Maharani Gayatri Devi shool guild comes to Mumbai

Anupama Jain laughs when she recounts how the Mumbai chapter of the Jaipur-based MGD (Maharani Gayatri Devi) school guild happened. She was at a dinner with her husband and friends when she met up with an ex-MGDian and they hit it off instantly simply because they were from the same alma mater. “Why do you girls connect simply because you are from the same school?” her husband and his friends questioned her mock-exasperatedly!

And when she related this to batch mate Namita Agarwal, director DNA and Sunita Jain, the idea was born to set up an alumni association that was Mumbai’s own. “It was also because we realised there were so many MGDians in Mumbai,” explains Namita (1990 batch) and the fact there is “a strong sense of family” that is there within them from school days.

That sense of family brought together alumni from 1961 to 2002 batches! And that too, purely by word of mouth (there were no ads, no posts on Facebook or tweets). And why not? “After all, whatever I am, it is because of the education I had in the school,” says fashion designer Sudha Golcha Nahata (1961 batch), who has been part of the meetings that the Mumbai guild has had.

Ditto for Kiran Bajaj (1962 batch), a school principal. “It is such a pleasure to meet other alumni. I spent five years in the school but those were surely the best years of my life,” she says.

That ‘school feeling’ drove Arpita Gupta nee Modi (1989 batch) to make the effort too. Arpita, who now runs Jaipur’s Neerja Modi school from Mumbai, laughs, “I almost feel 16 again!”

Suniti Sharma, the school principal and guild president, understands the alumni’s attachment with the school and feels proud of the newest chapter, which, she says, is going strong. “Guild get-togethers are the best way to keep students connected long after they leave the school,” she insists.

“You know, when we met, we had alumni ranging from 1961 to the present,” Namita  exclaims. “And when you have such a good mix of women, with a strong educational background and similar thinking, it makes sense to carry forward the values and ethics imbibed at school,” she adds.

So, while the first two meetings have helped these dynamic alumni bond, she says, the next step is for the guild to take up good causes that they can jointly lend their strength to.

Deepali Goenka (1987 batch) agrees with this wholeheartedly. Director with Welspun India, she says, “While it is nice to network and connect with the alumni, there are a lot of things we can learn from each other.” 

Deepali, who is strongly committed to empowering women and the girl child (she supports Bachpan in a big way), would like to see the Mumbai guild take up “purposeful” issues. Like education of girls, perhaps, because, she says thoughtfully, “If you educate a woman, you educate a family”. A good thought to look forward to, wouldn’t you agree?