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Fellow Stephanians,
Here I am again folks.
I hope this time round that I will have input from all you Stephaniians out there to ensure that I can keep up this web zine for as long as I am able.
I start with a very nostalgic moment of this week.
I was not able to tune in to BBC World Service at 5 pm last Sunday (24th August 1997) to hear International Youth Debate which was billed to come from Delhi. I had to pick up my better half from work just during that hour. This year she is having a holiday looking after a museum which is open on Sundays during the summer and autumn (she gets to work when she gets home to look after this slob).
Come Monday morning, at 11.15 am on a beautiful early autumn morning, I sat comfortably next to my Sangean digital shortwave set and tuned in to BBC to listen to an edited version of the previous day's debate.
Like International Question Hour (as readers who read the LATE LATE NEWS will know, the programme on which I put a question to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General), given a chance I always take time off from my absolutely Stephanian-like schedule (in short - bumming around) to enjoy these well organised BBC listener participation programmes.
The topic of the debate chaired by Britisher - Ms. Sahara Chauhan of the BBC was "50 Years of Independence and Still No Freedom".
(I hope all the characters mentioned here will excuse me if I do not have all the names correct as they were deciphered over the usual radio noise and the general assumption that everyone in the world understands a name spoken over the radio).
I was happily surprised (although I do not know why - after all, from where else can a debate in Delhi come from), just as when someone serves up Sherry Trifle for dessert, when Sahara announced that the debate was coming from our beloved institution, St. Stephen's College, Delhi.
Sahara asked Vinembra Agarwal to put forward the proposition. Vinembra did this in a masterly fashion as only Stephanians know how.
This transported me through time to the lively debates that I had listened to and participated in during the early sixties in the Assembly Hall
(I was never of top calibre debating skill during my time in Stephen's with the likes of Montek Singh Alhuwalia and many Aiyars (Mani, Swami and friends) around, but I had my day when I was later in London where my fast-talking Stephanian PJ skills shone against the rather mediocre mundane natives of England.)
The main thrust of Vinembra's argument was that as 97% of Indians are in the unorganised sector, 30% live in abject poverty, and as the per capita income is just $340, in the main areas of life, economic, social and political, the mass of Indians can by no stretch of the imagination be considered free (freedom being something which is individual-oriented) even after 50 years of independence. Vinembra said that freedom was only on paper. Discrimination of all communities (ironically, presently including the upper classes) was a fact of life and the corrupt political system was so evident that today a politician was able to install an unelected person, his wife, on the throne as Chief Minister when he was being hauled over the coals for possible corrupt practices!
Certainly a strong opening shot. I waited with bated breath for the reply.
Jaideep Bagchi was asked to respond. This was a well-grounded presentation in true debating fashion - not just a reeling off of counter arguments. Jaideep argued that independence is the freedom of the individual to choose. The fact the Indian electorate has on several occasions removed Governments, the most notable being Indira Gandhi after she imposed her emergency for 2 years, showed that India had a responsible and knowledgeable electorate.
Jaideep certainly had the audience moving in his direction with his arguments and elocution ability.
When the topic was then opened to the floor, the question of the literacy level in India came into question. With this came the usual question whether better education would result in freedom. It was here the bourgeois opinions started to tumble out when the elite(?) of society, Stephanians, linked education with literacy?
The argument was strong and fierce but, in my opinion, they all missed the vital point about what is education?
Is a farmer, who can till his land at the right time using all the correct agricultural practices which have been handed down from time immemorial and not corrupted by present day non-eco type agricultural methods, and who produces bumper sustainable harvests from his small tract of land, but yet is unable to read and write or even sign a piece of paper, i.e., illiterate by standards laid down by the UN, uneducated?
Or, is education only achieved by becoming a Stephanian?
Moving to the second half of the proposition, Abajit Safiriyan was asked to present the future scenario.
Abajit used a very appropriate simile when he alluded to the bribery and corruption that was in place in India and that it was like a cancer which could not be cured by just a dose of chemotherapy. Abajit made a strong case that if India and Indians really wanted to be free, then, like the cancer or tumour, major surgery was required and the offending organ had to be removed by its roots.
Rahul Uspana was requested to respond. Rahul made a spirited attack on the proposers. He pointed out that today, 14 parties were in coalition to form the United Democratic Front Government in Delhi, with many States of the Union having completely different political parties in power, but yet able to form a national framework government. He drew reference to a few statistics, that exports were up 13%, the gross domestic product had increased by 7% and that India's market share of the world economy had doubled since independence. He projected that freedom would continue to increase for all Indians with greater globalisation.
Although there was not a woman debater on the dias, there was much solid contribution from the opposite sex from the floor. Certainly made my mind to wander back to our female-free environment of the sixties!!
The crux of the debate suddenly revolved around the fact that India had taken 200 years to attain Independence and hence 50 years was just a short period of time in a nation's history. As was succinctly put, the British had suggested that India should have independence when the people were "educated" - which undoubtedly would have been on a never-never basis!!
A key issue arose when Sahara posed the question whether everyone considered India was a happy land? Another question that came into the debate was how and when inequalities in society would be eliminated? Unfortunately, no clearcut answers to these questions emerged during the debate.
Sadly, the time flew by so quickly that the edited version of 45 minutes was over before I even realised it, ending in a vote, with 21 for the proposition and 34 against.
Personally, on a debating basis, I would have tied the debate, as all four participants were superb, in their debating skills and the content that they presented. I would have asked the (British) Chairperson to give her casting vote, but Stephanian dry vindictive humour was sadly not to be seen here in that context!!
I must admit that Sahara did a very professional job in the chair,
almost as if she were a Stephanian (compliment or insult -
Sahara?).
What was so illuminating was that even after a period of just over 30 years, although a generation may have passed, over the radio waves it was as if I was listening all over again to my friends and colleagues debating in the auditorium.
The attitudes and the stances were typically Stephanian in character and roused memories so poignant that as I looked out over the gleaming golden sunlit autumn leaves on the trees which surround our wooden arctic hut, I was transported back to the early wintery feeling of Stephen's as we congregated on the lawn, fringed with a few rose bushes, in front of Mukerji Block to debate the burning issues of our then world - whether the Mess Secretary should be fired for the lousy aloo-gobi served up for lunch, whether Sukhia's barfris were indeed the best in the world or at least in the Stephen's compound (our universe), or whether Deepchand was really the best barber/masseur in Delhi?
Well done Stephanians and thank you for dropping in to my home on that day (and in passing - also thanks to BBC!!). Hopefully, I have taken the mood to all those web surfing Stephanians who missed your performances.
One more news item in this issue that should interest Stephanians is that The WEEK, the Indian weekly from Cochin has come online. The latest cover story concerns none other than, guess who - a Stephanian in trouble.
You will remember not long ago I mentioned how Rathikant Basu<, a good friend and colleague in college in the early sixties had been appointed as the head of Star TV India by Rupert Murdoch.
It seems that jealousy has taken hold of the situation and Rathikant is in the middle of a fantastic storm that is rocking the Indian establishment. The WEEK has featured it as their latest cover story. It is a good read.
Since The WEEK is also run by two Stephanians, and is a sister publication of this (our roots are the same as we are all of the K. C. Mammen Mappillai - Malayala Manorama stock), it is worth a read as the back-up Stephanian publication on the web!! [ :-) which means broad smile for some of you not so web savvy Stephanians]
Of course, nothing could replace Kooler Talk (Web Version) as your primary No. 1 Stephanian web magazine - it is your magazine which I am privileged to host!! [because this old badger thought of it FIRST]
I hope all of you will take note and feed me with stories and anecdotes to keep this a lively web site in its reincarnation - something which is quite common for Kooler Talk per se. Do let me know whether you feel it should be a monthly or a quarterly, or God forbid - a fortnightly. I do not want to penetrate your lives too much with too many scandulous stories - but a few contributions would be worth receiving.
Thank you for bearing with me as I have invaded your privacy yet again!! More in awhile.
Your (g)host (PJ of The WEEK?)
Jacob Matthan, Honorary Editor,
Kooler Talk (Web Version), Oulu, Finland
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Thank you fellow Stephanians for welcoming back Kooler Talk (Web Version) with open arms.
I hope all of you did not mind me sending you the good news about the Cool Site Award given to us for our work on the web, which included this Kooler Talk (Web Version) site.
I promise that these Press Releases, which are usually only for the Press - will not become a habit, but I was so thrilled that I got a bit carried away to get such a solid recognition from SearchPoint, the centre that I personally consider as the most useful to carry out searches on the web.
During the lay-off, several of you have fed me with news and stories which I shall slowly start to unravel and unveil in coming issues.
Please do not stop sending me material for me to keep constructing a readable webletter. Here are a few recent letters - I am working my way backwards.
Subject: Thanks
from Rajesh Ranjan
Received: 9/9/97 12:12 pm
From: rajesh ranjan, rajran@hotmail.com
Dear Mr. Matthan,
I am really touched by your dedication and commitment to the Stepahanian cause (whatever that means).
Sir, you have done a great job by bringing out the Kooler Talk (Web Version).
I joined "College" in 1993 (Economics, presently at IIM-C). I used to write the various "spices" only as Kooler Talk was too much of an "intellectual" affair.
Till 1996, the year I graduated, the "spice" culture was kept alive by few enterprising souls. But I do feel that it is on its way out (they aren't that interesting and exciting anymore).
May be you can think of bringing out one spice (web version, of course). It would be much easier for you to take the initiative as you have data regarding all the Stephanians.
It can cover all the Stephanian glitterati (once agian, whatever that means)!!
Thank you.
Rajesh Ranjan IIM-C
Rajesh assumes that I would know much about Spice - but it happened a long time after my days in college. Being 7000 km away from Delhi makes it also a bit difficult to get hold of the real spicy news!
My knowledge of Spice is limited to what Jhelum Chowdhury wrote in the Kooler Talk Web Version 01 - Issue 5 way back in June 1996, which, to say the truth was very little.
If any one of you would care to send me a few issues (which I agree must be difficult if it was a underground publication) - maybe I can try to parody an issue within this Web Version!!
Subject: Kooler
Talk Sent: 31/8/97 9:13 pm From: KrishD@aol.com
I stumbled across the site today and really enjoyed going through it and was disappointed to see that it had been shut down. I will appreciate your letting me know if it resurrects.
I was in college and residence in 1973-76 doing a BA in Economics. I was one of KT's editors in 1974-75. I think it was shut down in 75-76 because of the Emergency.
I currently live in Los Angeles.
Regards,
Krishan Dhawan
KrishD came upon the site a day before it was restarted! He was indeed most happy that he could get to the restarted version.
Maybe Krish should read Kooler Talk Web Version 01 - Issue 2 where Amitabh Dubey, son of a Stephanian of the same era as me, Suman Dubey, told us how Kooler Talk was restarted in 1991 by Vijay Tankha (a philosophy professor) and himself and how he was followed by Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan as the editor.
It was most interesting to hear that KT was shut down because of the 1975 Emergency. Mrs. Gandhi had a novel way of censorship - she cut the newsprint quota to newspapers that did not toe her line. I did not know that KT had such a wide readership during those days to have been affected by Mrs. G's method!!
Subject: Re: Kooler
Talk Web Version Reappears New URL Sent: 28/8/97 7:33 pm
From: Srikanth Rajagopalan, sr211@columbia.edu
Hi Mr. Matthan,
Please change my ID on your mailing list to:
RAJA_GOPALAN@HOTMAIL.COM
from sr211@columbia.edu.
Congratulations on your work and resilience!
All the best,
Raja
I must admit my resilience part as whatever the troubles, it is my Stephanian spirit and background that has helped me fight back with double vigour. Anyway, beside the cost of web space, a pretty hefty telephone bill as I am not on a direct conection, and a bit of my time, there is not much to do in putting up this webletter so long as I get such excellent feedback from all you Stephanians out there.
Our web page of well-known
Indian authors and personalities already features, what
I hope is the complete works of, two Stephanians - Shashi
Tharoor and Arun Shourie, who as many of you will
remember, was my hockey captain. Shashi, however, was just a
4 year-old todler while Arun and I were fighting Hindu Collegeites
with hockey sticks during our heady days in Stephen's.
I used the biodata provided by Srini in his info to New York Stephanians as the intro to the works of Shashi (hope you do not mind Srini).
I hope others will let me know the names of other Stephanian authors so that I can list their books on the pages I have created as a tribute to great Indian writers.
I was pleasantly surprised
when I got some mail from a company in Delhi called Info Edge
who contacted me about a web page they are running for a company
called Sanka India Ltd, which is called naukri - a sort
of head hunting and placement service.
When I asked for details I found that two Stephanians were among the enterprising souls behind this company - Sanjeev Bikhchandani 34, BA Eco. St. Stephen's MBA IIM Ahmedabad and Surabhi Motihar 32, BA Eco. St Stephen's MBA IIM Ahmedabad.
Seems quite a few Stephanians are following the route to get MBA's after their stint at Stephen's, a sort of change from the days when everyone headed for the IAS/IFS/IPS exams.
More in a month.
Regards
Jacob Matthan, Honorary Editor,
Kooler Talk (Web Version), Oulu, Finland
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Another month has passed. Hence, it looks as if the routine of the web version of Kooler Talk will be as a monthly, despite a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from many of you. It is no stress for me to keep this going at this pace.
First - some of the hot news about a few Stephanians.
Rathikant Basu is again in the news, as he and Rupert Murdoch were asked to appear in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi, Prem Kumar, on 27th October for "offensively invading and depraving public morals" for showing 4 "obscene" films on Star TV using cable transmission.
How hypocritical can some in Indian society be if they feel that movies can deprave and yet allow all the possible violence to be shown, day-in and day-out, in the Bollywood productions. The suggestive sex in Bollywood films is far more depraving than anything that I have seen on the western screen during my 30 plus years of living in a Western society, but, of course, moralists in India cannot dare challenge the money and power of Bollywood!!
Another couple of Stephanians in the limelight are Pradip Kishen, husband of Arundhati Roy, who was the first home-grown Indian to win the Booker Prize this year, and Pradip's elder daughter Pia (20) - Arundhati's step-daughter, currently a 3rd year history student at Stephen's. Pia is a fourth generation Stephanian, and all the generations have studied history. Pradip is a film director. He has directed three feature films, Massey Sahib, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones and Electric Moon (facts courtesy Stephanian Debasish Mukerji - special correspondent of The WEEK).
Massey Sahib was hilarious. My better half (Annikki) and I had the chance to convert the script of this movie to Finnish and Annikki read the script over the microphone (microphone interpretation) while the movie was being shown during the International Children's Film Festival held here in Oulu a few years ago. I must admit that is one of the very few movies that I have enjoyed in recent years. I understand that Arundhati acted in Massey Sahib, although I do not particularly remember the cast.
Pradip's younger daughter, Mithva, who is the 12th standard in a school in Dehra Dun, may also become a Stephanian, but maybe not, as she may follow in Arundhati's footsteps as a writer or an architect (?), now that the world is at their feet.
Now let us take a look at a Stephanian
who has been in touch with me during the lay-off of this web-rag.
I had mail from someone whose address was shown as Inderjit
Jhala who claimed to be in Stephen's the same time as me.
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 10:41:56 +0530
From: Indrajit.Jhala@giascla.vsnlnet.in
Subject: Hi Jacob, Remember Me?
Came across the KT Page , U did not
tell the sequel to the Luck story, i.e. the revenge of the Bridge
Fanatics, and poor Luck's situation as reported by Kundan Singh.
More if I can get a reply from u. Nirmal.
I knew of two Jhala's but no Indrajit, and in my carelessness I had not noted the signature which was in the body of the message. So I sent a message describing the two Jhala's I knew and back came the reply:
Got your prompt reply.
First let me make a few small corrections in yr recollection
of yrs truly.
He died soon after leaving college,
of throat cancer, never having smoked all his life. Incidentally,
Mahendra also lives in Cal. He now leads a life of leisure, having
quit after a near fatal encounter with a brain tumour. He has
a son working in USA.
That more or less sums up the story of my life. Yes, I have been working, if that is the word, for the Govt. of WB and for the GOI for about thirty years now. Not much to show for it ,as you can see from the little story (Jacob: not) given below. Don't send it out on KT (Jacob: Sorry Kooler Talkians, only my privilege to get to see some of the juicy stuff), The Statesman might object.
The Moral of the Story
Nirmal Jhala
Jacob's memory had
struck again!!
More next month about some more Stephanians of the past - so keep those letters rolling in!!
Regards
Jacob Matthan, Honorary Editor,
Kooler Talk (Web Version), Oulu, Finland Web Pages of Stephanians
As requested by many of you, here is a list of 35 Stephanians with web pages (thanks to Krishna Kumar) sorted on the basis of completing the first degree - oldest (that is me) at the top of the list to the youngest (still to graduate!!).
Let me know of any mistakes or any missing ones. I shall try to find a permanent place for this list and also try to keep it up-to-date.
Keep your fingers crossed and Click - and hopefully you should reach the page in question.
I am still waiting for our Monsieur from Canada to replace me as the oldest Stephanian on the web!!
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Christmas is upon us here in the North Pole (figuratively speaking) and the snow cover, though there in plenty to lighten the dark days, is not too much so that we have to dig our way out. Not that late sleepers, like me, have to dig our way out as the snow ploughs shift the snow in the city during the early hours.
The last month has been one of consolidation and thanks to the mail from our tireless New Yorker, Sreenath (you can read an interview with S-cubed on Indialine) , who sent us that humourous note about Dr. Anil Wilson's thoughts about our much loved Stephanian corridors (please email me if you did not receive it and I will send you a copy), I established contact with our lively Head of State.
Here is his last message, which includes
invitations all round - so I hope that those of you in the vicinity
will take the opportunity to join up in the festivities.
From:
Dr. Anil Wilson,
Principal,
St. Stephens College,
Delhi.
Dear Jacob,
Delighted to hear from you and to know about you in some detail.
I have visited the web site and enjoyed what I read there though I could not access the one with your photograph ( Ed: I wonder why - as it comes up without any problem - anyone else had this problem - or is the devil in that picture playing tricks with your computer?).
Regarding the College version of Kooler Talk, it may interest you to know that after I took over as Principal (January 1991) I discovered that quite a few traditions had flittered away which I felt should be restored. In this process I came across old copies of Kooler Talk (Ed: I wonder whether he found the one with the scandulous article by the 3 HEAPS - Big Heap (me), Middle Heap and Little Heap?) but could not find out why it should have been stopped. Hence, I decide to put it back on the rails and asked Dr.Vijay Tankha, (who, as you know is teaching Philosophy here and is also an Old Boy) to become the Staff Adviser. Last year Vijay went off on study leave and now the Staff Adviser is Dr. Christel Devadawson (read English at College then did her Ph.D. from Cambridge and is now on the faculty).
It would interest you to know that the JCR activities, that you initiated, are going strong. Instead of a JCR Evening (Ed: My lasting contribution to Stephenia - I now know I have done at least one valuable thing in my life!!), now we have a JCR Week!! (Ed: If I find my bridge partner Ajay Verma, we will take on anyone but the Rai twins (Suraj and Chander) at a bridge challenge competition!!)
These days College is preparing for the Founder's Day. Normally this is on Dec. 7, but 7th being a Sunday, we are commemorating it on Dec 6, 10.30 am IST.
(Ed: Dec. 6th is the 80th Finnish Independence Day - so we will be watching on TV all the dignatories, including our own Ambassador, Mrs. Kumar, enjoying their fun and frolic in the Presidential Palace in Helsinki.)
Ved Prakash Marwah (distinguished Stephanian) (Ed: Will someone fill me in on Ved and the exploits that have made him distinguished) will deliver the Founder's Day address.
In recent years I have made it a point to invite only Stephanians as Chief Guests for this occasion. B. G. Verghese (Ed: Who married a lady Stephenain of the 50's era, glamourous Jameela, for those who think that women in college is a new fangled sport) was our guest a couple of years ago. Letters of invitation are sent to those Old Students in Delhi whose addresses we have on our files.
(I wonder if there are a good number on the Web Stephanian Directory and if so could that be used to send them this invitation?)
The Old Students Reunion and Lunch is on Sunday December 14. Normally 350 to 400 Old Students turn up. (This too could be notified through the 'net')
In order to make this occasion more meaningful I have added a few things to it, apart from the usual basketball and tennis matches: we put up an exhibition of old photographs and memorabilia which is very popular, we remember the 'dear departed' during the previous year, and invite three of the oldest Stephanians present to speak about their days in College. I have also taken to inviting ten to fifteen Junior Members (the President of the Students Union Society, of the JCR, Secretary of the Social Service League, Shake Soc etc. etc.) to be the 'hosts' and receive the Old Students as they come in and, in general, to interact with them.
Well, there is so much more to write, but let that be for the next time.
(Yes, Kundan Singh (Ed: my absolutely wonderful gyp - who made me drink a glass of milk morning and night - following my mother's orders) is going strong).
Best Wishes,
Anil
Amongst the other letters I had was one from Singapore.
Subject: From a fellow Stephanian
Sent: 26/11/97 01:27
From: Akash Mohapatra, akash@cyberway.com.sg
Hi Jacob,
It has been a real pleasure to go through the Kooler Talk (Ed: Web Version, I assume). I have been following it since the past year or so.
I am Akash Mohapatra, Economics - 1989.
Presently based in Singapore. It made me so nostalgic.(Ed: It seems our dinosaur from Canada is not the only one is driven into nostalgia by this electronic noise!!)
I had called college last week and Raghunathji is now the Section Officer - Where there was Mr Rampall earlier. I was told that a Girl's Hostel has been opened in college, near the New LCR.
I must say St. Stephens is putting in it's bit for gender equality. I was very happy to hear this. I wonder when the college will have a Lady Principal(Ed: Watch out Anil - Now you have a real unequal threat!!) and a Lady President.
We had a Stephanian get together here in Singapore about 3 months ago and are planning another get together this Sunday, November 30th and I am taking copies of the Kooler Talk and Vepa's History of St Stephen's to share with everyone.
(Ed: If you can rattle up some ad revenue for this rag out there in Singapore from our well-to-do Stephanians - and also from the New York and Washington groups - maybe we can make this webletter into a bundle of joy with some glitzy pictures and video images, some real audio featuring music from Stephanian Jazz and Pop groups, etc., etc.!!)
We are about 25 Stephanians here in Singapore and I shall send you the list.
Regards
Akash
My Address and contact.
Tele:.. 65 - 3567792 (Res) 65 - 2901306 (Off)
Email: akash.mohapatra@chase.com (Work) akash@cyberway.com.sg
(Home)
Blk 194, Kim Keat Avenue, # 10-420, Singapore 310194
Joanna (pronounced
Yoanna), my younger daughter (a Masters in English Philology
from our local university) dumped an enormous book "A
Suitable Boy" on my table before she left for a long
holiday to India to show off my first grandson (8 months) to
his greatgrandmother in Bangalore. She sort of mumbled that it
was by a fellow alma materite - Vikram Seth.
Looking at the sheer size of the book - 1474 pages - I told her that I doubted very much if any Stephanian would have the concentration to sit down and write such an elephantine monster.
In my younger days I was a master of speed reading - 1500 words per minute - but with age (bad vision and lack of concentration in matters not of utmost importance and interest - as the latest cricket scores and match reports) it has dropped back to the normal sedate 300 words per minute - so it is going to take me a good, long time before I finish this book - sort of 10 pages a day schedule.
Will someone confirm or deny the antecedents of Vikram - as if he is one of us I will have to indicate that in my Authors and Personalities page where a couple of other Stephanian names (e.g., Arun Shourie, Shashi Tharoor) have found their way into the hall of fame alongside Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, etc....
Now a request from someone who wants
to be Stephanian -
Subject: College info
Sent 20/11/97 17:29
Respected (Ed: I am flattered) Mr. Matthan,
You are probably wondering who the hell I am?
Well, my name is Rashmi and I am studying abroad; to be specific in the American school in Athens. My parents however cannot afford to send me to the States for a College education, so I decided I wanted to go to the St. Stephens College in Delhi.
My parents told me it was a very good college in Delhi. But in order to go I really wanted some advice as to what percentage you need to get accepted and what the interview is about. I mean what type of questions they ask you!
So after a lot of surfing (Ed: Must have been wind-surfing - any Stephanian or would-be Stephanian would know that by typing Kooler into any search engne you will land up at this page. :-)) on the net I found this site.
Please guide me - I 'll really appreciate it !
Thanx
Yours Sincerely,
RASHMI
Sadly Rashmi did not give me her email address
so there was no point of forwarding her request to the people
who could help her. If anyone knows who she is or if she happens
to surf by again, please send the correct email address to me
and I will ensure that your request is sent to some present day
Stephanian who can advise you - sitting on top of the world here
in Finland, I am ill-equipped to give any info on the subject.
Maybe Anil will take note and help me put up a web site which has all relevant data about our honoured institution - something we cannot put off for much longer in this day and age. My old school, Cathedral in Bombay, has decided to put up its site - a flashy one with the Princi's picture, splash screen, etc. after the success of my other webletter - Seventh Heaven.
And finally a note from one mini-Stephanian
searching for another.
Subject: Do you
know Christopher Cecil?
(Ed: Thought it was Christopher Robin :-) )
Sent: 25/11/97 10:57
From: pal@pacbell.net
Looking for an eco honours student who started at St Stephens in 1960. Any info will be appreciated
Dharam Pal Luthra
P.S. I joined St Stephens with him in 1960, became his buddy but then left India
Ed:
I did know a Chris - but I cannot swear he was surnamed Cecil,
and I certainly do not know whether he was an Eco Honours student
- but I am sure one of our many 1960 - 63 crowd (e.g., Sujit
Bhattacharaya, Montek Singh Alhuwallia, Rajagopal Narayanan,
etc.) should be able to help Dharam.
Surfers have helped fill this issue and my news bank has remained intact for another issue or two. Do please write and tell me what is happening in your area (we have Stephanians in over 70 countries who have been surfing in to this site) so that Stephanians in that region can meet up and take part in events, such as in the Big Apple and Singapore.
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you will join me again to read a bumper New Year Edition on the 1st of January 1998.
Till then, Your shivering frozen editor
(You should read the great tip about how to get yourself a home-made hot water bottle which I use every cold winter night!!)
Jacob from the Arctic
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Hello fellow Stephanians,
What has been the most embarrassing moment of your life? (Seems to be an ideal opportunity for many of you to send me your true life confessions.)
Mine was when I was stranded as a soprano washerwoman on the operatic stage in Bombay instead of being carted off to be a harem girl in a Chinese palace. A short-lived career indeed. But two friendly(?) Stephanians changed all that in the month of December 1997.
Our Professor of Journalism from the Big Apple, Sreenath, having read some of my musings, thought he would drop a gentle hint by subscribing me to the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) mailing list so that I could be exposed to the 90 odd learned scribes who share their thoughts on matters of earth-shattering importance (as do we Stephanians) - as to which is the best Indian sweet. (Some came out in favour of something known as "pinni", which in my long life in North India - especially with the cooking wizards in the Stephanian Mess, I was sadly kept in ignorance of. I stodgily stood behind Bangalorean K. C. Das's Sweet Curd - some had the nerve to claim this Kannadiga delicacy was from Bengal! I would have suggested Sukhia's barfi, but I was in a cussed South Indian mood.)
Coming back to my narrative, as I expressed my preference for this mouth-watering delicacy to the journalists, and then questioned why the Indian flag was called a tricolour when it has a fourth colour - the blue in the centre as the chakra - causing many of the assembled audience to unsubscribe from the list - suddenly, appeared a message to this all star cast saying something like - "Hey there, Sorry to use this for a personal query. Is the Jacob Matthan who questioned the use of tricolour the same as Sushil Matthan?"
My world was shattered to smithereens - here was I hiding in my anonymity and a fellow Stephanian, albeit a few years senior to me, with whom I just happened to share a flat in London for three good years, drops a hot potatoe (so with my Dan Quail spelling, now you can grade me to be inline for the American Vice Presidency) to this sombre (almost as dropping a brick at the Drones Club) list of great names from the American media, asking for the well hidden truth!!
A few more unsubscribe requests must have made Sreeni wonder whether he had destroyed his pet project by including me. In the process he put me in touch with Anil Kumar akumar@population.org, Stephanian 1956-1959, Chartered Accountant from London 1966, much travelled character extraordinaire, as he can describe ball-by-ball (takes the good part of five days to get through it), even today, the final between Bombay University (captained by Ajit Wadekar) and Delhi University (captained by Akash Lal?) in 1959. He is now working in the Big Apple for a small population organisation which promotes family planning by using radio and tv soap operas to convey the message.
Welcome to Kooler Talk (Web Version) - Annie, yes, I thought I should respond in kind and reveal to our Stephanians your plomme de nume.
Thank you all for not castigating me for flooding your mailboxes with my reminder message last month - but I suffered the most, as there were 38 wrong addresses,, which meant I got over 150 returns in my mailbox, and I had to go through each one to check for the fault. See why I hate sending those reminders!
The response to the last issue was heartening - but the glory belongs, not to me, but the contribution of our dear Princi. Most suggested that I should give him a permanent space for his scribblings, which I think would be well worth it.
Many suggestions of titles for Anil's column came in - the most popular being Corridors of Fame - his piece about our sacred Stephanian corridor, so kindly circulated by Sreeni, having aroused a great deal of comment!
I have not decided on the name, and neither has Anil agreed to grace these pages on a regular basis - but we can always live in hope.
He has, however, has sent me a letter
for this issue, so here goes.
Dear Jacob,
I have gone through Issue Ten of the Web Version of Kooler Talk and have enjoyed it. A brief update on some of the issues mentioned by you:
VED PARKASH MARWAH, our Chief Guest for the Founders Day, is of the 1949-53 vintage. Graduated in Economics and then went on to do his post graduation in History. Joined the IPS and served in important positions. A more detailed CV will follow when I have a little more time.
Vikram Seth was not at St. Stephen's though there are some who suggest that he did join College for a very brief while before leaving for foreign climes. This needs to be checked out. However, the hero of "Suitable Boy" is specifically made out to be a Stephanian (is this an example of vicarious wish-fulfilment by Seth? Any shrinks among your readers who could delve deeper into this??)
(Ed: This issue remains unresolved - but the bulk of those who wrote told me to get on with it and read the book, nevertheless - still struggling on with this Five Year Project, but must say I have read some better stuff in my day!)
Talking about writers: Arundhati Roy's step daughter and husband are Stephanians. Hence we could persuade her to come and read portions of her "God of Small Things".
I do not think there is any Stephanian worth his mince who hasn't heard the story about Natwar Singh's comment in the College Visitor's Book: "I am what I am today because of College," and Mani Shankar Aiyar's, retort a few days later, "But why blame the poor College!?"
Well, Mani was in College two days ago on an IDG invitation, spoke on well into the night (he left at 11.30 p.m.) and the large audience, like the Wedding Guest in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" were held in thrall by the glittering eye and tales of yore of this our own home-spun Ancient Mariner.
However, not to digress from the point from where I began: On leaving Mani wrote the usual courteous things about College in the Visitor's book, and ended up with, "But, No, I will not write anything about Natwar this time."
On the subject of Ancient Mariners and Old Boys: Sriniwas Sohni (63-68, History) who was Secretary to President Shankar Dayal Sharma and was appointed Secretary-General Rajya Sabha just before Shankar Dayal Sharma retired, was unceremoniously dumped thereafter and relegated to an inconsequential position. Sohni, with the help of another well-known Stephanian, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (also member of the College Governing Body), took the johnies to court. Yesterday his position was vindicated and he was reinstated.
However, all is not bonhomie and camaraderie among Stephanians. Stephanian Jagmohan Dalmia and Stephanian Sunil Dev (both powers-to-reckon-with on the national cricket scene) were involved in a messy public squabble over the control of the Cricket Board of India. Body-line bowling and nasty bouncers were the order of the day till Dalmia got the better of his junior brother-[up]in-arms.
While on Cricket: College cricket team has reached the semi-finals of the Delhi University tournament. En-route, among the important victories were the one against Aurobindo college (Aurobindo: 121 all out. SSC: 121 for two) and, more important, against the chaps across the road (Hindu: 82 all out; SSC: 82 for one).
In the other DU tournaments concluded so far we have won the University Championship in both the men and women basketball. This is the first time that both these championships have come to us--we have been winning one or the other alternately.
The College debating team has been invited to Greece to participate in a World Debating event. In fact during the past few years the College Debating Team has been participating in a number of international events and doing very well.
(Ed: Should have them up against a series of Old Boys teams - we will then know which generation can produce the greatest amount of gas!!)
More in my next mail.
Best wishes,
Anil
Need I add any more to this issue?
Not to disappoint you folks, here are a few baby dinosaurs who
have appeared on the scene during the last year.
Dear Jacob,
You've created a veritable nostalgia funhouse!
I graduated Stephen's in 1970 and was in residence from 1967 (Allnutt South).
I was also the Katy Editor in 1969, the year that Katy was "confiscated" by a group of students who didn't like the editorial content or the tone of the articles in a particular issue. Things got quite out of hand and the balance of the world seemed to be at stake for a short while!
It WAS a long time ago. Anyway, I'll have to try and remember more.
Amit Shah
I did not know that there was a Stephanian so near the Arctic Circle! And if I had realised it, I would certainly have dropped in on you when I was in Oulu doing some work for Nokia!
(Ed: Anyone else heard of this small Finnish company my daughter was working for before she decide to produce my first grandson - the very same daughter who has set me lines to read Suitable Boy as a process of father education - while she vacations in Bangalore?)
Though I hear about others from time to time, the only Stephanians I am in more or less regularly in touch with OUTSIDE INDIA are Anish Mathai (in NY) and "Juno" Verghese Varkki, (in Luxembourg).
I also WAS in touch with Trinanjan Mitra in Luxembourg but have lost touch with him for some years.
If any of you knows the whereabouts of Stephen George (Physics, 1960s; then LSE for his Masters; when last heard of he had formally changed his first name to Ranjit (or Ranjeet?) and was in California...).
And if any of you fellow mission-college guys ever visits Switzerland, look me up - I am based about 45 minutes north-east of Zurich airport, overlooking Lake Constance.
Prabhu Guptara e-mail: prabhu.guptara@ubs.ch
And again:
Dear Jacob
I was at SSC 1965/70, then lectured there 1970/73, before going to Scotland for 3 years and England for 16 where I set up a consultancy while keeping up my academic links.
We did some work for Union Bank of Switzerland in 1995 and they made me an offer in 1996, so I have been with them 18 months as Group Director, Organisational Learning & Transformation while also continuing as Chairman of the consultancy in the UK.
Prabhu Guptara
Hello Sushil (Ed: yet another who reveals all),
Sure, I remember you and am delighted to hear about your "Kooler Talk" site.
I have just registered myself on both my old school and college registries on world alumni net. Yours is the first response from an old Stephanian.
I am now based in Delhi and have been practising in the Supreme Court since 1991.
Looking forward to seeing the next edition of KT.
regards,
Joseph Vellapally Stephanian 1962-1965 (Ed: Joe was
the only person I ever ragged in my years at Stephen's. He was
made to stand on one leg for a very long time - but, of course
I was not looking and he was cheating!! :-))
Dear Jacob,
Yes, we were indeed in SSC together..... and I think I remember you somewhat better than you do me!
You were with Rajan Narayanan (Ed: Rajan was last heard of at Cochin working for one of the plantation companies) and the late Arjun Soni, weren't you?
(Ed: It was sad to hear about Arjun's demise. Arjun was popularly known as Horse because of the way he ran - he was a long distance runner of some merit and kept in training with Rhodes Scholar and Stephanian Olympian Ranjit Bhatia. I last met up with Arjun in Bangalore where he was branch manager for India Foils in the mid-seventies. He appeared to be in great physical shape then. Can anyone fill me on the details - as Arjun was a wonderful Stephanian and a happy personality.)
I clearly recall the story of your altercation with the late Arun "I'm tough" Babbar, who earned great laurels in his brief police career for valour and gallantry!
(Ed: Again, I am also very sad to hear of the demise of Arun - as he lived three rooms away from me during my three years in college. He was tough on the outside but a real softie inside - and after our first head-to-head confrontation, he realised that he had better not bother me - I was twice his size and also twice his weight, and just as physically fit as he was!!)
It's great to hear from you!
I read History Hons., doing my B.A. in '63 and my M.A. in '65, after which I went to Oxford for three years and have been working with ITC Ltd. since '69.
Write soon. Yours aye,
Dileep Rao
How is that for a sample from my mailbag. I have lots more to come from many a generation so please stay tuned for the February issue, which will end this Volume.
I shall then try to revamp the site to make it a bit more daring, but considering my total lack of knowledge about this thing they call a computer, it is really going to be an effort.
Those of you with web pages, please submit the correct URL - as some of the links given below (about 2 issues down) are broken. I have left thm in so that you will write to me when you note your link is not working.
As an aside - ad space on the Kooler Talk and the Katy Archive pages, as also all my other web pages are going at a premium. If you want to advertise to some 52000 hits from 70 countries every issue, do let me know. I will ask my ad agent, an young Indian nuclear physicist from Hyderabad working in a town, Jyväskylä, about 300 km south of Oulu in Finland on the local cyclotron, to get in touch with you. My intention is to help a few struggling Indian students here in Finland earn a small income so that they can support their studies in Finland as they are not entitled to any form of grant or subsidy, and living costs are substantial.
A very happy new year to all of you out there (be it Tamil, Parsi, or any other - I will not be repeating this greeting - my brand of secularism - for the next 365 days!) - and take care.
Your Kooler Talk (Web Version) Editor
Jacob - one who is still surviving the bitter cold of the Arctic - the Finnish word is "sisu" which the Finns say is Robert Bruce type perseverance but which in my case translates better as blockhead
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Dear fellow Stephanians,
My sincere apologies for coming up late with this issue, but some grave problems confronted me in the form of influenza which knocked me cold - leaving me with no option but to delay my extra-ciricular activities. However, all is well that ends well, and your host is back on line - minus 10 kg of his 115 kg original flab.
New York seems to have been most active last month as they got our Indian Representative to the UN, none other than the tall and lanky (as I remember him, Kamlesh Sharma to attend the reunion.
I had a look at the New York list of Stephanians and I was most pleased to find the name of another good colleague, Alan Robertson, 65 History, listed. He too is at the United Nations.
Alan was the first non-Indian from the African continent that I ever met and got to know (Rathikant Basu - claimed Khartoum, Sudan, as his base while Niranjan Desai was my friend from Nairobi, Kenya).
Alan was a fine upstanding fellow during his college years. If I remember right, he used to be in training with the late Arjun Soni (Horse), about whom I wrote last week
Maybe the first person one meets from a new place can set your mind about a whole continent, and Alan was a true Ambassador in the sixties for the African continent.
New York's active Stephanian, Sreenath, is also responsible for this month's letter from our Principal - which is in a good cause to help develop our college. I hope all of you will act on this request - as every dollar contributed will be worth its weight in gold.
I hope Anil will tell us the bank
account to which we should transfer whatever meager assistance
we can steal and divert from the mouths of our starving babes.
5th Dec 1997.
Dear Sir,
St. Stephen's College is one of India's premier educational institutions. For over a century it has consistently maintained high and exacting standards in the field of liberal arts and sciences. Along the way, it has produced many of India's leaders in politics, business, administration and other professional streams.
At present the college offers Honors courses in Economics, Mathematics, Physics, History, English, Philosophy and Sanskrit along with a General course in Computers. The college plans to offer an Honors course in Computers from next year. It also plans to make access to the Internet and email available to every student. This requires an augmentation of the existing computer infrastructure in college.
The college plans to set up a modern computer centre and seeks the help of a corporate sponsor in this venture. We would be grateful if you either provide us financial support or contribute the equipment. Enclosed is our proposal for what such a venture would entail. We welcome any changes or additions that you might have to suggest.
The college would recognize your participation and the form and manner of that recognition could be discussed with the college later.
We look forward to a favorable response from you. All payments may be made to the Principal, St. Stephen's College. We would like to express our gratitude to you for your support of St. Stephen's College.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
(ANIL WILSON)
Principal, St. Stephen's College
(ABHAY GANGADHARAN)
President, Students Union Society
This is the proposal for a new computer centre for St. Stephen's College. We plan to offer each student access to the Internet and email. The centre will also have desktop publishing and multi-media capabilities.
Fixed Costs (all figures in Indian
Rs.)
1. Three 2-tonne air conditioners 100,000
2. 1 UPS 20,000
3. 2 Laser Printers 80,000
4. 2 Color Inkjets 50,000
5. 2 Modems 20,000
6. 2 Phone Lines 6,000
7. 1 Server 100,000
8. 1 Scanner 25,000
Sub-Total 401,000
Infrastructural Costs 300,000
Variable Costs
20 Computers 100,000
Sub-Total 1,701,000
Annual Maintenance & Upgradation 2,500,000
Total Endowment Rs. 4,200,000
(roughly $100,000) The centre will also have desktop publishing
and multi-media capabilities.
Although this is not
the forum for debate about computer platforms, a couple of points
may be worth making. Stephen's is the centre of forward thinking
and learning. Second, there is an important phrase in the above:
" The centre will also have desktop publishing and multi-media capabilities."
This alone points to the choice being made to install Apple Macintosh computers rather than PC's at Stephen's.
The reasons for this are plentifold, but when over 80% of those in publishing use Macs, the argument would be compelling.
The recent GISTICs Executive Education Knowledge -Based Publication Series report, Volume II Issue 1 Number 1 Revision 4.8 dated Summer 1997 - I can submit a copy to whomsoever is interested - showed that the return on investment (ROI) in the publishing field of a Macintosh-using creative professional produced US$26441 more annual revenue and US$14488 more net profit than a Windows user of comparable skill engaged in similar work. This revenue differential enabled a PowerPC Macintosh-based studio to achieve payback on a new platform in 4.59 months, whereas in stark contrast, a WINDOWS NT-based form required 12.58 months to recoup its investment.
This is one of the primary reasons for the predominance of Macs in this area of technology.
Probably a more compelling reason would be the conclusion of this report published in the UK by the British software company SCO and Harris Research which found that most time was lost through PC malfunction or misuse. Seven out of 10 surveyed said they became frustrated when their PCs failed to work. On average, each employee surveyed wasted 100 minutes a week during the first month a new system is introduced. "Consequently, the latest software isn't empowering these users -- it is disrupting their working day," - Geoff Seabrook of SCO commented. The survey of 400 PC users in medium-sized and large companies in Europe found that personal computers caused stress, with employees feeling that they had to work harder than ever before. Such malfunctions are rare on a Mac. I have hardly lost a moment of my computing time in 14 odd years.
Further, I quote a couple of lines
from the April 21st 1997 issue of TIME which had the special
report on the wife and mom of Stephanians - none other than
Booker Prize winner and world best-selling authoress - Arundhati
Roy .
My own experience (with 3 local best-sellers between my wife and myself , three webletters coming up for the last two years every fortnight, and over a 1000 articles published between us), with the Mac has been similar - and till today this old decrepit Stephanian who puts up this crazy webletter for equally gonky Stephanians world-wide, has no clue what his computer is doing - and I do not want to know as all I am interested in is productivity.
And as to productivity on the Mac - that I can swear by - as when I came to Finland in 1984 - I had never touched a computer before (barring my whopping big calculator) - and I was thrown into the highest tech lab in Oulu - Microelectronics (the heart of electronics) - where everyone swore by IBM and DOS.
I started by looking at a few manuals and playing around with a VAX machine, and I knew in my heart I was just wasting time.
A friend of mine and I chanced upon the Mac - and before you could say "Jacob the Finn" - we were the two most productve guys in the lab. Thereafter, virtually every high tech operation, including control of excimer and argon ion lasers, research on the high temperature superconductors, and research on a mass of new technologies was being done on Macs. The entire staff in the lab got themselves Macs, both for their office desktop as well as for their home computing.
What is even more interesting is that over the last 14 years, except for my earliest acquisition for the lab, none of the other Macs have been retired as they still perform in the high tech environment with all the efficiency required. (I bought my earliest Mac acquisition for the lab at an auction last year and I am still using this antique 14 years on with no loss in productivity!)
There are several even more compeling reasons for staying away from PCs - there are over 10000 bugs and viruses associated with PCs - which is chaotic in a public facility where students bring in their own discs. The total number of bugs and viruses on Macs is just 35 and the disinfectant and anti-virus programs are all free.
However, probably the most compelling reason is that you can run all the main operating systems on a Mac - Windows, MacLinux, and of course, the Mac operating system, which the rest of the computer world is trying to emulate - rather badly at that, whereas with a PC, you are stuck with just one operating system.
I could give you hundreds of other reasons why our college should use Macs - but probably the greatest is just productivity. If you want Stephanians to be productive in the wide world - then equip them with the real thing and not just a bad copy of what has set the world of computing alight 15 years ago. Face it - Windows is a copy and will always remain a copy of the real thing!!
Oh, by the way, the Marketing Manager of Apple Computers Inc. in the US is a good Mallu - Jacob Kandathil - and if the right approach is made to him, I am sure that Apple Computers Inc. should be able to make a substantial donation to the most prestigious college in India.
Moving on to other subjects, I promise you an exciting next issue of Kooler Talk Web version, with a most revealing photograph of four Stephanians. Three of them, plus a 4th who is the Chairman and Managing Director of one of India's most respected companies (but sadly not a Stephanian) in that photograph, will probably pay me good money to stop the picture coming online - but this old coot (the fourth figure) cannot be bribed - so watch out for the next episode of a new volume of Kooler Talk web version which should come online by the beginning of March 1998.
Till then "näkemiin (Finnish for - goodbye till we meet again)" from a frozen north where temperatures for the past week have been hovering around -39 Celsius.
Your Kooler Talk (Web Version) Editor
Jacob
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