A while ago, I came across the above paper going through a treasure trove of old documents stashed away in suitcases and boxes during the years I was away! It was clearly notes from a high school reunion planning meeting — reunion of St. Xavier’s School and St. Mary’s School class of ’87! (St. Mary’s is St. Xavier’s all-girls sister (!) school, separated by just a wall at the back!)
The document perplexed and intrigued me however! I couldn’t remember (and still don’t) how the reunion actually went. I even wondered if it had taken place at all. So, I dug into my external hard drives to find out more, certain of there being more, especially since the page had a number (4) at the top right corner! Sure enough there were.
I discovered more meeting notes such as the one above. As a matter of fact, five in total — notes for from the very first meeting held on July 5 (click here and here for them) to the very last one held on July 24 (click here and here for them).
In addition to meeting notes, I had digital records of a number of documents. We had sent invitation letters to our teachers, such as this one addressed to Fr. Robbins. Sponsorship request letters, such as this one, “Thank you” letters to sponsors, such as this one, had also been sent. I had produced a financial report, a document detailing the responsibilities of all those involved in the organization of the event and also a program!
Strangely enough, I still couldn’t recall anything of the August 2, 1997 event except for a single vague memory of seeing a classmate, who I didn’t recognize and, thinking he must be in the wrong place, approaching him and asking him what he was doing there! I couldn’t be sure if that had occurred at the ten-year reunion or at some other event!
The other reason this is strange is that the first reunion I helped organize and run — our one-year reunion way back in 1988 — I have very clear memories of…still! That particular reunion was memorable for all the right reasons as well as for two wrong reasons! 🙁
That reunion was a grand success. Everyone enjoyed it greatly. I certainly did and have loads of fond memories of the afternoon and evening! The highlight of the evening had been the live act — a band called CrissCross! Apart from two members — a guitarist and the drummer — all the members of the band had been our own classmates!
The wrong reasons behind the event being memorable were the potential physical violence at the end, which had threatened to mar the whole event. One was against me and the other against the drummer of the band.
Though a number of us had organized the event, if my memory serves me right, no MC has been designated, and so I had ended up running the show. Turned out, some of the classmates had taken issues with that in spite of the fact that I had stepped in to fill the role reluctantly when no one had. Unable to digest my taking the helm and directing most of the activities etc., some of them had conspired to “teach me a lesson” after the event: they had planned to beat me up.
(Friends who shared this information with me also shared the name of the mastermind behind it. Since then, neither have I confronted him about this nor have I had anything to do with him. I have met him just once in the last thirty years…randomly at that!)
As for the threat of violence against the drummer, turned out a gang of local boys, who had had run-ins with him in the past, had learned of his presence at the venue. A number of them had been waiting outside with the idea of jumping him and bashing him up when leaving the venue.
On discovering this, a number of us were preoccupied with providing the drummer safe passage out of the area, which we managed to do. To make a long story short, we bundled him into a car which was able to drive him away to safety without alerting the boys outside.
It was able to do so for one because its windows were tinted. For another because of the kind of car it was! Had the gang outside known — or found out — about the occupant they couldn’t have done anything because it was the official vehicle of a Minister – the father of a classmate — clearly identifiable by the combination of three things: its color, the flag on one side of the bonnet and the license plate!
Ironically, while a whole bunch of us had done what we could to make sure the drummer — who was NOT a classmate — was not beaten up by OUTSIDERS, some classmates had been conniving to assault me, one of their own!!
I think our preoccupation around preventing him from being assaulted, inadvertently, thwarted the plans of my fellow classmates assaulting me!
In spite of the bad taste all that had left me with, I seem to have put all that aside and appear to have been very heavily involved in the planning and organization of the ten-year reunion. For some reason though, to me it does not appear to have been anywhere near as memorable as the first one!
It certainly must not have had the same kind of drama…otherwise I would have most likely remembered! 😀 😀
Do you have a similar story to share?
