School, as we are sure you will agree, is home away from home and what can be more pleasurable than returning to your alma mater, hooking up with your long lost friends, reminiscing the good old days and trying to give back what we have all received from our glorious School, La Martiniere. To fulfil this need-of-the-soul and a great shortcoming that all ex-Martinians have been experiencing for a long time, the alumni of La Martiniere Schools of Kolkata presented to themselves and their alma mater Association of La Martiniere Alumni aka ALMA, a structured and functioning alumni body.

ALMA was inaugurated by the Bishop P.S.P Raju, President of the Board of Governors of La Martiniere Schools & Bishop of Kolkata in the presence of the principals of La Martiniere for Boys and Girls, Mr. Sunirmal Chakravarthi and Mrs. Hilda Peacock, at a glittering function at Taj Bengal, Kolkata on 1st September, 2007. The Bishop blessed the newborn ALMA and both principals were kind enough to address the gathering with words of encouragement and support. ALMA members took a pledge that they will be formally headed by the Principals of the Boys and Girls Schools, who would be ex-officio Joint Presidents of ALMA. Over 800 ex-students of both schools participated in the function and reminisced and recalled their best years. After a hearty and feisty rendition of the School Song and the National Anthem, the gaiety began. In keeping with the ALMA motto: In spiritu et veritate - in spirit and truth, old friends were discovered and new friends were made. In an ageless and classless milieu, many of the better-known faces in the city let their hair (and wigs) down and became students once again.

ALMA has since grown from strength to strength (more than 2500 registrants and 1000 active members!!!) and has become the cornerstone of the alumni-school bridge at La Martiniere. ALMA has initiated programs that will inculcate, foster and further the "Martinian Spirit" in the truest and loftiest sense of the term - infrastructural, financial and manpower support to La Martiniere Schools, Kolkata will be rendered, ALMA members in the pinnacles of their professions will render voluntary advisory service to the Schools as well as the students seeking guidance about careers. ALMA will also actively pursue socially useful projects under the aegis of the Schools. ALMA has also taken steps for building sustainable bridges with other La Martiniere Schools in Lucknow as well as in Lyons, France - the goal is to create a platform for fellowship, networking and interaction among Martinians all over the world. In a departure from norm, ALMA will have a flat, non-political and non-post driven structure and ALMA members will render voluntary service for upholding and enhancing the glory of La Martiniere Schools.