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Dear 59ers and Other
Cathedralites,
The relaunch of Seventh
Heaven should have been a very joyous event.
But it is tinged with a
great deal of sadness as I have the onerous task of reporting
the demise of our former Girls' School Captain, personality exceptional,
Pamela BALLANTINE.
Pamela was School Captain
the year I joined school. I remember her performance at the School
Athletics. Then I remember her from the Cathedral Church where
the whole BALLANTINE family was always well represented. I sang
by the side of her brother, Aubrey, who was the one who
broke the sad news to me from his abode in Canada. I also remember
their sister, Judy, who was considerably younger than
us (maybe 2 years), if I recollect correctly.
I give below a couple of
the personal messages I received from close school friends of
Pamela.
But first I publish an
Obituary Notice about Pamela. The details are what Pamela
herself gave me by email for Seventh Heaven, just a few weeks
before her passing away.
I pay tribute to her by
publishing the words of our School Hymn after the notice,
as Pamela embodied the words of our School Song.
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OBITUARY - PAMELA
BALLANTINE
SCHOOL CAPTAIN
1954
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Pamela BALLANTINE died of a heart attack
on Tue, 9 Jan 2001 at her home in England during the night.
Pamela was School
Captain in 1954. She returned to take the Cambridge Higher School
Certificate 1955-56. She won a State Scholarship in 1954 but
deferred this to go to Bristol University in 1957 to read for
an Honours degree in Economics & Government. She also did
the Certificate in Education Bristol & Diploma in Social
Administration LSE. Pamela worked as Teacher in Charge of Teachers
in Social Services Day Centres, London Borough of Newham until
retirement and was still working as Senior Child Psychotherapist
Redbridge Healthcare Trust. Pamela did voluntary work with Asian
Women's Association, she was the Honorary Vice President League
of British Muslims, Chair of the Racial Equality Council, Chair
of the Police/Community Con Group, Chair of the Racist Incidents
Panel, Chair of the Voluntary Sector Network. Pamela was awarded
the MBE for services to race equality, London Borough of Redbridge
in October 2000. |
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And may I honour our dear
Pamela by recalling the words of our school hymn:
Land of our birth we
pledge to Thee
Our love and toil in the years to be;
When we are grown and take our place
As men and women with our race.
Father in Heaven who lovest all,
O help Thy Children when they call;
That they may build from age to age
An undefiled heritage
Teach us the strength that cannot seek
By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
That, under Thee, we may possess
Men's strength to succour man's distress.
Teach us delight in simple things,
And mirth that has no bitter springs,
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And love to all men 'neath the sun.
I received this message
from Pamela's friend from childhood and her classmate right through
the years in School, Gracie Hayeem, of the illustrious
Hayeem family:
Dear Jacob,
I am in shock to hear the
very sad news of our dear Cathedralite whom I was so close to.
She was in my class from Kindergarten till we graduated the Senior
Cambridge together. She diligently helped me to get through my
Senior Cambridge. We worked every day after school together.
Many times with Homa Shirazi. I can say if it was not
for her help in helping me to cram I may never have made it and
passed 2nd grade. All were surprised. Even Mr. Pharaoh
tutored me in Math and gave up!
I had just written her
for New Year and later in January. about my mum passing away.
She was a dear friend of the Hayeem Family. And was one of the
lucky friends I had that she could come over to our house in
Bombay any time! My father Mr. Hayeem, may his soul rest in peace,
was very strict. But he would have wonderful conversations with
her.
She came to visit me in
California in the 90's. We spent 2 weeks together. She loved
it. When she left I garlanded her with a very special Green hand
made "lay". She was so proud of it she wore it for
her trip back to London.
She was so dedicated to
help humanity any time any where. So brilliant in her mind and
ever so humble. A sense of humour enormous. I have many pictures
of our class together with Pam. And one was like a Movie Star.
Thank you for the beautiful Memorial for her as it definitely
depicts her Bravery. I would like to put our arms around our
dear class mate and say "Farewell Pam. We loved and respected
you all the way."
There was Zareen Lamb,
Jeroo Karanjia, Tooto Lahirri, Karma Dharamsey, Naju Vakeel,
Sadhana Shah, Mayer Cursetji. Miriam Gumpert. Mary Balsara, Diana
Steggles, Joan Twist, Georgiana Fanngon, Almighty Mody, Nargish
Mody, Diana Guzder. Rattan Ramchandani, Arnavaz Guzder, Nalini
Pillai, Vijaya Hattiangadi. I cannot remember any more the
names. But Sadhana, you perhaps can complete the list. Of course,
Doreen Heimlich (nee Feibusch) was also in our class.
The boys in our class were
Stephano Episcapo and, of course, Tara Malkani, Anthony
Ramsinh, may his soul rest in peace.
Perhaps someone can compile
a list of the boys of 54 with Mr Gunnery our head master
of the Boys school at that time.
I do hope we can have a
class reunion. We spoke many times of it with Pam. So let us
do it in her honour. Our deepest sympathy to her family, To her
classmates who cared a great deal about her, and to all the many
Cathedralites she knew and touched their hearts.
Our deepest sympathy from
Abe, Ellis, Vilma, Sophie and Benjie.
Farewell my friend.
Gracie [Hayeem ] Lerno.
Just a few days before
she died, Pamela had sent me an email asking for the email address
of her old friend, Sadhana Madhusudan (nee Shah). It was
someone she was unable to contact because of her untimely death.
I have given below the message sent by Sadhana to Aubrey and
Judy (copy Seventh Heaven) after she heard of Pamela's passing
away. The contents reflect the character of the person who
was rightfully awarded the MBE for a task which, I know from
my own personal experience, is thankless and usually the cause
of much misery for the person carrying out the job of harmonising
life among different ethnic groups.
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001
03:30:03 -0800 (PST)
From: sadhana madhusudan
<madhusadhana@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pamela Forever and ever...
To: aubrey.ballantyne@sympatico.ca
Cc: Bentlerno@aol.com
Dear Aubrey, Judy,
News of Pam's passing on
left me numbed and quite overcome, to say the least. It was just
a week back that I heard from Seventh Heaven, courtesy kind soul
Jacob, that Pam was asking for my e-mail address. I felt honoured
and excited that at last I would be in touch finally with my
Captain and Muse, my old pal and classmate. But fate snatched
away that opportunity alas. Or, until I catch up with her again..
We were together from 6th
onwards, both Blue House kids, ever ready to go on crusades to
help our classmates in every way could, including hilarious entertainment.
And we ended up as Capt. and Vice Capt. of Blue House in '54.
I was the Vice Capt, but Pam had two very unfortunate happenings,
if memory serves me right, when her loving Dad passed away and
when she had to have her appendix out. That left me alone to
fend for our House on several fronts.
However, knowing that she
would be back soon anyway and that we were guys who never gave
up, I went ahead practicing with our teams for various competitions
etc..
Wilson House, or Blue,
was known for coming last in the annual list, but that year,
'54, we turned the corner and came out 3rd . beating Orange I
think. That was our victory and Pam felt so gratified, we hugged
each other with tears streaming down our cheeks...
Later on, we met again
when Pam was Suptd. of a Remand Home at Byculla. I visited her
office and was overwhelmed to see the great responsibility thrust
upon her. She had chosen to focus on very vital human and sociological
issues. I felt humbled in her presence, happy that she was striking
out on her own in this direction rather than opting for the 9-5
routine jobs that most of us were doing. Then, we lost touch
as I left the country.
It was through Nalini Pillai
that I first heard of Pam after 30 odd years, then Gracie, Ratan
and Miriam. But, we never did meet.
I was looking for her via
Seventh Heaven, and she must have come to know of it.
As Keats says...
"Heaven gives it's
glimpses to those who have no time to look too close".
Pam's fav song back then
was
"Forever and ever,
my heart will be true, sweetheart forever, I'll wait for you."
Which, she promptly translated
into Hindi
"Hamesha hamesha,
hum tumharay vaastay kharra rahaingaa"...
My kids and grandkids were
all told Pam's version of Hey diddle diddle. The legacy will
go on..And her memory will go on and on..."hamesha".
God rest her superb soul...and
remind us what we could do to show our love and respect for Pamela..
Amen..
Sadhana (Shah) Madhusudan
Blue House,
In grief, class of '54.
These were only two of
the many messages of grief that I got, but it serves as a lesson
to all of us - do not delay getting in touch with your friends
of yesteryear. Do not delay putting out your hand of friendship.
Live your old memories together. These are the golden memories
that the life we have lived makes our life worth remembering.
Through our old friendships we show the modern world some of
the glimpses of the past and teach some of the values of our
life.
Poor Sadhana was just hours
away from talking to her old friend when fate saw that not to
be. May Pam's soul rest in peace. I have extended sympathies
that I received to all of Pam's family through Aubrey.
Cathedralites, I have at
the top of this page, in the central panel, given you a box where
you can enter your email address, and as soon as I change this
page, you will be informed. I hope you will use this service
to save me many headaches.
I also have another search
box at the top with which you can search my entire site or the
web for any specific references that you may want to find.
I also draw attention to
the column on the left in which I will publish the names of persons
who are mentioned in the particular issue. I will also give links
to the Archives and also to all Cathedralites who want to have
their links showing on this page. I hope that you will put a
reverse link to this page.
I had an intention of giving
the email addresses of people but I will only publish the email
addresses of those who give me permission to do so, as otherwise
they could become the target of spam.
I have the pleasant task
of informing you that the third reunion of the Finnish Cathedralites/Stephanians
alumni was held over Christmas at my residence in Oulu. As
usual, we had 100% attendance, with all two of us present.
Ajeet (Prof. Ajeet Mathur)
came to Oulu, not just to be with his fellow Cathedralite/Stephanian,
but his ulterior motive was to try to get to see the Northern
Lights which often are visible in all its swirling blue, red
and golden glory at this high latitude.
When, on the third evening,
because of heavily overcast snowy skies, we were unable to see
the stars, we were both a bit surprised when my better half said,
very confidently, that Ajeet would see the Northern Lights the
next evening. I have never heard such a forthright and dramatic
statement from her in all my life. I was quite taken aback.
Next day, as we watched
the skies eagerly, looking to see if there was any break of clouds
to see the stars above, we were not very hopeful. But Annikki
was merrily keeping her composure and said again that without
fail Ajeet would see the Northern Lights.
Come evening, we sat down
to dinner. After a nice meal, Ajeet was planning a walk around
the frozen town to see whether Annikki's prediction would come
true, when, out of the kitchen walked this cake designer with
a recreation of the Northern Lights transfixed in a glass cake
bowl. The ground made of chocolate butter covered cake, with
a beautiful blue gel topping about six inches (150 cm) deep.
Annikki had managed to create the entire Northern Lights effect
in the jelly above the cake - quivering dark blue with stars
and moon included.
Ajeet and I were dumb struck.
Annikki is famous for her
unique cake designs. Much of her work is soon to be published
in a photographic book form (and maybe also on the internet)
but none of us expected her to fulfill a promise using her cake
designs. (You can also get a copy of our latest book -
which is mentioned in the next column which is due out any day
now.)
Ajeet left back for his
southerly abode quite satisfied at having seen something infinitely
more unique and beautiful than the Northern Lights!!
(You can read about
Ajeet's latest research writings about Finnish -India Trade in
the current issue of Findians Briefings which has also been released
today (28th January 2001.)
And we all had a great
laugh!!
Here are the snippets from
his alumni reunion report:
* Rauha Annikki, wife
of Sushil (Jacob Matthan to some), contributed a special Northern
Lights Cake which she designed and made herself and which was
a great hit..not a crumb was left as it was polished off by Stephanians/Cathedralites
with much appreciation.
* The cake idea arose to make up for the non-appearance of the
Aurora Borealis! The year 2000-2001 was forecast to be a spectacular
auroral year with spectacular lights around New Moon Day (24-25
Dec) but you know weather forecasters....
* Ajeet Mathur and Jacob Matthan went a-walking through the snow
and ice around Oulu past midnight in - 26 C remembering....
I want to draw attention
to a book published by an ex-Cathedralite, Brinda Somaya (nee
Chinappa), who has found mention on these pages several times.
Shows how active she is with regard to things happening with
the school.
With another Cathedralite
she has released a book called "Women in Architecture".
Brinda is a fine architect.
She has been the architect responsible for remodelling the school.
Her son, Vikram, is also a Cathedralite. He was one of
the very first to discover my Seventh Heaven magazine online
about 5 years ago when I started to put it on the web. He works
in the US. Brinda's elder sister, Ranjini Chinappa, also
a Cathedralite, lives in The Netherlands.
This month's picture has
been submitted by our former Physics teacher, William (Willie)
Shiri, who now lives in Canada. Willie is married to also
an ex-teacher from the Girls' School, Pushpa.
My competition is open
all students and ex-students of the school but not to staff
members of the years 1955 to 1965. The first person who sends
me a complete list of the staff members in this photograph (in
the correct order identifying them) by email will get a lovely
Alvar Aalto Art Glass piece from Finland.
I also want to know which
year you think this photograph was taken.
It is interesting because
Mr. Salmon is not there but Mr. Billington is,
but yet our Peruvian Geography teacher (Mr. Suarez?) is
still around! It is definitely past 1959!! Is it 1959, 1960 or
1961?
Can any of you spot Mr.
Morecroft who saved my life at Vasind in 1955? For that story
and how I got my nickname, you should read the first
issue of Seventh Heaven!!
So long for now. See you
in a month.
Regards
Jacob Matthan
Honorary Editor
Seventh
Heaven (Web Version)
Cathedralite 1954
- 1959
School Hockey Goalkeeper - 1958; 1959
School Prefect - 1958; 1959
Savage House Captain - 1959
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