UWC Mahindra College monthly newsletter


Sunday, April 29, 2012

Reminiscing with the Pioneers


The Pioneers’ Year Book 1997-1999

The opening of the MUWCI of India in September 1997…… hum~!

We are grateful to Mr Harish Mahindra, Chairman of the Board and Captain Raj Bir Mahindra Chief Executive Officer, the founding fathers of the Mahindra College.

Principle Mr David Wilkinson and Veronika.

Ten foreign faculty (two from Mexico!) and 9 Indian faculty (including one visiting faculty).

Yogesh (Finance), Sivaji (Maintenance) and Ashok and Vinayak (Reprography) are our longest standing staff members and have been with the college since it opened!

Catering crew – chefs wore large white hats and two people in white shirt and bow tie~!

Student recollections:
Oh! I can almost smell the wonderful, refreshing Pune exhaust! Those ere the days! – Arvinn
Awfully luxurious – Wout

Ahh… those days… Air conditioners, well painted walls, televisions with several channels, the swimming pool, good food, the laundry service, wake up calls, the henna towels, DELHI BELLY, the Terrace Garden, the lifts and last but not least getting banned from Dominos. Anonymous

Fireworks on the helipad!

McHindra fast food joint.

…. As the first Christmas for many students on Indian soil came up the Paud Post Office was in for a surprise as the number of packages pouring in each day addressed to MUWCI increased.

Mrs Wilkinson’s Secret Christmas Friend game was introduced.

The Santa Lucia group of 7 angels made a heavenly appearance at everyone’s house (at 6:30 am!) – are you mad! screamed Anushka…..

Who could forget Maura’s toilet paper dance…. to the strains of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.

Valentine’s Day was named after the revolutionary St Valentine. During his time marriage was banned – yet to encourage such a pure emotion as love, he secretly married couples in his church…. for which he was later executed!

After dinner we had a Valentine’s Day Ball, with everyone having to wear something red…. There were delightful games such as Suck and Blow. All in all it was a delightful day filled with love, and saw the birth of many more young couples.

Holi is the traditional festival of colours… In our version the students ran out of colour in just half an hour and resorted to MUD!

The pond (architectural feature of Wada  2) was used appropriately for the first time as a swimming pool. Dr Alok (Chemistry) was thrown in with great love.

Annalisa’s parents were mortified and presumably vowed never to come to MUWCI again.

Aakash – a cool dude as Kunal says… Afroz – the smartest and strongest girl on campus, Aimable – may y’ shoot up n’ shine, Aishwarya – I must say you as a fellow Horn OK please! Albert – take your boots into the field – stop watching the fittest survive, Alessandro – his dream is to organize a strike on campus, Alec – You’re the laziest Peruvian I’ve ever met, Alex – where is the rest of my body? Alison – jeans girl with romantic feelings, Amanda – the sweetest sweetheart at MUWCI, Amruta – the youngest girl on campus, Anaka – early morning jogger and after dinner snacker, Andrei – we, as pioneers of MUWCI will make sure that our college will be an example of all the good values that will make the world better, Ane – the lifesaver of 7R, Anita – the sweetest it in the world, Anjali – my wife, love and life, Anna – somehow you’re always a mile ahead, Annalisa – the super girl of MUWCI, Anokhi – amazing wit and mutated genes, Anushka – professional ankle twister, Arvinn – a soccer loving, chikki addicted philosopher who plays the piano in secret, Aura – there is nothing better than lying down under the sky, hearing a friend’s heart beating in unison with mine, Aurelie – you’re nothing short of real, Avantika – I just cannot understand how you manage to look so cool! Bhavika – the Princess of Bombay,  Bhavit -  If providence hadn’t made me your room mate maybe I would never have got to know where Mauritius is, Chris -  remember the cheese may be blue but it is tasty,  Chun Joo -  my ambition is to become a robot scientist, Consvonne -  I chose MUWCI because I like India, Craig -  a typical Leo, Daniel -  ya teba lublu, Darren -  bean boy from Britain, Disha – the most beautiful girl I’ve seen (after my Mum of course!) Dzmitry -  amazing person with good reasoning ability,  Elias -  stop learning swear words, Liz -  Queen of the college meetings,  - Emmanuel – I’d like the UWC heads to think about making computers an IB subject,  Frea -  Mother Theresa’s reincarnation,  Gaurav -  if I would sit and describe myself then I would go on forever,  Georg -  big man with baby face,  George -  the Phantom of the Opera, Graeme -  I am normal, Helene -  hail the Queen of Sarcasm from your loyal and loving subject, James – this college has to be the most awesome place, Jarmo -  Santa’s assistant, Jeffry -  tu sabes que te quiero, Jemika – stop biting your nails! Juan Jose – Fun? Ask where Juanjo is, Judith -  a Chemistry genius, Julie -  a chocoholic who is inspired enough to practice the piano before breakfast, Julitha – a self confessed hater of homework and sports, Karina -  from your sharing nature and sincere smile to our quiet entries at night  into our room, Karishma -  thanks for teaching me and accepting me for the moron I am, Katerina – I think we have a future family waiting for us in Lesotho, Keviyabei – Prince turned to frog, Kunal – the Gujju with the worst dressing sense, Kusum – a true Capricorn, very ambitious and hard working, Lea – qu’est ce que tu en as bave pour cet anglais, Magdelena – one of my dearest “Osho” friends, Mamello – even if you hate me I still like you, Manar – I is from UWC, I speak America very best, MariaGM – you are lindisima muchacha, MariaS – how do you solve a problem like Maria? Maura – defined the art of painting with body parts, Minoti – we made it Minoti, Hollywood is ours, Misan – the girl with the fancy army pants, Muhammed – the hunk of MUWCI, Mouminatou – very fine but sometimes mad, Neha – absolutely loves Hindi film music, Nithindhu – she wants to become a Dr Kill, Nora – try to be less crazy sometimes, Pawel – please open your eyes while speaking, Phuntsho – a Princess from the Bhutanese Kingdom, Pratik – one in a hundred, Rahul – the first MUWCI student to be baptized in the fountain on his birthday, Rajinder – an agriculturist in disguise, Ratna – U will reach high in life, Rijhav – the Don Corleoni of MUWCI, Sardar – if there’s anyone who can be rightly proud of being “all there” it’s you, Semakaleng – how could I get through the day without Sem telling me what to do? Shia – she is like my mother, Shirley – jump my little grasshopper jump, Shivani – the snack bar of house 5, Sicelo – you have lots of beautiful clothes and the best thing is I can borrow them, Slavica – apart from the fact that you’re a potential super model, you’re very nice, Tanja – I still remember you were the first persona I met at the airport. You said  “Hi I’m Tanja from Croatia…..” Tapan -  Biggest so and so in the college, Uka – Now my English is good enough  to say “Thanks for being the way you are..” Vinay – I’d like to step aside from our Tweedle dum Tweedle dee relationship, Vishwanath – resolutions – can someone help me out? Vivek – the papad from Papadi, Wout – his trainers were clogs, Yainelys – constantly eating bananas and almost missing trains, Yuri – Albert thinks I know almost everything, Zobair – if someone had told me that I would be rubbing shoulders with one of those “cool” students pioneers from 58 countries, spending the first two weeks of my college life in a five star hotel, shaking hands with a Queen, and all of it before the end of the year, I would have laughed him in the face. Yet all of this has come true!

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