HYDERABAD PUBLIC SCHOOL: A LOOK INSIDE

The fourth issue of Concorde was a very personal endeavor by Kishor to rediscover the treasures of his school and chronicle it in the form of a physical zine. Divided into five sections, this issue delves into the history and the life of Hyderabad Public School, that shaped the future of hundreds of children over a period of 90 years. ‘All alumni of HPS would agree on the fact that our school was an important part of shaping our lives and who we are today. I always felt a strong emotional connection to the school and realized that a zine dedicated to the school would be a perfect tribute for an institution that played a major role in my life,’ says Kishor. 

The first section explores the lives of the students in the boarding school, for whom the institution is home. A moment stolen from an early morning physical training session, a Saturday afternoon spent watching a feature film, an after school self study session with children lost in their books – they are enough to evoke the memories of our best days in school, no matter how we felt about it back then. The next few pages are an ode to the beauty of the academy and its architecture. As the setting sun paints the walls in a warm, golden glow, its stops you in your tracks to prize the grandeur of the aging building.

Boarding life

Architecture

As you flip through, the zine takes you through the kitchen – that feeds 3000 people every day, the memoirs of staff members with the longest tenure, and a few hidden gems of the Hyderabad Public School. It introduces you to Anji Reddy, who joined the school as a carpenter boy when he was only 15 years old, and remains till date having made most of the furniture the school uses. The last section gives you a quiet peek at some old treasures of the school. A globe, circa 1940, name boards from 1950 to 1988, chronicling the names of the students who served as captions of the hockey and basketball teams, and a revolving chair made by Anji Reddy back in 1968, still as shiny as new. ‘It was tremendous fun shooing for this issue. I got to witness the sun rise over the buildings, explore the abandoned building, see how food was cooked, talk to some of the oldest staff members and build an overall picture of how the school runs. It was a privilege to be able to see some things that I never knew or heard of during my 9 years at the school. A lot of things had changed since the last time I was there, but I enjoyed walking around the campus, unhindered and free. As I’ve grown up, the school’s motto has stayed with me – Be Vigilant. School was always a simulation of life in the real world and it prepared us to face the challenges of life. That is something I will always treasure,’ adds Kishor.

The Kitchen

Anji Reddy