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28th March
2001
Dear 59ers and Other Cathedralites,
What a hectic month it
has been. There was so much input that I was able to release
a full fledged issue of Newsy Notes.
Well, I said I would give you answer about my beard.
I heard my dear one say
- "Get thee behind me Satan".
So, I grew a beard so my
true self would not be recognised.
I do not like to repeat
myself in the Seventh Heaven, so I am trying to only bring in
only fresh material here.
I have a new table on the
left which is in memoriam to all the 59ers who have left us to
be with their Maker. Let us remember in our hearts the good times
we shared with these wonderful friends of us and also remember
their families.
This month saw the addition
of 59er Narayan Acharya as a member of our clan. It also saw
a lot of input from non 59ers who have decided that this magazine
is not just for 59ers but for all Cathedralites.
I am not in competition
with cat call, but I am enjoying the great inputs being sent
to me by both seniors and juniors.
I start with a report from
one of our most senior alma materites, Yezad Kapadia who resides
in New Delhi. He sent me a report of the 50th reunion of the
49ers, which I thought would interest our global audience. Yezad
was the second Indian School captain. Can anyone tell me who
was the first?
THE REUNION
OF THE CLASS OF 49.
Some of us in Delhi started
to think of a possible reunion of our class at the beginning
of the year 1999. We had a recollection that there were about
twenty of us when we sat for our Senior Cambridge examination
at the end of 1949. From the class photograph preserved by Aroo
Moolgaoker and sent to us at the time of the reunion from London
(most unfortunately he could not join us but was with us in soul
and spirit as he mentioned)- we know that we were twenty-three
in all. Aroo has sent us his hilarious recollections of his classmates.
This is being printed separately in this issue of the Catcall.
Efforts were undertaken
to locate our classmates from whatever little information we
had. We knew that some of us had gone abroad for studies. But
where were we all now? Some of us had kept in touch with one
another over the years and decided to pool our knowledge regarding
where all we were currently located. Vijay Ram coordinated the
efforts in Mumbai, where most of us were still located. For me,
Ratan Lalkaka of the class of 47, was a great help in getting
the addresses of quite a few of our classmates who were located
out of Mumbai and also the country.
Sarosh Wadia, Narottam,
Bunny Khattau, Chandrasen Merchant, Vijay Ram, Naval Patel and
Jumani were all in Mumbai and all turned up gladly for the reunion.
Although Raj Bhandari used
to stay very close to me when I was staying in Vasant Vihar in
Delhi, I did not know of his whereabouts then. It was only when
we started to look for one another, that we realised how close
to one another we used to stay. I still meet Jamshed Desai quite
often. He too was keen to have this reunion. So it was the three
of us from Delhi.
We got to know that Buster
Ley had passed away.
Chottu Padamsee was located
in Goa and I visited him there. He was very keen to come but
could not at the last minute due to an unavoidable engagement.
Kali Cawasji was contacted
in Bangalore and came gladly.
Through the courtesy of
Pilloo Hakim (Cooper) and her classmate of 51, Meenakshi (Rangnekar),
who now lives in Canada, we did manage to get a few messages
across to Maneck Khambatta in Canada, but he too could not make
it.
Soli Lam was sought to
be contacted in London but we were unable to establish contact
with him.
We were informed that Hassan
Mirza, the star marathon runner from Palmer House, who went to
the UK to study Aeronautical Engineering after the Senior Cambridge
exams, was located in Pakistan. We had no means of finding out
his address. Similarly, efforts to locate Benjie Hayeem in the
States did not bear fruit to get him in time for our reunion.
We are happy that we now have established contact with him .
He is one of the few from our class listed on the Catalumni site
on the web. All efforts to locate the other classmates remained
unsuccessful.
Of the girls, we had very
little information. Leela Suntook (Punjabi) was in Mumbai and
very readily agreed to come to the reunion. Unfortunately, she
was the only representative from amongst the girls. Of Betty
Ballard, my counterpart as the Head Girl, we knew that she had
migrated to Australia after our final exams. It is only after
we received the latest issue of the Catcall that we know that
she is still there. Anjali (Lahiri) had left for England shortly
after we had a final party at her home on Cuffe Parade. She passed
away a few years ago. Silla Dubash (Vakil) lives in Delhi and
we are in touch with one another but she could not make it to
our function. We understand that Dina (Forbes), who along with
Leela, used to come to the Boys' School for Chemistry and Physics,
is living in Delhi, but we do not know where.
So it was that eleven of
the boys and one girl, along with our spouses, from the Class
of 49 met in Mumbai for the reunion.. For most of us it was a
meeting after fifty years. As we walked in one by one, we could
hardly recognize ourselves. Time had inevitably changed us. All
in all it was a very memorable evening and we agreed to remain
in touch with one another. Something we have done very assiduously
so far.
Judging by the response
that one reads of to the activities of the Alumni Association
in the Catcall and on the website, it is clear that there is
something very special about our School. The response to and
the fellow feeling at this reunion after a lapse of fifty years
only goes to show how special the School truly is.
Yezad Kapadia.
Palmer House.
Class of 49
The class of 49 is already
planning its next reunion, so get in touch with Yezad for details.
There have been several
of you who were able to name the members of the 1952 Soccer Team,
the photograph of which I circulated with Newsy Notes 004. The
first one to send me the complete list was Abe Hayeem. (Photograph
courtesy Aubrey Ballantine, Canada)
Standing back row :
(Y. Hamid?), Roy Raymond, R. Ahuja , M. Anees, (Rohington Tata?)
Sitting:
N. Calcuttawalla, Roff Soonavala, A . Choonavala, Ravi Jaitly,
L. Wilkinson
Sitting on the Ground:
Farookh Hussain
Does anyone have any corrections
to this submission? If not I will send Abe his prize
And then I had this input
from Hasnain Chinwalla from Canada:
From: "Hasnain Chinwalla"
To: "Jacob Matthan" <jmatthan@gmail.com>
Subject: Just woke up!
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 17:21:58 -0500
Hi Jacob,
I had no idea that you
were expecting me to write! (Ed: Without your inputs,
this magazine would be colder than dry ice.)
Well, here I am, and I'll
make you wish I had never written!
It is fantastic getting
all the news of the 59ers - I can only second all the people
that have praised your efforts. Just don't stop. (Ed:
Only when you guys stop feeding me with ideas.)
I read all about the sports
everyone excelled in during school. As for me, I remember being
the undisputed, but uncrowned champion of pocket-billiards. (Come
on Editor - do your job and edit the stupid remarks this asshole
is making!!) (Ed: The truth never hurts!!)
I am really pleased that
David Colaco got in touch with you - we have been in touch for
quite a long time, and I met up with all the brothers when I
visited London in 1995. This last Christmas, David sent me a
scan of a photograph of all the brothers. Jacob, David is resident
in the UK, but visited here a few years ago, and met up with
Willie Shiri and myself. I am tempted to send the scan to you,
but I shall ask him first.
About Deepak Kaikini, we
usually communicate at Christmas time, and I have no idea if
he is 'connected'. However, I got off my ass and wrote him a
letter today - I am enclosing a scan of that as evidence!!! (Ed:
And I vouch that Hasnain's handwriting is still as silky as the
day he was born.)
I used to be in touch with
Venkie Kurma, but lost track when he moved to Pune. Still in
touch with Shabir Ahmedbhoy - who was a visitor last year. Spent
3 years with Armeane Choksi at the University of Edinburgh, but
lost contact. Now we have the opportunity to get in touch again.
From your list, there are
so many that I would just love to meet again - hopefully, that will
happen. Other names that spring to mind: Virat Gidwani and his
sister, Gizi; Farokh Kanga; Trevor Newnes (in New Zealand, the
last I heard); Krupa Swamy (now Krupa Srinivas) (Ed: You
have me foxed - who is Krupa; I thought I was the only Mallu
in the class.) Statira Guzder (Ed: Was Stat really in
our class?) etc.
In 1991, on a trip to Bombay,
I got permission to roam the corridors of our school, videotaping
anything I wanted. Permission was granted - and it was great.
The desks were the same ones we used - the holes for the ink-wells,
and all the intricate hand carving - I think my crib sheets could
still be read.
What I did get from this
trip is the names of all the School Captains, and here are some
of them:
| 1955: |
S. Episcopo |
| 1956: |
T. Malkani |
| 1957: |
T. Holter |
| 1958: |
H. Uberoi |
| 1959: |
Jaffer Hussain / B. Anand |
| 1960: |
K. Andres |
| 1961: |
T. Newnes |
| 1962: |
M. Sopher |
| 1963: |
Ashok Advani |
| 1964: |
Neville Mody |
Quite a list!!
(Ed: I am very confused
by this list. I thought that Vijay Nayar was School Captain for
some time, and that Trevor Newnes and Mark Sopher were our classmates
as 59ers. Also, I was under the impression that Trevor left for
New Zealand before 59 end. Can anyone help out with the correct
data. No doubt Hasnain's data is right, but could somebody put
it in some perspective.)
In January, I went over to Willie and Pushpa Shiri's place for
a fantastic dinner - we should do it again soon, Willie! - and
the information I got about the teachers was overwhelming.
Mr. Gregory is in Montreal,
and Mr. Billington had visited here, but was either back in the
UK or in Tibet - a place with which he had fallen in love. We
did talk about the others - Thomson, Timmins, Pande, Dexter etc.
Somehow, I am surprised
that nobody has mentioned Pharoah's bacon-slicer! Any memories
about this? (Ed: This is going to be interesting - can anyone
who was sliced tell us about it.)
I guess I have gone on
too long, but I don't expect you to publish any of this. I am
attaching
i) my letter to Deepak,
and
ii) a scan from a photo
that Willie gave me - Wilson House circa 1953. Yes, there are
some Colacos, Naubir, Vijay Shivi, Deepak Kaikini, Virat and
a few others!!
I have another one of Wilson
House 1955, but that can wait till the next time.
I apologize for not writing
earlier, but frostbite had gotten to my brain!
Bye for now, all the best
to you and your family, and to all the Cathedralites out there,
and take care.
Chini
And the Wilson House photograph
from 1953 courtesy Hasnain and Willie is at the bottom of the
newsletter.
And here is our regular
correspondent chatty Sadhana (and she is such a dear):
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001
23:26:47 -0800 (PST)
From: sadhana madhusudan <madhusadhana@yahoo.com>
Subject: vive les Mallus
To: jmatthan@gmail.com
Dear Jacob,
It was wonderful to hear
from you, your wizrdry at making troubles disappear with just
a few clicks from the computer is admirable. Thanks a ton for
the catalumni address and for inducting Anthony into your seventh
heaven.
I feel kinda good knowing
I resurrected him for you. He was such a good sportsman.I only
remember him in his sporty days wearing the school colours in
his shorts. In fact if the chap was fully dressed I may not recognise
him (heh heh)!
Seriously, him, Tara Malkani
and Roff Sonawala were our class heroes. Sonawala was Wilson
hse, Captain and Ravi Jaitley was the Vice Capt. Sonawalla was
also Headboy.
During our Cambridge exams,
Roff's seat was on my starboiard beam (figure that out you landlubber)
(Ed: I have my ex-Commander of the Vikrant to help me
out on this!!) and it was very unnerving to watch him from the
corner of my eyes, as he sat very still and stared dreamily into
the vacant space....oblivious of all the frantic scratching and
scribbling around him..
Then there was the dashing
M. Anees, who like my Mallu is also a Merchant Navy man. There
was Rohington Tata, Prem Prakash Gupta (Palmer Capt) and Dante'
Modi, Chagla, Nerurkar, Ramesh Sareen the brother of legendary
film star Bina Rai, Vispee (surname?), Rahul Bajaj (who was awarded
the Nation's prestigious Padma Bhushan just yesterday and Jhangoo
Mama (who was a boxer and whose Mum brought fruit juice when
he practised..) All this is part of memorabilia of those lovely
days.
It is sizzling out here
already, mid 30's during the day.
Well, how's that for an
"getting to know me mail?"
Keep in touch, bye for
now, love to all 3 generations...from all of us here in Pune.
Sadhana.
Now 59ers, can any of you
match an input like that? What do you say we adopt her? She told
me that she is so tiny, so we can put her in our pocket and carry
her around as our mascot.
Keep those emails and photographs
coming. See you in a month.
.
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Honorary Editor
Seventh
Heaven (Web Version)
Cathedralite 1954
- 1959
School Hockey Goalkeeper - 1958; 1959
School Prefect - 1958; 1959
Savage House Captain - 1959
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