DaV college Ba FiJi reuNioN BrisBaNe -a salute to PioNeers oF arya sama J, teachers aND school mates

FoRMeR students of DAV College, Ba Fiji will hold the fourth International Reunion at Chinese Catholic Community Hall in Runcorn, Brisbane on Saturday 9 September, 2023.

For a rural school like DAV COLLEGE, BA, FIJI, it is a feat for its former students to hold international school reunions - in fact four of them.

First- Burnaby, Vancouver, Canada in 2015

Second in Auckland New Zealand in 2017

Third in Ba/Lautoka Fiji in 2019

And this Fourth one in Brisbane in 2023. It was supposed to be held in 2021, but was delayed because of Covid 19.

A salute to four former students who would create history by attending all four events: Mahendra Singh (Auckland), Sant Lal Sharma (Vancouver), and Shashi Shankar and Thakur Ranjit Singh (Auckland)

High decile schools (parents with higher economic levels) in Fiji like Suva Grammar, Marist Brothers and Xavier College have been known to have marked their reunions publicly and internationally. But for a relatively lower decile school like D.A.V. College, in Ba, this was a difficult call and a tall order

Higher decile schools tended to filter only the brightest students in their schools. Most of “rejects” came to schools like DAV, Khalsa and Sangam etc.

Schools like D.A.V and others were there to provide services to mostly children of poorer canefarmer parents, and yours truly, Thakur was also one of them. And most of them had lower marks, rejected by schools like Xavier College.

Anybody can take creamy milk and make butter out of it. But it takes big courage to take buttermilk (maatha) and re-make it into butter. Schools like DAV have been doing just that and this is an opportunity to pay back that gratitude by remembering those fond days.

As the author of Tears in Paradise, Rajendra Prasad, a DAV student who left in 1965, said that DAV High School was not in league with the secondary schools like the Xavier College, which is ranked as the best secondary school in Ba. In a way, it was not the best, as it always scooped the brightest students that transited from primary schools to secondary schools. In this regard, credit should also go to other secondary schools that did more to promote education in Ba.

That is what schools like DAV, Sangam, Khalsa, Muslim, Sanatan, Methodist etc need to have special salute for serving the community of poorer people and poorer students.

It is especially for this reason I salute our Girmitiyas, and their vision, and Arya Samaj for providing this school which moulded us into better citizens.

VISION: Yes, that is what our Girmitiya forefathers had in abundance. They vowed never to let their children be illiterate like them to be tricked. Hence, through this vision, they decided to invest in educational institutions like D.A.V. College in Ba, Fiji and many more. These were the descendants of Girmitiyas, who were ordinary people who did extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. And establishing schools for Girmitiya children was one of them.

On this fourth DAV Reunion in Brisbane on 9 September, 2023, I take this opportunity to pay tribute to those pioneer members of Arya Samaj who decided to establish this institution, Mata Saraswati Ki Mandir (a temple for Goddess of knowledge). It has produced so many exemplary citizens of all races and all walks of life.

I would like to especially pay tribute to the father of our DAV Reunion Executive Committee of Ba Reunion, Surya Deep Singh (and deceased teacher Indira Singh), Mr Jaswant Singh who was the school manager during my time at DAV, and also Mahendra Pratap, who was Principal in 1970 when I joined DAV. That is almost a lifetime ago –over half a century-53 years ago.

Hardik aur koti koti Naman, salutation, to memory of all departed ones- committee, teachers and fellow school mates, who in anyway contributed to DAV College, Ba, and given us the fond memories, and the legacies they left behind.

Apart from giving us fond memories, it gave us more than that - life partners to some.

DAV LoVeRS HALL oF FAMe

While some Arya Samaj Executives scorn the idea of love blooming in schools, at least four prominent former students proved them wrong. As they say,....ishk par zor nahin…no control on love.

There are at least four from our class of 1970s. I met my wife Shashi Kala Shankar in DAV in 1973 and have been married for almost 45 years. Chairman/ President of DAV Reunion 2019, Sadasivan Naicker and Sarita Devi have well-known love stories and they have been married for some 47 years, breaking the barrier of inter-ethnic marriages over half a century ago. And my classmate of 1970, Raftar Ahmad and Imnathul Nisha also met in DAV and later married, and now reside in Surrey, Vancouver.

And barriers and restrictions imposed by a conservative school could not stop the then school manager’s son, Surya Deep Singh and Hem Lata ( from Ba’s Tahal family) also have a love story at DAV. All these couples have been successfully married for over four decades, with children and grandchildren now.

Hence DAV College gave us more than education - it also gave us an opportunity to meet our life - partners in the school. And they have been honoured in past