Sunday, March 11, 2018

BGIS Reunion Fellowship 2018



                                                   A reflection and sharing

                              The participants at the BGIS First Reunion Fellowship
 Saturday 10 March 2018 was a historic day for us, the residents of the small village once called Indian Settlement in Changkat of  Batu Gajah,Perak. It was a day when about 50 us,past and present members of Indian Settlement(IS) came together in our first ever reunion fellowship, meeting very old friends many of whom we could not even recognise. 

We gathered in the Gopeng Hall of Riverfront Hotel, Ipoh to celebrate our humble origins from a small village called Indian Settlement (IS) in Changkat, Batu Gajah. Today it is renamed Desa Changkat,a name that does not reflect the true greatness of the IS where we grew up spending much of our childhood. 

Our origins may be humble but the products of that simple origin may be seen all over not only Malaysia but the world and Dr Francis Jayaraj  from the US, who was with us, is just one example of that greatness. In fact, IS has produced many illustrious sons and dayghters who have done pride to all of us.

Our parents were just poor illiterate farmers, peasants, and cowherds but they were men and women of steel. By their hard work, resilience, dedication and sacrifice they produced illustrious citizens in us in almost every field. Today we are the testimony of the success stories of our poor but far-sighted and wisdom of our parents decades ago. Many of them are not here anymore but we take this opportunity to salute them for all they have done for us.

As old residents we are extremely saddened and disheartened to see the pathetic state of our once vibrant kampong that used to be a hive of activities for us as, children and adults. We excelled in almost everything, academic and sports. We were a name to be reckoned in hockey, athletics and cricket. In the field of academic excellence we had many outstanding people heading almost all the government departments.

We may not be able to return our IS to the days of its past glory but we hope our children and grandchildren will understand our great past and continue to carry on with the legacy of our village and what it stood for in the history and development of our nation. We can describe the motto of IS as:

                                   “Humble in origin, proud in achievements”

Let’s reignite the flame of our comradeship of the past and make special efforts to organise many more reunion fellowships and activities for the underprivileged people of Desa Changkat.



         Humble in origin,proud of achievements        

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