When people hear you’re from DPS RK  Puram, there’s always a reaction and yes, more often than not, it’s not positive. We can get into the nitty gritties of it and argue about whether it’s the best or worst school all day but, ain’t nobody got time for that. If you are an alumni of this prestigious factory, chances are your memory’s going to be doing some jogging right about now. Remember:

Waking Up At 5 am?

And getting all dressed up in a white (or possibly a sickly yellow, after it went through too many wash cycles) shirt and standing at your bus stop, half asleep and magically waking up as soon as your bus friends started chatting.

Monday Tests!

The worst thing DPS did to you was take away your weekends. Not in the traditional sense (well, most of us were swamped with multiple tuition classes outside too) but by deciding to test you on a subject EVERY SINGLE MONDAY. The term ‘Monday Blues’ may as well have stemmed from here. Whilst some coped with this by spending Saturday and Sunday cramming up, a good chunk simply placed themselves in such a way that they had an almost aerial view of the top scorer’s answers. Either way, somehow we got through. With lots of extra Monday test sheets.

PPC

Whether you were a lover or a fighter, you’ve most likely stood at this spot to witness  — what was marketed in the grapevine as — the most epic fight. This is where boys would pow wow and “resolve” their issues with each other through good ol’ combat amidst an enthusiastic audience. It’s also where you got your hands on the most refreshing banta after a long hard day of classes. Along with a pack of Fun Flips or Hully Gully, of course.

Sangam Cinema, The OG

The PVR you see today is nothing; nothing compared to what students of RKP have seen. A crumbling building, sticky seats and a screen very far from what could be considered HD. And for some reason, the school would arrange visits for movies like Dhoom.

Monte Carlo

No one’s really sure how this all started but at some point in the history of DPS RKP, almost all the kids made a switch from the sweater sold in the uniform shop to an oversized sweater of the same shade from the brand, Monte Carlo (dare I say their sales went up solely because of Dipsites). The downside? It cost a whopping INR 1,000 back in the day. The upside? It actually looked a whole lot better and was a whole lot more snug too. Was it a cool kids thing? Maybe. But it did keep them warm.

Scholar Badge

Before you happily forget how competitive this school was, think back to the scholar badge phenomenon. Scoring 80% or above would make you eligible for a scholar badge (to be sewn on the pocket of your blazer) and when you were awarded these for three consecutive years, you were promoted to a blue blazer, setting you apart from the commoners in their bottle green ones. Pretty sure a lot of superiority complexes made their first appearances here.

Red Cards

If you were a blue coat wearer, chances are you never went red. But this was a real threat for many. You could do anything from bunk classes, be late or wear the wrong shoes in order to be disgraced with one. And if you weren't on your best behaviour in all classes after having one in your possession, teachers would — without fail — give you hell while signing it at the end of their periods. This is one card you never wanted to be presented with.

Childrens’ Day Carnival

Once a year, you were allowed to shed your uniform and put on anything you wanted (short of a bikini). Needless to say, weeks of prior planning went into deciding the #ootd. It had to be unique but not too weird, complementing your bestie’s outfit — there were a lot of factors to be considered and too much could go wrong. However, once you’d nailed this, everything thereafter was (literally) a carnival. Delicious food stalls, dancing in the sun (how did we do this without alcohol?) — the works. There was even a DJ.

SUPW

Technically SUPW is an abbreviation for ‘some useful productive work’ but truth be told, ‘some usual periods wasted’ was way more accurate. This was where you were supposed to pick up a skill which wasn’t included in the regular syllabus. You could pick dance, music or arts and crafts. But did anyone really do anything? Did you?

Another place where people headed to officially waste time was the sports complex. Not talking about the serious athletes there. But the ones who stood on the treadmill and chatted for 40 minutes straight. No pedalling. It was a beautiful walk along the naalla though.

Of Noodles, Patties & Rolls

The DPS canteen wasn’t the healthiest, which is why most of us loved it. It’s entirely possible that the spicy chow mein infused with sometimes unrecognisable veggies is responsible for the country’s obsession with Indian chinese food. The soya kathi rolls and aloo patties were equally sought after. The best part? Most of these delicious, terrible snacks came for a mere ten rupees.

The Scandal

Tried so so hard not to go there but is a DPS list really complete without the infamous MMS incident? And the school’s attempt to salvage the situation by trying to introduce flannel trousers for girls.

Did we miss something? Share your DPS memories with us in the comments section below.