Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdulla on Friday took time out to ease off from his busy schedule after the state elections and participated in the 177th Founders Day of Lawrence School, Sanawar.
Abdulla is an Old Sanwarian of the 1981-89 batch. Apart from being the Head Boy of the school, he was also the captain of Vindhya House. While briefing journalists, Abdullah wondered about the massive change in the school's infrastructure. “We practiced football on this ground, where I marched past with my batch mates. Our knees used to get bruised during practice. Today the same ground turns into an astroturf and central venue of the activities.” Abdulla said.
Asked about the recently concluded elections in the state, he said that a candidate contests elections only to win. Every party claimed victory, but the final result on 8 October will introduce a new picture for all.
The key attraction of the third and last day of Founders Day was the school band and parade followed by OS celebrity march past. The program was presided over by OS of 1966 batch, Chairperson of Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts and Trustee of Shiv Nadar Foundation - Kiran Tandon Nadar in the presence of school headmaster Himmat Singh Dhillon. Apart from Omar Abdulla, Olympian Shiva Keshavan, Bollywood director Apoorva Lakhiya, actor Iqbal Khan, director Iqbal Rizvi, corporate entrepreneur Vivek Mehra, Vipin Sondhi, local MLA Vinod Sultanpuri and others participated in the march past.
During the program, Kiran Nadar also inaugurated a girl's dormitory constructed at the cost of Rs 15 crore. OS Lifetime Achievers Award was given to the presenter of DD's Surabhi show Siddharth Kak, golf coach Jaskirat Grewal and film critic Aruna Vasudev (posthumously). Outstanding students of the school were also felicitated during the award distribution ceremony for excellence in academics.
The three-day celebration commenced with a Special Gandhi Jayanti assembly on the morning of October 2 followed by a special Chapel Service, organized to welcome alumni who returned to their cherished alma mater. The second day of the celebrations featured the annual athletic meet, conducted in the finest sporting traditions. Later in the day theatre was also staged by the students and the cultural extravaganza 'Tattoo' was presented by over 400 students.
