We recently had a Royal Technical College (Nairobi) reunion in Trinidad & Tobago – between 12 January and 21 January 2019. The primary co-ordinator was Arun Buch ( curently 77 years old) – who lives in Trinidad and has a Civil Consultancy firm in Port of Spain. He was assisted by Bhaskar Patel (who lives in London, U.K), Vish Vaidya (who lives in Toronto, Canada) and others but also by his office staff.
Lots of photos were taken by many and some were uploaded on-line by Amin Pattani . The uploaded photos can be found at LINK:
The link to the photos is: http://tinyurl.com/RTC-Reunion-2019
Recently I wrote a dissertation on the memories of the trip.
This is what I wrote to all participants of the Reunion -while enclosing my dissertation .
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As time passes and we get busy with our own families and grandchildren along with local colleagues and friends, the RTC Reunion in Trinidad and Tobago will start taking back stage.
Further as we are aging over the years the memories will fade . So these photos ( put on line ) by Amin become precious for jogging our memories whenever a need arises.
Many thanks to Amin and also to our many photographers for such a wonderful job.
Recently my wife Jackie and I went through the whole album and enjoyed the happy memories of good times that we had in Trini.
I have written a short ( or long) dissertation about the wonderful memories of Trini and the good thoughts that go through my mind.
I would like to share that with you all and hopefully you will like it.
Please find it attached FYI.
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Dissertation :
RTC Reunion Gathering in Trinidad & Tobago (Trini) Photos/Videos
– 12 January to 21 January 2019
Thanks for all the photos and videos from Trinidad & Tobago RTC Reunion gathering.
What Giovanna, Vish, Ed, Pramod, Pam, Naseem , Amin and others accomplished in recording events by way of photos & videos is very touching and useful. Thanks guys . These supplement our own personal photos/videos for the good memories.
The photos/videos provide means for enhancing our memories of good times that we have had together in Trini. Memories fade as time passes or as we grow older but these photos/videos help to revive these memories.
Recently my wife Jackie and I spent a good hour going through the photos and videos – which kind of led me to think of many happenings for which we do not have real photos/videos – though these happenings are etched in our hearts.
While photos are ideal – they really are an assist to our own personal memories embedded within our own hearts. The photos and videos embedded within our heart will always be with us – no matter where we go or what our condition may be.
There are also some actual mementos that we received/got while in Trini – which also provide another prop for remembering our exhilarating visit.
These mementos can be listed as below:
a) A nice well designed Calendar to commemorate our visit – with birthday of each participant shown at specific date on the calendar. So much foresight and work has gone into producing this . Kudos to the smart team.
b) A T-shirt – with enchanting Bollywood singsong line . The most male colleagues wore this, with pride, at one time or another when visiting places in Trini.
c) A shawl and a scarf (with wild life depicted on it ). All useful for daily use in our lives. A mental video — of these being distributed by Bhaskar and Vidula on the first evening on the Hotel Hilton terrace — is still playing in my heart.
Note: Unfortunately we do not have for future memory any photos/videos showing these mementos.
Memories in my heart
I will give a few example of such wonderful memories in my heart – I am sure each one has his/her own.
1) We were pleasantly surprised for various types of Indian snacks which got distributed with love on ferry, at airport or beaches etc. Vidula, Bhaskar and others – I believe all of them from UK – magically conjure up these goodies at all times – especially when we needed something to bite on. What a pleasant surprise at all times.
2) Our Colleagues working hard to make all events wonderful. One can see Ed or Vish or others carrying rucksack stuffed with mike equipment and also lap top computers etc with them wherever we went . And with a smile.
3) Professorial Bus Driver – who gave us very nice account of Trinidad & Tobago and fielded questions so easily and well responded.
4) I was really impressed with the pleasant park lady officer at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park — who when discovered that Arun is a local and senior — smilingly refunded money to Arun for entry to the beach – without being asked. What honesty!
5) The walking back to Hilton Hotel from Thai Restaurant. Late at night. It was so invigorating – and we found that it was not so far – Vish knowing the short route.
6) Oh! the clear sky full of stars and moon – we can see the twinkling stars without having to pull our hoods to protect ourselves from environment. Such rarity in our lives these days – specially living in cold country Canada .
7) Our conversations with each other – the exchange of life experiences and other warm stories .
Arun Buch with his heartwarming stories of how he had met three (3) great men of the era -Mahatma Gandhi, Mandela and Dalai Lama at different stages of his growth.
8) Late night group gatherings and chit chat with jokes and laughter.
9) ” My God is awesome ” – an inscription on one of our buses. So spiritual ! I hope you guys had noticed that.
10) Fabulous breakfast at both hotels. The omelet chef(s) – so friendly and always with a smile.
11) For us – that is my wife who is allergic to milk products – we found at both hotels – they had alternative most times. That was very satisfying to us as it took away our concern .
12) What we saw and observed – freedom. Men & women together & equal working for the good of the country.
13) Lack of people on both the islands ( Trinidad & Tobago).
14) When we arrived at Piarco Airport (Port of Spain) on 12 January at 3.30 pm – busses were there to pick us up with Arun & Bhaskar also there. So much care . Promptness was seen all the time .
15) Excellent quality tap water , clean washroom facilities and general cleanliness – what a pleasant relaxed environment.
16) We travelled by Caribbean Airlines from Toronto – excellent service – Wheel chair support with smile and added care & concern.
17) Associated with T & T gathering – is the 6 hr drive to Toronto – January cold cold winter weather & again driving back to Deep River (6 hours) – all during winter time. Luckily for me – the weather both times was somewhat conducive – did not have any storm or heavy now fall . What a break! This driving will always remain the high point – for making the trip successful.
18) Charity – Thanks to Arun Buch & team – for juggling up some spare cash for donating to a Charity in Trinidad. What a majestic and satisfying end.