Ansari visits alma mater, refreshes memories

Vice-President Hamid Ansari arrived in this Himachal Pradesh hill town on Monday for a two-day visit and visited his British-era alma mater, St. Edward's School.

Ansari, who spent some of his childhood years in the summer capital of British India, spent some time with students, teachers and staff of St. Edward's, a prominent boys' school.

This was his second visit to his alma mater after he left it in 1951. Earlier, he had visited the school on April 15, 2009.

He went round the historic school buildings and visited the classrooms.

In a brief address, Ansari said that he was really elated to return to his school again and the visit refreshes his grand old memories.

On being asked by a student that what he learnt from this school, he said: "The school disciplined my life."

According to the admission register of the school, Ansari was admitted to the sixth standard June 3, 1949, and he left the school after passing the seventh standard in 1951. His admission number was 1453.

His younger brother Haris Ansari was admitted to the school in the fifth standard on the same day with admission number 1454. He left the school after completing the sixth standard in 1951.

The register mentions that their father, M.A. Aziz Ansari, was a superintendent of insurance, government of India.

St. Edward's has been a prominent boys' school in Shimla right from the day it was opened on March 9, 1925, in the Milsington Estate. Brother J.C. Doheny was its founder and principal.

It boasts of alumni like ace cricketer Kapil Dev, former director general of Punjab Police K.P.S. Gill and Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Ansari will visit the Himachal Pradesh University here on Tuesday to confer degrees, officials said.

During his visit, Ansari will stay in the historic Barnes Court, where the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan was inked after the 1971 war. It is now the residence of Governor Kalyan Singh.