Dear Mayo College,
आज खुश तो बहुत होगे!!
तुम्हारे पास पलाश सेन है, सोनू निगम है, वोग में फीचर्ड हो — और nostalgia में डूबे हुए हो!!
और मेरे पास क्या है?
बस साथ हैं तो वो पांच साल की बेमिसाल यादें… और अभी हो रहे फोमो का भयंकर रिएक्शन!!
Very few institutions in India — or the world — can boast of the heritage and legacy you hold. Built over 150 years for royalty, now carried forward across the globe by your brand ambassadors — your proud alumni.
Words will fail me and yet I will still express की आप मेरी लाइफ क्यूँ matter करते रहोगे –
Thank you for the roller coaster ride from 1988 to 1993.
From tear-filled letters back home to the madness of Free Sundays.
From a crying, homesick 11-year-old to a confident, informed, independent lad five years later.
From those monthly tonga rides to the dentist (yes, braces for buckteeth!) — and being billed for it in the semi-annual statements.
From my first friend in Ajay Pal House — Anurag Saboo — to a network that now spans cities and continents.
From KJ Mehta to the finicky Uncle at Kitab Ghar.
From Sher-e-Punjab to Honey Dew to the uber-luxurious Mansingh.
From cramped, hot, suffocating (yet magnificent) assembly hall to the corners and alleys that remained ours.
There are smells and tastes that still, after three decades, bring back your memories.
The scent of first rains — running from mess to hostel.
Bread and bhujia with ketchup — my eternal comfort food.
Nivea cream — pure hostel nostalgia.
Hot water gargles — memories of Dr. Ericson and the Anglo-Indian nurses.
From prayers in the assembly to those whispered at the temple — some still etched in memory.
From verbal abuse to corporal punishment to bullying — things that wouldn’t survive today’s education system, but were part of ours.
From dressing up as a woman in a play called Kitty Party — yes, that digitized video still exists, and no, I’m not sharing it!
No principal, for me, matches Mr. HL Dutt — white Contessa, pipe, and impeccable style. I still wonder why today’s head mustn’t be a career educationist. It’s an educational institute, not a military academy.
There were biases. I was teased — not kindly — for my political background.
Some teachers needed a reason just to be extra friendly with the boys.
But we got a mini version of the world in you — some amazing people, and some I’m glad I never met again.
It was part of growing up. It made us harder, but never bitter.
Thank you for shaping me. For memories that remain stuck in 1993. For being part of every batch’s story — from Instagram bios to car stickers to lifelong pride.
Go Mayo !!
Forever Grateful,
Deepak Sukhadia – 691
dsukhadia.com 