Ajay Jain, author and entrepreneur, penned ‘Charlie’s Boys’, a memoir revisiting his schooldays at Delhi’s St. Columba’s School in the 1970s and 1980s. This St. Columba’s tribute vividly portrays campus life, spotlighting the magnetic, outsized persona of his senior, Shah Rukh Khan.
SRK’s charisma recalled
As reported in Firstpost, Jain said, “Shah Rukh Khan was our senior in school by three years. It seemed as if he was born with a charisma from day one because he was the most popular boy and always talked about in school. He was the best in dramatics, sports and when the sword of honour had to be given to the passing out batch, he was the undisputed boy. There is absolutely no other competition.”
Nostalgic school vibes
‘Charlie’s Boys’ evokes the nostalgic charm of those school years, delving into interactions with teachers, camaraderie with friends, and the vibrant pulse of the campus “Many didn’t know him personally, but he was such an enigma. For example, there was an elocution teacher in our school and boys being boys and it was an all- boys school, everybody had hots for her. But the other boys in the school would say, she had got the hots for SRK.”
Family background buzz
Media often claims he was from a lower middle-class family. Jain says, “We never knew for sure. But he lost his father when he was very young. There was a restaurant near Safdarjung tomb and a lot of people had to say that it was owned by his mother. But we really don’t know the truth. Though St Columba was a very elitist school in terms of education, but it was a very inclusive school.”
Humorous heartfelt reflections
‘Charlie’s Boys’ is a funny and touching memoir by Ajay Jain, looking back at his school days in the 1980s at Delhi’s all-boys St. Columba’s School. The book is packed with references to Shah Rukh Khan from his childhood years.
