The new army chief may not have heard of this yet, but his alma mater Sainik School, Kunjpura, has just made a new entry in its annual calendar. October 1, the day Gen Deepak Kapoor took over from Gen JJ Singh, has been officially designated ‘Deepak Kapoor Day’.

“It’s a red letter day. A student from our first batch has made it to top in the Indian Army — it’s a rare honour,” beamed Group Capt Suresh Kumar, the principal, as he made his way past balloons and streamers, remnants of Deepak Kapoor Day.

Kunjpura was one of the first Sainik schools to be commissioned in the spring of 1961. Sainik schools were the brainchild of then Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon who saw these schools as centres of excellence where rural students could be trained for the armed forces.

Kapoor’s elevation comes at a time when the school is toiling to regain its past glory. Reputed for its high standards during its infant years under Lt Col E.J. Simeon, the school had of late begun to show signs of ageing.

Principal Kumar still remembers the shock he got when a day after he joined in March 2005, a group of parents said they wanted to take their children away. “They said their village schools had better classrooms,” recalled Kumar.

One round of the school and he could see the rot. The walls had cracks, the ceilings threatened to cave in, the beams were bare and the musty smell was enough to drive away the devil. As if this wasn’t enough, the electricity played truant.

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