It's 7 am and the Bishop School assembly ground is filling up fast, as students, (some in sports rig, others in the school uniform), trickle in. However, even as they line up for the morning assembly, there’s a group of men in their 40s, also dressed in the Bishop School uniform, standing opposite the library. Attracting many curious glances, these old boys of the 1984 batch are agog with excitement, as they begin their four-day reunion with the morning assembly.

When the headmaster tells students to line up, everyone, including the batch of ’84, stride across the few yards to the front of the ground and stand in two neat lines, just like they used to, 25 years ago. “We’ve all become taller, larger and rounder, but as we gather here once more, after 25 years, this is one of the most memorable days of our lives,” Rohit Khanna, head boy of the ’84 batch, speaks for all his batchmates as he addresses the assembly. “Although you may not believe it today, when you are out in the big, bad world, you’ll need these memories to keep you strong,” said Khanna, a documentary producer with an English TV channel. “We remember how Bishop School in 1984 was synonymous with a cosmopolitan culture and inclusiveness. That is partially the reason why we’ve all turned out to be well-rounded individuals,” he said.

The brainchild of Rohit Pandhare, Manoj Phulphagar, Himanshu Chitnis and Kumar Kundanmal, the idea was first floated in January, after which the quartet created a Facebook community for the get-together. “We then designed a spreadsheet and asked for responses from our batchmates, now settled across the world. After a couple of months, out of 120 students in the batch, we identified 93 and contact 77. As many as 42 have turned up and we expect some more batchmates to join us over the next four days, taking the total to nearly 50,” said Rohit Pandhare, who runs a successful fruit export business.

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