I was one of the first batch of students entering Sainik School Satara. I benefited from a very high standard of education and every facility to develop talent. I learnt horse riding, swimming, drawing and painting, photography, claay modelling, aero-modellin and got elementary weapon training. There were excellent Physical Training instructors from the Army. Academics were of a very high standard and a well stocked library inculcated a love for reading. Our prinicpal, Colonel Puri is a gem of a person and we, old boys make it a point to see him and touch his feet whenever in Pune. Mrs. Puri remembers all of us by name even after almost five decades. The bond that the school has built among the boys is so enduring that even when meeting a fellow student after several decades I do not feel the passage of time. So fresh are the memories, it is as if we had wished each other good night only yesterday. The school gave her sons a lot of things; top physical fitness, spirit, many crafts and skills, courage and, the best and the most precious, honesty. Reason why Sainik Schools are neglected today is that her product is not needed by the rulers of the day.
