- Volume 2 - Issue 12:980822
Dear Cathedralites from anywhere
in this world,
There has been a gap of three months
since my last issue. The reasons are plentifold - but I have
not vanished from the face of the earth - my heart is still pumping
away.
My fellow Cathedralite in Finland,
Prof. Ajeet Mathur graced our home again last week on a flying
visit, our second reunion of this year - arrived by the 7.32
from Tampere and away on the 22.12, back to the industrial city
of South Finland.
First news about a change in an email
address - Rekha and Kishore Shivdasani have informed me of the
change in their address - so do make a note of the new one. It
is
samarpan@gto.net.om
And here is the email I received
from Kishore's elder brother, one of my dearest friends for over
34 years, Commander (retired) Vijay Shivdasani. Not only was
I present at Vijay's passing out parade from the NDA Khadakvasla,
but his was one of the few weddings of my classmates that it
was possible for me to attend. Vijay's wife, Suchita, is also
a Cathedralite and was the classmate of my younger sister, Elizabeth.
(My classmates seemed to have married my sister's classmates
- Viney Sethi married Purnima Mazumdar - a story I shall recount
in a later issue - so be warned.)
From:Vijay Shivdasani
Subject: Seventh Heaven
Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:04:47 +0530
Dear Jakes,
Have been hearing lots about Seventh
Heaven and Findians. Keep it up and keep us abreast of all yr
news. R u still Prof of Microelectronics at Oulu U?
(Ed: Never was - I was the
Chief Engineer at Oulu University and belonged to the Microelectronics
Laboratory where I had my own research projects - gave that up
6 years ago to pursue more lucrative lines such as putting out
junk like this rag.)
There is a revival here in Mumbai
of the Classy 59ers, we r meeting regularly: PERCY MISTRY; RATTAN
SINGARA; NAUBIR MOHINDAR; ASHOK KAPUR (recently resettled here
from Sing); VIJAY NAYAR (whose factory at Tarapore brings him
to Mumbai every month); OOKY (ELIJAH ELIAS); PILLOO (Tata, nee
DASTUR); VINEY DHABOLKAR ( Ed: the first and last editor
of Seventh Heaven) & SELF. The spouses have also hit it off rather
well. Occasionally we see ADI COOPER; VIKRAM KAMDAR and ANIL
RUIA.
Son Vishal is in Atlanta, Georgia
and is a Comp. Consultant in hardware, and will be doing his
MIS this fall. Shonali is with us. Suchita helps her mother run
a bkshop at Jaslok Hospital. I now have a couple of businesses
here in Mumbai: manufac fine jewellery, making corporate stationary
& managing family property.
Jakes, u r not that old (one yr younger
than me) so cheer up & try and remember. VINEY SETHI; VIJAY NAYAR;
ASHOK KAPUR; NOEL EZEKIEL; yrself & myself were v. much the core
grp of the 59ers. (Ed: You forgot to mention ARVIND THANDANI
and OOKY who joined us in our tenth standard and soon became
one of the hard core.)
I only moved to 'B' for a yr in the
10th due to my disastrous performance in 9th yr finals. The shock
of parting with my friends and the ignomy of 'B' made me work
v. hard so that not only was I Wilson House Captain, School Tennis
Captain, Soccer Vice Captain, opening bat in Cricket ( Ed:
Somehow I forgot about this one - I sort of remember Ashok going
out with someone but maybe you never came back in!!. All the
others are fresh in my brain, especially the hilarious attempts
to teach me to serve in tennis as we could not muster enough
Savageites to make up a doubles team) but also got a first in
Sen. Cambridge!
I am not going into our exploits
in Lemondrop & Quad Football!! ( Ed: This must be done
- we would just love to hear the facts so that they are recorded
for posterity on the web - something for your grandchildren to
refer to when they arrive!!)
It's v. satisfying remembering all
these memories, but I'll now get back to the real world - not
before wishing u & Anniki the v. best, so also the kids, grandkids
et al.
Keep in touch,
loves,
Shivi.
P.S. Ooky (Elijah Elias - Managing
Director of President Systems, Ashok K (Kapur), myself & the
spouses had dinner last week and thought of u. So if u hiccupped,
u know why.
In case u want to see Ma Famille
we're on the web at:
Vijay's picture page
I may not be at Roland Garros but
I'm burning up the courts here in Mumbai - won the Veterans at
the Hindu Gym. and the recent tournament at the US Club.
I reassured Vijay
that I still do not need a dose of Viagra to keep me going........
whereupon he promptly came back assuring me economic supplies
of the same with the fact that the Indian version of Viagra is
being put out by two Cathedralites - the Hamid brothers of CIPLA!!
Yokko was my brother's classmate - two years ahead of me, while
his elder brother was, I think, my cousin's classmate (Sen Philip
- the Managing Director of M.M. Rubber Co. of MM Foam fame).
The Hamids used to live on Cuffe Parade - if my memory serves
me right.
I have pleasure in including here
a picture from my archives, taken by my dear wife at our class
30 year reunion in 1989 at the Willingdon Club in Bombay - we
just about made it from our holiday in the wilds of the Kanha
National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Ooky, Vijay (Nayar)
and Vijay (Shivdasani) at our class reunion in 1989 December
More pictures when I restart the
new Volume of Seventh Heaven, hopefully in a couple of months
- but do keep those emails coming in. We have about 500 lurkers
out there lapping up this nostalgia.
The early summer here in the Arctic
was excellent in that the 24 hour sunshine was as it should be
- but as July wore on into August, the rainy weather has tended
to prevail. The cold is now setting in and today I noted the
first signs of yellowing of the leaves. Autumn will be upon us
shortly and soon there will not be many leaves left on the trees.
However, the scenery in September is glorious as all the shades
of yellow and red paint the skyline, whichever direction you
look, and as the days grow shorter and the leaves fall to the
ground, we shall be waiting for the first snowfall to hit the
ground to brighten up the long dark days.
Jacob Matthan
School Prefect 1958 (half year), 1959; Savage House Captain 1959;
School Hockey Goalkeeper 1958; 1959; School Cricket Scorer 1958,
1959; School Plays 1955, 1956; Cathedral Church Choir 1954 -
1959; and a lot of other things which I cannot or rather, will
not, remember.
Return to the Top
- Volume 2 - Issue 11:980522
Dear nostalgic Cathedralites,
Guess what, on the 30th of April
through to 2nd May, we had a Cathedral School Finland Alumni
Reunion, held at my residence, and we had 100% attendance - can
any other chapter claim such a feat!! All two of us were present
- Prof. Ajeet Mathur from the industrial town in South Finland,
Professor of International Business Studies at the University
of Tampere and Visiting Professor at the Helsinki School of Business
Administration, and yours truly.
My dear wife tolerated all our chit-chat
and served up some delicious food - Indian cuisine on one evening
followed by Chinese the next - so remember to let me know if
any of you are happening to visit this northernmost outpost in
Scandinavia, and maybe we can organise another such reunion.
Do not be surprised when I say that
I have had another Cathedralite take the trouble to share our
sauna, none other than Ooky Elijah Elias, who visited us a good
10 years ago!!
As you will have noticed I used the
welcoming term of nostalgia - well, I must admit that this is
one of the most nostalgic issues that I have composed.
It was mid-April. It was still snowing
around here. It was a Sabbath evening - ie., for those who do
not know, the evening of a Saturday. Although it was around 9
pm, the Sabbath was not over as the sun had not set over the
horizon.
I was, as usual, at work at my Apple
PowerBook which is held together with rubber bands, and Annikki,
my better half was just beginning to stir to get our evening
supper ready. The phone rang and Annikki answered.
After 31 years of wedded bliss, Annikki
knows the voices of almost all my friends and enemies (which
must number in the legions!). Her voice seemed a little confused,
as obviously she had not recognised the voice on the other end
of the line, as she answered that Jacob was here!!
When I quizzed her as to who it was,
her face was a blank.
I picked up the receiver and in my
usual immicable style, announced myself.
The voice at the other end of the
line was so crystal clear that I could almost believe I was standing
right next to the caller as he said: "Jacob, Ellis here,
Ellis Hyam."
I last saw Ellis in 1959 when we
finished our Senior Cambridge exams and had a final class get-together
before we broke up, but that voice on the telephone was unmistakably
that of Ellis - it could be no-one else!
As the line was so clear, I thought
he must be somewhere in Finland, so I asked him when he had arrived
in Helsinki - the only known town of Finland.
Ellis replied in the negative - he
was calling from New York.
It was such a surprise and I did
not want to ring up his phone bill, but the shock and pleasure
was so great that I was just bubbling with happiness. It was
almost as if we were sharing one of Ellis's philosophical discussions
while we were at school - yes, Ellis was a real philosopher.
We shared our news. He informed me
that Viney Dabholkar was probably one of the few of classmates
that he had kept in touch with and that Viney had had a stroke.
Ellis told me that he had enjoyed reading these pages, he had
downloaded all 17 of them (I did not know that I had published
such a lot of tripe) and he gave a lot of credit for my memory
- which, to say the truth, is like a sieve.
Ellis had studied Electrical Engineering
in London at the Imperial College, joining the year I had finished
my specialisation in Plastics and Polymers, 1966. During the
previous 3 years my flat in London had been the rallying point
of many UK Cathedralites, so Ellis missed the jamborees we used
to have there.
Ellis has become a Fuel Cell expert
and has been responsible for much of the excellent developments
in this field in Israel. However, he met up with another Cathedralite,
or a Cathedralite who left Cathedral because of the sadistic
French teacher Mr. Ribi, of whom I have written earlier, and
Ellis had been offered an assignment to look at the energy modernisation
of the big Apple - and that was why he was there.
He told me that his 86 year old mother
was visiting him just at that moment. Ellis's elder brother,
Abe, is in London and in our conversation I even managed to get
Abe's telephone number - so that on my next visit to see my granddaughter
in Birmingham, I know I have one important call to make in England.
Another piece of news that I wish
to share with you is that Bala Parasuraman wrote to me at the
end of last month. Here is his letter:
- Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 15:18:25
-0700
Subject: News from Bala
Dear Jacob:
Just a brief update on my situation
here. My older brother has come here from India to donate a kidney
to me. We have just completed the next-to-last series of tests,
and it looks like the transplant will take place next month.
If all goes well, I should be enjoying
a better quality of life within a couple of months.
Trust all is well with you.
Warm regards
Bala
Annikki and I have been praying for
Bala that all will go well and we are awaiting news as soon as
he gets back to the computer - I am sure he will log in to Seventh
Heaven before anything else and let me know of his progress.
I ask all of you to keep Bala in your prayers - another wonderful
59er.
I got a long letter from another
close friend - whose brother was my dear classmate. So I share
his news with all of you. I am sure many will recognise him as
he has helped many of us during his time in Air India.
- Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 09:56:05
-0400
From: Kishore Shivdasani kishore@gto.net.om
Subject: Kishore Shivdasani calling.....!!!!!
Dear Jacob,
You cannot imagine how much I have
enjoyed this morning, reading the Cathedral website created by
you. Whilst reading about so many seniors whom I knew and who
are no longer with us in this world (Tara Malkani for one) brought
tears to my eyes. Then to read about others whom I only knew
by name or perhaps by face, left a super feel in me. I wish I
had done this long time ago.
Congrats, Jacob....it is truly a
job well done!! I believe all schools and their alumni should
have such a communication channel so that we are updated with
people we once heard of or knew and, classmates who have disappeared
and not in touch.
News about me and my family?
Well, after almost 27 years with
Air-India, I decided to quit....took early/voluntary retirement
last month. I served them well...loyal and sincere dedication.
Served in Mumbai (Passenger sales and Cargo too) from 1971 to
1978. Then in Copenhagen from 1982 to 1985, Stockholm from 1985
to 1986. Back to Bombay (as it was then called) until 1993. Stayed
that long because I had to look after my father (Ed: wonderful
person) who was very unwell after mom (Ed: even more wonderful
person) died. I enjoyed the 27 years in Air-India and quit after
3 very successful years here in Muscat, during which time I worked
hard to reposition Air-India as a premier airline. Today I am
proud to say the the airline is in demand.
I am now GM of Bahwan Travel Agencies
in Muscat in beautiful Oman. This is the largest travel agency
in the country, therefore I have loads to do despite being there
for only 28 days to date. The Bahwan group of companies are the
largest in Oman and very successful. They are into construction,
building materials, Information Tech., electronics and much more.
Yes, I am happy with the decision
taken (so far!!).
I have a gorgeous wife, Rekha (Ed:
You should be careful with such information, knowing how many
lechers we have around), who used to be in travel in Mumbai for
25 years (I guess you have figured out how we met!!!). She is
now an artist and paints people of Oman in oil on canvas as well
as in charcoal by itself and also charcoal with water colour.
She recently did three sculpts, one of The Mother (Pondicherry),
Mother Teresa and of a "woman in thought".
We have two fantastic children -
Samar (boy-21 years) studying at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia.
He is a junior (3rd year) and is majoring in Electrical Eng.
He is a great guy, good sportsman (runs in the family!!!) and
very loving indeed. Our daughter, Arpana, is 17 years, in the
12th standard at the Indian School here in Muscat. She is preparing
for her SAT 1 & 2, has the desire to major in biological science
with focus in Genetics. She is terrific in academics (father's
brains....thank god!!!). Both Rekha and I are very proud parents
and grateful to the Lord for giving us such beautiful kids
(Ed: Are not we all - so here
is the chance to show you at the end of Kishore's letter, a couple
of pictures of my grandson, Samuel, on the wings of his plane
with my son-in-law, Computer Wizard Tony, and in-flight with
his English philologist mom - who works as a Technical Writer
for Nokia, my younger daughter, Joanna. Hopefully sometime soon,
I will cram in some photographs of my devastatingly beautiful
granddaughter, Asha, her mom Susanna and my son-in-law Chris,
who is a brilliant musician.)
We are very happy in Oman as not
only is this place fantastic from lifestyle point of view, with
the best of both worlds, but also the people (local and NRIs)
are very nice indeed. Oman offers tourism which is yet unspoiled
and as good as virgin. A police run state but no restrictions
like in Saudi Arabia. The political situation is very stable
indeed and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said is a fair and just
man who runs the country through a parliament (so to speak).
He has developed this country in only the last 27 years. He has
provided his people with everything possible. Truly a great man.
Last year he gave our then visiting President Shankar Dayal Sharma
the best reception here in Muscat ever witnessed by the nation.
The ties between Oman and India are very close and has been so
for the last 200 years if not more.
Oman was considered to be under the
sea and, therefore, the topography is absolutely fascinating.
The main attraction is wadi bashing with a 4 wheel drive, water
sports - since Oman offers miles and miles of beaches, history
and, of course, culture. Climatically speaking, it warm in April
and September, hot between May and August, cool in March, October
& November and fabulous weather during December through February.
Worth a visit....so if anyone wishes to do so, is more than welcome
to stay with us. I can arrange the visa.
It will be super to catch up with
old school friends, classmates etc. So Isaac Marshall, Albert
Aboody, The Woods, Nancy nee Dastur, and all of you Cathedralites
(batch 1963 or even others please take note!!).
By the way any news of these people?
I will try and access their email addresses thru your databank.
Take care and keep in touch,
Kishore Shivdasani
Was that not a nice letter to receive - which has made putting
up these pages more than worth it - and next month I will have
news of Kishore's brother, Vijay.
And now for the promised photographs
of my grandson!!
Samuel with
his father, Tony
Samuel with
his mother, Joanna
For all of you who wrote in concerned
about the accident that all three of them were involved in, as
you can see from the pictures above, they are all fit and well.
We, however, discovered that the accident was not due to black
ice as I had reported, but the front axle of their Citroen, which
they had bought just recently, had snapped. It was God's grace
that they survived.
More news next month, so roll in
those emails.
Jacob Matthan
Return to the Top
- Volume 2 Issue 10:980411
Dear Cathedralites,
The photographs certainly got a great
deal of comment from our readers - most of them unmentionable
on this page meant for self-respecting Cathedralites. But nostalgia
had its day. I have decided to leave the one at the top of the
page in place - by popular request. But no-one has helped me
to get a thumbnail version as yet.
Spring is supposed to be upon us
here near the Arctic, but we had heavy snowfall last week and
the temperature dipped to -12 Centigrade.
Our daughter had a close shave when
she, her husband and our little one year-old grandson were returning
from a trip to see the ice castle, which has become a popular
tourist attraction during the winter months in a town about 1-hour
north of us. As she was driving down the highway on a road which
seemed absolutely dry, she saw a patch of what she thought was
just water across the road. Before she realised it, the car was
slithering out of control as she had hit what we call a stretch
of black ice.
Joanna says she does not know what
she did, but she managed to reduce the speed of the car as it
slid from the fast lane into the slow lane, doing a couple of
full circles in the process. As the car continued to slither,
it rammed into the packed snow at the side of the road, on the
driver's side, and did one more spin before it finally came to
rest.
Her husband had just finished feeding
our grandson and did not have his seat belt on, but seeing what
was happening, managed to cover his head and lay down on the
back seat. Little Samuel was safe in his new and expensive car
seat that they had bought for him just a week before. He screamed
his head off but was totally protected by the seat belt and the
excellent seat design.
Cars stopped and the police were
there in less than 5 minutes, but there had been no physical
damage to anyone. They were all badly shaken, and as the breath
test proved, no-one had had any alcohol - Joanna is a tea-totaller,
anyway.
Passers-by helped to drag the car
back on to the road and Tony limped it back home, which was just
about 15 minutes away. One can truly say that God was with them
those few moments and saved them any real tragedy.
So you can see, that we are still
living in difficult wintry conditions even at this time of the
year when many of you are shedding your clothes and complaining
about the heat.
I thought that in this issue I would
recall the times I used to go to school by BEST public bus. I
lived on Cooperage Road, and the A4 bus used to run past our
house, turn up towards the Sachavaliya, go past the ESSO building
and the Eros theatre to Flora Fountain, from where I could walk
to school. I seem to remember that this route went past Akbarally's
to Ballard Estate, but I cannot swear to that.
However, the frequency of the A4
was quite bad, so I would rather walk to the Regal and catch
one of the many buses from there to PM Road and walk through
that narrow gulley to the back gate of the school. The price
of trip used to be 1 anna, but then we went decimal, the fare
was raised to 10 naya paisa.
The buses that I used to use were
the A Ltd. (15 naya paisa) which meant I had to get off at Flora
Fountain and walk from there, or the A1 or A2, which were quite
frequent.
One must admit the BEST was a really
efficient bus transport service in those days. (Please note,
I am not saying this because my dad worked for the BEST - he
was the Chief Engineer and nothing to do with the transport side!!
However, I can add that the Electricity Supply section of BEST
was the best in India at that time. I cannot remember a single
power failure at home between 1954, when I came from Bangalore
to Bombay, until 1960, when I moved to residence in St. Stephen's
College, in Delhi).
Whatever the weather, BEST seemed
to manage to keep its buses running. I wonder how they would
have fared with a nasty stretch of black ice?
I have been reading a lot about the
gang warfare that is going on in all the big Indian cities in
recent times - so I have been trying to recall some of the incidents
that did occur during our time at school. Rest you assured, there
was plenty of it about. Some of you may recall the Chotu gang
of Marine Drive and the Gandhi gang of Campion School.
Considering that I lived next door
to Campion School, I was in the thick of the gang-war rivalry.
The minute I came out of my home, there could be taunts from
the toughies who used to hang out at the gates of Campion. The
best remedy was to ignore them as even one wrong word would have
had them reacting most violently.
I do recall in 1959 that one incident
sparked off a major tussle between the gangs of both schools.
It was that a few of the Campion School crowd decided to taunt
some Girl School students from the windows of the college next
door to us. Before we knew it we had a full scale war situation.
Chotu and his gang from Marine Drive were summoned by the Cathedral
School gang members while Gandhi and his crowd arrived from the
Regal area.
Nalin Dharia, Ernest Haskell and
Harminder Uberoi, all of whom were doing their HSc and were in
the 12th took charge of the situation. Ube, demonstrated his
true diplomatic skills in defusing what was about to turn out
into a nasty situation with both unprofessional camps armed with
hockey sticks and cricket bats, while the true goondas had their
knives and coke bottles at the ready
I had a tough time getting back home
that evening as the Campion crowd decided to discuss this event
till very late in the evening at the gates of my home. Finally
I had to ring our downstairs neighbour, who had 3 kids studying
in Campion School, to get me into our compound!!
Well, that was what life was like
at the end of the sixties - wonder if it has changed much since
then?
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Return to the Top
- Volume 2 Issue 9:980310
Dear Cathedralites,
I hardly realised that a month had
passed - I was rudely shocked into this revelation when my better
half casually asked me whether the latest alma mater webletters
had been put up. I usually have a feeling of smug satisfaction
when the job is done - and she seemed to have missed that in
the early days of this month.
So do complain to her - rather than
me.
As you would have noticed, there
is this enormous picture at the top of the page - yes, it is
me, as photographed by my dear wife, standing in what I consider
the most nostalgic spot in my life - in front of our dear school.
- I remember it from the very first
day that I walked in to be interviewed by Mr. Gunnery as to whether
I was a fit person to be admitted to the school. He obviously
thought so - but reading this magazine he must be cursing that
day!!
- I remember it as the place that
I stood for three years (VIth standard to VIIIth standard), every
weekday, as I waited for my schoolbus to take me home every evening.
(After that I used the BEST public bus service as I had so many
other things to do at school after 4:05 pm.)
- I remember it as the place where
during those three years I swung under and over those steel railings
- making a complete nuisance of myself!!
- I remember it as the place, where,
as a School Prefect, I was on duty to put the children on the
buses - in two shifts - so that they got home safely. Many a
child have I consoled here as they missed their bus and I dutifully
put them on another, ringing their parents to tell them where
to get hold of the missing children.
- I remember it as the place, where,
as a School Prefect, I was on duty to catch the late-comers and
those who did not wear the correct colour socks, and hold them
there till Assembly was over and Mr. Stan Pharoah, the Vice Principal
would come to castigate them - and sadly mete out the punishment
for their late-coming!!
- I remember it as the place where
we had many hundreds of discussions on Saturday mornings when
we used to gather there for some excuse or the other - usually
cricket practice.
- I remember it as the place where
we protected the school from the gang-warfare that raged in the
last years of our school (I will write about this in one of the
coming issues.)
Yes, this is very spot where I felt
that I was a Cathedralite - and even today, as I look at the
picture, I feel in my creaking old bones, that I am still a Cathedralite.
I have not used pictures on this
web page since I know that it causes the page to load slowly.
So, in future, having now seen this picture, which is likely
to remain for some time at the top of the page, may I ask you,
in your own interest, that when you come to this page, keep the
browser feature "Images Off" turned on, as it
will save a considerable amount of time to get this page loaded.
I do not have the ability to make
a thumbnail of this image, so if someone would do that and send
it to me, I will keep the thumbnail in its place and it will
only load this monstrosity when you click on it.
If someone is going to help me, maybe
they can also help me with the following picture also. In it
are two Cathedralites - can you guess which they are?
Two Cathedralites and some others
|
Well let us get rid of the intruders - the three in the front
row - on the left is Vinoo Mammen, now the Chairman
and Managing Director of MRF Ltd., the other two in the front
being the Mathew brothers (Philip in the centre
and his elder brother, Mammen, on the right), who studied
for a time in Christ Church School at Byculla till they
moved to Madras Christian College School in Madras, where
Vinoo also studied. Both Mammen and Philip are the responsible
management editors of various publications of the Malayala
Manorama group located in Kottayam, Kerala. You may also
remember that we Cathedralites, after my time, got a great Principal
in the form of Mr. Kuruvilla Jacob, who had been the Head
of the Madras Christian College School for many years before
coming to us. He had also been the Principal at the Hyderabad
Public School for a time before coming to Cathedral. (He
was also my landlord for my residence in Madras when I lived
there.)
Now to the Laurel and Hardy
(or should it be the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) of the
back row - on the right, the midget is Cathedralite Dr. Peter
Philip, Managing Director of India Coffee and Tea Distributing
Co. Ltd., more commonly known for the Philips Coffee and
Tea shops located at 30 odd points around Mumbai which still
sell great quality fresh coffee and tea. Peter, or rather Tubby,
as he was known in later years, is also the father of two Cathedralites
of the 80's/90's era, Rohit Philip and Diviya Philip.
Maybe one of you out there can fill us in about the Oscar-winning
performance of Tubby as Little Jack Horner when he was
in the IIIrd or IVth Standard!!
And yes, on the left, the tall, lanky
guy with the great grin, is none other than yours truly.
All that has been added since those days is an equally proportionate
pot belly - thanks to my wife's great cooking!!
The history of this photograph is
interesting as it was taken in 1952 by the artist of the Malayala
Manorama newspaper in Kottayam, today India's largest circulating
newspaper. I worked with the photographer to develop the film
and create the block - my first attempt at block-making, worked
with the carpenter to cut and finish the wooden piece to mount
the finished block, and then got permission from my grandfather,
the the late K. C. Mmammen Mappillai
to run the picture in the Manorama magazine - when its circulation
was just 3000 copies!!
When I received the picture a couple
of weeks ago from Mammen Mathew (the one in the front row on
the right), he had sent a note in which he commented that the
Manorama had come a long way since those days and if they published
pictures like this these days, their circulation of a few million
would once again drop to the 3000 copies of the early 50's.
Considering the circulation of Seventh
Heaven is just 300 or so - maybe we can hope that publishing
this picture will push it up to 3000! One can always do some
wishful thinking - can't I?
Another aspect of the picture that
springs to mind is that a few days after ths picture was taken
- Peter came down with diphtheria - and in those days it was
virtually fatal. He was kept in isolation at our family home
in Kottayam and, thank God, he recovered. He missed a lot of
fun during those holidays, but it was great to see him well at
the end of his ordeal of about 15 days when it was just touch
and go between life and death. He still remained Tubby!!
There is a lot of mail asking me
to change the name of Seventh Heaven to something more appropriate.
You have to go back to the first issue to see why this is called
Seventh Heaven - and if there is still an overwhelming desire
that I change the name - it will be done - and if so, will someone
suggest something appropriate. Otherwise it will remain as Seventh
Heaven - and still get a lot of hits from seedy people looking
for adult only sites!!
I have taken a lot of real-time bandwidth
in this issue - so please remember, anyone who can help me out
with the thumbnails will be duly acknowledged and probably earn
the gratitude of over 300(0?) Cathedralites out there!!
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Return to the Top
- Volume 2 Issue 8:980211
Dear Cathedralites,
Sadly I was hit by a flu, the likes
of which I wish on nobody. During a week, my 115 kg dropped a
good 10 kg and bodyaches and pains still persist. I am sorry,
but I was in no condition to put up this issue on time - but
as they say - better late than never.
Most Cathedralites seem to have been
having an extended vacation after Christmas as the usual regular
mail dropped to just a trickle, mainly from those in Singapore
and the US.
Ari Singh Anand , son of 1959 School Captain, Bhupinder
Singh Anand , let it be known that his email address was
aanand@u.arizona.edu. Hope all of you will take note and not
send any more mail to his defunct msn email address.
Here is a letter I received from
a Cathedralite of the 50s era. Aubrey sang with me in the Cathedral
Church choir, although I think he has some problem remembering
me as I was just a kid then who had just joined school. His sister
Pamela was the School Captain of the Girls' School in 1954 and
a great athlete - or so I remember as that was my first year
at school.
- From: (Aubrey Ballantine) auballan@orbonline.net
Subject: Reminiscences
Hi Jacob,
I took a look at your home page and
noticed your piece about our internet exchange of news. I kept
reading on, and a few other names jogged my memory.
Tony Jaitley
was in my class I recall. Does anyone know where he is these
days? (Ed: The last time I met Tony he was the Private
Secretary to the then Indian Minister of Industries - George
Fernandes in 1978-79, I think. Being IAS - Jammu and Kashmir
cadre after his days with me at St. Stephen's, after which he
married his college sweetheart and stunner - June Chettoor, Tony
must be alternating between Srinagar and Delhi. Tony's sister,
Jotysna, one year my junior at school, was at Miranda House,
the girl's only college in Delhi University, while I was in St.
Stephen's. She married my Stephanian classmate and great cricketer
from Doon School - Siddarth Singh. Siddarth joined the IFS -
and thereby ended his cricketing career, and the couple were
last heard off in Moscow many many years ago.)
The other few I remember were Brian
Abraham and Charlie Vaney.
Brian died of a heart attack some
time ago. His brother Wendell is in New York running his father's
business. I spoke to Sam Abraham (his Dad) on the 'phone when
we visited London a few years ago.
I also met Charlie Vaney (who is
now retired from Air India) when he visited his brother Herbert
Vaney (whom I also met). Herbert is in Toronto, and runs his
own travel agency.
I don't know if you recall Colin
and Ivan Hunter. ( Ed: Certainly remember both these brothers
- great sportsmen.) Well, they are both living in Canada. Colin
is a millionaire, and owns a small airline in Vancouver, B.C.
Colin used to be a very good friend
of Tara Malkani, who sadly passed away a few years ago. If you
recall Tara lost one of his eyes when an air gun pellet was fired
accidently at him by another Cathedralite. (Ed: Tara was
a great sprinter and my brother's classmate. He lived behind
the Regal Cinema and we used to go to school in the same BEST
school bus - Tara and John Grover being the last two to be picked
up en route - I was the first on this route as I stayed opposite
the Cooperage Football ground.)
Another good friend of mine in class
was Ahmedbhoy, whose father was a big race horse owner in Bombay.
(Ed: This Ahmedbhoy's younger brother, Shabir, was my
classmate and Shabir was present at our class reunion in 1989.
Shabir had been successfully through a Gambler's Anonymous programme
and was completely off horse racing.)
By the way, do you know if anyone
knows the whereabouts of Sheila and Devi Shah? (Ed: I
remember both these glamorous sisters who seemed to be the darling
of admiration of many of my seniors!!) Sheila was also in my
class, and we used to go to the movies together. I remember a
whole bunch of us attended the showing of "Gone With the
Wind" at the Eros cinema near the Oval, including another
classmate called Jarna Banerji. The girls cried their eyes out.
I also met with Delia Thompson in
London, and Delia now owns her own store in Portobello Road and
is doing reasonably well. Her brother Andrew was killed in an
accident when he was hit by a London bus some years ago.
One of my best friends was Harminder
Uberoi, who I believe is a director with Air India in New Delhi
these days. I boxed against him in the semi-finals one year.
( Ed : Ube's younger sister Hermoine was my parallel house
captain in the girls' school and we danced together many a time
at the school socials. We met Hermoine in Delhi during Vijay
and Meera Nayar's 25th Wedding Anniversary celebrations in the
posh five star hotel in New Delhi in December 1989. - In our
class of 59, only Vijay has been married longer than Annikki
and me - and we just celebrated our 31st Wedding Anniversary
at the end of January.)
Do you remember our boxing coach
Fali Bilamoria?
And Mr. Timmins who used to teach
Geography? (Ed: Timmins was my first class teacher when
I joined school in 1954 in the VIth Standard - and he taught
me Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. He was the Savage House
Master all through my time in school. He married Yvonne and had
a beautiful son very late in life. They were close family friends
visiting our house very often. They left India for shores unknown
in the mid-sixties - probably Australia.) I heard he died in
Australia.
I also met my good friend and classmate
Abe Hayeem when we visited London. Abe was the first friend I
had in Cathedral when I joined in the "first babies".
His brother Ellis (we used to call him hairy Ellis, as he was
covered with hair) is in Israel, and doing very well in Solar
energy. (Ed: Ellis was my classmate and a great personality.
The Jewish boys in our class, and all of them were brilliant,
that I remember David, Elijah Elias (now Managing Director of
President Systems a firm with factories in Bombay, Poona and
Bangalore - two Cathedralite sons who have excelled themselves
in many fields), Noel Ezekiel (brother of Miss India Fleur Ezekiel
and son of French teacher Mrs. Ezekiel), Jack Haskell, Ellis
Hayeem and Armenian origin Joseph Joseph (whose mother was our
teacher in some subject or the other which I, just for the life
of me, cannot remember just now).
Well, all for now Jacob, and keep
in touch. I think you are doing a wonderful thing by keeping
us up-to-date with all the news.
Aubrey (Ballantine)
... Barham House (the best!)
- (Ed: That last comment I
will savagely contest!!)
I am sure many of you out there have things to add to this most
informative letter from Aubrey. Keep writing, as, after all,
Seventh Heaven is your own link to Cathedralites in 70 different
countries of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Return to the Top
- Volume 2 Issue 7:980101
Dear Cathedralites,
Merry Christmas and a Happy 1998
to all of you.
Many of you have written to me to
restart Seventh Heaven - which I am pleased to say I am now able
to do. The delay was because I restarted my Delhi Stephanian
webletter. It is now stabilised as a monthly.
I have decided to produce Seventh
Heaven also as a monthly.
Seventh Heaven is not the web site of a sleazy Bangkok
massage parlour or night club, as was commented by Kashinath
Dandekar (-57) - it is the web site of great Cathedralites who
were in the Classes of 59 (A and B Sections and SSLC group)
- a real vintage year.
As a tribute to these Classes, I
am going to devote most of this issue to news about and from
a few members of these classes who are on the internet and who
have been in touch with me.
You youngsters will probably realise
that we tottering old dumbos may have still a few good years
on the internet before you can dominate us.
Before I go to that, I have pleasure
to inform you that Cathedral School will officially arrive on
the web, thanks to the Herculean efforts of Hrushit Bhatt,
ably assisted by Brinda Somaya (who is also the architect
who does a lot of work work for the school), her son, Vikram,
Rohet Tolani (who is responsible for the Old Boys Association
in Bombay in some capacity or the other - I do not know exactly
what), and another whose code name is Miel.
They have got the permission from
the fuddy-duddy Board of Governors, which was approached
through the Principal, Mrs. Meera Isaacs, to put up the
official web site.
Hrushit has asked me (imagine
- ME!) to do a regular column for it from here in Scandinavia.
That will be besides your own Seventh Heaven, which may
or may not be linked to the official site - depending on how
they decide to develop.
Hrushit is a great web designer.
From what I have seen of his work (I have been one of the privileged
few to get news from Hrushit as he goes through the various stages
of his designs) I must compliment him on his imagination and
verve. His own site is a masterpiece of creative graphic designing.
I am not giving the address as I do not know whether Hrushit
has officially decided to publicise it.
I have no doubt that the official
web site will be a great hit, but us unofficial sites will also
draw in a lot of readers. Many from various years seem to like
to read the nonsense I have been writing!!
We do need an official site. I get
a lot of requests from web surfers, many asking questions about
the school that I cannot answer from 7000 km away - such as:
Who was John Connon? or When was Savage the School Principal,
if he was? Or what are the words of the school song? etc. etc.
In contrast to Hrushit's site, my
web site appears dry. But, I have been fortunate to get such
good feedback from Cathderalites world-wide to be able to keep
my content level high. Content is king is the oft repeated
phrase on the internet.
The readership to all my sites is
good - I get some 52000 hits per fortnight from readers in
over 70 countries, and it is increasing all the time. But
much of the credit goes to my lovely wife of the last 31 years,
Annikki (who gets even more beautiful as the years roll on),
who feeds me with great ideas, which I develop into web words.
The first from the year of 59, other
than Bhupinder Singh Anand, who was not actually from
our class but was school captain in our final year - he was in
the 12th Standard, to get in touch with me was Bala Parasuraman.
I located Bala while doing a search for Parasuramans on an American
search engine. There were two Parasuramns and I hit the jackpot
when I sent mail to Bala.
I have searched for many of our class,
but not with much success.
Bala
has not lost any of his sharp witty humour since our school days.
Regular readers of Seventh Heaven would have read a few
contributions from him.
On one occasion he wrote to me:
- "Some of the other things I
remember from that era are the kinds of pop songs we all grew
up with in school. Those were the years that rock-and-roll was
evolving with bands such as the Champs. In 1959 they came out
with an LP that contained many of their hits such as 'Tequila'.
Another group I remember vividly is Johnny and the Hurricanes
with a hit called 'Beatnik Fly'. Jangoo Moos (-59) liked them.
I can still remember Haskell (Ed: Jack (-59) and not Ernest (-58)
as he was in the 12th then) berating some poor guy in the quad
for not appreciating fine music. In fact, his very words were
'... any guy who doesn't like rock 'n' roll is a square. No not
a square, a real cube!!'"
Then in April of 1997 Bala wrote
- "Since I last communicated
with you, I've suffered a setback in my health. Last November
my kidneys failed, and since January I have been on dialysis.
The kidney failure was as a result of 18 years of diabetes. Right
now the dialysis is sort of working (namely, it keeps me well
enough to go to work every day), but I'm trying to get on the
waiting list for a kidney transplant. "
The web address of Bala's company
is Syscom Corp..
He is involved with highly technical stuff as sending faxes all
over the place for other people and things.
The next person I located was Armeane
Choksi. I had asked to a cousin who works in the World Bank
whether he knew Armeane. I had known that Armeane was in the
World Bank as he had written some great papers on some earth
shattering subjects - I happened to have read a few of them out
of journalistic interest. My cousin informed me that Armeane
had left a few months earlier. Then, out of the blue, I got an
email from Armeane asking where I was. On my reply, where I informed
him I had become a grandfather (I have two beautiful grandchildren
now as both my daughters have produced - a grandson in Finland
aged 9 months and a granddaughter in Birmingham, England, aged
5 months). He sent me this info.
From: Armeane M. Choksi amchoksi@ibm.net
Subject: Re: Where are you?
I can't believe you are a grandfather,
probably the first in our class! I am only a father.
I am married to an American (in this
day and age I should specify that she is a woman!) and we have
3 children: 16 (girl),12 (girl) & 8 (boy). All 3 are in school.
I was with the World Bank till last
November, for 22 years.
Now I am setting up new companies
with various partners in property development, movies (I've just
negotiated a deal with BBC to produce "Midnight's Children"),
health & power.
I'm not the best typist, so you may
find my messages short and cryptic.
Regards
Armeane
Nothing wrong with Armeane's typing!
And absolutely nothing wrong with Armeane's economic theories!!
I had been in touch with Elijah
Elias's (Ooky's) son (Akiva) as he was quite active
on the internet - and he was quite impressed that this old foggy
could set up and maintain a web page about Cathedral School -
their school. Then, out of the blue, I got a message from Ooky
from the US through the internet address f his second son, Ben,
telling me about Akiva's wedding. From Ben I managed to find
that Ooky had an email address in India and he joined our internet
club.
Ooky is a very busy techno-businessman
and is doing a great job with his company called President Systems
which has factories in Pune and Bangalore making all sorts of
complicated frames for computer peripherals, etc..
The next to drop me an email was
Naubhir Mohindar of Mohindar Venetian Blinds fame.
It was the only company that had a message in the Bombay Evening
paper non-stop for some 30-40 years. I remember a vivid discussion
with Naubir when he had just returned from the US. I had the
audacity to suggest that, maybe, plastics profiles (I am a plastics
technologist) would make better blinds than aluminium ones. Naubhir
gave me and Annikki a 2 hour lecture on the merits of aluminium
profiles at a party at Arvind Thadani's (59, bigwig at IBM)
place.
I had a short message from Naubir
to which I replied. (You usually get replies from me within 48
hours as I have a mailbox of some 200 to 300 email messages a
day and if I leave it for a day, it is virtually impossible to
catch up). Then a couple of months later (that is today) I got
this email.
- Subject: hi jacob
Sent: 24/12/97 08:12
From: MADHURI MOHINDAR, madhurim@giasbmc.vsnl.net.in
(Ed: No, Naubir is male and has not had a sex-change operation
- the cunning basket is merely using his daughter's email account!)
Sorry for replying after so long.
I guess just lazy and involved with the computer.
Terrific to talk to you after so
many years - what's it ten maybe fifteen years (Ed: Actually
6 as I attended our Class Reunion at Willingdon Club in December
1991 - even have a video and some great photographs by the wife
to prove it).
I have not been keeping too well.
Thought I was a young stud -- two hours of squash, two packets
of cigarettes, high calorie food, drinks, etc.
I asked for it and got it. Yes, you
guessed it right ---- heart attack.
Its been a year and am feeling a
lot better. Thanks to the GOOD LORD I reached the hospital just
barely in time and managed to save my life. I am living what
I refer to as a second life.
Lots of spare time which made me
buy this computer. I'm on it almost twelve hours a day and love
every moment of it. 3D games, internet, a little stock market,
experimenting with the computer facilities, etc.
You know, time just flies. This is
my first letter and use of Microsoft Word. Lots of mistakes -
shows you what a novice I am. I guess the only way to conquer
is to practice more.
Amazing, but the daughters have picked
up much faster although they sit for maybe only an hour a day.
Just had my stress test done for
the heart and was pleased that the results were GOOD. The doctor
has allowed me to swim so I go to the CCI, walk for half an hour,
rest for half an hour then swim for another 30 to forty minutes.
The walk is brisk and the main exercise and swimming for a change
and leisure. I hope I am not boring you. (Ed: You should
be wondering whether you are boring some 500 Cathedralites on
the web!!)
Percy Mistry (-59) and his wife had their silver anniversary
(Ed: For the record I think Vijay Nayar (-59) is
the oldest married - Annikki and I attended Meera's and his silver
anniversary in December 1990 - in our lot 32 years this December,
followed by me - 31 years in January 1998.) at the Willingdon
Club and some of our class mates attended -- Ratan Singara,
Vijay Shivdasani, Vikram Kamdar, grandmother PILLU (Ed:
nee Dastur).
I informed them of your letter and
contents and they were thrilled to hear what you had to say.
There was a brief argument if you
stayed at Cooperage and later at Peddar Road. Maybe you can clarify
in your next letter.
(Ed: While at school I stayed
opposite the Cooperage Football Ground in the BEST flats, with
a grandstand view of all the great football games of the time
- Harwood League, Rovers Cup, etc. - my late dad was the Chief
Engineer of BEST. I often wondered why I was so popular or
whether it was the flat where I lived! On my return to India
in 1969, I stayed periodically at my parents Peddar Road Jeevan
Asha flat on my not so frequent visits to Bombay - he was working
for Tata Consulting Engineers - where Brinda's dad was the chief,
and on subsequent visits I stayed at Bhaktavar in Colaba, as
my parents moved there till dad retired from Tata's, Bombay in
1973.
The reason many of you remember the Cooperage Road and Peddar
Road places was that just before we finally broke up as a group
from school in 1960 we had our very last class party at the
Cooperage Road flat and when I returned to India in 1969
we had our first class reunion party at the Peddar Road flat.)
Hey, I forgot Vinay Dabholkar
(Dubby) (-59) was also there. He is recovering from a stroke
he had about two years ago. (Ed: Remember all, Vinay was
the first editor of Seventh Heaven, paper version!! I am hoping
to get an editorial from him.)
On Sunday Ooky (Elias) had a party
for his son Akiva who married an Indian girl in New York. Percy,
Dubby, Ratan, Vijay, PILLU and myself attended. Good fun - Lots
of music and dancing. Boy, I am losing my memory - Vijay Nayar
also attended. HE is looking good. We are all meeting at RATAN's
house on Christmas eve. It should be fun.
Sorry, I bought a Tandon PC - 166mmx
Intel pentium. Mac is NOT popular in INDIA. Remember Adi Cooper
(-59) (Ed: Computer whizz kid from our batch who sold
his company for a small fortune to the leading Indian industrialist
- no need to guess whom!). He has a computer shop in PUNE. I
threw the purchasing and decision making in his lap. He's done
a good job.
Since you have been on the net for
many years I am sure you could suggest some interesting sites.
I have added my name to the 1959
alumni list. Great - it shows the two best guys of our batch.
I am sure you agree. (Ed: You and Bala? Forgot about Dead
Chicken, Jacob!!)
Any exciting software useful at the
same time available free for downloading from the net - let me
know the site.
Are you using any anti-virus. If
yes, give me some information. (Ed: Naubir is going to
need expensive anti-virus software if he intends to download
stuff from the net - as they have 10000+ viruses for PCs, increasing
by the day - we have 35 on the Mac and all have free anti-virus
vaccines on the internet!!)
Again, any free download site you
may know of. I don't have a foreign credit card that's why FREE
is important. Any further developments on computers which will
be useful to me, kindly let me know.
Well I have two daughters. The elder,
TARINI has finished her B.A., and wants to do her Business
Management course. The younger, MADHURI, is in First year
B.A . and is trying to go to U.S.A. - of course, subject to a
good scholarship. (Ed: Both Cathedralites - no doubt!!)
My wife's name is Arati. (Ed:
Also a Cathedralite?)
Ashok Kapur (-59) has bought a flat at PETIT HALL and will
be shifting next year. He is currently in Singapore.
Sad news - Vinay Sethi's (-59)
brother, SHASHI (-66?), passed away.
Vinay is married (Ed: To Purnima
Mazumdar, my sister's, Elizabeth (-63), classmate.
Glamorous Purnima was an Air India Air Hostess and lastly Manager
of the Air India office in Stockholm, Sweden for a few years
when I spoke to her just before they got married a few years
ago. I am sure a lot of you are wondering about this rascal
called Jacob who is everywhere and seems to know everything about
everyone, even though he is stuck in the corner of the world
in the freezing Arctic!!).
Let me end by GIVING MY LOVE TO YOU
AND YOUR FAMILY AND SEASONS GREETINGS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
YOUR FRIEND
NAUBIR
In the meantime I had a message from
Noel Ezekiel (-59).
Noel and I had a great time in early
1960 when all the other guys were busy doing their SSLC or had
joined the HSc class - we were very very busy enjoying ourselves
doing nothing!! Noel is also the brother of Fleur Ezekiel
(-57), Miss India 1959-60, and son of the famous Cathedral
School French teacher, Mrs. Ezekiel who used to live in
the flat in top floor the kindergarten section)..
Well, could there be any other? There
is only one nutcase called Jacob Matthan on the web - absolutely
unique. I have emailed him - and await his reply!!
Getting back to Naubir's problem
- I was a chain smoker (80 Charminars a day) for 25 years,
and a chain drinker - 20 cups of coffee, 5 bottles of beer
and a bottle of rum, day-in and day out, till 15 years ago
I stopped everything overnight - coffee, cigarettes and alcohol,
in just one swoop. Have not touched coffee and cigarettes since,
but have had an occasional beer in extreme social circumstances.
No health problem, but I realised that my super-duper memory
was being lost because of my life-style. Earlier, I could remember
where I had placed a pin on my usually crowded office table.
One day in 1982 when I realised that I was not going to find
that pin, I stopped the whole jing bang lot - no regrets. Put
on 20 kgs as a result round the waist - also because wife is
a great cook - but no other ill effects. So when people tell
me it is impossible to stop these habits, I just laugh as I know
that it is possible if one wants to!!
The next issue of Seventh Heaven
will come out in February 1998. It will hove lots of news
about lots of other Cathedralites as my mail-box has been brimming
with mail from Old Boys from 1954 to the present day.
See you then and keep writing.
Regards
Jacob Matthan