Participants: Raj Vedantam (1976), Swasticharan (1988), Ronnie (1988), Kalyan (1988), Basanta RK(1988), Bhalindra (1993), Imo (1994), Socrates(1998).

The minutes of the meeting:

The initial hour or so was spent on recollecting nostalgic moments gone by with almost everyone chipping in with stories of “during our time”. Finally we get down to business. Most of the things on the proposed agenda was discussed.

The summary of the discussion is as follows:

• Fr. George was requested to share what exactly he has in mind and what he expects from us.
• We explained whatever progress we have made so far : incidentally, he was unaware of some of the groundwork done by us as he was unable to access them primarily due to poor connectivity at Imphal added with the heavy volume of traffic of the group.
• After discussing the dates, activities to be carried out, events to be hosted, committees to be hosted, it was finally decided that Fr and the team at Imphal will list out all the probable activities, events to be conducted as part of the celebration, fix a timeline for each of the events, and calculate possible expenditure for each of the events. From such an exercise, we will have a rough idea of the kind of budget we require. The team in Imphal will also mention the budget available so far, preferably for each of the events/items. This exercise has to be completed at the earliest as everything else that we can do will “start” from here. As most of the activities/events/item have already been listed exhaustively, they simply have to modify/improve upon the existing list and then proiritise.
• The meeting ended with a sumptuous meal from the Manipur pavilion – what with mangal ootee, eromba, nga atauba with the added “Manipuri” feeling, it more than added for the delay – we had our lunch by 3pm!! The discussions were so invigorating that we almost lost tract of time.
• We broke up at 4pm with Fr presenting us with some of the books he wrote.

ITEMWISE BREAKUP

• The mode of celebration, list of events, dates. Father wants the celebration as refective of the values of St.John Bosco/Don Bosco, and not merely the commemoration of a school turning 50. Accordingly most of the events should have this underlying theme – catering to the poor and needy, spreading the message of love, brotherhood and above all, imparting quality education to all, regardless of their background, caste, creed or religion. Some of the items/events added in the list Fr includes having a symposium wherin the resource persons are invited to give their views on such subjects “the present system of education in Manipur”; Role/Contribution of DBS in the education system of Manipur.
• Carry out several socially related activites aimed specifically at the underpriviledged and poors like taking a group of handicapped children on a picnic, treating them to a sumptuous meal, providing clothes for them etc
• Have a construction which is commemorative of the Jubilee and would be of use to the students in particular. This can be a Students Centre; an Indoor stadium, a Jubilee Hall, extended classrooms for higher classes / higher secondary wing etc having a memorial for the Fathers who were gunned down by militants
• Having get together of past pupils batchwise or for groups of batches like 1966-1970, 1970-75 etc. During such get-togethers some of the past Teachers can also be invited.
• The activities are to be spread out throughout the year i.e from March 2007 to March 2008. The celebrations will kick off with a Grand opening, preferably in March 2007 and culminates with a Grand Finale in March 2008. There will be no 2-5 day event as thought of earlier. The competitive events like the cultural items (song/dance etc), sports, academics etc will also be spread out through the year, say football tournament in March, Cricket in April, Badminton in May, Quiz in June, Song and Dance in July etc. (these are to be finalised in the calendar of events to be drawn up and prioritized as mentioned earlier). All the “finals” of the events will be with-held and kept for the “Grand Finale” where the “Finals” of the events hosted throughout the year and the prize distribution will be held.

Budget

• Fr George has mentioned that the budget from the school side is almost negligible, but he may be able to raise some 2-3 lakhs by imposing a onetime fee of some Rs 200 per student.
• The contribution of the Salesians/Catholic society is still not clear, Fr may clarify.
• Fr say he already has some funds from Italy for the upgradation and renovation of the Boarding rooms of the old hostel which Is already underway. He may be able to utilize some of that money for some of the events especially for the socially related activities. He is also willing to shell out around a lakh from his own pocket from the proceeds of sale of his books. Rest he is going to depend on us.

Alumni Association

• With respect to the formation of the association, he mentioned that there is a set norm for the formation of Don Bosco Alumni Associations wherein the memoranda, by-laws and other nitty-gritty details have already been done by other DB Alumni. He was requested to pass on the details so that we can form our association on the set pattern so that we become part of the international society of past students of DBS as well.

Participants : Father George and Past Students based in Imphal

Outcome : 15 past pupils have volunteer to organize the Golden Jubilee