Let us travel back to the pages of history when none of us had been born. Hundred years back in 1920s, when the world was striving to recover from the destruction of the first world war, India was reeling under the oppressive rule of British Raj. Its atrocities were increasingly felt with every passing day after World War, which ignited the minds of the masses to spread Kranti of freedom movement nationwide. Salam did not remain untouched. With the return of Shri Ram Singh Dhoni Ji, a renowned educationalist, from Rajasthan to his mother land, Salam, the conch of freedom movement was blown in our pristine devbhumi Motivated by his exceptional leadership, our people plunged into freedom movement, which ultimately culminated to famous bloody Salam Kranti.

Like most of the remote parts of our nation, Salam was a poor and illiterate land of docile people. In 1920s its literacy rate was less than 5% against the national average of 12%, and its GDP was less than one tenth of the present days GDP compared at today's prices. To motivate and mobilise masses under those trying circumstances was really a herculean task beyond imagination of anyone. But our visionary leaders, Dhoni Ji and Shri Durga Dutt Shastriji, made it possible. There was no doubt in their mind that education is the panacea of all ills and path for the growth and development of this backward region. Hence, the idea of middle school was conceived by them, which came into being in 1928 as one of the oldest schools of Almora district.

Interestingly, around that time in 1930, our first Principal Shri Debi Dutt Gurrani Ji was born in Pubhaon village of Salam. After graduating and post-graduation from Allahabad and Lucknow Universities, 5 teachers of our Devbhumi including Gurrani Ji and Shri Girish Chandra Joshi Ji of Kandey were motivated by pandit Shastri Ji to join the newly upgraded middle school to today's Sarvoday Inter College Jayanti, leaving their scintillating city life and career.

From 1951 to till his retirement in 1988, Gurrani Ji rendered selfless service as founding and born principal to our Vidyamandir. He nurtured it like his own child and worshipped ma Sharda in his 37 years penance as a true and devoted pujari.

He was a man of integrity, a strict disciplinarian, and an able administrator. Standard of his honesty and integrity can be measured from the fact that every penny collected from the sale of fruits of school orchard through Shri Dhan da chowkidar by him were utilized for facelifting of our Vidya Mandir He never ever reached late in the school in his entire career. No teaching and non-teaching staff ever thought of coming late or bunk classes during his tenure as he used to walk the talk. Wish we could restore glory of our Vidya Mandir of his period.

I do remember distinctly that he never took off during 7 years of my studies in SIC Jainti from 1976 to 1982. His untiring passion for the growth of our Vidyamandir and holistic development of its children made it possible for our Vidya Mandir to scale the summit of achievement despite resource crunch. Even natural forces blessed him in his endeavours with good health almost until the end of his tenure. It is true that nature blesses those who render selfless and disinterested service to society. We have seen this during Covid 19. Those who were rendering selfless service to Covid victims were protected by almighty and got hardly affected by its scourge during those hallucinating days.

During the tenure of Gurrani ji, our school flourished physically, intellectually, and spiritually. Infrastructure facilities were strengthened. His untiring efforts ensured construction of a number of new buildings, physics, chemistry, bio-labs, and our Vidyamandir was at its prime then. I feel that our Alumni of 1960 to 1980 cannot forget the sweet memories of carrying chairs in their heads and shoulders from places as far as Durganagr or Paharpani and digging fields over Asna with spade which flourished with fruit trees laden with plums, pears and oranges. I also carried chairs and tables from Mornaula and dig fields and carried earth to reclaim and expand our playground. On foundation day of our Vidyamandir, many alumni, including respected Shri Susheel Gurrani ji, the eldest son of our Principal Sahab, recalled their shramdan in development of our Vidyamandir and shared those memories.

Co-Curricular activities like games, sports, art, and cultural activities flourished during his tenure, which ensured holistic development of students. Students from far flung areas clamoured and rushed to our school for admission.

Gurrani Ji was not only an educationalist but a true humanist. He not only supported poor students but also rendered selfless service to poor people of the area. I still remember he used to generously donate money to poor people of three four villages, namely Jainti, Kandey and his own village Pubhaon. A widow of our village whose husband Shri Lokmani Ji, a chowkidar of our Vidya Mandir untimely died in service without any pension, was supported by him lifelong. Gurrani Ji had four children to support and educate , and he still managed social services through his merge salary, which shows how staunch Karm yogi he was. Till 5th Pay Commission, the teaching community was lowly paid. There was an interesting story. A prominent 'Postman' brand mustard oil was there in those days but after few years 'Teacher' brand of mustard oil was also launched, one of our teachers sadly remarked 'इन तेल कंपनियों को भी पोस्टमैन और टीचर जैसे गरीबों का ही तेल निकालने में आनंद मिलता है'.

Today, the situation has changed. It is heartening that our teachers are well paid now. Hence, they are duty bound to leave no stone unturned to restore glory of our vidya mandir. At last, I request all to rewind the reel of your life journey and give deep thought as to what objective of our life, i.e. mental peace. No amount of money can give us mental peace and satisfaction. Only our service to society can give lasting mental peace and satisfaction. How can we as an Alumni of our Vidyamandir who had witnessed the indomitable spirit and endeavours of our founding Principal to develop our Vidyamandir and who set high standards of moral values which led us to contribute physically for development of our Vidyamandir remain untouched, unmoved and unaffected by the current plight of our Vidyamandir. We had seen prime of our Vidya Mandir when it was basking in glory under the sun. Now its plight shakes our soul, and our hearts bleed to see it. So, it is our moral duty to contribute generously for restoration of it glory for which have formed an Alumni Association SICJAA. Our efforts for restoration of glory of our Vidyamandir will please the noble soul of our beloved Principal Sahab and it will be fittest tribute to his eternal soul.