Beyond Attendance Sheet: A Reunion, a Return, a Reminder

Prayagraj: The calendar may record it as just three days, but for a group of alumni (of the SJC,Allahabad’76 Batch of ICSE), returning to their roots, the recent reunion felt like something far larger-time folding back on itself, like an old letter reopened after half a century, with laughter still intact between its lines. This was not a reunion in the usual sense-an event to attend and move on from. For those who came in from different cities by train, flight, and road, it became a return to a part of themselves that only old friends can unlock. As one alumnus reflected, some friendships don’t merely survive time; they outgrow it-older than the years, and younger than the heart. Journeys that carried more than luggage. Even before everyone arrived, something familiar had already begun. The jokes “found their old addresses.” Conversations resumed as if they had only been paused, not forgotten. In a world obsessed with speed and schedules, the gathering offered a gentle reminder: the most stubborn force in the universe may not be gravity but belonging. High tea, and the “taste of recognition.”

A high tea hosted by Samir Shreni, (at the famous Shehenshah Restaurant), became an early highlight-delicious in flavour, but deeper in meaning. Life had edited everyone: lines added, hair subtracted, bodies slower, minds richer, silences wiser. And yet, behind the newer versions, the originals still shone through. It was the peculiar grace of reunion—realising that while faces change, the personality of the soul often does not. An evening crafted with affection. An evening hosted by Rahul Sripat, another Alumni of the Batch like Samir, a renowned Sr Advocate of the Allahabad HC, was described by attendees as “curated” only in the most affectionate sense-less a formal programme, more a homecoming.

Small ceremonies unfolded naturally: Ruchi and Prashant Gaur, and later Neelakshi and Ashok Rai, and Madhavi and Sanjeev Lochan Sharma, (the three couples from the batch who had their wedding anniversaries falling within these three days), marked their anniversaries with cake-cutting, music, and warmth. There was a duet by Ruchi and Prashant on Day One, not performed to impress, but to belong. Neelakshi and Ashok danced with the ease that only long companionship earns.Madhavi and Sanjeev brought their own music and mischief into the air. These, participants said, were not performances; they were reminders of what endures.In a world that trains people to compete, prove, and appear, the reunion offered something rarer: the relief of not needing to be anything-because acceptance had already been granted. Remembering those who were not present.

The next day, the reunion took on the rhythm of a festival-endless gupshups, photographs, and sudden pauses when a name, a classroom corner, or a shared memory rose up and quietly sat beside them.And then came the emotional tide that every long reunion eventually reaches: the remembrance of friends who are no longer here. But the group did not speak of them as “gone.” After all, still living in our hearts, they just went “beyond”, but never “away”. They spoke their names warmly, as if inviting them back into the room-into empty chairs, unfinished sentences, and the sudden moisture in the eyes that has nothing to do with age and everything to do with love. Dancing, not as celebration, but as clarity. One evening ended in dance-spirited, unselfconscious, and full[1]hearted. But as one alumnus put it, they danced not because tomorrow doesn’t exist, but because tomorrow is never guaranteed. Fifty years brings a particular clarity: people stop postponing joy, stop rationing affection, and stop being miserly with hugs, gratitude, and words like “I missed you.” Love, they said, is not merely a feeling to enjoy; it is a truth to practise.The school as pulse, not place.

On the 3rd day, the group returned to their alma mater St. Joseph’s College, Allahabad—many describing it not as a visit, but as the homecoming of the inner child. Walking the familiar spaces brought back chalk-dust discipline, mischief-lit friendships, and early rehearsals of courage. Teachers, principals, punishments, prizes-all were remembered. But beneath that was a deeper recognition: they were once young together, and in some quiet way, they remain young for each other. Lunch at Rakesh Pande’s place(another alumni, who is now a renowned Sr Advocate at the Allahabad HC), added another layer of warmth, followed by a closing gathering at Arif’s (also an alumni who has been a distinguished Professor at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute),described as a “Beating the Retreat” of sorts: not an ending that shuts a chapter, but one that seals it with grace. Retreat, they reminded themselves, does not mean defeat; it means cadence, order, and the disciplined beauty of an ending that is also a beginning.

What made it work: Many credited the organisers, but with a notable humility: taking names, several felt, would miss the point. Some people organised; others simply showed up fully—and both were seen as forms of love. In an age of shallow connections, what unfolded here was not networking or socialising, but belonging.

A closing that felt like a calling: There was also a sobering truth spoken aloud: no one knows the attendance sheet of the 55th reunion. Life, as one attendee observed, is not a timetable but a set of appointments we do not get to confirm. Seats may be empty next time-perhaps even one’s own. But an empty seat, they said, is not always absence; sometimes it becomes a different kind of presence-urging those who remain to love louder, meet more often, and hold each other more gently.

What the alumni said they carried home was not just photographs or nostalgia, but something more enduring: a “spiritual asset,” an inoculation against cynicism, and a pledge-unspoken but real-to live with fewer postponements and more presence.As the gathering ended, one refrain lingered like a blessing rather than a sadness: And with that, the old motto of SJC rose again-familiar, steady, and newly alive: Semper Sursum – always upward and ahead, not only in achievement, but in spirit.-Sanjeev Bhargava, an Alumni of the SJC 1976 Batch, pours his heart out in capturing the essence of the Golden Jubilee Reunion of the 1976 Batch of ICSE at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Allahabad.