It was Yesterday Once More for Kolkata's South Pointers as they meet at Toronto's 'Yaaron Ka Adda' cafe

This adda with school mates by the enthusiastic group is an adventure of sorts for the middle-aged Pointers as they keep the errands and better halves at bay to get together on a long weekend evening and renew their bond of love, learning and shared childhood.

The group that met was founded on Whatsapp and Facebook around 2019 by some ex-students of South Point, who chose Canada as their new address to begin their new innings of life.

Nostalgia overwhelmed the group about the carefree days of learning and growing together at South Point- be it at the building of Mandeville Gardens or Ballygunge Place (the high school) or their neighbourhood hangout Durga Bari.

The memories of enjoying lip-smacking achaar (pickle) or fuchka with friends after school or playing hand cricket on the dusty courtyard of the school or sharing and even stealing tiffins from friends and then stepping into precocious adolescence got the better of the group once again.

Pandemic has forced the group to live in solitude for nearly two years, but it could not snatch their desire to rejigger the school days.

Finally the school students were back with adda with some street foods over a cup of tea.

Whenever a group of Bengalis meet and if they are having deep Kolkata connection the what always pops in  mind is food.

Debu, Parasar, Pradipto, Suman and Raj agreed that what they miss in Toronto is  Kolkata's sweet shops.

"Let’s all hope this brainstorming will lead to starting a restaurant someday serving Kolkata food and sweets to make our dreams come true," says Suman Das, who passed out of school in 1986.

While most of the Pointers who met at the adda were men, Madhusree, who showed up a little late leaving her children at home, was an exception.

Her presence reminds the group that they belonged to a coeducational form of schooling (not many back then) and gender hardly ever mattered for forming bonds of friendship. Instead what it bred was the mind to be gender neutral in seeing things.

Soumyajit is another participant who came late but was sporting the  school uniform with a tie and a naughty boy shoe. The poor guy said he had Shivratri duties to perform at home.

The group had an excellent photo session but missed many of their batch mates.

The group would meet again on March 19.

South Point School, an English-medium and co-educational school, opened its gates at 16 Mandeville Gardens on 1 April 1954, barely seven years after India won Independence.

It captured the popular imagination since the moment of its foundation.

Mr. Satikanta Guha and his wife Pritylata Guha, Founder and Associate Founder of the School, nurtured earliest Pointers – just twenty in number — with an inspired mix of love, care and utmost responsibility.

To help the Founders fulfil their vision and mission was a handful of dedicated teachers. And, the initial faculty was an enviable collection of stalwarts from the cultural, literary and artistic milieu of Bengal. Their genius improved manifold the ambience of creative purposefulness so that every child who crossed the gates of the early, quaint bungalow knew his or her potential would never be left unfulfilled.