( By Jyoti Honkote)
Special occasions come and go, but not without leaving behind special memories. 26th January always has been 
a well planned and well executed event in our school. This being the Golden Jubilee year, expectations were naturally running high. An eminent perso
nality in the form of Shri V. Vaidyanathan, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. He is the Vice President and Managing Director of Future Capital Holdings.
The programme started with Flag Hoisting Ceremony. The entire school paid homage to the Tricolour. This was followed by a spectacular parade with the Chief Guest acknowledging the Salute of Honour. 
Shri. J. S. Salunkhe, President VPM, welcomed the guest with flowers and a memento.
Shri. Vasuki Haranhalli, Member of VPM gover
ning Council, introduced the guest to the gathering. The highlights of his bio data:
Shri V Vaidyanathan is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Future Capital Holdings, which is a renowned and large listed company as a leading provider of financial services across consumer and wholesale businesses. 
· Before joining Future Capital, he was the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Compan y Limited. 
· Earlier, he was an Executive Director on the Boa rd of ICICI Bank.
· He has also has been the Chairman of ICICI Home Finance Co. Ltd.
· He has served on the Board of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company.
· At ICICI Bank he set up the bank’s Retail Banking Business since its inception in 2000 and managed it till 2009. 
· He also built the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) business and Rural Banking Business for the ICICI bank. His contribution includes
- Building 1400 Retail branches in 800 cities,
- a large Deposit base,
- a loan book of USD 30 billion in Mortgages, Auto and Consumer loans, Private Banking,
- 2.5 Crore customers, and
- a team of 26000 employees.
· Needless to say, he has been a major contributor in taking ICICI Bank to market leadership. The Retail banking Business was a key driver to help transition of ICICI from a Domestic Financial Institution to a Commercial Bank.
· His contribution won many domestic and international awards, which include,
o Best Retail bank in Asia 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 from the Asian Banker
o “Excellence in Retail Banking Award” 2002,
o “Most Innovative Bank” 2007, and
o Nomination for “Retail Banker of the Year” by European Financial Management & Marketing Association (EFMA), Europe for 2008. 
· He is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School, where he was the youngest person in his batch to acquire advanced management qualifications.
“In present times, when even the strategic strength of a nation gets determined by the level of its economic activity, Shri Vaidyanathan easily emerges as a befitting role model for us Indians to emulate, while we celebrate the 63rd Republic Day of India.” said Shri. Vasuki.
Revealing yet another facet of the young achiever, Shri Vasuki observed, “For a school, which produces the best athletes at the state and at the national level, knowing more about their chief guest this morning, is truly going to be an aha! experience. 
That is because, besides his phenomenal career achievements, he is also an avid athlete himself. Till date he has run 14 marathons out of which 7 marathons were of full 42 kilometres each. No wonder that he has his - no- excuse- daily ration of running and workouts.”
The tiny tots of Balodyan sang a Hindi Patriotic song in their sweet voices. In her speech Ms. Durvakshi Nare of Std. X spoke with pride ab
out the strides that India had made in the recent past. Students of Marathi Secondary performed the ‘Lezim’ dance and also Aerobics. Both were meticulously executed. The little ones of English Primary, using decorated sticks as props, presented a commendable P.T. Display. It is believed that Pyramids serve to concentrate and direct the energy of the Sun and the Marathi Primary students did just that in t
heir performance. A fusion of ‘Taal,’ ‘Lezim’ and five dances accompanied with a live orchestra was the speciality of the next item. Nearly a hundred students of the English and Marathi Secondary participated in this novel performance. 
Shri Vaidyanathan did the honour of inaugurating the School Souvenir and the magazines prepared by the Secondary students
Shri Vaidyanathan, in his speech, was able to capture and 
hold the interest of the audience very easily. He had a message for every group. He told the youngest members to play, enjoy and go ahead with enthusiasm. 
To the teachers and parents, he expressed his gratitude
and deep respect. The children from 10 onwards were told to strengthen their foundations. He extolled the youth to remember that Hard work, Concentration and Purpose would ensure that nothing in life is difficult. He quoted several inspiring lines from popular movies 
and said that our journey was not complete unless success is reached and that there was much to do in the years to come 
as our competition was not with ourselves but with the entire world.
The programme culminated with a short Prize distribution ceremony wherein several outstanding achievers, who had excelled in various sports events at the district, state and national level were given awards. This occasion will surely be remembered in the years to come.
The programmed was successfully co-ordinated by Ms. Nandita Churi, of English Primary Section. 
The stress of preparation seems nothing when we are enjoying the show. All the effort that went past seems worthwhile.
