SJCC 1993-98 - 25th Year Reunion - An Emotion Revisited and Relived

About 50 people from various walks of life congregated for the 25th year reunion (Class of 1998) on the 13th of August 2023. This was no ordinary day. It was a day that made people over the age of 40, feel at least 20 years younger. But more importantly, this day generated an individual and collective emotional crescendo unlike any other, and one to be cherished forever. More importantly, it was a day that reinforced a very simple but powerful element of life that is sublime and truly divine, called friendship. 

The group is united by virtue of having walked through the hallowed portals of St. Joseph's of College of Commerce (SJCC), Bangalore during 1993-98. That is an institution which is known to shape people's character, not just provide education. And that character, coupled with extreme, high emotion was on ample display at this reunion.

After a handful of folks first assembled on the hallowed turf of SJCC in the morning, the singing of the college anthem in chorus was the first piece to kickstart this memorable day. The initial greetings of friends from yesteryear was a sight to behold, with the bewildered college watchman having to upskill his photographic skills to capture many a candid moment on camera! Singing the famous Joseph’s college anthem (so to speak!) with high decibel levels, in unison and smiling with pride made many of us remember our former days on this sacred campus. To even see a couple of folks walk up to the current crop of students (albeit female!), take photo-ops with them and sing the college anthem in parallel, was reminiscent of the naughtiness of yesteryear, interwoven with immense pride, responsibility and joy, that being a Josephite bestows on us. 

Some interesting twists included folks re-introducing themselves to others, as many were unrecognisable due to the natural evolution called age!

The group walk from the college grounds to the venue of the reunion was a dial back in time. All of us must have walked up and down Brigade Road back in 1993-98. While the street may be unrecognisable with all the commercial changes in it, the sentiment and thrill of walking up the long street did rejig many memories. Some may have recalled an ice-cream shop from yesteryear, others may have remembered the name of the restaurant where they had their first college date, some may have recalled specific milestones of their lives (buying a first rose, or a greeting card!), while most folks would have remembered the many birthday parties/hangouts (courtesy, bunking classes!). By extension, some folks may have even remembered the Brigade Road signal as the turning point for a walk to the erstwhile Galaxy theatre or the evergreen Pub World, or indeed longer walks with longer conversations for folks who boarded buses from Mayo Hall!

The restaurant bookings were well-organised and easy to navigate. But what certainly wasn't organised (and rightly so), was the unprecedented flow of emotion that hit most people in the group right after entering the restaurant. While the drinks and the food were according to script, the high quality of the warm, fun-filled conversations had absolutely no script. Steeped in high emotion, people met each other with the warmest (and at times, longest!) of hugs possible, coupled with the broadest of smiles and good wishes for each other. A polite hi, a quiet re-introduction, an exchange of current phone numbers, and then sitting down to having long, meaningful conversations happened seamlessly. While that may seem perfectly normal in a group setting, what cannot be described adequately enough is the warmth of greeting a fellow mate from the past. Even if he/she did not recognise the other! 

Of this group of 50, there were enough number of people who had not met at all for the entire duration of the last 25 years. And in some instances, about 15-20 years. Such folks actually had a very special reunion i.e., met 1-1, at times in extreme corners of the restaurant just to see each other's face all over again, laugh together, talk about each other's lives, drink and reminisce their very own divine times together from the past. That perhaps, had the highest possible emotion during the day, as these folks were awestruck, mesmerised and immensely elated to meet his/her friend who they cared about deeply, even after 20-25 years! In some of these conversations, the spoons barely moved from the plate to people's mouths, as folks were engrossed in the shield of an emotional bond, and lost in deep conversations that were far more concentrated than the ingredients used to prepare the food or drink in front of them! Imagine, not having met your best friend from college (doesn't matter if it was male/female), for the last 25 years? People quite literally, took off from where they left off in 1998. The emotional expressions in these conversations can never be justified by any camera's capabilities.

Interspersed in this maze, was clearly the leg pulling and recounting of specific events or experiences on college campus. Untold stories surfaced, past encounters with the opposite sex were seamlessly floated around, and there was extraordinarily good banter. Almost as a natural event, boys and girls (well, adults in their 40s now!) hit the dance floor and danced away to glory. Some of the guys even managed to focus their attention on specific ladies in the room and invited them onto the dance floor. And the lovely ladies obliged their male friends, without a hitch and without battling an eyelid, and hit the dancefloor immediately. It wasn't as hard for the boys to convince the girls now, compared to 20 years ago, when there may have been more competitors/suitors in the mix!

By contrast, discussions were also very professional in terms of trying to gauge and understand the dynamics of people's jobs, careers, industries and indeed work lives. The obvious contra to this was personal/family life or medical updates - sadly, not everyone had a universally happy update to share. Understandably, and quite brilliantly, the emotion in the room was elevated when people learnt of the distress in some of their mates' lives. There is this thing about this class from 1998 - we know to stand for each other, come what may.

While this blogpost is written on the 14th of August, 2023, the sea of emotion that has flown through in the group chat and in individual chats overnight and today, is quite unprecedented. Folks who attended yesterday's event are generally in a mesmerised, emotional state and most people are repeatedly finding it hard to focus on an actual day of work today. Perhaps, this underscores a moot point that human interaction, warmth, love, care with genuine, real friendship will never be passe. In an overly hyperconnected world, we still have real human beings craving for care, connect and attention. 

Yesterday is gone, today is here, and tomorrow will come. But, for those of us fortunate enough to be at the reunion yesterday, the high emotion that was experienced will never be forgotten. And in my humble view, SJCC at its very core is an emotion. Hard to express it in words, but quite sublime to experience. The 50 of us yesterday (and the broader set of friends who unfortunately couldn't make it to the reunion), will hopefully note what a treasured life experience we had from 1993-98. Every moment from those 5 defining years (personal and/or professional), is something to cherish forever and ever, irrespective of the idiosyncrasies of life.

Cheers to the next 25 years!