Cathedralites,
Mumbai Cathedralite 59ers are having a reunion at
Percy and Frainy Mistri’s place on the 28th.
I promised Percy I would be there via my Newsy Notes
- so here I am.
I hope Percy has his beautiful new flat screen iMac
by then in the living room.
I am sure that's the only place Frainy would keep such
a beautiful computer. Then you all can read this on this
fabulously designed computer. As you may have guessed -
I am a Mac addict. :-)
Ratan Batliwalla seriously ill
Percy gave me the news that 59er Renuka Dhanrajgir's
husband, Ratan Batliwalla, also a Cathedralite of 57
era, was seriously ill and at Breach Candy Hospital.
I do hope he recovers quickly. I am praying for his
speedy recovery.
About finding a spouse
I get a fair share of mail from Cathedralites and
Stephanians from around the world. Life is worth
living reading their email inputs.
Within the last three months I did get a number of
unusual requests from Cathedralites (and Stephanians).
Probably it was a result of my recent call to be a
Cathedralite / Stephanian in one's way of life?
The requests have been from older Cathedralites and
Stephanians of my generation who are anxious to find g
ood spouses for their children.
Yes, I am saying this - I have been asked to run a
matrimonial service for Cathedralites and Stephanians.
Besides my well known nickname as Dead Chicken, for some
reason, probably because I was going twice a week to
church for choir practice,attending two Sunday church
services, morning and evening, and all the weddings,
christenings, and other events the choir was asked to
sing at, Californian Viney (Sethi) had also given me
the second nickname as "Padre"!
This Padre, however, is not empowered to legalise a
marriage.
I can assure you that I have some excellent eligible young
gentlemen and ladies on my list - all data given to me in
strictest confidence by their parents with the full consent
of the eligible son or daughter. Includes a few
millionaires of the dot.com boom who have not yet gone bust.
I was deeply touched when one parent wrote to me to remove
the word "Hindu" from the biodata sent to me. He wrote:
"I have removed the word Hindu between the 5ft 8ins and
well rounded personality. After all a good person is
more important than being a Hindu."
Another asked me to remove the word "Malayalee" which had
been included in the original write-up. A third asked me
to remove the restriction of the bride-to-be being a “Muslim”.
As you all know, it will be difficult for ME to run a
marriage bureau as I was probably one of the first to
break tradition and to find my own wife, running the ire
of many of my family in India. That was nigh 35 years ago.
That bitterness still lingers on in the mind of some of
my relatives.
But I have been the happiest man on this earth as I was
blessed with a "good" non-Indian, non-Malayalee person
as my life's partner. We have been through many
hardships, many successes and many many failures. We
stuck together through all of them with our feet
firmly on the ground and we feel greatly rewarded
by our life together over this period.
How can one so inexperienced as this run a matrimonial
bureau?
My intention is I hope I can put "good" people together
to know each other, even if it does not result in a
marriage. You may not find a soul mate through me, but
what harm is there in finding a good friend?
If you have someone near and dear to you who is looking
for this form of introduction, then send me the data.
I will do a match and let you have a corresponding
person's data in-confidence. Then it is up to the
people concerned to see whether they hit it off together.
My present list consists of people who are only
Cathedralites or Stephanians or children of
Cathedralites and Stephanians and are from many
communities - Americans, Europeans, Indians,
Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Gujus,
Kannadigas, Maharashtrians, Mallus, Punjabis,
Sindhis, etc.. They live all over the world.
All, both gentlemen and ladies, without exception,
are well employed and are of independent means.
So a change in employment location, may result
if the process of matrimony begins. One must be
prepared for that eventuality. It is difficult t
o see me matching two people exactly in Boston or
Los Angeles, etc.
The ages of people on my list so far are gentlemen
and ladies from 25 to 34, all single to date.
What about my fees for the service?
Receiving a wedding invitation card would be more
than sufficient, although you can rest assured I w
ill not be able to attend!! My schedules are already
too crowded. But I love getting beautiful wedding
invitation cards, like the one 59er Ashok (and Madhu)
Kapur sent out for their daughter's wedding. Something
to be preserved in my collection of cards - I have
several thousands as I am a postcard and general
card collector!! I specialise in cross-written
postcards more than 100 years old.
Email received
I had this input from Yezad Kapadia, a 49er.
From: Yezad Sam Kapadia
To: Jacob Matthan
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 7:49 AM
Subject: Newsletter
Hi Jacob,
It was great receiving your latest newsletter. Have
a few comments to make.
It was good to know that Vasind continued to be the favorite
camping place for the Scouts even in your time. I remember
the time we were caught in the rains and Oliver had to
make a bivouak to keep himself from getting soaked. He
did a great job of it. Most of us had tents.
If Pop Pharaoh was still around in your time and Karkaria
was the maths teacher, what subject was Pop teaching?
In our time Pop was the maths teacher.
(Ed: Pop taught us Maths till the 10th and Karkaria took
over only for the 11th.)
Cannot remember Doreen Feinbusch but if she has the
documents from the Prize Giving functions of the years
1949 and 1950 I would be interested in seeing them.
I was the Head Boy in 1949. If my memory serves me
right, these functions were held right in the beginning
of the year. One of my first assignments was to go to t
he topmost gallery of the C J Hall and lead the school
to a hearty Three Cheers for the Chief Guest and his
wife. I only know how I shivered before getting the
words out of my mouth - " SCHOOL, Three Cheers for...."
In 1950, on that occasion, I got the Macdonald Medal
for Leadership. In my final certificate, which I still ha
ve, the departing Principal, L. M. S. Bruce, was to write
that I got the Medal more nearly unanimously than he
had ever known before. I was and am still proud of this.
(Ed: Yesh features greatly in all the documents that
Doreen kindly sent me. I will scan and put up on the
web in due course.)
Your tribute to your English teacher was moving. We
never knew him. In our time Oliver taught us English.
I never got beyond a 4/10 in our weekly essays and
just about scraped through the finals!. Aroo Moolgaker
got a distinction in English Language, which was
quite an achievement.
Glad to know that you are getting out of your winter
slumber.
Warm regards.
Yesh.
Next major reunion of 59ers
59ers, how about our next major reunion?
Have you considered my offer for the venue in 2004
to be Finland? If so I must get cracking on booking
the absolutely beautiful place on the side of a lake
in summertime when we have 24 hours glorious sunshine.
The place I have in mind can house around 60 couples
- more if we accept dorm style living.
It would be a reunion of a type never before experienced
by any Cathedralite. I shall try to keep the costs to
within about US $ 250 per person for food (breakfast,
lunch and dinner) and accommodation for 5 days (US $ 50 per day),
and including all the amenities at the location - sauna,
barbecue, water and land sports, etc. And I could organise
the services of a great Rock Band - live, so plenty of
dancing possible.
You will have to come well prepared with mosquito repellent
as the size of a mosquito in north Finland during summertime
are about that of a bee or wasp!! :-)
I am sure Viney and Purnima (Mazumdar) Sethi as they have
close relations nearby in Stockholm, and Ajeet (Prof.
Ajeet Mathur) from Tampere (although not a 59er from our
Finland Alma Mater club) will be able to help me out at
the final run-up to the event.
The dates would be ideally about a 5-day period in July
2004 - Thursday or Friday to Monday or Tuesday either pre-
or post- Wimbledon / Test Match as it would be no point
getting stuck in front of a TV when there is glory all around.
We could welcome staff and non-59ers also if they wish
to take the opportunity.
You would have to find the fare to reach from your
location to Oulu (near the Arctic Circle). SAS has
direct international flights to Oulu daily through
Stockholm.
If organised properly I can ask SAS to offer a special
fare from Stockholm to Oulu and back as there will
certainly be more than one flight load as they run only s
mall planes to this destination. And maybe Purnima (with
her previous Air India contacts and good contacts in
Stockholm where she was Air India chief for several years)
can help us get a good fare from Mumbai and some point in
US and UK to Stockholm?
If this is acceptable I will set up a separate bank account
where you can deposit the fee at convenient times in
convenient amounts, so the burden is not all at once.
I will ask Ajeet to maintain the accounts.
Give it a thought and get back to me as I have to work
with my contacts at the University to ensure that this
absolutely delightful lakeside place is reserved for us.
Summertime in Finland is so glorious that we really have
to book this 2 years in advance to be sure we get it.
Winter nearly over
Snow is all over the ground still, although temperatures
are slowly heading above the zero mark. Driving is quite
dangerous as under a light snowfall there may be very
slippery patches. I had a nasty fall in my garden just
day before yesterday resulting in a badly bruised shin.
I was also in a car slide the night before. I was turning
a gentle corner when the car just slid with the wheels
locked in the turning position. It jammed into the snow
and was impossible to get out single-handed as the wheels
were turned about 45 degrees, even though I dug out most
of the snow with my bare hands. I called my son-in-law,
Tony, to come with a shovel to dig me out. But a good
young Samaritan with a tow rope in the boot passed by
in a few minutes and pulled me out before Tony could
even leave home!!
Believe it or not - in my 18 years in Finland -
this was my first car snow slide!!
Yahoo Users Beware and be Forewarned
I have it from the grapevine that Yahoo intends to start
charging users to use their, till now, FREE email service.
Try to find another quickly - preferably not hotmail. I
f desperate - contact me and I shall try to get you a
free service from the many I know.
You have been warned.
Best wishes from where spring is just around the corner
- hopefully!!
Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland
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