October 1, 2009

Class of 1974 has a Get Together

The Class of 1974 held a Get Together which was attended by over 50 Old Publicans of the Class of 1974 from all over Pakistan and abroad. The Get Together was held at the DHA Golf and Country Club, Karachi.

Photographs of the get together can be viewed by clicking the thumbnails below. These photographs are courtesy of Ishtiaq Hussain Mir. An interesting write by Syed Muhammad Babar is also given below.

Holding the world together

Publican Ishtiaq Mir was here from England and so it was time for the oldies of 1974 batch of Cantt Public School, Karachi to sit together and try to rekindle the flames of the bygone era of carefree splendor, gaiety and promise. But this time around, Ishtiaq wanted to make it big by contacting as many people as possible and celebrate the reunion in a grand style. A vigorous campaign was launched through a dedicated team of friends to gather as many contacts as possible. Lists were constantly made and refreshed till such time everyone was sure that almost each one of the batch has been approached and extended the invitation to the get-together. The re-union was actually a revival of the tradition set by Ishtiaq in 1994 when the class of 1974 assembled on the 20th anniversary of its passing out from the school. That occasion was graced by our beloved Principal Mr. Alvi and other teachers.

The date was 1, October 2009 and the venue was the sprawling lawns of DHA Golf Club. Publicans started to turn up as early as 8 O clock and by 8:30 PM, a bunch of forty plus 'old boys and girls' was trying to intermingle; bravely attempting to remember old faces, some of which were showing up after all those 35 years which separated us from the day when we finally said good bye to our beloved school in 1974. Participation of 'old girls' in a decent number was particularly heartwarming. Some fellow publicans even traveled from far of cities to join the gathering.

The scene at the venue was hard to express in words. Whenever a new entrant was seen approaching from a distance, all those already there would start a guessing game. "I think its Nadeem", someone would quip. "And who is with him? Sohial ... no I think he is Imran ... at least he looks like him." Some oldsters were hard to recognize but a few lucky ones were surprisingly able to maintain their old looks, more or less. Soon the air was full of nostalgic emotions that one feels at such occasions. Long forgotten incidences were retrieved from the memory data bank and inquiries were made about friends whose contacts had been lost.

Ishtiaq began the proceedings by reciting verses from holy Quran followed by Fateha for the departed souls of our teachers and ex-students. He took time to express the importance to keep meeting each other on a regular basis and to make such gatherings truly meaningful. Then everybody present introduced himself/herself and it was satisfying to know that most of us had utilized the foundation provided by our school to achieve glory in our respective fields and professions. Souvenirs in the shape of nicely crafted key chains with our school's emblem etched on one side and class of 1974 on the other were distributed. After the vote of thanks from Publican Syed Ayaz Mahmood, dinner was served. Having gone through with the photo session, the guest dispersed with something to take back home and sweet memories to cherish.

At a small gathering of friends, a few days later, Ishtiaq was presented with a shield on behalf of the class of 1974 to thankfully acknowledge his unwavering resolve which has kept all of us together throughout all these years.

Cantt Public was not just a school for us. It was the focal point of our lives which helped us to shape up the world we later on had to inhabit.

Syed Muhammad Babar
Class of 1974