Mangalore: SACAA All Set for Grand Reunion on Jan 12

By John B Monteiro
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
 
Mangalore, Jan 11: On Wednesday January 12 St Aloysius College Alumni/ae Association (SACAA) will celebrate Aloysian reunion on the College grounds, under the shadow of the heritage old tower block.

This annual event in January, organised by SACAA, will be a dinner meeting with songs and games thrown in. It will bring together Aloysian alumni and their families, past and present teachers, parents of students and the Jesuit Community. Many of the present generation of participants in the reunion would be unaware of the origin and progress (or dormancy) of SACAA stretching over a century – with its many name changes.
 
SACAA, which currently has a life membership of about 5,000, has had a checkered history spanning over 110 years. Since its membership comprised educated elite of the day, there had been an accent on drawing up and revising its constitution and rules several times over rather than executing a sustained plan of action. This is reflected in various periods of dormancy of the Association. But, noble motives periodically activated its members only to lapse into long periods of inaction.
 
Interestingly, it took more than 20 years. after St Aloysius College commenced in 1880 to start the Old Boys’ Association, under the title of The Aloysian Association, in 1901. Its growth has been traced by Prashanth Madtha, ex-principal of the College and a prolific multi-lingual writer. In his 'On The Eagle’s Wings – An Intimate History of 125 years. of Aloysius College,' he has given a detailed account of the Association through its several nominal avatars.
 
Coming back to the founding of the Association, it is notable that a similar body came to be established in Bombay in 1898 with the objective of furthering the common interest of the former pupils of Aloysius College, Mangalore, residing in Bombay Presidency. The Mangalore outfit held its first social gathering and dramatic entertainment in the College Hall on December 17, 1901. W Dumergue, district and sessions judge, presided and a lecture on 'Formation of Character' was given by Sewell, principal of Joseph’s College, Trichy. The first president of the Association, Cajetan P Gonsalves, dealt on the anomaly of such an Association having been formed in Bombay. He said the best of students of the college joined the priesthood or went to metro cities like Bombay and Madras in search of challenging jobs - thus depleting the number of ex-Aloysians locally.
 
For about 28 years. since the founding of the Association, it went into hibernation only to wake up on the eve of the College marking its Golden Jubilee. In the interim, the Association’s Constitution and rules were revised and adopted on November 17, 1912. It was thrown open to all Aloysians irrespective of caste and creed. Beyond this tinkering with the Constitution, there seem to have been no serious activities other than sending felicitation messages on Rector’s Day. Then was drawn the third Constitution and rules by M Coelho and accepted on January 11, 1930. Concurrently there were changes in the logo and coat of arms of the Association.
 
The 1930 Constitution provided for branches outside Mangalore and many cities with concentration of ex-Aloysians started local bodies. Bombay had two, the second being the Bombay Suburban Aloysian Association, Bandra which also had a recreation club with its own tennis and badminton courts. Another revision of the Constitution took place in 1956 when Sylvester Frank took over as its secretary. The name of the Association was changed to Aloysius Old Boys’ Association, under the presidentship of Sylvester Monteiro, on the ground that many old boys had failed to recognise the term Aloysian as meaning “of the old boys of Aloysius College”. Yet another amendment was accepted on August 4, 1994 under which the name was changed following admission of girls to the college - the name had to be changed to “Alumni/ae”.
 
SACAA’s record of alternate bouts of activity and hibernation continues – though at a lesser scale. It has raised funds and notably donated Rs 5 lac for a room in Xavier Block of the College. It has its own office and secretarial staff (Ph: 2429848). Its latest endeavour is to construct on the college campus a swimming pool adhering to international standards designed to host national-level swimming competitions. The site for the pool and the approach infrastructure has already been progressed and efforts are on to raise funds to the tune of Rs 20 million. As for its other activities, it organized a luncheon meeting on March 6, 2010 to felicitate and honour the college professors who retired after a service of 25 years. and also professors still in service who had completed 25 years.
 
SACAA’s life membership fee is Rs 500 for those in India and Rs 1000 for those abroad. It has the right infrastructure for growth and could develop into a strong instrument for networking among ex-students supporting the expansion projects of their Alma Mater.