The Backwaters of Time: Our KV CBE Reunion in Alleppey

Forty years disappeared in forty minutes!

From October 10 to 12, 2025, sixteen of us — the batch of 1985 from Kendriya Vidyalaya Coimbatore — gathered at the picturesque Sterling Lake Palace Resort in Alleppey. It was our 40th birthday as a batch, and we celebrated it not with candles and cake, but with laughter and shared memories, floating together in a houseboat on the serene Kerala backwaters.

 

Forty years young — celebrating our batch birthday.

The setting could not have been more poetic — a palace resort surrounded by shimmering waters, gentle breezes, and the occasional sound of oars slicing through stillness. Yet, the magic wasn’t in the location; it was in us — friends who had grown older, greyer, and hopefully wiser, but whose hearts still beat to the rhythm of the morning assembly bell of KV CBE.

 

Back to School — Literally

We decided to go the whole way. Our reunion wasn’t about nostalgia in words — we wore it. Each of us came dressed in our school attire, specially recreated T-shirts for the houseboat trip, and the traditional Kerala dress for the dinner. For a few hours, we weren’t professionals, parents, or grandparents. We were the same group that shared benches, tiffins, and secrets four decades ago.

 

The serene Alleppey backwaters — our classroom for the day.

 

The houseboat drifted like a memory — calm, reflective, endless.

Back in uniform, back in time. KV CBE, forever in our hearts.

Why School Reunions Feel Different

Over the years, I’ve attended college and professional gatherings, but this one felt… pure. Someone said, “School reunions are better than college — there are no baggages or inhibitions. We weren’t in competition then.” That’s true. There were no comparisons, no pretensions — only affection unburdened by time.

The uniform that time couldn’t fade— our reunion T-shirt.

Reunions like this aren’t about networking or nostalgia; they’re about renewal. As one of us put it beautifully: “It’s a recharge for a couple of years — a booster dose for the soul.” And perhaps that’s why these moments feel priceless — because no amount of money can buy them.

 

Laughter, Reflections, and Rediscoveries

There was laughter that shook the boat, gentle teasing, and quiet moments of reflection too. We talked about families — children who are now professionals, some even becoming in-laws or parents themselves. We shared our journeys, struggles, and small victories.

Someone remarked that the “pleasure in meeting was way ahead of the location.” True again — Alleppey was beautiful, but friendship made it divine.

Forty years of friendship— celebrated in white and gold.

The evening dinner in Kerala attire felt like a closing ceremony of sorts — but with mischiefs, not medals. Suppressed activities of school days were revealed amidst laughter, and old pranks found new audiences. The joy of learning from each other’s life experiences — beyond school, beyond textbooks — was humbling.

 

A Celebration Beyond Time

We weren’t just celebrating 40 years of passing out of school. We were celebrating the unbroken thread that still connects us — invisible yet strong. Each of us has walked different paths since 1985, but somehow, we all converged again at this point — sixteen dots forming the same constellation.

As I looked around the table that night, I realized: Reunions are not returns. They are renewals — of friendship, of laughter, of the child within us.

At a time when many of us struggle for peace and happiness amidst life’s noise, this gathering was a timely reminder: peace often lives in familiar faces and old stories.

 

The calm backwaters — a mirror to our memories.

  

Epilogue: The Real Lesson

We may have left school 40 years ago, but the lessons never left us. To be kind. To laugh freely. To stay curious. To value people over possessions.

The backwaters of Alleppey reflected not just our faces but our journeys — tranquil, winding, and beautiful in their own way.

Farewell smiles — until we meet again!

And as we waved goodbye, there was one unspoken promise: We’ll meet again — not to look back, but to remind ourselves how far friendship can travel.

 

 

P.S. Roll Call – The Class of ’85, Present and Smiling!

From across cities and continents, sixteen hearts answered the roll call — just like old times, only this time with laughter instead of attendance slips.

Rajiv and Radha flew in from Bangalore, Rosemary from Thrissur, Manikandan, Radhakrishnan, Hariharasubramanian, and Prakash from Coimbatore, Satyavir and Vijayanand from Hyderabad, Sreeja and Ajith from Thiruvananthapuram, Manoj from Mumbai, Anand from Chennai, Janeetha from Pune, Shibu all the way from Dubai, and I — Neeraj — from Kolkata.

Thank you all, my dear friends, for turning a reunion into a revival of joy, and for proving that distance and decades are no match for friendship that began in the corridors of KV Coimbatore.

To all our dear classmates who couldn’t make it this time — you were truly missed. Your names surfaced in every story, every recall, and every shared laughter. The next reunion won’t be complete without you — so start packing your memories already!

Until the next roll call… somewhere, sometime, with the same warmth. ❤️