Hyderabad Public School Grand masti

A reunion is usually when the alumni discuss their teachers, subjects and that time when they jumped the gate to watch a movie. But during Hyderabad Public School’s week-long 90th year celebrations, besides being the “reunion that broke all records in terms of turnout” (1,600 attending), it is looking to give back something to the city it calls home — a “think tank” to encourage  ideas.

Marri Aditya Reddy, member of the core organising committee and the board of governors, says, “It was initiated to help the younger generations make use of the network that HPS has created nationally. This year we are supporting two ventures. What’s important here is that one must have heard this in business schools and such, but there is no other similar programme that allows people to network at the school level.”

And HPS by no means has anything less to offer — locally and nationally. From Tollywood heartthrobs Ramcharan and Rana to the likes of Aditya Reddy, the secretary of APCC, Aamer Javeed, who was recently elevated as the national secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and C.V. Anand, the police commissioner of Cyberabad. Nationally, there’s minister Pallam Raju while in the field of business there’s Anil Reddi, the managing director of Porsche India and Satya Nadella, touted as a possible CEO of Microsoft. With an alumni like this, HPS is the ideal networking ground.

Although the big names were missing at the dinner on Thursday, the response this year has been overwhelming, says Aditya Reddy. “It was also a sort of time travel, because the menu was designed around the dishes we would have as students from Monday to Friday,” enthused Aamer Javeed.

In the recently opened dinning hall of 15,000 square feet, the younger lot approached their seniors for help and support. Aamer Javeed, the face of the student community, was mostly seen interacting with kids curious about the current state of affairs. “Kids are more politically aware now. The questions they asked were mind-blowing. They were mostly worried about the future of the state and were asking really important and the right questions,” he noted.

While the start-up, called Zip.pr, which provides exact locations of an address with short codes, was employed even in the logistics and planning of the reunion, wildlife photographers Ismail Shariff and Masood Hussain attracted a lot of eyeballs.

Ismail and Masood, two wildlife photographers of the ’96 and ’93 batches respectively, approached the Old Students Association to promote their firm with the “motive of inculcating the spirit of appreciation” for photography.

Ironically, the two did not meet while in HPS but caught up at Lamakaan after years. “This is what is nice about HPS, the quality of people around you is incomparable,” says Ismail, photographer and founder of Imprima, a firm specialising in high-end archival print for fine art and photography.

And they did succeed in their motive. The photography show that is currently on display has been a huge hit as the duo has managed to get some rare shots of wildlife.