CHANDIGARH: Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Monday visited his alma mater, British-era St Edward’s School in Shimla during his two-day visit to the Hill state.
Ansari, who spent part of his childhood in the summer capital of the then British India, spent some time with students, teachers and staff of iconic school. The V-P also took a tour of the school buildings and classrooms. In a brief address, Ansari said he was thrilled to return to his school and that the visit brought back sepia-tinted memories. On being asked by a student about what he learnt from the school, he replied politely, “The school disciplined my life.”
According to the school records, Ansari was admitted to the sixth standard on June 3, 1949 and he left the school after passing the seventh standard in 1951. His admission number was 1453. His younger brother Haris Ansari was admitted to the school in the fifth standard on the same day with admission number 1454. He left the school after completing the sixth standard in 1951.
The register mentions that their father, M A Aziz Ansari, was a superintendent of insurance, government of India.
St. Edward’s, a prominent boys’ school, was opened on March 9, 1925, in the Milsington Estate. Brother J C Doheny was its founder and principal. It boasts of alumni like ace cricketer Kapil Dev, former Super Cop K P S Gill and Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
This was Ansari’s second visit to his alma mater. Prior to this, he had visited the school on April 15, 2009. He will visit the Himachal Pradesh University on Tuesday to confer degrees and will be staying at the historic Barnes Court, where the Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan was inked after the Indo-Pak War of 1971. It is now Himachal Pradesh Raj Bhawan.
Earlier, state Irrigation Minister Vidya Stokes, Social Justice Minister, who is Minister-in-waiting, Dr.(Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil and other senior officers received Ansari at Annadale helipad in Shimla.