CHENNAI: Nostalgia filled the air when four popular alumni of the Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School who had made their mark in sports, politics and films discussed their school days.
At ‘Wisdom Keys’, an event organised by the Don Bosco Pupil Association on Saturday, four illustrious alumni — tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran, actors Y Gee Mahendran and Venkatesh spoke about how school was both fun and discipline.
Amritraj recalled how he first asked for leave permission to watch a 1962 Davis Cup match at Egmore stadium, and when refused by the Father, faked illness, and ended up getting suspended for a week when he was caught watching the matches after bunking school.
Remembering those days of running to the tennis court immediately after school, he said it was Don Bosco that inculcated in him the spirit of sportsmanship.
“One of my most important and first achievements came when I was in school,” said Amritraj.
Even as Amritraj learnt discipline at the school, for Telugu film star Venkatesh, Don Bosco took him through the first steps of his life as an actor. He said school was where he learnt to imitate and understand all kinds of facial expressions. “Though not great in academics, I learnt all my acting from the school only,” he said.
Maran, meanwhile, expressed his happiness at having had the opportunity, by chance, to visit the birthplace of Don Bosco, at a small village near Milan in Italy.
Remarking that any student from the school was a success story, Mahendran, who also celebrated his 60th birthday at the meet, attributed his sense of humour to the school where he learnt that there was nothing like a good laugh.
Fondly remembering ‘the Haneef Ice Cream’, ‘the revered Fathers and teachers’, ‘those class bunks’ and their ‘class roll numbers’, it was an evening filled with nostalgia for the alumni.