One of India’s leading bankers, Deepak Parekh of HDFC, says that he barely passed in school. “I was not studious. I barely passed and got through in school,” veteran Chairman of HDFC told ET Now, speaking on the sidelines of the 150th Anniversary celebrations of St. Xavier’s High School for boys. Recounting memories from his schools days, Deepak Parekh said that he passed out in 1961, after spending 10 years in the school. “I remember everything of school days. You forget after school days, but school days you don’t forget. The friends you make, the teachers you harassed, the teachers who didn’t like you, the people who bullied you, you remember all that,” Deepak Parekh told the channel.
Deepak Parekh also shared that he went through a very strict discipline back then. “When I was there, there was strict discipline. I believe the discipline would have come down a bit. If you come late, you had to wait outside, if you were caught talking, you had to wait outside, at that time even caning was there. We all were caned. I remember being caned a couple of times. The whole class was caned, and I was one of them for doing some pranks.”
The veteran said that Mathematics had been his favourite subject in school. “Maths was my favourite. I couldn’t understand Physics and Chemistry. They were my weakest subjects,” Deepak Parekh said. Recently another top banker, Arundhati Bhattacharya, said that her expertise in Maths helped her to clear SBI PO exam 36 years ago. “I used to tutor two young girls who were total duds in Maths. I used to give them half an hour of mental maths a day, which in turn prepared me for the exam,” Arundhati Bhattacharya told CNBC TV18 in a recent interview.
Recounting his days in the school, retired IPS officer Julio Rebeiro said, “I was not a good student but my father was a good student of the school. I got Padma Bhushan during my police service which is rarely given to policemen. I think the school was responsible for this as my father expired when I was just eight years old.”
One of the Mumbai’s oldest institutions with an illustrious alumni, St Xavier’s High School, Fort, will step into its 150th year in June 2018. As part of its sesquicentennial jubilee celebrations, the school announced a series of initiatives in sports as well as events for the differently-abled.
Notably, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, an alumnus of the school, too was present for the event. Also revisiting the school were notable alumni like neurosurgeon Dr Keki Turel, ENT surgeon Dr Milind Kirtane and chairman of Percept Limited Harindra Singh.