A nostalgic reunion of Canara College alumni after 25 years: 1987 BCom batch rewinds clock

Mangalore, December 29: The 1987 batch of B Com students of Canara College came together recently, in the portals of their college in a get together organised by them for the first time in 25 years after they had graduated from the college.

It was momentous and joyous occasion for a batch of 80 students out of whom 66 attended the get together and recalled the good old memories of their student days.

Putting together 66 students who are scattered in different parts of the globe called coordinated and determined efforts and batch mate A Badrinath Kamath who was the then Union Council Secretary of the college and his team worked with a resolute mind to gather the batch mates and succeeded to a great extent. Many of them had come for the purpose of this reunion on a short holiday from US and other gulf countries.

For all of them it was once again back to college days and such an atmosphere was recreated in the college. On December 25, at 9.30 am all the students assembled at the college campus for breakfast. The function started with the hoisting of national flag and by garlanding the bust of the founder of the college Ammembal Subba Rao Pai.

The students of yesteryear sat in the same class and in the same seats (as much as possible) and Prof Sathish Bhat gave the entire class a nostalgic feeling by calling out attendance and by giving a mock lecture.

The highlight of the event was that a 10 feet cake was cut by all the 66 students to mark the occasion. A Badrinath Kamath, who was instrumental in coordinating the event with active support from a few other batch mates, termed it as “a wonderful experience” to come together after a gap of 25 years. “In these 25 years all of us have undergone marvelous changes and one or two of our classmates are all set to get their children married within a short period”, he opined.

The reunited students took the opportunity to felicitate their teachers as both college and pre-university lecturers and even retired lecturers were also invited for the get together.

Having re-lived the moments of their college days the 'students' disbursed after lunch to meet once again in the evening at “Ocean Pearl” for a family get-together. Versatile singer Srikanth Kamath, who belongs to the same batch, provided a perfect milieu for the evening family gathering through his orchestra. Principal of the college Dr G N Bhat speaking on the occasion appreciated the students for the success they have achieved in their career and in different walks of life. He recalled the indelible mark left by this batch by setting up a garden, the precedent they have set by celebrating Sharada Pooja at College and the social service they rendered by their active participation in National Social service.

On the occasion the reunited students of the batch decided to institute two scholarships in the name of the 1987 batch to two meritorious and needy students of the college. The classmates who collected the email IDs and mobile numbers of their batch mates disbursed after dinner but with a promise to be in touch and to meet again. Badrinath Kamath thanked all his batch mates for making it an enlivening and memorable event.