra energy to land a few more blows and at the end of round 2, KC was reasonably sure that he had bridged the gap and inched forward a little

By round three, KC‟s suspicion that Thomaskutty was tiring faster seemed to be playing true. He was buoyed by this and moved in for the kill, letting whatever left of his guard, down Little did he know that it was perhaps Thomaskutty‟s strategy to lure him in by feigning tiredness Out of the blue Thomaskutty let lose a flurry of blows which resulted in KC getting a black eye to boot. Recoiling from the assault, KC went with all what he had, punching and blocking, till the bell rang and Mr Poonacha shouted STOP. While walking back to his corner and while being called back to the centre by the referee to announce the result, KC was not sure of who the winner would be The few seconds that Mr Ponnacha held the wrists of both the boxers as the ritual prior to the announcement, seemed to extend forever. Finally, the announcement came. “Well-done blue, red is the winner”. Mr Poonacha raising his left hand seemed surreal to KC.

He could see from the corner of his eye the entire Shivaji team standing in the corner and jumping and shouting with ecstasy It was as if the most important fight had been won.

The celebrations and shouting‟s of „IS CUP KIS KA ? SHIVAJI HOUSE KA ‟ (whose cup is it? None other than Shivaji house‟s…) by the Shivajians reverberated everywhere. The losers mimicked their revelry by shouting back “ISKA PISS KA, SHIVAJI HOUSE KA.” (Pee in this cup… Shivaji‟s house‟s cup…). History was created. Never in the history of boxing in the school had a house won all the 7 bouts.

The weighing elements

The weight categories started with the Flea weight which was the lowest weightcategory,followedby Mosquitoweight, Gnatweight,LightFlyweight, FlyWeight,BantamWeightandFeatherweight. Theschoolat thattimedid not have enough potential candidates to fight in theLight Weight, middle weight, light heavy weight and heavy weight To be compliant to the government stipulations which specified that children below the age of 12 cannot betakingpart inboxing, the school made ita rule thatonly class 8 students and above could take part in boxing competition Boxing was thereforetheonlycompetitionwherethejuniorandseniorhousesparticipated underonebanner. Hencetherewereonlyfourteams,Ashoka,Nehru,Prasad andShivaji

Reminiscence….

P. K. Seshadri

In the late 1960s, my father worked as an overseer with the State Electricity Board, on rural electrification in areas of Wayanad. So it was that he moved our family from an agraharam home near Alathur to the picturesque settings near milepost 10 on the road to Wayanad from Kozhikode

Our modest rental was atop the hillock behind an Esso station, (currently HP) overlooking the highway. The wonderful view of the greenery beyond was only obscured by a cluster of coconut and arecanut palms and a glorious guava tree There was a Sunni Masjid landmark on my school route that took me and my brother across the Kunnamangalam market with the lone vegetarian hotel that had nourished my father prior to his family‟s arrival. Culture shock aside, my mother drew comfort from round the clock activity at the gas station below, since my father was routinely late in getting back home after work before darkness

My third and fourth grade school in those days had daily Arabic instruction for the first period, allowing the handful of Hindu kids in the class to be excused after attendance, free to banter and assist with lunch hour Upma preparation, hand picking pebbles from the grains and drawing well water to cleanse it for cooking I recall an instance where a proposal to tweak the school holiday schedule was met with local protests and I joined the walk on my only policy protest. However, my father was getting concerned about impacts on my education due to his job transfers and this incident did not help.

Hence his application for my Sainik School admission, over the protestations of mothers, mine and his, which played its course and I found myself being cut off from my Baalarama with its revealing world of dinosaur stories, that I had sampled on my first train trip, to Calicut from Olavakkode In those days, I struggled to read and comprehend the English daily and felt severely disconnected from the comforts of Malayalam Another memorable barrier was the 15-minute 100 calculation test for our School entrance test, which was my mother‟s domain to train me in.

My test center was a high school in Kozhikode By the time I was called in for the medical checkup, I was genuinely excited at the prospect of going off to Trivandrum, since our family sojourn to Malabar had proved so much more expensive than I had bargained for. As luck would have it, my family shifted back to my native village prior to my departure to Kazhakootam. Thus began a sequence of „long‟ train and bus trips between our School and Thrissur Alathur.

I recollect those days, in particular, the to-and-fro journeys we did during our vacations. Our initial journeys in passenger trains took more than twelve hours. But those journeys were so pleasurable and entertaining that we children were least concerned about the time taken. So were the latter day bus journeys that took an equally long time winding through the narrow roads of yore Though we didn‟t know in those days as to why the school management organized bus trips instead of train trips (we later learnt about the infamous railway strike of 1974) we took to the bus journeys with equal gusto Train or bus, those journeys were equally delightful The songs and fun filled sessions of the nights, the lush greenery of the beautiful Kerala countryside in the mornings, the screaming of the tea and coffee vendors that reverberate in the train compartments…. and the rush to occupy the front seats not only to avoid the bumps and bounces but also breakfast being barfed out downwind by those with motion sickness sitting up ahead. I cherish every moment of those trips to this day.

The Train Journey

In the first leg of the journey, the team would reach Kaniyapuram railwaystationfromschoolbyfootinabout45minutescoveringmore than3kilometers. Studentswouldbeinwhiteandwhite… andblack shoes And so would the masters be A couple of staff members wouldbeassignedtheresponsibilityofthejourney.

The students would be experiencing the most thrilling moments of theirlifewiththeirvacationinhandandtotopitall,atrainjourneywith friends One couldimagine the hullaballoo when three hundred odd excitedchildrenwouldinfestarailwaystationinIndiainadditiontothe hundred passengers already waiting there. When train arrives, the station master with thehelp of the school masters would somehow manage to deposit all children into their designated compartments withoutanyuntowardincident. Andtheschoolmasters atthetheend ofthejourneywouldmanage todepositeachstudentinthehandsof theguardianswhowouldbewaitingatthepre-definedstation,again withoutanythinguntowardhappening.

Exceptthatthewhitedresswithwhichthestudentstartedhisjourney wouldhaveturnedblackinthecoalpoweredpassengertrain. Andso wouldthemasters‟.

War veteran

“Everyone listen! There will be a film show today evening. Dress will be same as that of night studies.”

P. Jagadish

That was Rajookrishnan, the prefect. It was a Saturday, a few weeks into the strict and severe school schedule. Life has been a bit too tough for the boys ever since they joined the school a few weeks ago. Except for the two hour games session in the evenings, every hour was spent painfully according to the script laid out as per the rules and regulations of the school starting at 5.30 in the morning. The unexpected prospects of watching a movie triggered heated discussions

“I hope it is a Prem Nazir movie.” said Kuruvilla. He had no doubts who the hero would be.

“No man. It will be a Hindi film. They will show only Hindi films in defense premises.” Ullas knew defense matters well enough.

Confusion prevailed for quite sometime but later in the day, through a breaking news, the boys learned it‟s an English film that would be screened that evening.They were excited. Watch an English movie! Wow! Quite audacious! Most of them would be doing something they had not done before. They had a mysterious yet ticklish smile on their faces. But as the day progressed more breaking news came in. One of them was that it will be a war film Never mind There was still scope for an evening party in a military camp with a few females and a couple of dances thrown in

Come evening and the boys marched to where the film was to be screened. It was in the open, screened on a wall adjacent to the academic block The boys sat on the ground and the staff sat on the chairs arranged at the back JagadishP was baffled that the seniors and the staff members weren‟t as enthusiastic about the war film as he and his friends were Though their conduct was inexplicable, he chose to ignore it

First on the agenda was a comedy film. It was a good entertainer with two characters, Stan and Ollie, resembling Adoor Bhasi and Bahadur, packing up all their troubles and joining the US Military Training Camp The film was about the hullaballoo they did in the camp like marching towards the left when the Captain Sargent orders to march towards the right and poking the captain from behind with the rifle. The boys laughed their guts out.

Then the war film started. It was a documentary on some doltish affair during the second world war. It didn‟t take much time for JagadishP to unravel the mystery of the missing enthusiasm among senior spectators. The boys looked at each other and within themselves. They found the initial excitement vanishing from their body parts Maroli opened his mouth wide and inhaled some oxygen deeply to ward off boredom and inertia. Seeing the inert act, Jimmy exhaled some unknown gas that looked noble enough.

A Winchester Model 1894 fired on the screen. Jose K P was the first to fall While he fell towards the left, Jackson fell to the right An M1 Garand ripped through the crowd and G Murali fell backwards. A B 29 bomber dropped a series of SC 250 bombs and the large group of the pompous defense personnel, namely, Ullas, Ashokan and Sasi were brought to the ground.

“GGGRRRRR @%$*&# YUK!”

JagadishP looked back alarmingly. The sound emanated from where Krishnankutty sir sat It was just that his respiratory structures were in vibration mode and a sound was produced due to obstructed air movement during breathing as he slept. He wasn‟t alone as he had good company in the balcony. JagadishP let a huge sigh of relief that ended as yet another yawn on ground zero and he too fell to the ground In a matter of minutes, the ground staff had fallen, followed by the chair borne.

Moviehallwith Dhurrieliebackseatingsystem,Dolbysurroundsound systemandDeluxenaturalairconditioningsystem.Thefreshlypainted portionofphysicslabwallwouldactasVistaramaprojectionscreen.

As lights came back on, an eerie silence pervaded the air. The open air theatre resembled Dacca after it fell to Allied Forces on 16 December, the previous year The ground was strewn with bodies all around Some were breathing Some were snoring Some were wailing and whimpering in the pain caused by the war film. The sky was profane black. The wind whipped at their faces.

The prefects went around waking the film fans association members. Their monstrous feet stamped as they roared at the movie buffs. The sleepy film enthusiasts woke and looked at the sea of monsters that surrounded them “Fall in!”, one of the monsters screamed The war film aficionados surged ahead to fall in.

While marching to the mess with bulbous eyes that blazed magma red with zizz, JagadishP did a Stan Laurel. When others put their right foot forward, he put the left one When everyone’s right arm went up, his went down But unlike Laurel, who managed to pack up his troubles when situation demanded, JagadishP found that his troubles just got unpacked. The prefect asked him to meet him after dinner. And JagadishP knew what punishment awaited him.

That night, while kneeling down in the central path of the dormitory, JagadishP took a decision. He had had enough of war. If this stuff called war was so dull and unimaginative, there is no way he is going to endure another one in his life. He wasn’t going to the Army. Period. And more importantly, he didn’t want to be called a war veteran any time in his lifespan if this is what war is all about

Wars bore you to death.

Breezy recollections

P. U. Jose

A crisis in physics class

Vasudevan Sir, was a memorable character. If he ever taught you in the late 1970s, then this story might bring shades of recognition to at least some of you For some strange reason, the details stayed with me, and they involve a few students as well who were colorful characters themselves and probably still are.

Slightly dark and solidly built, Vasudevan Sir had a gait and stance that gave the impression he would remain upright even in a hurricane. That deep voice together with that steely narrowed gaze of his was enough to instill a certain amount of dread among his students and command respect. That was also enough to prevent even an accidental glance at his beautiful daughter Mini from all the adolescent boys who surrounded her. Whether he had a son or not, I don‟t remember.

In 9th standard, there was this topic about „the meter‟ in the physics class. To Vasudevan Sir, the correct definition of the length scale METER was paramount. For every batch, 9th standard physics lessons started with a standard question from him.

“Who can define Meter?” Vasudevan Sir was just getting started with his annual routine with the meter definition.

Every year he started the topic by throwing this question at every batch / class of 9th standard. And every year, invariably, he was the victor and he enjoyed watching the vanquished lot, desperately seeking the answer.

Before I go further, a word about Mathew P. Koshy of Prasad House who was a year senior to us but was repeating the year and therefore present in the class with me Koshy, though he repeated one year in school, later demonstrated the smarts to be more successful than most others.

Vasudevan Sir was just getting started with his annual routine with the meter definition.

Who can define Meter?‟ He asked.

Hands went up all around with answers.

„

100 centimeters...1000 millimeters... 39.3 inches etc.

„No, No, that‟s not it. Then what is a centimeter, or what is a millimeter?‟ He countered.

„Oh, I know it‟, someone stood up and uttered after a protracted silence..

„One thousandth of a kilometer.‟

No, you sit down‟; Vasudevan sir muttered with obvious frustration almost wanting to say, „sit down, you idiot‟.

It was then that Mathew P. Koshy sheepishly raised his hand to answer. Because he knew the answer: that the standard meter sitting at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris is what sir was after.

Vasudevan sir looked in the direction of the raised hand and froze

In a split second he recognized to his horror who it was and remembered the chap who was there in the same class last year, sitting in the front row, eagerly lapping up the all important but classified information. Sure the fellow knows the answer! Vasudevan sir realized that his reputation was at stake for the first time in his career as a physics teacher

„No, no, no, no. You sit down‟, he muttered.

„I know that you know the answer. Ha ha ha ... you cannot catch me like that.‟

Next moment he breezed out of the class under some pretext or the other, his ego almost intact.

The Archimedes principle

Iftherewas aPhysicsteacheranywhereintheworldwho was hell bent on showing his students how hedisproved the Archimedesprinciple before even explaining what the principlewasabout,itwashim

VasudevanSirspentthefirsttenminutesnarratinghowhe fought with others topush his controversialtheory across and eventually got to present it at some highly regarded symposiuminTrivandrumorsomeplacewherehegotrave reviews. Andthenheproceededtoexplainthetheorytoa class of students that couldroughly be divided into three categoriesasistypical. Theactiveparticipants,thepassive listenersandtheabsentminded. Thethirdgroupisusually a small crowd that doesn‟tpay any attention at all They simply floatinspace andaregenerallydreamers whoare physicallypresent andyet nowherethereandnoquestion will ever arise from this group. They usually take up positions away from sir‟s gaze I belonged to this third group and his demonstration session was the perfect settingformetowanderhitherandthither.

ButsomethingsIheardinthatclassstuckwithme forthe restofmy life. IstillrememberthatGreekguy Archimedes takinga bath wearing agoldringina pool, andthen the fellow jumping out of the pool naked….. and running out dancing… intheprocess,paintingthetownred. Thatwasit. Totallyrelaxed,Ithoroughlyenjoyedthatclass

Children of the shore

V. Jayakumar

Iamadrop, adropofoceanoflove, andyoudiffernot, buttheysay,7.5billiondrops.

Oncewewereatashore, lashedandplayedourteens wecallitSSKZM, buttidesoftimedriftedusapart.

Theoceanremainedsame thenandnowandever, butourthoughtschanged andintheflowvisionsenriched.

Iseemybrethren,greatones, andbroughtglorytothismother andbecameproudchildrenofSSKZM buthavewethoughtthatwewereone?

Inthetransientflowoflife lessonslearnedfromfollies, withthegraceofmymasters thatwearepartoftheocean.

Bornwithbrilliantpotential, wheretheuniverseglitteredineach, andIstandingratitudetoyouall forthelightyousharedforme.

Everydaybreaksajoyousflint asshewitnessesourlaughterandjoy buoyantmother‟sthoughtofherchildren oneday,alltheirdifferencesdissolve.

Theoceanremainedthesame, andherchildren‟sfootprintstooremained butherheartwillrejoicemore whentheyperceiveandchant „WeareOne.‟

tracing present day life of buddies

Reacquaint

Memories…

We remember you…

Donotstandbymygrave,andweep. Iamnotthere,Idonotsleep

Iamthethousandwindsthatblow

Iamthediamondglintsinsnow Iamthesunlightonripenedgrain, Iamthegentle,autumnrain. Asyouawakewithmorning’shush, Iamtheswift,upflingingrush Ofquietbirdsincirclingflight, Iamthedaytranscendingnight.

Donotstandbymygrave,andcry Iamnotthere,Ididnotdie.

The comfort of having a friend may be taken away… but not that of having had one!

Jayashankar

Tonichan

Kuruvilla Sekharajan GafoorJayakumar

E J Mathews

Shaji Abraham

C.P. Unnikrishnan951

Unnikrishnan was born in a small village in Kozhikode district called Iruvallur. He completed his primary education in Iruvallur government UP school before joining SSKZM.

He stood first in the state in the entrance examination to SSKZM. As a Sub Junior, he was part of Tagore house and was a member of the house football team. Later on in Prasad house, he represented the house in volleyball, football and cricket. He captained the Prasad House volley ball team, was awarded School Blues in volleyball, football and hockey, and was adjudged the best footballer for the year 1979 80.

Graduated in chemical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology and joined Indian Oil in 1986. Superannuated in July 2022 after more than 36 years of service.

His wife Radha is a medical doctor specialized in diabetology and is running a diabetology clinic in Ernakulam. Their only son Aditya has completed his Masters in Development Studies from IIT Chennai and is working as a senior research associate with the Centre for Policy Research at New Delhi.

C.P.Unnikrishnanwas adjudgedthebest footballeroftheschool fortheyear1979 80.

R. Jayashankar

Jayashankar was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior and in Shivaji house thereafter. He was never an outdoor guy but spend most of his time reading, painting and in academics. He went on to win the Krishna Kumar trophy for topping in the AISSE in school in 1979.

He was a poet and a painter who contributed to school magazine every year. After the school he did his PhD in plant biotechnology and worked in Horticulture Development Corporation in Thiruvananthapuram.

He passed away on October 10, 2010 after a prolonged illness of Hepatitis that he contracted years before while he was in Moscow.

SoulSearchisacollectionofpoems

pennedbyJayashankar,publishedin 2010.Thebookisavailableon Amazon.

Jayashankar is survived by his wife, Manjula Pulpet who is an Oracle Certified Database Administrator at UST in Thiruvananthapuram and his daughter, Malavika J. Warier, MBBS, currently preparing for post-graduation in Medicine.

His love of life certainly didn‟t come to an end with his death as his loved ones will continue to honour his legacy by living their lives to the fullest. You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Jayashankar.

Rajeev Maroli joined the school from Thalassery.

He was in Veluthampi House as a subjunior and subsequently in Ashoka House. He was an active student who would be seen everywhere, be it the play grounds, auditorium, the academic wing or the School estate. He was good at all games and academics. He is a fearlessly outspoken person on matters that he found correct and faced it‟s repercussions periodically.

He was selected to the National Defence Academy in his first attempt and therefore passed out of the school after completing 11th standard in 1979 to join the NDA. He was awarded book prizes for standing overall first in two subjects prior to passing out of NDA.

He served in the Indian Navy as a Submariner.

Rajeev Maroli

He was later posted to the Defence Research and Development Organization for the Nuclear Submarine Project. He was awarded the “DRDO performance excellence award“ by the Defence Minister in 2007.

His wife Seema is a graduate of Zoology and a post graduate in Anthropology. Being a B.Ed teacher, she worked in Navy Schools.

Rajeev and Seema have two sons. Sachin, the elder, did B.Tech in EEE and is working with Amazon in Banglore. Saurav, the younger, is a student of BBA at MSR University,Banglore.

Commander Rajeev Maroli retired from service in 2019 and at present stays at South Kadavanthra, Kochi.

Cdr.RajeevMarolitookpartin

Benny Paul was born in Edappally in Ernakulam. He did his early schooling in Ernakulam before joining SSKZM.

As a sub junior he was in Tagore house. A very affable and amicable chap, Benny has lot of friends and well wishers in the batch.

In later years he was in Prasad juniors and seniors. During his school days he wasn‟t very much into sports as his interests were more into reading, music, movies and other cultural activities.

For him senior classes were fun and probably the best time of his stay in school and feels the scchool has contributed immensely to his personality development.

Benny Paul C.

After leaving Sainik School

Benny joined 62 NDA but did not complete the course.

In later years he started an interior decorator‟s firm in Kochi for a few years. At present Benny Paul is heading an Independent Church in Ernakulam.

He is married to Suma who is a home maker. They have two sons. Elder one is Adeep and the younger one, Adil.

Benny Paul and Suma are settled in Edappalli in Kochi.

BennyPaulisatpresent headinganIndependent ChurchinErnakulam

.

Sashi was born in Kodumunda, Pattambi. His father was in the Air Force and spent the next 10 years living in different cities including Coimbatore, New Delhi and Ambala. In 1972, he was selected to SSKZM and Military School, Karnataka. He opted for SSKZM.

He was in Veluthampi house in sub juniors and subsequently in Ashoka. His passion was into everything except academics. He was involved in volleyball, basketball, athletics, theatre, photography and a lot of other things.

In 11th standard, he qualified for NDA, topping the school and the state, and joined the 62nd NDA course. Unfortunately, in his 3rd term, he had an accident during gymnastics which led to partial paralysis of his arms and over 24 months of hospitalization and treatment. He was medically boarded out of NDA. The next 3 years was the most traumatic period of his life.

P. Sashidharan

Sashi,whilein10th standard,represented SSKZMandin11th , representedKerala (NCC)attheNational Republicdayparadein NewDelhi.

Sashi started working as a freelancer in Tata Economic Consultancy services and then moved to Chennai as head of Field operations of MODE, a national market research firm in 1987. He left MODE in 1990 to set up one of India's first digital property data provider. He also published the official diary for the GOVT celebrating 50 years of independence in 1997.

In 1986, he met Leena and married her. She remains his soulmate and shoulder to fall on. In 2006 he lost his son, only child, who was doing engineering in Bangalore, in a road accident.

In 1999, he joined Anchor Electricals., then India‟s largest electrical accessories manufacturer. He was elevated to the position of president in 2001 and was instrumental in selling the company to Panasonic. Handled the FMCG division of Anchor till he resigned in 2014 as CEO.

957 A. V. Suresh Kumar

A V Suresh Kumar hails from Palkulangara in Thiruvananthapuram. He finished 4th grade from LP School, Palkulangara before joining SSKZM. Recognising his talent in Malayalam calligraphy, his class teacher encouraged him to have the first ever kaiyezhuthu maasika titled “Ponpulari” at school.

A gaze at the notification for admission to SSKZM by his LP class teacher, a visionary by himself, persuaded his parents to have their son take up the new curriculum which opened a new horizon to his life.

Suresh was in Tagore and Shivaji houses from class 6 onwards. He took part in extracurricular activities, and won first prize in English calligraphy and second in painting. He also secured first in Hindi and second in Malayalam at the junior level light music competitions. Suresh got placed in top positions in academics till the 10th standard, before he opted out from school in 1978.

Suresh completed B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering Trivandrum and joined Cochin Shipyard Limited, as a Management Trainee in 1986.

A.V.Sureshwasassociatedwiththe buildingofIndia‟smostprestigiousaircraft carrier,INSVikrant,makingitthemost remarkablemomentofhisprofessional career.

He started his career on a special note serving as Technical Personal Assistant to then CMD and held various managerial positions including Gen. Manager (ship building). Suresh also underwent training in Japan under JICA scheme, and visited US, Norway, Saudi Arabia and South Korea for official engagements.

As a ship builder, he was in close association in the construction and first ever technical float out of INS Vikrant which got commissioned recently for Indian Navy. Finally serving as Gen. Manager (Trg), he retied on 31st July 2022 after contributing 36 years of valuable service to CSL. However, he got reappointed as Principal Officer (ASAP), CSL to take forward the CSL initiative with ASAP, Govt of Kerala.

Suresh‟s wife Bindu V S, is a BSc, B Ed graduate who chose to remain a home maker for supporting the family. His only daughter Malavika Suresh holds a B Tech degree in Computer Science and is employed with Cognizant Technology Solutions as a Software Engineer. She is married to Vijayabhaskar, an MCA graduate who works with Xerox Technology Services as Senior Software Engineer.

Manranjith was born in Murugali, an estate in a border town in what is present day Wayanad. He studied in Vijaya Matha Convent in Chittur, Palakkad and continued his pre-school studies in the Sainik School

Nursery School before joining SSKZM in the fifth standard as a day scholar.

Ranjith was in Veluthampi house as a sub-junior. Being a day-scholar he had a relatively ordinary schooling. In later years he was a member of Prasad house. He was part of the house team that participated and won prizes in the Inter House Quiz competitions.

After schooling Ranjith completed his graduation in history and a diploma in journalism before starting his professional career as a business journalist. Over the years he has worked with several leading Indian newspapers in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai and with leading international news wires like Reuters.

U. Manranjith

In 2008, Ranjith took up a job with China Daily in Beijing as Senior Editor and continued till 2015, before joining South China Morning Post as a Production Editor in Hong Kong. He returned to Beijing to China

Daily in 2017 as Deputy Business Editor and moved to China General Television Network in 2021 as Senior Business Editor, where he is presently working.

His wife Anita is a homemaker and lives in Whitefield, Bangalore. His son Vishal has just completed his post graduation from IISER in Pune, while daughter Vibha is doing her Montessori teacher‟s training course in Bangalore.

ManranjithisaSeniorBusinessEditorwithChina GeneralTelevisionNetwork,

Rajeev was born in Sreenarayanapuram, a remote village near Varkala in the northern end of Trivandrum Dist. He studied in Njekkad LP School near his house before he joined SSKZM.

Rajeev was in Tagore house as a sub junior. Sri Krishnankutty Nair Sir, a friend of his father was the teacher in charge of that house then.

Although he was very homesick and wanted to get back home, he actively participated in the morning PT, his studies and in the evening games. The cultural pragrammes staged in the school auditorium, and the evening film shows, especially the Laurel and Hardy comedy film series gave him the much required relief from homesickness in those days.

Rajeevisgiftedwithaunique andelegant handwriting.He enjoyeddraftingneatlywritten documentswhileinservice.

K. Rajeev

In later years he was in Nehru house.

He joined India Post in 1982 while he was doing his graduation in commerce at SN College Varkala. After completing 40 years of service he has retired from Department of Posts on 31/07/2022 while working as Postmaster at Varkala Post Office.

His wife Lathikadevi is a retired High School Teacher. Sons Arjun and Aravind after completing thier B Tech, are working as Software Engineers at Technopark in Kazhakootam. Elder son Arjun is married to Reshmi from the same profession and they have a kid Niyan.

960 G. Murali

50 years have gone by since Murali first stepped into the august and pristine portals of his Almamater. He is proud to be a, Kazak‟.

Back in early „70s, he hailed from a typical/remote Kerala village in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam district. It remains inconceivable till today to both his elder brother Capt G Mohan (674) and him, as to how their father came to hear about, „Sainik School‟ during those ancient days. To his credit, he persevered and put both his children to the School. And like they say, the rest is history.

Murali vividly remembers, he was whole of 15 kgs when he joined school. And just to put things in perspective, his favorite Scooby, a Labrador exceeded that weight in six months!

He was good in academics to begin with. His interest, however, petered out and he lost some focus as years went by. So, joining the NDA was a Godsend opportunity for him and the only one at that.

He was particularly interested in Cricket in all its glorious formats including book, socks ball and punnacka stuff. But couldn‟t excel in any of these due to stiff competition. To his credit, he also took part in some extra curricular activities without much success. Like the old adage goes, participation is the key!

Muraliisaself confessedmoviebuff andadiehardPrem Nazirfananddoesnot remembermissingout onasinglemovieof theevergreensuper star.

After completing my mandatory military training at the NDA and the IMA, he was commissioned to the Regt of Artillery. He had the honour of commanding an Artillery Regt both at the Line of Control (J&K) and at the deserts of Rajasthan.

As an young Captain, he was also instrumental in creating the world‟s highest Artillery Gun Position at over 15,000 feet at Siachen Glacier. He was awarded the coveted Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card too, for distinguished service as Director Recruiting (Maharashtra and Goa) during 2010-12.

He is a trained and qualified assessor (Interviewing Officer) and was posted as Deputy President of a Services Selection Centre. He has conducted over 2000 live interviews of candidates at the SSB.

His wife Rani is a post-graduate in commerce and she is a homemaker. She has been with him through thick and thin. They have been married for over 31 years now and presently reside at Kovai.

Their only child (son) Arun Murali is a Doctorate (PhD) in Metallurgy and Material Sciences from University of Utah. He is currently working as a Senior Process Engineer at ASM International at Phoenix (Arizona). He is indeed a blessing.

Sabu was born in Kodencherry, Calicut and studied in St Georges High School

Velamcode up to grade five. He joined Sainik School in 1972. He was in Tagore house and later moved into Prasad house.

He joined NDA in July 1979 and graduated as a Naval Cadet in 1982. Sabu commenced his Naval career as a cadet on board INS Mysore in Jul 1982. He opted for the Marine Engineering Branch of the Navy and graduated from Naval College of Engineering, Lonavala, Pune with a BTech degree in 1985.

During his Naval career, Sabu held key Engineer Officer appointments in Warships Taragiri, Trishul, Prabal and Khukri. Additionally, he was an Instructor in Naval College of Engineering and held key appointments in Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. In his Naval career, Sabu was thrice Commended by the Flag Officer Commanding in Chiefs for excellence in performance of his duty.

Sabu exceled in Academics too. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 1992 with a MTech degree in Industrial Engineering and Computer Systems.

Sabu N. John

Sabu is married to Jessy Paul who is an MSc in Botany, and have two children, Davis John and Paul John. Jessy holds a degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology, University of Arkansas and is pursuing a career in Nuclear Medicine.

Sabu left Indian Navy and commenced on a Software career with a Silicon Valley Start Up in 2000. He has been working in the Software field ever since in many roles.

He is currently working as a Thought Leader and Enterprise Architect in the Enterprise Architecture Practice of Blue Shield of California in San Francisco, CA. He is employed in the Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Platform Services of the Software company, Perficient (PRFT).

Sabu loves Nature and Wildlife and is an avid Bird watcher and supports conservation efforts. He was part of multiple Bird census efforts by Bombay Natural History Society. He pursues mountain biking in his spare time.SabuN.John wasthemathematicstopperin KeralastatefortheCBSE10thstandardexamin

1978.Hewas alsothetopperinNavalCollegeof Engineering forBTechand securedthirdrank amongthegraduatingbatchof MTechatIIT, Kharagpur.

Ashokan was born in Muzhapillangad in Kannur district. He studied in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Air Force schools all various places before he joined SSKZM.

Ashokan was in Veluthampy house as a sub junior and Shivaji house thereafter. He was the topper in academics for the entire batch (all three divisions) continuously from 5th to 8th standard but subsequently dropped down but remained within the first three positions.

He represented Shivaji house, both juniors and seniors in football, hockey and cricket and the school team in hockey. He participated in English debates and declamation. He passed out as the best all round cadet and won the cock house trophy as the house captain.

P. Ashokan

After school Ashokan joined 64th course of NDA and got commissioned into the Navy in July 1984. He joined the submarine arm and commanded three submarines and was the commissioning captain of nuclear submarine, INS Chakra which we leased from Russia. He rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and retired in October 2020.

His wife Priya is a home maker. His son Aniruddh is a dentist presently doing his PG in London.

Ashokan is presently retired and spends his time doing consultancy work, writing articles and giving lectures.

He is settled in Silver Sand Island Vyttila

RearAdmiralAshokan wasthe commissioning captainofnuclear submarineINS ChakrathatIndia leasedfromRussia.

963

Venugopal was in Tagore house as a sub junior and represented the house in football, cricket, tennicoit and athletics in 5th standard.

During the entire stint from 6th to 12th he was in Shivaji House. He represented the school in Basketball, Football, Athletics and Cricket. He was the best athlete during inter Sainik School athletic Championships in 1979 held at Sainik school Bijapur. He was the best all round sportsman of Sainik School for the 1979 80. He represented Kerala state school in basketball in national championships.

Venugopal won gold medal in Triple jump in Kerala State Schools athletics championships in 1979. His record in triple jump of 13.42 m in SSKZM is yet to be broken.

He joined NDA in 1980 and commissioned in Indian Navy. He captained National Defence Academy basketball team and was awarded Blazer for his performance. He has also represented Indian Navy in Basketball. He is an Anti-Submarine Specialist and a Naval Aviator with more than4000 hours of flying experience. He has actively participated in number of operations including Operation Tasha in Sri Lanka, Operation Vijay in Indo Pak Border, Operation Parakram in Indo Pak border and Tsunami rescue and relief Operations at Andamans.

A. Venugopal

During his career in Indian Navy Venugopal commanded 3 Warships, one Air Squadron and an Air Base. While he was in Command of warship INS Gharial, first ever delivery on board a warship by an evacuee was safely conducted at sea during rescue operations.

He was the first Indian Military Officer selected to undergo prestigious National Defence College at Tel Aviv, Israel for 1 ½ years. He has held important appointments as Chief Staff Officer of Naval Aviation, Naval Officer in Charge of Karnataka and Director of Centre for Leadership and Ethics, where all Naval officers are trained on leadership. His qualification includes MPhil, MSc and MA. He retired from Indian Navy in the rank of Commodore.

His wife, Usha was an educationalist and has been a teacher online tutor and smart learning expert. Presently she is a home maker. Daughter Ardra is alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and University of Michigan and presently working as a consultant with a company. Son Lt Cdr Aravind is Naval Aviator flying Boeing P8I aircraft.

CmdreVenugopal wasawardedNau SenaMedalfor Gallantryand VishistSeva Medalfor distinguished service by Presidentof India.

Murali hails from Payyanalloor near Nooranad in Alappuzha District, He studied in Government High School, Payyanalloor before he joined Sainik School. He was in Veluthampi house in the sub junior level.

An average student, he was also good at athletics. His journey in athletics began when he finished second in high jump in the sub junior level. Over the years this story continued at the junior and senior levels.

On the way Murali picked up the spear and learned how to throw it far enough which fetched him a gold medal and a place in the school athletic team. This team visited SS Bijapur for the first Zonal level Inter Sainik School Athletic meet. He was placed third in the javelin throw event, unable to perform to his own levels in the changed atmosphere. He also represented the school in football. Murali was in Prasad house and was prefect of Prasad seniors.

P. Muraleedharan

He joined St Berchman's College for graduation and the University College for Post Graduation. After completing his PG in English Language and Literature with a specialisation in Old English, he joined Life Insurance Corporation of India as an Assistant Administrative Officer. He later went on to hold many major positions in the Corporation including that of its Executive Director in charge of the entire marketing activities of the Corporation.

Murali is now retired and lives in Kochi with his wife Supriya, who is a home maker around whom the whole family evolved. Both his children are married and settled elsewhere. His son Dr Sreedutt , after completing his MS and MRCS, is a Surgeon at the New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, UK. His daughter Revathi, after having completed her BBA, LLB and LLM, winning silver medal from the University, is a legal consultant. She is married to Captain Sridhar Jayasankar of the JAG cadre.

MuraliwasdeputedasChief ExecutiveOfficerofLICNepal Limited,aJointVentureofLIC, aperiodwhichheconsiders thegoldenperiodofhis career.

Premanandan hails from Punnad near Iritty in Kannur District. He studied in Punnad L P School before he joined Sainik School. He was in Veluthampi house in the Sub Junior level and in Shivaji house in Junior and Senior levels.

He was good in Mathematics and overall he was an average student in academics. He represented house teams in football and volleyball in senior level. He was member of the School Football Team which was District Champions. He graduated in Mathematics from Nirmalagiri College, Kuthuparamba, Kannur.

Premanandan joined State Bank of India in 1984 after graduation and worked for 38 years at various places in India.

G. Premanandan

He got various assignments while in SBI like Marketing, IT, Branch Management, Regional Manager, Credit Management, Forex etc before retiring as AGM from International Service Branch, Ernakulam.

Premanandan retired in 2022. After retirement he is settled at Mundayad near Kannur City. His wife Lesithadevi too retired as Head Mistress from Varam U P School, Kannur. His elder son Nikhil, after completing BTech from NIT, Kozhikode and MBA from Duke University, Durham, USA is working as a Project Manager in Clover Network, San Francisco, USA. His younger Son Karthik, after completing BTech from MIT, Manipal is working as Data Scientist in Mu Sigma, Bangalore.

Giftedwithagoodhandwriting,Premanandanhad wonprizesforcalligraphycompetitionsinall languages whileinschoolasasubjuniorandjunior student.

R. Sreesankar

Sreesankar was born in Chittur in Palakkad district. He studied at Brahmanandodayam school in Kalady in Ernakulam district before he joined SSKZM.

Sreesankar was in Tagore house as a sub junior. He was part of the Tagore house football and cricket teams.

He was in Shivaji house in his junior and senior years. Left SSKZM after 9th standard to pursue his studies elsewhere.

Sreesankar later did BSc in Physics from University of Calicut. He has spend over 39 years in Corporate life, initially as a commercial banker for eight years and later as investment /capital market professional.

Sreesankar had stints as the Head of South Asian investments at Baring Asset Management in London, CEO of SSKI Securities in India, Chief Investment Officer of DSP Merril Lynch Investment managers in India, Head of Institutional Equities at Tata Securities , Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd and currently is a Senior Advisor ECM with Incred Capital.

His wife Sangeetha heads the early years programme in JBCN International school in Mumbai and daughter Shreya is a corporate lawyer with Bharucha & Partners in Mumbai.

Sreesankarisaninvestment /capitalmarket professionaland oneofthegotomarketexperts forthemedia.

For Ullas, the first year of school was all a daze.. The only good part was that studies were easy since he had already done 5th grade. He was in Veluthampi house and was part of Veluthambi football team that won the sub junior football trophy.

He was in Ashoka house from 6th standard onwards. Got introduced to western music through the legendary Beatles songs played in the mess. Won a surprise medal in javelin throw and got caught for plucking tapioca.

For him senior classes were fun and probably the best time of his stay in school. There was a very strong sense of camaraderie among all and he was no longer afraid of the prefects and teachers. Toilet humor were his favorites and specialty. Attempted a few bunking escapades out of school to watch movies too. In a nutshell, it wasn‟t his best phase for academics as seriousness was missing those days.

Ullas

He won a couple of prizes for singing and was part of the school senior football team. He can't forget the day when he stole the shared volleyball trophy from under the nose of Shivaji house squad standing in attention at the medal ceremony on Sports day. Ullas still lets out a chuckle thinking of his first attempt at dacoity.

Did a degree in engineering. Was fortunate to be in the tech industry and rode the tech wave of the 90s. Went to the USA in pursuit of money. Realized later that money can't buy happiness. Came back to India in pursuit of spirituality. He is currently retired and is following his spiritual calling.

His wife Jayathi is a homemaker and daughter Shruti is a PhD in Cognitive Science, presently working at Phillips Eindhoven.

UllaswonthefirstprizeinHindi singingcompetitionforhissong"Yeh jomohabbathai….yehunkahai kaam!“.

969 Tonichan Jose

Tonichan was from Kaduthuruthi in Kottayam district.

He was in Tagore house as a sub junior. He was good at sports and was part of Tagore house football team.

In later years he was part of Shivaji Junior house football and athletics teams as well. He was a very good football player as a defender and was a specialist in corner kicks.

He left school in 1975 after completing 7th standard.

Nothing much is known about him after he left school. He did BSc from a local college in Kaduthuruthi but did not complete the course due to personal reasons. He later started his own business as a supplier of cattle feed in the local market.

Tonichan passed away on 5 October 2017 in a rail accident involving him.

Tonichan was unmarried and is survived by his father, Mr Jose, a retired government servant and his siblings.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Tonichan.

970 Jackson Mathew

Jackson is from a village in Kannur district. He was in Veluthampi house while in the sub juniors. As he was from a remote village background, he was initially scared of the residential school life and took some time to know the ropes in the first year in school.

Jackson remembers while in 5th standard, out of his keenness, he opted for Sanskrit instead of Malayalam as the third language. Learning Sanskrit proved to be a herculean task for him and quit Sanskrit after attending a few classes. He says in his inimitable style that he got clean bowled by Takale Sir and went back to the ever inviting Malayalam classes of CKC sir.

While in Ashoka Junior house, he slowly began taking interest in outdoor games. This interest and skill he developed in games stood him in good stead in his career in the Army.

In Ashoka senior house, he developed a great inclination towards watching movies and has remained a movie aficionado all through his life. After school Jackson went to NDA as an Army Cadet and got commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in the Indian Army.

Being in the engineering stream, he got opportunity to do his B-Tech and M Tech in Mechanical Engineering.

Jackson is married to Mini, teacher and they have one son, Felix, who is an artist by profession.

In 2017, he retired as a Colonel from the Indian Army.

OflateJacksonisinto spiritualityanditisspiritual seekingthatissthemainstayof hislifethesedays.

Sabu Kurian was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior. An athlete of repute from the very early age, he was part of Veluthampi house athletics and football teams.

In later years he was part of Shivaji Junior house football and athletics teams as well.

At the senior level he was member of athletics, football, cricket and hockey teams. Sabu Kurian represented school football and athletic teams. He represented Trivandrum district in state school athletic meets consecutively for three years.

He was part of the team that won bronze medal in 4x400 meter relay at state meet held in Trivandrum. He was also part of the school athletic team that took part in south zone inter Sainik School Athletic meet held at Bijapur.

Sabu Kurian

SabuKurianwas partofthe4x400 meterrelayteam thatwonbronzeat stateathleticmeet. and also represented Thiruvananthapura mdistrictinathletics forthree consecutiveyears.

Sabu later did his post graduation and turned to journalism. He served in Deepika daily for almost two decades. He also worked as news editor in their Thrissur and Kottayam units.

He migrated to US in 2014. He is presently settled at 3662 Aldridge drive, Missouri city, Houston, Texas.

He is married to Grace who is a retired Executive Engineer from the irrigation department of Kerala. Has two children, Nikhil who is an engineer at Halliburton, Houston and Anna who is a medical student at Texas.

Sreekumar Kartha was born in Ernakulam and did his early schooling at Our Lady‟s Convent at Thoppumpady in Cochin upto the 4th Standard, after which he joined SSKZM in 1972.

As a sub junior he was in Veluthampi house. He was part of the house football and cricket teams and in athletics he was the sub junior champion.

After that, he was in Nehru house. He took part in most of the sports activities in the junior house and later in the senior house and was in the house teams for basketball, cricket, hockey, football and athletics. He got the silver medal in 100 m hurdles at the State Level in All Kerala State Schools athletic meet in 1979.

In 1977 he represented the Kerala NCC contingent for the Republic Day Parade camp in New Delhi.

Sreekumar M. Kartha

A Master Mariner in the Merchant Marine, he was sailing with companies such as Farsund Shipping Norway, Tanker Pacific Singapore and presently with Bahri Ship Management Dubai as Captain on Large Oil Tankers.

His wife Sonia is a home maker, their son Nikhil is a Chief officer in the Merchant Marine and married to Gitanjali, a computer Science Engineer working in Visual Effects, and their daughter Neha is a Computer Science Engineer with a Masters in Management, now working as a Data Consultant with a firm in London.

Sreekumar Kartha lives in Kochi

SreekumarKartharepresented KeralaNCCcontingentforthe RepublicDayParadecampin NewDelhiin1977.

Nirmal Kumar was born in Kozhikode. His early schoolings were in LP school at Tirur and St, Teresa‟s Convent at Ernakulam upto the 4th standard, before he joined SSKZM in 1972.

As a sub junior he was in Tagore house. A good singer, he participated in cultural activities organized in the dormitory and entertained his friends.

After that, moving to Nehru house, he took part in athletics, mostly in shot put and discuss throw events at both junior and senior levels. He was also member of school basketball team.

During school years he took active part in Western Music Club. He is also one of the popular Malayalam singers of the batch.

O. M. Nirmal Kumar

After completing 12th, Nirmal Kumar joined NDA in the 64th Course in 1980 and was commissioned in 1984 into the fighter stream of the IAF. He flew the MiG 21 Biz during most of his career. Nirmal also was a Qualified Flying Instructor and is a graduate from Defence Services Staff College.

Nirmal took premature retirement from IAF as Group Captain in 2008. Since then, he is employed as a commercial pilot flying ATR -72 500 and Airbus A320.

Nirmal is married to Seema, a Marketing consultant. They have one son, Vishakh, who is also a commercial pilot, flying Airbus A320.

Nirmal Kumar lives in New Delhi

WhileintheIAF, NirmalKumar commandeda prestigious fighter squadron,flying theBisonin Srinagar.

976 Jimmy M. Thevara

Jimmy is from Villoonni, Kottayam, the second person from the village to join SSKZM. He still belongs there!

From being a Veluthampian as a Sub-junior, he roamed free as a Shivajian in his Junior and Senior days. Nothing much is known about him except that a few suspects he could strum a few notes on a guitar, jive to alien dance forms with his two left feet and even damningly narrate English R&B numbers in Malayalam!

Of course, he could throw a mean punch or two in the squared circle. Some say his bark was worse than his biff!

A banker by profession, he worked in international financial institutions in India before taking up a job in the middle east.

Jimmy,though anartistby temperament, enjoyshisjobas abankerand is currentlyin Bahrainwithone ofthefinest digitalbanksin theMiddleEast.

Jimmy enjoys his job as a banker and is currently in Bahrain with one of the finest digital banks in MENA.

When banking doesn‟t take up his time, he pretends to read or listen to music. Not sure if he follows either.

His wife, Shirley, was the Director of Assurance practice at a Big Four. His son is a Robotics Engineer in a major IT company and his daughter is busy in her pursuit of an exciting career in drug design and development.

978 Joe Jose

Joe Jose was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior. He was part of Veluthampi house cricket and football teams.

In later years he was in Nehru house and played for his house in cricket, football and volleyball teams.

At the senior level he was member of athletics, football, cricket and volleyball teams of his house, that was Nehru Seniors.

He also played for the school football team.

After completing school Joe Jose decided to pursue law as his profession. After completing his education in law, he began practicing as an advocate in Thodupuzha and in various courts in other parts of Idukki district.

JoeJosehasthree grandchildren, Theresa,Merissa &Jayden.Noone elseinthebatch hasbeenso fortunateasto remainaproud grandfatherof threethusfar….

Joe Jose served as the Idukki district cooperative bank director for over ten years. He also served as the president of the Lions Club of Thdodupuzha in between.

Joe Jose and family migrated to the US in 2018 and he is currently working as a property manager for Realcan Investments..

He is married to Jancy who runs a small business by name Jade sarees & salwar collections

They are blessed with three children, Divya, Diya & Jose. His eldest daughter Divya is married to Shino, who is the Managing director of Tripco.

Hynus was born in a small village by name Kongorpilly in Ernakulam district. He studied in the local school before he joined Sainik School in 5th standard.

He was in Tagore house as a sub junior. In later years he was in Ashoka house . During his school days he wasn‟t very much into sports as his interests were more into reading, music, movies and other cultural activities.

For him senior classes were fun and probably the best time of his stay in school. During his senior school he has attempted a few bunking escapades out of school to watch movies at the local theatres like most of his friends. It was probably during this phase that he developed a strong liking for movies and listening to film music. He is a good singer too and entertains his friends with his singing faculty.

N. M. Hynus

After school Hynus did his BTech in Civil Engineering from Government Engineering College, Thrissur.

He migrated to Dubai in 1989 and has 33 years of work experience in estimation and tendering in the field of civil construction.

Hynus is married to Shani who is working as an HR Manager in Dubai.

He has two children. His son Zoheb is a software engineer working in Amazon, in the US and daughter Zamreen is a Marketing professional working in UK.

Hynus is currently settled at Kakkanad in Kochi.

Hynus hasbeen working for33 yearsin Dubai,the cityto whichhe migrated in1989.

980 C. G. Krishnakumar

Krishnakumar was born in Chelakkara, then a small village in Thrissur district. He studied in Chelakkara government school before he joined SSKZM.

Krishnakumar, CGK, as he is fondly called by his friends, was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior. He was part of Veluthampi house football team. He was a good runner of short distances like the 50 and 100 metres from the early days of school.

In addition, he stood first in C division in the very first examination in 5th standard.

In later years he was in Ashoka house . He was part of basketball as well as athletic teams. While in seniors he represented school in basketball and athletics teams. During this period he also won several medals in athletics

Krishnakumar stood first in academics in 12th standard. After school he did B.Com from Calicut University and passed out with first rank in the University for the year 1982-83.

Joined Canara Bank thereafter and retired in 2022 after almost four decades of service in the banking sector.

He is married to Sethulakshmi, a home maker. They have a daughter, Gayathri who has decided to follow her father‟s footsteps and is currently working in banking sector.

Krishnakumarheldfirstrankin12th inschoolandlatersecuredfirst rankinBcominCalicutUniversity.

981 K. Parameswaran Unni

Parameswaran Unni hails from Alappuzha, in Ernakulam district. He had his early schooling in SDV JB School, an aided primary school in Alappuzha before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Tagore house while in sub juniors followed by Prasad house. During his school days he wasn‟t very much into sports as his interests were more into academics and and cultural activities.

For him senior classes were fun and probably the best time of his stay in school. A very affable person, he made many friends in the batch and other batches.

After leaving Sainik School, he took Commerce for degree and graduated from SD College, Alappuzha.

Whenhe retiresin April 2023, Parameswara nUnniwould have completed fortyyearsof service in StateBankof India.

Parameswaran Unni joined State Bank of India as a clerk even before he completed his degree course.

He is still working in State Bank of India. At present he is an Assistant General Manager. Posted at the local Head Office at Thiruvananthapuram. He will retire in April 2023 after more than 40 years of service in the bank.

He is married to Girija, who also works in State Bank of India. They have two Children. Son, Adithya, is working as a consultant engineer in KPMG and daughter, Annapurna is doing her post graduation in Audiology at Bangalore.

Kuruvilla was born in Ittiyappara in Ranni. He was the youngest of eight siblings and was pampered to a great measure at home by his sisters before he joined Sainik School.

He narrated a lot of stories from his home and hometown and his friends eagerly listened to him like younger brothers would, to a chechi. He had a solution for every problem of his friends even at that age. He was a favourite of his friends as well as his teachers.

He was in Veluthampi house in sub juniors. He was not into sports and games but had above average talents in dance, music and other cultural activities.

K. K. Kuruvilla

In later years he was in Ashoka house and took lot of initiatives in organizing cultural programmes.

While in senior house he was house captain of Tagore house at first and later became school adjutant.

After school, did his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering Trivandrum and joined VSSC. Worked as a scientist engineer there until his sudden demise in an accident on 15 June 2000.

Kuruvilla is survived by his wife, Manju who is a home maker. He has two daughters, Sarah and Maria, who is a software engineer with SAP India.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Kuruvilla.

Kuruvillalistenedtohisfriends patientlyandalwayshadasolution tooffer foreveryproblemofhis friends.

983 T. A. Joseph

Joseph T. A. hails from Kothamangalam, in Ernakulam district. He had his early schooling in local Government LP School before joining Sainik School.

He was in Tagore house while in sub-juniors followed by Prasad house. He had a good aptitude for many a sporting activity and represented Prasad seniors in football, hockey and boxing. He bagged the runner up position in feather weight category in the inter house boxing competition in 1980.

He did BSc Physics in MA College in Kothamangalam . He was the college topper for BSc Physics in 1983. Joseph joined University of Kerala, Kariyavattom in 1983 for MSc Physics in the Department of Physics, but could complete only 2 semesters as he joined Federal bank, the next year.

Joseph served in various branches of Federal Bank before he was promoted to officer cadre in 2002. Presently he is working as Manager of Thelliyor branch, in Pathanamthitta district. He will retire in February 2023 from services of the bank at the age of 60.

Joseph is married to Lucy, a home maker. They have two children. Elder son, Ajil Joseph is a post graduate in science from Delhi and an IT professional currently working in Lucknow. Their daughter, Aneeta Joseph is presently doing her BSc degree in St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

T.A.Josephwasrunnerupin feather weightcategory in the interhouseboxingcompetition.

Robin was born in Bangalore. Later as his family shifted to Neyyattinkara, he studied in St. Theresa‟s Convent, Neyyattinkara before he joined SSKZM.

Robin was in Tagore house as a sub junior. Later he was in Ashoka house. He represented the house in various sports, games and extracurricular activities.

He represented the school in football, basketball & boxing and captained junior football team in 1979 80. He was awarded school “Blue” for boxing in 1979 80. He was the school cycling champion for two consecutive years (1978-79 & 1979-80). He won Bronze medal in Obstacle race.

He is an Electrical Engineer from CET, TVPM and holds a master‟s in Mechanical Engineering (Guided Missiles). He was commissioned in Indian Navy and retired as Commander.

CommanderRobinNetto‟s wifeSherlyhas102 publicationsin international/nationaljournals andseminarsandhas produced9PhDsunderher guidance.

Robin Netto

He is presently working as Professor, Bishop Jerome Engineering College, Kollam. His wife Dr. Sherly Williams is a renowned researcher in environmental biology & toxicology. She has 102 publications in international/national journals and seminars. She has produced 9 PhDs under her guidance, she has completed 6 Major/minor funded projects and she has authored 2 books. She is working as Professor in Environmental Sciences Department, University of Kerala.

Robin‟s daughter, Roshini is a scientist at BARC, Mumbai. His son-in-law, Midhun, is Sr.Engineer at RCF, Mumbai.

His son Leen is a scientist at VSSC, TVPM. His grandson Siyan is 3yrs old.

Jayakumar was born in Paravoor , Kollam . He did his early schooling in the LP School at Paravoor before he joined SSKZM .

A very quite boy in his initial years , Jay displayed great talent in hockey and in those days would leave anything for a game of hockey in the evening. He was a playing member of the School Hockey XI. Jay was very fond of stage performance s and always endeavoured to put across his best on stage. He was equally fond of Marxian & Leninist philosophies and would read up everything that came his way and could convince anyone on the subject .

He later did his undergraduate course from SN College, Kollam where he vigorously pursued his interest on stage and set up the first ever Western Dance Club at the College and staged many disco dance shows. He also started following Hindu philosophy in College .

V. Jayakumar

.

Soon after he finished his graduation he joined as a field journalist of a reputed Assam daily . Sometime later he was selected to join the KSEB as cashier and finally retired as Senior Office Superintendent at KSEB HQ.

Married to Jyothimole , he has two daughters , Kanupriya , holding a Masters in Pharmacology and working in Aster Pharmacy , Dubai ; while the younger Katharina , is a Bar at Law & now pursuing her Masters at Law.

Faith had different plans and we lost Jayakumar to cancer in mid 2020 during the initial bout of Covid sweeping the country.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Jay.

Krishna Kumar hails from Pulamanthole in Malappuram district. He had his early schooling at the local Government School before he joined Sanik School.

He was in Tagore house while in sub juniors followed by Nehru house. He was not much into outdoor games and sports but was an avid reader and had a flair for writing. He contributed a short story to the school magazine while in 7th standard, prompting Mr CKC, the Malayalam teacher to present him with a Doctor brand pen which was a prestigious possession for school children those days.

He left school early in 1975 and completed his 10th standard under Kerala State syllabus, SSLC and pre degree from SNGS, Pattambi.

M. P. Krishnakumar

Krishna Kumar later did his BSc Agriculture and MSc Agriculture from Agricultural University, Thrissur.

After post graduation, he joined Kerala agriculture department as Agricultural Officer in Malappuram and Palakkad districts. He rose up to the position of Deputy Director, Agriculture and retired in 2018.

He is married to Sreerekha, who is Msc in Mathematics and is presently working as Higher Grade Assistant in LIC. Their son Ranjit K. Kumar is working in Cognizant Technology Solutions, at Chennai. His wife Shilpa is at present, a home maker.

KrishnaKumarcontributedashortstoryto theschoolmagazinewhilein7thstandard, prompting CKCsirtopresenthimwitha Doctorpen.

988 P. Jagadish

Jagadish was born in Thuravoor, then a small village in Alappuzha district. He studied in Thuravoor West UP school before he joined SSKZM.

Jagadish was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior. He was part of Veluthampi house football team. The Tagore Veluthampi football matches had a rare charm associated with it as winner amongst them could not be decided even after a series of contests between the two teams. In the final match it was Jagadish who scored the decider goal for Veluthampi. He also came first in sub junior Hindi calligraphy competition.

Jagadish spends his time these days photographing distinctive landscapes and unusual birds. He also makes videos on Indian heritage and writes photo storiesandshortstories..

Ashoka seniors won football trophy in the year 1979 80. He was also part of school football team in the year 1979 80.

An MBA from Pune, Jagadish is now a retired IT professional and has worked in IT majors like Accenture, Tech Mahindra and Satyam Computers.

His wife Sridevi, a Hydraulics Engineer from REC Kozhikode and an ME from University of Pune, is a retired employee under ministry of water resources. His son Vivek is a music educator, performer and a session artist.

In later years he played for Ashoka house football team as member and then captained Ashoka house teams, both junior and senior.

989 Biju Paul

Biju Paul hails from Pala in Kottayam district. His early schooling was in the local school at his native village before he joined Sainik School.

Biju Paul was in Tagore house as a sub junior and in Shivaji house thereafter. He was a good sportsman and an enthusiastic performer on the playing grounds and got the opportunity to represent both junior and senior houses in football, hockey, volleyball and athletics. He was also member of the school hockey, volleyball, football and athletics team. During his senior years, he had the opportunity to represent Trivandrum district in athletics.

Biju Paul joined NDA after school and was commissioned in the Logistics branch of IAF. During his distinguished service career spanning 3 decades as a professional logistician, Biju Paul has held numerous key assignments at various locations in India.

He was Senior Logistics Officer of frontline fighter bases and Director, Procurement Directorate at Air Head Quarters, He has also commanded 31 movement control area and 26 ED, Bangalore.

He is also an alumni of National Defence College, Delhi. After completing 37 years of glorious service ,he retired as Air Vice Marshal on 31 May, 2021.

Biju Paul is presently settled in Thiruvananthapuram.

AirViceMarshalBijuPaulcommanded 31movementControl UnitasWing Commanderand 26EquipmentDepot asAirCommodore.

Jose KP, aka “Kappa” for his initials & love of tapioca, was born in Perintalmanna , Malappuram district. He studied in Govt UP School in Kasaragod before joining SSKZM in 5th standard.

Jose was a part of Veluthampi house as a sub junior and Ashoka house as a junior and senior. During this time he represented Ashoka house in games and athletics, He used to play the role of Laurel in the Comedy duo acts in the school & feels he actually resembles Hardy these days.

He graduated in Civil Engineering from REC Kurkshetra and then joined IMA in 1986 as a prelude to joining Indian Army.

In the Army he managed to put both his Sanik and Engineering abilities to good use as part of Corps of Engineers and MES.

JoseK.P.wasoneof thetoppersin MathematicsinAISSCE classXIIscoring99out of100andisstill cluelessastohowhe lostthatonemark.

Jose K. P.

After 35 years of service in the Army, he retired as a Colonel in May 2021 During his Army service he did his MTech in Environmental Engineering from IIT Mumbai and also ME in construction Engineering & Management from Osmania university.

His wife, Jalaja was a school teacher. His elder daughter Sharon is a dentist and currently working as a health analyst with a Mumbai based company. His younger daughter Shalet is a development professional and currently working with a Mumbai based social impact consulting firm.

Jose is currently working as the Registrar with DC Group of Institutions having College of Architecture and Management in Vagamon and is presently settled in Kochi and Kottayam.

991 Benny M. Antony

Benny was born in Aluva, Ernakulam District. He studied at Nirmala School, Aluva before joining SSKZM.

Benny joined Tagore house as a sub junior and represented the house in Athletics. He went on to join Shivaji house in the Sixth standard. That is where he picked up basketball, football and excelled in cross country.

Benny was selected to join the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun (RIMC) and left the school after one month in seventh standard. He joined NDA, in July 79, to meet up with his SSKZM comrades again. After NDA, Benny went on to join the Indian Navy, which he left after 30 years in 2013.

He commanded a missile boat and a missile frigate among other assignments as Direction Officer and Navigator of Viraat, Western Fleet Navigating Officer and Eastern Fleet Operations Officer.

Whilein6thstandard,Benny received apicturedictionaryas bookprizeforreciting thepoem, DaffodilsbyWilliamWordsworth.

His wife, Janki is a professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, presently, heading the Center for Disaster Management there. His elder son is an Architect, working in Mumbai and specializing in Sustainable Initiatives. His younger son graduated in law and is working in London along with his wife who is also a lawyer.

Benny is presently unsettled. shuttling between Mumbai and Aluva, where his mother stays, and also travelling to see more parts of the world in and outside the country. After his retirement he has taken to farming as a hobby and cultivates fruits and vegetables in Aluva.

Biju was born in Kanjirapally in Kottayam district. He studied in St Ephrem‟s Primary School, Chirakadavu before joining SSKZM.

Biju was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior and represented the house in football and athletics. He was in Prasad house during his junior and senior classes and represented the house in basketball, volleyball, hockey and boxing. He stood first in the school Obstacle Race competition in 1978. He represented the school basketball and volleyball teams during 1979.

He joined NDA in Jan 1980 and commissioned as an Army officer from IMA in Dec 1983. He has served in different parts of the country during his long and distinguished career in the Army.

During his 37 years of Army life he commanded a Medium Regiment, a Training Regiment and an NCC Group.

Biju M. Thomas

He was posted as an Observer with UN in Liberia (West Africa) and was also posted as an Instructor at Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

Biju retired from the Army as a Colonel in Jul 2020 and thereafter worked as Director, Army Welfare Placement Organization at Thiruvananthapuram till June 2022.

His wife, Laicy, was a teacher and presently the home maker. Elder daughter Treesa is married to Colonel Alex Daniel and younger daughter, Maria, is working for a US based company in Bangalore. Biju is presently settled in Ettumanoor, Kottayam,

ColBijuM.Thomaswaspostedasan ObserverwithUNinLiberiaandas InstructoratOfficersTrainingAcademy, Chennai.

993 M. N. Pradeep Kumar

Pradeep came into this world on the Indian Independence Day in 1962. He belongs to Thodupuzha in Idukki District where he completed his primary schooling in Vimalalayam LP School, before joining the Sainik School, Kazhakootam.

Pradeep was allotted to Tagore House during the sub junior period and then to Shivaji house during the junior and senior years. He had the opportunity to captain Shivaji Juniors while in the 12th Std.

He was a member of the house athletic and games teams during the entire period in school; he won medals in running and jump events for his houses. He was a member of the Trivandrum District Team that won the Bronze medal for 4x100 metres relay race at the State Schools Meet at Thalasseri, and held the school record for Long Jump in 1980. Pradeep was also champion in his weight category in the school boxing competition.

PradeepKumar holdsDoctoratein Management from Universityof Kerala.

Pradeep did his graduation in Mechanical Engineering and went on to complete his post graduation in Industrial Engineering. He is scheduled to retire as Professor during May 2023 after over 30 years as Faculty at the Centre for Management Development,

Thiruvananthapuram. In between, he also had a small stint of about 3 years in an Automobile based Company in Sharjah, UAE.

His wife is Dr. Anita Sanker, a Dermatologist, currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology & Venereology at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. His daughter Dr. Gopika is a Paediatric Dentist , married to Dr. Thejas Girishan, practicing as an Oral Surgeon (OFMS).

Sekharajan was born in Shasthamkotta in Kollam district. He studied in the local government school before joining Sainik School.

He was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior and in Prasad house during his junior and senior classes.

Sekharajan was an avid reader and was attracted by literature and politics. He was fascinated by Malayalam and world classics and spent a considerable time reading and nourishing his intellectual faculties. He was a good actor too and took part in cultural activities in the school.

K. Sekharajan Pillai

After leaving Sainik School Sekharajan did his Bcom and in subsequent years passed his CA examination. Thereafter, he joined the corporate world and worked in different cities in India like Mumbai, Kolkata etc. He was Deputy General Manager (Finance) at BPL Power projects at Hyderabad at the time of his death.

Sekharajan passed away on 24 February 2004.

He is survived by his wife Jyothi Lakshmi, a home maker and daughter Gayatri Pillai who followed her father‟s footsteps to become a Chartered Accountant. She is presently Manager, International Tax at Ernst & Young, Singapore.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Sheikh.

Shekharajan‟s daughter Gayatri followedher father‟s footstepsto becomea Chartered Accountant. andpresently worksin Singapore.

Radhakrishnan hails from Thamarakulam, a remote village near Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district. He had his early schooling in Government LP School and High School in Chathiyara.

He was in Tagore house while in sub juniors followed by Nehru house. He was a popular face among his classmates and a favourite of his teachers. Was the house captain of Nehru Seniors and won the coveted Naresh Memorial Trophy for the Best House Captain. He was also selected for the Advanced Leadership Course held at Deolali, Nashik.

A graduate in Commerce, Radhakrishnan worked for 20 years in Mumbai. Became a Certified Financial Planner and started his own firm, 4R's Financial Services.

S. Radhakrishnan

Radhakrishnan wonthecoveted Naresh Memorial Trophyforthe BestHouse Captain.

He now continues with the same business in Mumbai and Kochi and is now settled with his family in Aluva.

His wife Rekha did her Bachelors in Economics and B.Ed from Mumbai University. She worked as a teacher in Mumbai for a few years before deciding to become a homemaker.

He has two daughters, Radhika and Ritika. Radhika finished her post graduation in Commerce from Mumbai University and Ritika is a final year medical student.

Muhammad Abdul Gafoor was born in Kuttipuram, the timber trading center in Kozhikode district. He had his early schooling in Kuttipuram before he joined Sainik School.

He was in Veluthampi house while in sub-juniors followed by Nehru house. He was an excellent football player even at sub junior level and was the cynosure of all eyes in the legendary football matches between Tagore and Veluthampi. He captained the team and ensured Veluthampi never lost those array of matches played against Tagore until the final one when Veluthampi won.

In later years Gafoor played football for Nehru juniors. He left the school in 1976 after completing 8th standard.

M. Abdul Gafoor

After leaving school and completing his SSLC and PreDegree, Gafoor joined for MBBS at Ramaiya Medical College in Bangalore.

Being a scion of a business family, his business dreams came calling midway into the course and he gave up his dreams of becoming a medical professional. He started hotel businesses in Kuttipuram and Kochi during the 90s.

Gafoor passed away in a motor bike accident on 29 March 2002. He is survived by his wife, Jessy Gaffoor, a homemaker and his two children, Shroff Gafoor who is into business and Henna Gaffoor, an architect.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Gafoor.

Gafoorwascaptainof Veluthampifootball teamandconsistently scoredgoalsagainst Tagoreuntilthefinal onewhenanother playerscored the winninggoal for Veluthampi.

998 Jagan Joseph

Jagan is from Kothamangalam. He studied in the local primary school at Kothamangalam before he joined Saink School.

Jagan was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior. One of the youngest in the batch, he was also one of the smallest in dimensions when he joined the school in 1972, a complete contrast to what he is today in comparison to his classmates.

He was in Prasad juniors and seniors in the subsequent years.

After passing out from the school in 12th, Jagan did BSc in Physics from Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam. There after, did his Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications from the same college.

He then did Masters in Financial Management from Pondicherry.

Masters in Financial Management opened up banking industry for him and he took up a job in State Bank of Travancore and began his banking career. He worked in different branches of SBT within Kerala and outside. After the bank‟s merger with SBI in 2017, he has been with SBI. Presently he is a Chief Manager at their Regional Office in Muvattupuzha.

Jagan and his wife, Late Dr. Emie have two daughters. Elder one Reshma is a software engineer . She is married to Dr. Eldho Edison who is doing research in Zurich University, Switzerland. Younger daughter Renu is currently doing third year MDS.

JaganJoseph‟ssoninlaw, Dr.EldhoEdisonisapostdoctoral fellowatETHZurich,workingon highenergydensitylithiumand sodiumionbatteries.

Muraleedharan was born in Thuravoor, then a small village in Alappuzha district. He studied in Thuravoor West UP school before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Tagore house as a subjunior. In the later years he was in Ashoka house. Even though there is no major colors to show case, he was an outstanding player (substitute) in most of the games. He has played in the Ashoka house Football and Basket ball teams. Wore the Jersey for Boxing three times (fought bravely but got knocked out by respective year champions).

In 1979-80 he was part of the school football and basketball teams..

Joining NDA and to be in the services was an ambition which did not come his way. But after becoming a Naval Architect, he could satisfy his quest partly by building high class warships and Submarines as part of MDL team for Indian Navy,

N. Muraleedharan

An AAM alumnus of SSKZM , he attributes the eight years in school as the foundation for paving the way for his world outside in the later years.

He later worked with an International Classification Society from France in the capacity of Marine and Industrial surveyor; He was also aTechnical manager for ships in service and those under construction with a Hong Kong company; He also led a shipyard constructing world class offshore vessels for international clients and associated with a green field shipyard in the middle east, establishing project management.

His wife Renu is Joint General Manager, LIC, in charge of western region. His daughter, Dr. Rashmi is a dentist, successfully running her clinic in Mumbai.

Muraleedhara nispresently theGlobal TrainingHead ofIndian Registerof Shipping,an international classification society.

1000 Jose Numpeli

Jose was born in Memadungue in Muvattupuzha , a scenic Village on the banks of Todupuzha river. After his initial days of Schooling in the village he moved to SSKZM.

He was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior with a distinct Roll no: 1000. He was a bright student and excelled in Science and Maths. Needless to say he was a favourite go to student of teachers. An indoor games aficionado, he was a good player in all games, mostly caroms, chess and cards.

He dabbled with philately, read a few books, but failed to join NDA. After school he joined REC, Trichy and became an Electronics and Communications engineer in 1985. He worked with BHEL and Tata Consulting before settling in a long association with Essar at Hazira.

Post retirement he joined Arcellor Mittal Nippon Steel who took over the Essar Steel Facility at Hazira.

His wife Salimma is also an Electronics and Communications engineer from REC Kozhikode and works for Essar Power at Hazira.

They are blessed with three children who are all engineers & MBAs John the elder is with ITC and Kasturi his wife is working for BCG. His younger son Joseph works at Makemytrip.JoseiscurrentlyatHazira, SuratwithplanstoMove toKakkanadinKochiin thenearfuture.

Madhu G. Nath was in Tagore house as a sub junior.

In later years he was in Prasad juniors. Interested in hobbies, he spent his initial year in social service club and later in the philately club. He was an average student and played in the house team for cricket and football.

Later, while in Prasad seniors, he rrepresented the house and the school in volleyball team.

After school he joined Sree Sankara College, Kalady for BSc Maths and attended classes for one year. Later Joined MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore for BE in Electronics Engineering under Bangalore University.

Madhu G. Nath

Madhu worked with various Indian and MNC companies like Seagate tech , ABB, Fouress Engg, Anchor electric etc at various locations like Bangalore, New Delhi & Mumbai. He moved to Dubai UAE in Aug 2008.

He retired in Dec 2018 and continues to work out of Dubai as a marketing consultant for ME based companies in Power Quality and Data storage.

His wife Jyothi is a Mathematics teacher working in Dubai. His daughter, Dr. Parvati Madhu and husband Dr. Sreenath Nair work and live in Memphis in the US with their daughter Navamika. Son Gokul Madhu and wife Prachitee Atkari are engineers and work in Fargo, North Dakota in the US.

MadhuG.Nath‟ssoninlaw,Dr. SreenathNairisa SeniorResearcher at St.JudeChildren'sResearch Hospitalat Memphis,TN,USA.

Seshadri was born in an agraharam near Alathur where he spent his early childhood. Later his family moved to to a house near milepost 10 between Wayanad and Kozhikode. He did his schooling in a government primary school in Kunnamangalam before he joined Sainik School.

His school in those days had daily Arabic instructions and Hindu students were involved in lunch-hour Upma preparation during those hours instead of attending class room lectures. He feels that was probably what prompted his father to apply for admission to SSKZM, the school from where he derived life long benefits.

Seshadri was in Veluthampi house and his forte was academics. He was an excellent student from his early days in school and excelled in academic pursuits until he passed out from school eight years later.

Asachild,Seshadriwalkedon apolicyprotestdemonstration againstaproposalathis primaryschooltotweakthe schoolholidayschedule.

K. Seshadri

He was in Prasad house in the later years and was a member of his house and school football teams and athletics. After leaving the school, Seshadri graduated from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. He worked for both public and private sector companies in India and US, in Information Technology disciplines. Presently he works for the state of Oregon, USA.

Seshadri is married to Tina Sharma, a home maker. They have two sons. Rishi who is pursuing MD and Rohan who is studying engineering at public universities at Oregon.

1003 Jose J. Kattoor

Jose hails from Chenappady, near Kanjirappalli in Kottayam district.

He was in Tagore House as a sub junior and later in Shivaji house. Jose was an enthusiast in extracurricular activities like debates and declamations and won several prizes in various competitions throughout his tenure in SSKZM.

In the senior classes he continued his winning streak in extracurricular activities, specifically debates and declamations in both English and Malayalam. He was selected for several prefectural appointments before he was appointed School Captain for the year 1979-80.

After leaving SSKZM, Jose did his BSc (Chemistry), PGDRM from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), LLB, CAIIB, and did Advanced Management Program from Wharton, Pennsylvania.

Jose was in Reserve Bank of India for over 30 years. He is currently working as Executive Director handling Strategy, Currency, and Enforcement. Headed RBI in Karnataka as Regional Director, Bengaluru between 2019 21. Also headed Central Bank Communication Department of RBI and was the Chief Spokesman of RBI from 2017 19. He has been a board member representing RBI in several institutions like IIBF, IBPS, IGIDR, NIBM, CAFRAL etc. He has been RBI‟s representative to Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Kuala Lumpur.

Jose is married to Letha, who runs an online boutique post retirement from her journalism career. Daughter Sruti is a fashion design graduate from NIFT and is with Shopee, Manila. Sanjana, the younger daughter is pursuing graduation in Law from Symbiosis, Pune.

JoseJ.Kattoorwasthewinner ofbestachieverofSSKZM award intheyear1980.

Niaz hails from Adoor in Pathanamthitta District, He did his early schooling in Muhammedan U P School, Kollakadavu, Mavelikkara. He was in Veluthampi house in the sub junior year.

In later years he was in Prasad house in junior and senior years. Gregarious in nature, Niaz had an enjoyable period while in school, making lot of friends and fond memories.

He also volunteered to participate in the cleanliness competition among houses to promote hygiene and cleanliness in cadets‟ dormitories. Niaz led Prasad seniors successfully to the trophy for winners of Inter house Cleanliness Competition.

After leaving SSKZM, he did his Bachelors and Masters in Commerce and completed his Chartered Accountancy and became one of the founding partners of M/s Issac and Sudhakar, Chartered Accountants, Thiruvananthapuram.

M. A. Niaz

Niaz then migrated to Salalah to head the Accounts and Finance division of Hamdan Plaza Hotel, a division of Hamdan Trading Group. He later moved to the accounts division of Oman National Transport Company, Muscat (A Sultanate of Oman Government Enterprise). In 1994, he moved to Dubai as Finance Manager of a Financial Consultancy firm and in 1999 joined Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIA), one of largest Sovereign Wealth Funds, in their Accounts Department. After 21 years of service with ADIA, Niaz joined hands with M/s Ali Mohairy Auditing, an accounting and auditing firm based in Abu Dhabi.

His family consists of wife Thajunnisa, and daughter Fathima, son in law Nadeem, grand daughters Ayrin and Azrin and son Fahad.

Niazplayedakeyrolein organizingregularOBA meetingsinUAEfor25 years.UAEchapteris nowthebiggestKAZAK groupoutsideIndia.

Abraham was born in Changanassery in Kottayam district. He studied in the local school before he joined Sainik School in 5th standard.

He was in Tagore house as a sub junior. In later years he was in Ashoka house Abraham was a good hockey player at school and excelled on hockey grounds.

After passing out from SSKZM he went on to do graduation and post graduation in Mathematics and completed his MSc in 1985 from SB College, Changanassery.

Abraham later joined Kerala State Local Self Government Department as Secretary, Grama Panchayat (Gazetted). He has worked and traveled all over Kerala during the 30 years he was in service. During his tenure he has had experience in implementing various Government plans and his Panchayat has bagged Best Panchayat Award instituted by the Government.

Abraham C. Mathew

Abraham was also responsible for birth and death registers, preparing for press meets and releases on behalf of the self governing body, and was in charge as Election Squad-police for Kerala state Elections.

He is married to Shirley, a home maker. Their son Mathew is a BTech working in Amadeus Labs, Bangalore and daughter, Dr. Ann Rose is Asst. Professor at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Kochi. She is married to Dr. Vimal Antony who is Asst. Professor at Kerala Veterinary University, Trissur.

Abraham and Shirley have three grand daughters, Amala, Angelina and Alfonsia.

Abraham„sPanchayat hasbagged Best PanchayatAward institutedbythe Government.

1006

Saji C hails from Muvattupuzha. He did his schooling in Vazhappilly in Muvattupuzha before he joined SSKZM. He was in Veluthampi house as sub junior. In the later years he was in Prasad house. His hobbies included social service and philately.

After leaving SSKZM he did his BSc in Mathematics from Nirmala College Muvattupuzha and MBA from Institute of Management , Palayam, University of Kerala.

Saji C joined State Bank of India as a clerk in the year 1984 and served in various branches in Kerala . Presently he is Deputy General Manager in charge of credit audit of large value advances. He is to retire in December 2022 after 38 years of glorious service in SBI.

SajiCstarted hisbanking careerinthe clericalgrade andhasrisento thepositionof DGMincharge ofcreditauditof largevalue advances.

Saji C.

Saji C is married to Chandralekha, who again is a Chief Associate in State Bank of India. They have two sons. The elder one, Nandagopal did his MTech and was a software engineer . At present, he has left the job and is pursuing MBA from Asian School of Business Kualalumpur. His wife Amita, an MTech, is an Advanced Software Engineer working in Bangalore.

Their second son, Arun did his BTech and worked as a Project Engineer for Voltas. Presently he is doing MBA from University of Glasgow.

1007

Zacharias K. Antony

Zacharias was born in Kanjirappally, a town in Kottayam District. He studied in St Ephrem‟s and St Mercillina‟s schools in Kottayam district before joining SSKZM in 1972.

He was in Tagore house as a subjunior, and later in Nehru juniors. After completing 8th standard, he left SSKZM as he got transferred to Sainik School Nagrota, Jammu. This was probably one of a kind transfer as transfer of students was a rare phenomenon and a transfer from the southernmost Sainik School to the northernmost was rarest of rare case.

After completing 12th from Sainik School Nagrota, Zacharias joined Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune for MBBS.

. After completion of MBBS and MD from AFMC, he served in the Indian Navy from 1984 till 2009. He is a specialist and Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is currently employed in a public university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

His wife Sally completed BSc and MSW from Kerala University. She worked in Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry and is currently retired.

Zacharias Antonydid MBBSand MDfrom AFMCPune. Heisa specialist and Associate Professorin Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Sunilkumar hails from Karumadi near Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha District, He did his schooling in Karumadi before he joined Sainik School. He was in Tagore house in the sub junior year.

In later years he was in Prasad house and was prefect and house captain of Prasad juniors. An excellent athlete, especially in the middle and long distance running, he was cross country champion quite a few times and was adjudged best athlete for the year 1979-80. He represented school at the athletics meet held at Bijapur. He represented Kerala NCC at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi in 1977, An enthusiastic NCC buff, he also attended NCC camps at Khrew, Jammu, Advance Leadership Course held at Deolali, Nashik and course at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling.

P. S. Sunilkumar

After leaving school Sunilkumar graduated in textile engineering, While at college he continued his interests in sports and games and represented college in athletics and games.

At present he is proprietor of INDTEXTIL, a company that represents some Textile Machinery Manufacturers from Europe and Taiwan in India.

He is married to Hemlata, who is a home maker and they are settled in Mumbai. They have two twin daughters, Karthika and Kavitha, who love to do everything in conjunction like perfect twins. Both have done their degree in hotel management and completed one year internship in the US.

Sunilkumarwasadjudged bestathlete inschoolfor theyear1979-80.

1012 K. T. Sreekumar

K. T. Sreekumar hails from Kannur. He had his early schooling in Kannur before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Veluthampi house while in sub juniors after which he moved to Nehru house. Tall and well built from the junior level itself, he played for Nehru juniors in volleyball and basketball matches. He was also an avid debater and represented his house for Malayalam debates.

Continuing his sporting activities, he represented Nehru seniors in volleyball and basketball. He was selected for prefectural duties of Nehru juniors from 9th to 11th standard after which he left the school to join NDA.

K. T. Sreekumar was commissioned into Indian Army in Corps of Signals in June 1983.

MajGenK.T.Sreekumar‟swifeSudhaworkedforthe welfareofdependentsofarmypersonnelalongwith ArmyWomen‟sWelfareAssociation foroveradecade.

. Sreekumar served in various units and Army Head Quarters, primarily in the field of communications. Prior to retirement in Jul 2020 as a Major General, he was posted as Additional Director General of NCC for West Bengal and Sikkim.

His wife Sudha is now a home maker. She had been dividing her time between teaching and social work for the welfare of dependents of Army personnel at AWWA for over a decade.

His elder son Vikram and his spouse Indu are IT professionals based in San Francisco. Younger son Gautam is also an IT professional, currently pursuing his Masters in Pittsburg (USA).

He is currently settled in Bangalore.

1013 K. Nandakumaran

Nandakumaran hails from Koratty, the Marian pilgrimage town in Thrissur district.

He was in Tagore House as a sub junior and later in Prasad house. Leaving a bed next was another Nandakumar whose initial was B. They came to be known as Nandu K and Nandu B.

While in Junior classes Nandu K excelled in Academics and extra curricular activities like Calligraphy and Painting. He was a prefect in Veluthampi House to take care of and mentor sub juniors.

Successful in the first attempt, he joined NDA in 1979. Was commissioned into the Fifth Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry. While with the Battalion, took part in operations in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Srilanka. Converted to a Helicopter pilot and flew operational sorties extensively in India and in the Horn of Africa. Also commanded an Army Aviation Flight.

Other than the Battalion in which commissioned, NanduK also commanded a Territorial Army Battalion. He has been commended by the Army Chief and the Northern Army Commander.

While in service, Nandu K went on deputation to Cabinet Secretariat where he was re employed on superannuation from the army. At present he is serving with the National Technical Research Organization.

He is married to Tripti who sacrificed a career in the hospitality industry, to be around her soldier husband, becoming a qualified nursery teacher. She is presently their home maker. Both Nandu and Tripti write as a hobby.

Utkarsh, their son, after graduating from Christ University mastered in data science from Macquarie University and is presently working in Sydney.

BrigadierNandakumaranis apostgraduateinStrategic StudiesandholdsMasters inPersonnelManagement..

1014 K.Sudhir

Sudhir was born and brought up in Secunderabad. He had his early schooling in Secunderabad until 4th standard before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Veluthampi house while in sub-juniors. after which he moved to Nehru house. Armed with a face that had one of those contagious smiles, and a pleasant and amiable attitude, he was one of the popular guys of the batch.

He was one of the popular faces in the cultural corridors of the cadets‟ dormitory and acted in dramas and sang a few Hindi songs that he picked while growing up in Secunderabad.

Sudhir started his professional career as a teacher in SSKZM. He taught Physics, and jokes that it was a subject which remained a mystery for the students and the teacher for over 31 years.

Sudhir shifted to educational administration in 2016 and is now Principal of the Nextgen International School, Guntur. Before that he had spent 25 years in Bahrain at the Indian School, Bahrain.

He married Stella Mary in 1987, the first one to marry from the batch. Stella worked in SSKZM till 1995 and then in Indian School Bahrain till 2019. Presently she is busy with her grandchildren.

They have a daughter, Sushmitha, an electrical design engineer with ARUP, Nottingham. She is married to Swamy Iyer and they have a daughter Maya. Their son Suman works with Turnur construction, Toronto. He is married to Neethu and has two children, Zara and Aiden.

K.Sudhir was conferredwiththe CBSEawardfor excellenceinteaching in2006whileatIndian School,Bahrain.

1015 D.Jayadev

Jayadev was born on 01 Feb 63 at Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district. He studied in Munnamkutti govt UP school. Before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Tagore house as a sub junior and then in Ashoka house in later years. He was a good sportsman and was good at all out door activities at school. He represented his house in different games and athletic events.

He was a good sportsman and has won prizes for various athletic events including throws and running.

Jayadev was selected for admission into NDA in his first attempt . After completing his course at NDA, he was commissioned into Assam Regt. In 1983.

He commanded the same battalion during his tenure in the Army. After having been posted at various locations through out the country, he retired after 38 years of his life in Olive green uniform.

He is at present settled in Thirumala in Thiruvananthapuram after retirement.

He is married to Anju, a practicing advocate in Vanchiyoor court in Thiruvananthapuram.

His daughter, Aruvi is an Airforce officer and is married to an Airforce officer.

His son, Adithya is an advocate.

Jayadev was commissionedintoAssam Regt.In1983.Helater commandedthesame regiment.

1016 Shaju Jacob

Shaju Jacob was born in Brahmapuram in Ernakulam district. At the primary level, he studied in Govt. Lower Primary School in Brahmapuram before he joined SSKZM.

Shaju was in Veluthampi house and later in Prasad House. He is a good connoisseur of music and movies and finds time to enjoy them in his hectic life.

Shaju left Sainik School after 7th standard in 1975 and continued his schooling at FACT School, Ambalamedu. Later he went on to do BSc (Chemistry), and studied at both St Alberts College, Ernakulam and St Peters College at Kolanchery.

Shaju worked as a Zonal Sales Manager in a MNC and later did pharmaceutical business. He retired from business in 2017 and have started farming at his native place and grows fruits and vegetables.

Shajuiscurrently intofarmingathis nativeplaceand growsspices, fruitsandnutslike nutmeg,jackfruits, mangoes, bananas,coconuts andarecanuts.

Shaju is married to Neena, an MSc in Botany, and B.Ed. Neena is basically from Kottayam, but was born and brought up in Gujarat. She is currently working as a senior teacher in Union Christian Association CBSE School, Chennai.

They have one son, Jacob who had finished his graduation and post graduation in hotel management and catering technology. He specializes in Continental food. After working in Delhi, Kochi and Chennai with five star hotels, he is currently preparing to leave for Scotland.

Shaju is currently settled in Brahmapuram taking care of his farm and related activities.

.

1017 B. Nandakumar

Nandakumar was in Tagore house in the sub junior year in school. He was an outstanding cricket player from 5th standard and was the mainstay of Tagore house cricket team that won against Veluthampi team.

He was in Prasad house in later years. Recognised as a good bowler from the very early days in school, NanduB was part of Prasad house cricket team. While in junior classes, he went on to represent school in cricket, a rare achievement for any student of SSKZM. He later captained the school cricket team.

Nandakumar chose naval architecture as his profession in later years. He currently works as a Naval Architect with Maritime Associates Pte, Singapore.

He is married to Anitha, a home maker. They have a daughter, Dr. Malavika Nair, PhD who works as an Associate Professor at Oxford University.

Nandakumar is settled in Singapore with his wife.

Nandakumar represented schoolin cricketwhile in7th standard, whichwasa rare achievement forstudents ofSSKZM.

Joseph J. Poovattil was born in Changanassery. When he was two years old, his family migrated to Vithura, in Thiruvananthapuram district. At the primary level, he studied in Govt. Lower Primary School, Vithura. Among the 3 Josephs in the batch and in the same house, he is identified as Poovattil.

Poovattil was in Veluthampi house and later in Prasad House. At school, his hobbies were Philately, Photography, and Social Service.

After graduating in Chemistry, he joined Federal Bank in 1984. During the past years, he served at Konni, Nedumangad, New Delhi/ Nehru Place, Kanjirappally, Udaipur, Mumbai/Vile Parle branches, and Vigilance Department of the Bank, Currently, he works in Ernakulam Zonal Office at Marine Drive, Kochi, as Assistant Vice President. He is due for retirement in November 2022.

Joseph J. Poovattil

Joseph‟s wife, Beena, is a postgraduate with B. Ed and had been working as a teacher. Currently, she is a homemaker.

The elder of his two children, Jose, is an MBA in HR. Currently, he is pursuing Masters at Huddersfield University, UK. After completing her Masters in Behavioural Economics, his daughter, Merin, is employed as an analyst at the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), Dublin, Ireland..

In 2019, Joseph shifted residence to 101, Federal Greens, Mariyapadi, U C College P O, Aluva-683102., His plan is to continue at this address after retirement in November 2022.

Poovattil's interestsnow arereading, roadtrips,and organic farming.Heis intheforefront offarming activitiesinhis housing society.

1019 Shaji Mathew

Shaji Mathew hails from Changanassery in Kottayam district. He joined Sainik School in 1972 and pursued his studies for two years. After completing 6th standard in1974 he left Sainik school to join Sacred Heart school in Changanassery.

Shaji Mathew did his Pre-Degree, Bachelor‟s degree in Science & Masters degree in Mathematics from St. Berchmans college, Changanacherry.

Shaji Mathew is at present the Managing Director of Palathra Constructions, a reputed construction firm in Kerala. He undertakes contracting jobs from various departments of Kerala government that includes but not limited to P.W.D, KSTP, PMGSY etc. He is also the Managing Director of Palathra group of companies that include Palathra Constructions, Palathra interlocks, Palathra Fuels etc.

Apart from professional life, Shaji Mathew is actively involved in several social activities and holds several titles that include Chairman of Body building association Kottayam, Vice President St. Berchmans college Alumni association, Board member of Vazhappally service co-operative Bank etc.

Shaji Mathew‟s family consists of his wife Mariamma Shaji of Kurisumkal family and has two sons, Naveen Mathew and Praveen Issac. They are running a construction company in Dubai following their father‟s footsteps. Naveen‟s wife Anne Mary is working in London stock exchange and Praveen‟s wife Anna is working as Behavior therapist in Dubai.

ShajiMathewis

1020 Antony K. A.

Antony hails from Kanjirapally in Kottayam district. He studied in Corpus Christi School in Kottayam before he joined Sainik School. As a sub junior he was in Veluthampi house. In later years he moved into Nehru juniors and seniors.

Antony was a good long distance runner. He was a regular feature in track athletic events including long distance running. He was also a consummate cross country runner and was always one of those who finished the cross country in the shortest time. Later in Mumbai too he was an enthusiastic participant in long distance cycling and marathons.

Besides athletics, he was an excellent boxer. The fly weight finals between Antony and Sunil T was very engaging. According to batch chronicler KC. the audience‟s standing ovation must have been more for Antony‟s grit and resilience than for Sunil T having won the match.

Theboxingmatchbetween AntonyandSunilTinflyweight category wasperhaps themost engagingfightinthe historyoftheschoolever,thankstoAntony‟sgritand resilience.

After school Antony did his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology,

Antony worked for 5 years and joined the family business thereafter. He took up employment again and very soon started his own business in financial services . He took up a few agencies and settled in Mumbai. He is currently into general insurance and life insurance, serving both corporates and retail markets. Presently he is very active in the financial business

He married Rani. who was a teacher and is now retired and remains his soul mate and shoulder to lean on. They are settled in Mumbai.

Venu was born in Ozhukupara, Paravoor, a village which then did not even have a black top road or a proper school building. For him, his arrival at the school campus gave the feeling of being Alice In Wonderland.

He was in Tagore house and later in Shivaji house. He considers those years as the most influential part of his life when he grew up physically to a well built teenager over the years with decent performance in academics and outdoors . Class mates, seniors and juniors and the team of brilliant and committed teachers made the right combo for him to grow into a reasonably confident teenager in the span of 7-8 years . From a miserable failure in English in 7th std, his rankings in academics progressed to a single digit while also becoming a part of the school team, in basketball and athletics for three consecutive years.

Joining NDA was his goal and he managed it in the second attempt. In1983, Venu was Commissioned into 7 JAK Rifles, an infantry battalion.

Venu G.

Venu took part in critical operations along the length and breadth of India from Phukche up north to Indira Point in the south and from Rann of Kutch in the West to Kepangla in the east. He provided relief in Earth Quake in J&K, floods in Assam and tsunami in A&N islands, he also added to his academic qualifications with an MSc ( Defense &Strategic Studies), and PG Diplomas in HR, Operational Logistics, Higher Defence Management etc. He commanded his battalion and later an Infantry Brigade in the deserts . Later he was involved with selections in the SSB for 5 years.

Venu retired in 2018 and remains occupied with guiding defense aspirants to face the SSB successfully. He is married to Madhuri and has two children, Naveen, a seafarer and Nayana, a corporate lawyer. Keerthana, his daughter in law is an engineer.

Venureceivedthe Keralagovernment trophyforbeingthe highestranking cadetfromKeralato joinNDA.

Yahiya was born in Pallipuram, Ernakulam. He studied in Govt. LP school, Pallipuram, until 5th Std.

He was in Veluthampi house. Later, he joined Prasad house. He was very active in sports and games. He was a member of the football, basketball and hockey teams. He was especially meritorious in athletics. A good track record in triple and long jumps, along with good participation in 100m and house relays.

In the meantime, he garnered a keen interest in reading. Authors from all over the world fascinated him. He also picked up an interest in movies and music. He was a die-hard Rajinikanth fan and would bunk classes, just to watch movies. The idea of becoming a movie script writer also interested him, although never fulfilled.

P.M. Yahiya

He went on to obtain a BTech in Civil Engineering, from Thrissur Engineering College. He carried his love for movies and music, through his college years and beyond them.

Following a 2-year stint in Bombay, he migrated to Muscat, Oman in 1992. Here, he racked up a prosperous 30 years of service as an engineer.

He is married to Ms. Fathima. She served as a doctor in Oman for the past 30 years. They have two children, Aidha and Fawas. Aidha is a dentist, currently in Ireland with her husband. Fawas is a mechanical engineer, working in Dubai.

Yahiya currently resides in Carlisle, UK, with his wife, who is working as a consultant endocrinologist.

Yahiyawasadie-hardRajinikanth

1024 Jacob Thomas

Jacob was born and brought up in Kothamangalam, then a small town in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Ernakulam district. He studied in Govt. LP School, Mathirappally in Malayalam medium before he joined SSKZM.

Jacob was in Veluthampi house as a sub junior and moved to Prasad house during junior and senior terms. Jacob was a naïve and unexposed child to the unprotected world. He found it initially tough to adjust to the new atmosphere in the sub junior house and class. He didn‟t even know how to write his name in English.

Later during the initial years in the Prasad junior house, he was extensively bullied by some of his batch mates, and he found it initially tough to face it. But those two tough years in sixth and seventh standard in Prasad juniors helped him to become a strong man later in life.

From class eight onwards Jacob started developing various skills and excelling in academics along with other outdoor activities.

Jacob excelled in games like Hockey, Tennis and Table Tennis. In the final year he was school champion in Table Tennis and scored highest marks in mathematics for AISSCE.

After passing out from school he joined for Engineering and stood sixth rank in the University of Kerala for Mechanical Engineering. After completing Engineering he joined FACT Ltd, Udyogamandal and later Qatargas, Qatar.

Jacob is still working and looking for a retired life where he can pursue his hobbies like reading and traveling.

Jacob is married to Nisha and they have three daughters. Eldest one, Shweta is an endodontist and is married. The younger ones are still studying.

Jacob Thomaswas school championin TableTennis andalso scored highest marksin mathematics forAISSCE.

1025

Ajithkumar Varma was born in Chengannur. He did his early schooling in Chengannur before he joined SSKZM.

Varma was in Tagore house as a sub junior and later an Ashokian. He was one of the cricketers of the batch as early as in 5th standard when most other students were only getting to know what cricket is all about. Varma was part of junior and senior house cricket teams and represented the school too in cricket. He claims to be the force behind every defeat of those teams.

He also recalls with a chuckle that he maintained his first from last position in all cross country races collecting token numbers 601 or 602 at the finishing line. Ajith fondly recalls that he was a serving boy in the mess for 6 years out of the 8 years he spent in school.

Ajithkumar Varma

Ajithkumar did MSc (Chemistry) from SB College, Changanachery and joined Catholic Syrian Bank in 1985. He then cleared the civil services and joined Indian Revenue Service in1989. His characteristic witty remark about his joining IRS is that it was a rude shock to all his teachers and classmates.

Varma is currently Principal Commissioner, Income Tax for Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram regions. His wife Rekha is working for Robert Bosch at Coimbatore. He has two children. Daughter Ambika works for Oracle and son Aditya is a third year Engineering student at PSG Tech, Coimbatore.

He spends his free time hopping from one temple to another troubling all the God‟s in their own country.

Sohanlal, who was born in Alappuzha district of Kerala had his primary education at a local school in the same town. He is the fifth and youngest son in the family.

Sohan was in Veluthampi house and thereafter, in Ashoka house during his junior and senior grades. He represented Ashoka house in basket ball, volley ball, cricket as well as athletic events like javelin throw, discuss throw, etc. He also represented the school in basket ball for a couple of years. Apart from sports and games, Sohan was also actively involved in various extracurricular events like vocal & instrumental music, acting, painting & crafts.

Sohan also had the opportunity to represent the school in the two months Delhi Republic Day Camp in the year 1976-77, with the preparatory camp at Sainik School, Kunjpura followed by the Delhi camp ending with the march-past at Rajpath on the 26th January, 1977.

P. Sohanlal

After passing out from Sainik School, Sohan completed his B-Tech graduation in Naval Architecture & Ship Building from the Cochin University of Science & Technology at the Department of Ship Technology.

Sohan worked in various Shipyards in India. He had also held the position of Asst. Director of Naval Designs in the Submarine Design Group (SDG) under the Directorate of Naval Designs (DND).. He is currently working in one of the Defense Shipbuilding & Repair yards in Abu Dhabi, UAE where he is heading the Commercial & Technical Procurement Departments.

Sohan‟s life partner is Sangeetha, a post graduate in Commerce who chose to be a house maker. They have two sons, Arjun and Ashwin, both graduates in Engineering. Arjun, is currently working with an IT firm at Bangalore and Ashwin who had just completed his graduation is working with a design company in Sharjah, UAE.

Sohanlalwas partofIndian Navy‟s Technical Delegationto St.Petersburg inconnection withNavy‟s submarine designs.

1027 Mathew George

Mathew George was born in Malaysia. Later as his family shifted to Kottayam, he did his early schooling in St. Josephs, Kottayam prior to joining SSKZM.

As a sub junior he was in Tagore house and later in Shivaji house n the junior and senior years.

At junior level he represented the house in athletics and hockey and later represented school in the same events. He was member of School Athletics and Hockey Teams. He has won prizes in shotput, discuss throw and hammer throw. He has participated in elocution competition and was an enthusiast in western music vocal.

After school he did B.Tech from College of Engineering Trivandrum & M.Tech from Cochin University of Science & Technology. .

An IT professional and adept at printing prepress, Mathew George has worked as Maintenance Manager in Malayala Manorama, Kottayam and at Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG dealership in Kuwait as Service Manager.

His wife Joice is an IATA Travel Advisor. His son Ronny is a Data Scientist in Boston, MA and daughter Kiran is a practicing doctor in Germany.

Mathew George enjoys technology, reading and travelling.

MathewGeorgebrokeschoolrecordin HammerThrowin1980.

P.U. Jose was born in Ranni a hilly town in Pathanamthitta District. After growing up in the shade of rubber and cocoa plantations until age 10, Sainik School with its open playgrounds was a welcome change for him.

He was first in Tagore house followed by Ashoka. School years went by uneventfully without getting into any big trouble or accomplishing anything significant. Having an inclination for things technical, the only clarity he had then was that he didn‟t want to join the military which the school was understandably prepping everyone for.

After school, Jose went to Manipal Institute of Technology to get a Bachelor‟s degree in Mechanical Engineering. This was followed by stints as a Plant Engineer for about 4 years moving around Nasik, Nagpur, and Bangalore. Pursuing higher education in the U.S was a dream he was chasing even while at school and it became a reality in 1989 after securing admission to the Univ. Of Illinois at Chicago for a Masters program.

Jose hasbeen intheUSfor32 yearsand busieshimself thesedayswith wood-working projects, gardening,or spendingtime withfamilyand friends.

P. U. Jose

He currently lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania with wife Jiji, sons Alan and Isaac and their dog Baron. Jiji was formerly a Human Resources major who studied in Pune and who switched fields to work in the Healthcare field in the U.S (in Physical Therapy), Alan is a Computer Science major at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Isaac is looking forward to attending a college somewhere next year.

These days, outside of his time working as a Product Development Engineer for Lithium-Ion battery packs for EnerSys Corporation in Reading, Pennsylvania, Jose busies himself with wood-working projects, gardening, or spending time with family and friends.

Sajeev Kumar was born in Cherai known for its beach and considered to be a swimmers‟ paradise in Ernakulam district. He studied in local government school before he joined SSKZM in 1972.

He was in Veluthampi house in the first year and later in Prasad house in 6th standard. An affable person, always wearing a smile on his face, his was a friendly face among the hundred odd students in the batch.

After his 6th standard he left SSKZM to pursue his studies in Ernakulam. He later did post graduation in Finance Management from University of Kerala.

Sajeev worked for Arabian Development Company for Trading in Riyadh in the 90s in their ImportExport department. He returned to India in 1996.

Later, Sajeev Kumar entered into a contract with International Manning Systems Inc., Miami, which is in the field of marine equipment and supplies. He worked in their Restaurant department in Cruise line Food & Beverages service for 11 years.

Sajeev is married to Sheeba, who is a nursing tutor at Government School of Nursing, Kozhikode. His daughter Linda is a graduate in Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry and is currently pursuing her post graduation at Government Veterinary College, Mannuthy, Thrissur. Son Lewil is doing Integrated Program in Management from IIM, Indore.

Sajeev lives at Kovoor in Kozhikode.

Sajeev Kumar‟s daughterLinda, followingher mother‟s footsteps,has chosen health departmentas herfuturearea ofprofession.

S. Sajeev Kumar

1031 C.P. Manoj

Manoj hails from Kannur. His early schooling was in different schools as his father had a transferrable government job. Fed up with shifting schools until 4th standard, he jumped at the option to join SSKZM without any hesitation.

He was a Tagorian as a sub junior and then a true Shivajian for the remaining seven years at school both during junior and senior years. He was a good volleyball player and played for Shivaji Seniors.

Manoj is a Commerce graduate from St. Thomas‟ College Thrissur and went on to do his MBA at University of Calicut, Thenhippalam Campus. Thereafter he moved into Sales and Marketing and worked in various companies in India.

C.P.ManojmanagesanIT solutionscompanyinQatar,which specializesinCyberForensics.

After working in various sales roles for Indian Tech companies like Pertech Computers, Gestetner India and Aurelec Data Processing Systems, he shifted to Qatar in 1992, to pursue sales positions with IT companies, namely, Aljabor Business Systems and Qatar Computer Services in Doha. Currently he manages an IT solutions company in Qatar, which specializes in Cyber Forensics.

Manoj is married to Prathibha, who also is a native of Kannur. She works for a French Energy company in Doha. While in India, he shuttles between his multiple bases in Thrissur and Mananthavady.

1033 Roy Mattackal

Roy Mattackal was born in Kanjirappally where he completed his early schooling until he joined SSKZM in 5th standard.

Fondly called Mattackan by his loving batch mates, Roy truly cherishes his school days in the sub junior year as a Tagorian and his subsequent years as a Prasadian. However, he regrets that he probably couldn‟t adapt well to the disciplined curriculum of the school for one reason or the other. And he fondly remembers his house master in senior years, Late T.P. Ramachandran sir who was a father figure to him and the guiding spirit of his turbulent mind as a teenager.

His singing talents were developed while in school and he picked up a few prizes in Hindi as well as Malayalam singing. Meanwhile he took a few lessons in classical music too during those days.

Roy opted for a civilian career and took B.E in Electronics from UVCE Bangalore in 1987 and later took Marketing as his profession. He worked in a few Indian companies, marketing their products and later moved to the middle east for a short period. Latter day career changes included printing of cheques for over 40 banks in south India.

His father, P.S. John is a world renowned Masters Athlete, who has won many medals and laurels at international and national level athletics. Mother Mrs. Annamma, was a Post mistress. Jaya, his wife is a home maker while his elder son Rahul is an M.S in petroleum engineering and also a diploma holder in Carnatic music from Kalakshetra, Chennai. Hemangi is his wife. Younger son Vimal is a playback singer, who also specializes in music production.

ItwasRoy Mattackal who marketed the most expensive and exquisiterange ofIndian tea brands forthe firsttimein India.

Dennis was born in Thirumarayur, a remote village in Ernakulam district. He joined SSKZM after having studied in a residential school from Class I onwards.

Dennis was in Veluthampi house in subjuniors and thereafter in Ashoka Juniors. He excelled in sports and academics all through his junior years and was very competitive and a great trier too. Most of all, he loved the evening games during those junior years to the extent that he used to be so depressed on the days it was NCC instead of the evening games.

He was prefect in Ashoka Juniors in 197778 and 1978-79. He led the school's Republic Day contingent in 1979 and was the House Captain of Ashoka Seniors in 1979 80.

After school, Dennis pursued B Com in Kochi and thereafter completed Masters in Computer Applications from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

He started a software company in 1987 but was too early for the market. He then moved to the Middle East and worked with Gulf Computers and then with the Inchcape Group.

Dennis M. Paul

Entrepreneurial bug bit him again and Dennis returned to India in 1995. Built Cordiant Technologies as a leading software services exporting company in Kochi and Chennai.

Took the next plunge by moving out of software services into building an India-based global software product company. This particular journey continues today in 2022 with no signs of slowing down.

He is married to Manju, homemaker and company director. His daughter Pooja Paul is a PhD from Harvard University. She has also done postdoctoral research in Stanford University and is the founder of an early-stage startup focused on sustainability and climate change. Son Arjun Paul is a Software Product Designer/UX presently Principal Designer with Trilogy, Austin, TX.

Dennis and Manju live in Thevara, Kochi.

.

DennisplayedfortheKerala SouthZoneUnder-19 cricketteamin1979andwas awardedtheSchoolBluefor excellenceincricket.

1035 Suresh Kandiyoor

Suresh was born in Bangalore. Before joining SSKZM, he was in J&K, Delhi and Dar- es- Salaam, Tanzania.

He was in Tagore house as sub junior and then in Prasad house before he moved out of SSKZM to continue his studies in Bangalore.

Suresh holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering (Electronics) from University of Essex, Colchester, UK (where his project on CAD design won the best project award) and chose to do his Masters in Telematics at the same University. His project work on slotted ring protocol was published in IEE newsletter. He, then completed his MBA from Rotterdam School of Management, Netherlands.

Later he joined Ericsson. While working in Ericsson, Suresh became one of the pioneers to develop world’s first enterprise grade digital cordless telecommunication systems and went on to contribute to European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

After 30+ years at Ericsson where he worked in 5G and connected vehicles amongst others, Suresh moved to Ernst & Young. At E&Y he is currently reponsible for the growth of Managed Services across Europe, Middle East, India and Africa.

Suresh is married to Jayashree, who is from Ottapalam. She is employed as a Master Data Principal at Akzo Nobel. They have two sons. Elder one, Gopal is doing his second year Masters at Aerospace at Delft University of Technology. Younger one, Krishnan is into 3rd year Bachelors in Electrical and Electronics in TU, Delft.

1037 Shaji Abraham

Shaji Abraham was born in Puthuppally in Kottayam district and did his early schooling at the local school there. He joined SSKZM in 1972 in 5th standard.

He was in Tagore house in the sub junior year and in Prasad house in the later years. He was a good hockey player.

A very affable character, he made a lot of friends in the school, both from the batch and other batches. He was fondly called „Kazhutha‟ by classmates, a name which he gracefully accepted, though the reasoning behind it is still not known to even those who called him the name.

After leaving the school Shaji Abraham did MBBS at Ramaiah Medical College in Bangalore. He later went on to do his MD in Orthopedics from Davangere and MCH (Super Speciality in Orthopedics from Scotland..

He worked at St. Thomas Hospital in Chethipuzha, Changanassery for several years.

Shaji Abraham expired on 23 June, 2004. He is survived by his wife Asha and two daughters, His elder daughter, Dr Shweta, MBBS, is pursuing her post graduation at Delhi now. She is married to Dr Arun, MBBS, MD and they have one son. The younger one, Dr Shreya, MBBS is at present working in Delhi.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Kazhutha.

1039 Rajesh Kumar Nair

Rajesh Kumar Nair was born in Thiruvananthapuram to Shri Unni Nair and Smt Sarada. He studied in St Josephs, Kalamsasseri before joining SSKZM.

Rajesh was in Tagore house as a sub junior and in Prasad house during his junior and senior classes.

After leaving SSKZM, he joined MES College, Bangalore in 1980, and graduated in 1983. He joined IMA Dehradun in January 1984. He was commissioned to the Corps of EME in June 1985. In his thirty six years of service he served in various parts of the country.

He is a post graduate in Missile Technology from IAT, Girinagar, Pune. Rajesh was the first alumni Registrar of SSKZM, and the tradition continues. He retired from the Army in March ‟21.

His wife, Lekshmi, was the DGM and Head of Department, English at T.I.M.E. She is now a consultant with T.I.M.E and CISSA, an NGO.

Their daughter Priyanka,is a professional dancer qualified from Kalakshetra, Chennai, and a post graduate in Applied Psychology. She is married to Major Naveen from 63 Engineer Regiment. Son, Rajath ,who passed out of Le Ferrandi, France, is now a CDP in Dubai.

Both Priyanka and Rajath are alumni of SSKZM, from 2008 batch and 2011 batch respectively.

Rajesh and Lekshmi are settled in Thriruvananthapuram, with their four-legged companion Charlie.

ColonelRajeshKumarNair was thefirstalumniRegistrarof SSKZM.Hewasinoffice from October 2003toMarch 2007.

1040 M.Sathikumar

Sathikumar was born in Varkala, in Trivandrum district. He studied in Govt. Model High School, Varkala, before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Veluthampi House as a sub junior. He was good at sports and games and participated in various sports events.

In subsequent years he moved into Shivaji House as in the junior years. He played for Shivaji house hockey team as goal keeper.

He left school after 7th standard to pursue his studies outside SSKZM

Sathikumar later did his graduation in Mathematics and joined Kerala Government. service as a teacher in 1990.

Sathikumar was promoted as headmaster in 1992. While in service as a head master he also worked as a Block Programme Officer as part of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan on deputation.

He retired from service in 2019. After retirement he continues to work as a service consultant in Varkala.

He is married to Sumangalatha Bhai, who is a retired Divisional Accounts Officer under Kerala Water Authority.

.

Sathikumarwaspartof Sarva SikshaAbhiyanforafew yearswhileinservice.

1041 Tojo Jose

Tojo is from Kochi and did his early schooling in Kochi before he joined SSKZM.

Tojo was in Tagore house in subjuniors and thereafter in Ashoka Juniors. He was a good cricketer and played for his house throughout his tenure in school.. He represented school in cricket and played in district level matches.

Tojo is an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is also a certified CxO coach, from Coaching Foundation of India.

Basically an HR professional, he has worked across India in major cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kerala, with a stint in the Middle East too.

Tojo is now retired and his last responsibility, prior to retirement, was as Chief Human Resources Officer with Muthoot FinCorp Ltd.

Tojohaswonmanyawards including100TopHRMindsat WorldHRDCongressandHR SuperAchievers Award byTimes Ascent in2021.

He was Convenor CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) for Skill development, Affirmative Action and HR&IR panels both for Maharashtra and Kerala .

His wife, Margaret is a Counselling Psychologist. Son, Kevin Tojo is an Engineer and an MBA working with Meredith Corporation, Bangalore and daughter, Tanya Tojo who is MSc (OB) from LSE and has a Post Graduate Certificate in Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur, is working with Accenture, Bangalore.

Tojo is now retired and settled in Kochi and is fulfilling his responsibility of giving back to society by teaching, training, mentoring and coaching budding MBA students and professionals at various corporates and business schools across the country.

1042 Manoj Mathew

Manoj Mathew was born in Chennerkara in Pathanamthitta district. He did his schooling in the local Panchayat School, Govt. High School, Thumpamon North and later joined in St. Marys High School, Pattom, Thiruvanathapuram before he joined Sainik School in July,1972.

Joined Veluthampi Sub Junior House and later in the Shivaji Junior and Senior Houses. Represented Shivaji House in football, hockey and volleyball Junior and Senior teams. He represented Sainik School Hockey Team in 1978-79 and 1979-80 and football team in 1979-80. He was second in Quiz Competition in the senior level.

Manoj is a graduate in Agricultural Engineering from Allahabad University and a post graduate from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

ManojMathew hasdonePhD inMechanical Engineering fromNational Instituteof Technology, Kozhikode.

Manoj worked as a Faculty and Scientist during the professional career in the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad and Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. He retired, as Professor in Engineering, from the Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur in 2022.

His wife, Anitha Abi Cheeran hails from Challiseri, Palakkad. She retired as a Higher Secondary School Teacher from the Kerala Govt. Service. He has a son, who works in a social media company and a daughter who is a CA aspirant.

Now, enjoys the life in farming and related activities in his native village and being a consultant in farm mechanization and as a faculty in a college.

1043 Sam K. Abraham

Sam hails from Chengannur. He studied in Chengannur before he joined Sainik School. As a sub junior he was in Tagore house. In later years he moved into Nehru juniors.

Sam was good in fine arts from the early days and enjoyed Arts periods in the early school years. He left SSKZM early to pursue his studies elsewhere as Sainik School curriculum was not what he had in mind for his future.

He later did five year Bachelors in Fine Arts (BFA) from College of Fine Arts, Egmore, Chennai. Having decided to be in the field of creative arts, he worked with an advertising agency in Chennai for three years. He later moved out of India to be in the most happening places in the world of designs and to be among the technology boom happening in the field.

There after Sam worked for 17 years in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for various advertising agencies and a government college as a Graphic Designer. He then worked on a short project at Morgan Stanley in New York City as web UI Designer and later joined Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Connecticut, USA also as UI Designer and Developer.

Returned from USA in 2010 and joined Carnegie Mellon University at their Qatar campus.

He retired in 2021 and is currently enjoying a retired life in Kerala.

Sam's wife Jolly holds an MBA in health care services and is a Pharmacist and they have two boys Juan Sam and Julian Sam. Both of them graduated from CMU and are working in Qatar now.

1044 N.Pradeep

Pradeep hails from Ernakulam. He studied in St Theresa‟s Convent School in Ernakulam before he joined Sainik School. He was in Veluthampi house and later moved into Nehru juniors and seniors.

Pradeep was good in cricket from the early days and was part of Nehru juniors cricket team. He later went on to represent Nehru seniors in cricket as well as hockey teams. He was member of school cricket team as well.

Cross country was one of those activities that did not suit his temperament. He recalls that he was one of the last runners to finish cross country races on a regular basis. He represented Nehru house in quiz as well.

He later graduated in Electronics &Tele-communication Engineering from REC Trichy.

Asachild, Pradeep was awarded MasterCochin titleina popularannual contest along withveteran actor Unnimarywho wasadjudged MissCochin forthesame year.

After graduation in engineering, Pradeep Joined BPL India at their Palakkad Television manufacturing unit. Not satisfied with just a job at a product manufacturing unit and brimming with ideas to run a tech company, in 1991 he began running an IT consulting company and continued to do it for 9 years.

Pradeep currently works in a Data Analytics startup in Bangalore. He is married to Bindu who is a special educator engaged in working with specially abled children in their education.

Their daughter Mrinalini is doing her final year in Mechanical Engineering at Manipal.

V P Shaji hails from Neyyattinkara, and is currently settled in Petta, in Thiruvananthapuram.

He was in Veluthampi house as sub junior and moved to Nehru house as Junior & Senior. After passing out from school in 1980, he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum. Later he joined M/s Hindustan Motors, Kolkatta in 1986 where he worked from May 1986 to March 1987.

Shaji Joined ISRO in April 1987 as Scientist Engineer SB in Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) and served ISRO in various positions for 35 years. His area of specialisation is Control systems, Components & Modules of Liquid propulsion stages and was responsible for the Quality Control & Assurance activities of Control systems, Fluid Components & Modules for Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV); Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV); Geo synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk II & Mk III). He was also responsible for the developmental activities of Cryogenic components of GSLV MK II & MK III; Semi Cryo Stage Control systems and components; Electrical Propulsion system (EPS) & Satellite components.

V.P. Shaji

In the last 5 years of his service, he involved in the development of Components & Control systems for Gaganyaan Crew Module Control systems and its two Stages (L110 stage & Cryo C25 Stage).

He retired as Scientist Engineer G / Head of Systems Reliability Control Systems & Components (SR-CSC).

His wife Jeena is presently working as HOD in Architecture in the College of Engineering , Trivandrum . His daughter Arundathi graduated in Electronics and did her post graduation in Robotics & Computation . She is presently working in Oxford University as Design Engineer in Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI).

V.P.Shajiwashonoured withanISROawardin 2013forhiscontribution inaccomplishingHigh AltitudeTestforthe CryogenicStage.

1047 Ashok K. C.

Ashok was born in Kangarappady in Ernakulam district. He studied in Kangarappady Govt School before he joined SSKZM.

He was in Tagore house as a sub junior. He was part of Tagore house football team as a goal keeper. He is supposed to have infamously fractured the little finger of left hand in a crunch match against Veluthampi, putting an end to his being a goalkeeper for the rest of his tenure in school.

In later years he represented Shivaji house, both juniors and seniors in various games like basketball, volleyball and cricket. He claims that as a wicket keeper he managed to leak too many byes and dropped several catches. He represented the school in volleyball, basketball and athletics and captained school volleyball team in 1979 80.

Ashok is at present the CEO of Suhner India, Bangalore.Hespendshis freetimeintravellingand penningshortstoriesand interesting anecdotes fromthepast.

He took part in English declamations and Hindi and Malayalam plays.

Ashok is an Electrical Engineer from REC Nagpur and holds a master‟s in production engineering from IIT Madras, Chennai. He has spent 36 years of corporate life spanning across HAL, OTIS, BFL and Suhner India the current company as the CEO.

His wife Nirmala is a Chemistry Lecturer and daughter Neha is a UX designer with McAfee Bangalore.

1049 Mukta Pande

Mukta, the lone female student among 100 male students of the batch, is the daughter of Mr. B.C. Pande, one of the seniormost masters in SSKZM. She joined SSKZM in 5th standard as a day scholar.

As a sub junior she was attached to Tagore house and in later years was in Nehru juniors. She continued in SSKZM until 7th standard and left the school in 1975 following her father‟s transfer to Sainik School Gorakhal in Nainital.

After leaving Sainik School Gorakhal, Mukta completed her graduation and post graduation in Botany from Kumaon University in Nainital. She worked as a teacher for a few years before she decided to be a home maker.

Mukta is married to Pradeep Pant, who was an officer in Indian Forest Service cadre . As her husband‟s job involved postings to various locations in India, Mukta moved along with him and set up homes in different parts of India like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh etc.

After decades of making homes away from home, she is at present settled in Bhimtal, a beautiful lake town in Kumaon in the Himalayas as her husband retired from service.

Her son and daughter in-law, Dhrupad and Namrata are corporate lawyers. Her daughter Divya is an engineer turned management graduate.

MuktaPantlivesinBhimtal, Kumaon,intheHimalayas,oneof themostbeautifulplacesinIndia.

1051 Shaju Alexander

Shaju Alexander was born in Chelad, Kothamangalam. Until the 4th grade he studied in the village, and afterward he moved to Kazhakootam to study at Sainik School. All credit to his father, T.K. Chandy, for discovering this magnificent school and mentoring him through the selection process. His mother, Lilly Chandy, gave him the strength as a young boy to attend school away from home.

Shaju joined Veluthampi house in 1972. Like any child he too experienced homesickness, but gradually found a second home with his newly bonded friends. He too enjoyed mischievous campus romps, occasional „bunking‟ to see movies, and eating delicious beef and parathas.

After the sub junior house he went into Shivaji junior and senior houses. He participated in most of the sports activities and games. He received a green card and also 1st rank in Physics (shared) in the 12th grade. He also actively participated in hobbies like philately, photography, and aeromodeling..

ShajuAlexanderhasactedintheMalayalammovie, Idavela,scriptedbyPadmarajan,oneofthemost celebratedscriptwritersinMalayalammovies,in1982.

After 12th grade Shaju joined Mahatma Phule Agricultural University at Kolhapur, and then went on to complete his MBA. Soon after his graduation he joined the Kerala State Government as an Agricultural Officer and served for 7 years.

Shaju, later immigrated to Texas, USA in 1995 after spending a few years living in Rome and Canada. Since 1995, he works as a Financial Advisor in Texas and lives with his family.

He has a son who works as a propulsion engineer and a daughter who works as a business analyst for Infosys. Shaju enjoys returning to India for Sainik OBAs and takes pride in visiting the school and his longtime friends often. His brother Benny Alexander is a Sainik Alumni too. Shaju plans dividing his time between Kerala and Texas after his retirement.

K. J. Jayanarayanan

Jayanarayanan is from Adakkaputhur, a beautiful, peaceful village near Cherpulassery in the Valluvanad region of north Kerala.

He studied in Chalakkudy up to 4th standard before he joined SSKZM in the 5th .

He started with Veluthampi house as sub-Junior and then to moved to Nehru Junior and Senior. He was an average student with no distinction in either studies or sports. After 12th standard he joined REC Calicut (now NIT) and did BTech in Civil Engineering.

After graduation, he joined Civil Engineering Division of ISRO. He worked in Bangalore and then Hyderabad during his tenure in ISRO.

Jayanarayananwasthe ChiefConstruction EngineerofISRO‟s Hyderabad unitwhenhe tookvoluntaryretirement.

While working in Hyderabad, Jayanarayanan rose to the position of Chief Construction Engineer of ISRO, Hyderabad unit. He took voluntary retirement later and moved to Perth, Australia.

Jayanarayanan is currently settled in Perth in Western Australia along with his family.

He is married to Geetha, a software Engineer. Their daughter Kavya is employed with Federal Government of Australia.

E,J, Mathews was from the illustrious Elanjikkal family in Niranam, near Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district. He was a proud member of the family though he spent his childhood in Calcutta and completed his studies up to 4th standard in the City of Joy before he joined SSKZM.

EJ or Ejamma as he was fondly called by friends, was in Tagore house in the first year. His was the last roll number in the batch. Though he had come much earlier to take admission, his father was told by school authorities to get some papers cleared and the seat was reserved for him until he returned with all necessary papers .

EJ later moved to Ashoka juniors and then to seniors in his later years in school. EJ was a good basketball player. He was member of Ashoka house in their basketball team and later represented the school in basketball.

E. J. Mathews

EJ was in 64NDA later and then in Navy. He was an Anti Submarine warfare expert, was part of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Srilanka and Aide de Camp to the Governor of Goa / Daman / Diu/ Dadra Nagar Haveli, and was awarded FOC in C Commendation-15 Aug 1999 and passed through many phases of life.

He retired from Navy in 2005 as Lieutenant Commander and took up a job in DP World.

EJ passed away on 9 July 2022. He is survived by his wife Tresa who is an interior designer in Dubai and his daughters, Rebecca and Rechelle.

You will live in our hearts for ever, dear Ejamma.

EJMathews wasadjudged bestemployee oftheyearby DPWorld, Dubai,UAE whilehewas employed there.

1603

Sangeeta Dubey

Sangeeta Mishra, nee Dubey joined SSKZM in 1979 in 11th standard after her father Squadron Leader S S Dubey ( later retired as Group Captain) was posted to SSKZM as Head Master of the school.

She was a day scholar and was allotted to Nehru seniors. Sangeeta recalls that it wasn‟t an easy life being a lone girl student in an all boys class. She had to muster courage everyday to enter the class room and take her seat in the front row as all boys in the class would watch her closely. She also remembers that her classmates were very helpful especially in science practicals.

She participated in cultural activities in the school especially dance programs which were her favourites.

Sangeeta later graduated from Regional College of Education, Mysore and joined Indian Airlines, now Air India after the merger. She worked in the airlines for 35 years, at first as a cabin crew and then as Manager, Inflight Services. She retired from Air India in 2021.

She is married to Arun Kumar Mishra who was an employee with Punjab & Sindh bank and later Axis bank. He retired as Circle Head, Axis Bank, West Bengal. Their son Ankur is working in London as a doctor in National Health Service (NHS).

Sangeeta and Arun are at present enjoying their retired life with family and friends.

Sangeetais currentlylearningtoplay golfandtabletennisandhopesto becomeagoodplayerinthenottoo distantfuture.

We do not have updated information about the batchmates listed below, though they belong to SSKZM80 family :

953 - Mani P. Mathews 1972-80

965 - Ganesh V. 1972 79 971 - Vinod M - 1972-73 973 - V. Baburaj - 1972 74 977 - K. V. Hansraj - 1972-80 984 - V. Arun Kumar - 1972 -74 997 - Joseph T. V. - 1972 80 1008 - V. R. Satish Chandran 1972-80 1010 - Sunil Tytus - 1972 80 1011 - P. Shyamkumar - 1972-80 1017 - B. Nandakumar - 1972-80 1023 - Rajan G. 1972 1975

1028 - N. Anil Kumar - 1972-80

1032 - M. N. Varghese - 1972-75 1036 - P. B. Sudesh Kumar - 1972 74 1038 - N. Gopakumar - 1972-75 1045 - Shibu A.R. 1972-75

Life as a cadet….

Reveille 0530 hrs

PT 0615 – 0645 hrs

Breakfast 0730 hrs

Assembly 0815 hrs

Classes 0830 - 1030 hrs

Break 1030 - 1045 hrs

Classes 1045 - 1205 hrs

Break 1205 - 1210 hrs

Classes 1210 - 1325 hrs

Lunch 1350 hrs

Hobbies/Library 1500 - 1600 hrs

Tea 1600 hrs

Games 1630 - 1730 hrs

Supervised Studies 1830 - 2030 hrs

Dinner 2040 hrs

Self Study 2110 - 2200 hrs

Roll Call 2200 hrs

Lights Out 2300 hrs

Where the mind is without fear….

The mind did not have any fear in participating in a cross country through unknown terrains. The possibility that one of us could lose his way or perhaps even get abducted never crossed the mind. The minds of the school administration also must have been without fear. There was no fear in collecting water from the common tank, filtering it through a towel and then drinking the same water in the night. The mind never considered all the ghastly outcomes that one tends to think in today‟s times. There was no fear in climbing up a rope to reach a height of 30 feet (with no safety harness to protect). The mind was fearless. There was no fear in doing a reverse pull up to get on to concrete ledge of the centre garden. The mind never thought of the fatal outcomes that were possible should one lose his grip.

Fearless..!

The forays into the mango groves and the coconut groves was done with carefree abandon. Mind had no fear of the consequences or fear of the possibility of wardens like “Chest Up” catching you in the act of plucking the coconuts. The first time when we went out to Vetturoad Sreekala to watch a second show flick and that too buying the cheapest tickets (thara) possible at that time, there was no hesitation or palpitation on the likelihood of being found missing from the dormitory and the consequences thereof. Mind was indeed fearless. The first puff of a Charminar cigarette elicited no fear, neither of the health consequences nor of the consequences of being found out by the house master.

Wonder if the mind can go back to the “without fear” days of SSKZM ever!

A July night, pitch dark, full of wistful sobs

When you took us in your arms with love and care Forget we shall never, dear alma mater For, in our soul lives a part of you…