Distinguished alumni of Modern School get a 'walk of fame'

Eleven distinguished alumni of Delhi's Modern School, including author late Khushwant Singh and musician Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, have been honoured with a 'walk of fame' at their alma mater to inspire the future generation.
The 'walk of fame' -- a corridor at the school, carrying oil portraits of these former students -- was unveiled today by Modern School Old Students Association (MSOSA) at its sprawling campus on Barakhamba Road.
Other eminent school alumni who have received the honour include politician Arun Shourie, cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan, Air Chief Marshal (retd) P C Lal, and sportsmen Ronjan Sodhi and Gautam Gambhir.

Talking about his schooldays, cricketer Gambhir, part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team said, "Modern School helped me by providing great infrastructure and then I ended up playing Ranji Trophy when I was in school. My best memories in the school were around the banyan tree. People would sit there for hours and have debates."
"I always feel that there are far more bigger things people have done in life as compared to what sportsmen have done. There are other people who have done bigger things than what I have done. We should not consider sportsmen as greats because we don't change the life of a common man. It is always an honour when you are part of such an elite group," he said.

Cricketer-turned-politician and also an alumnus, Kirti Azad shared his memories about his Modern School days, saying it was a "nostalgic" trip coming back to the school.

"The school loves me in spite of the amount of losses it had to incur because of me as I broke many windows. Coming back to school is a great honour. I remember the banyan tree where I would be given punishment and asked to introspect," said Azad, in a lighter vein.
MSOSA also released a book titled 'The Banyan Tree', which charts the history of the school and brings alive memories of its teachers and alumni.

"We have fifteen events over the year which are either social events or other meaningful events. Whatever we collect from these events, we run scholarships with it," said Ashwajit Singh, President of MSOSA, who graduated from the school in 1980.
"The school has completed 96 years now and we will start the centenary celebrations now. We have never documented the history of the school from the British days till now. We have traced the entire history of Modern School through this book," he said.