Nothing exciting can happen to a Cathedralite...

in the Arctic - Right?

Wrong!

I was sitting quietly at my computer clearing my email when the phone rang. It was my foster daughter from South Finland, daughter of 54er Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah). Gopa had not called me for some time, so we chit-chatted for a while and caught up on the news.

Then she said there was a fellow Jhath-walla - a Cathedralite, who had come to visit her. Would I like to speak to him?

"Sure", I said, as who would not like to chat with another Cathedralite.

His name - Ravi Khote (79er) and he was with his wife,Rita (non-Cathedralite). That did not ring much of a bell, although I do vaguely remember a Khote who was a few years senior to me, but nothing I could recall.

We exchanged pleasanatries and found that we had common friends. Rags, as Ravi is known, is in theatre, composing, music and acting. When I asked whether he was in multimedia - he said it was "multiple media"!

As we talked he said he had two fathers, which puzzled me a bit.

And then he asked me whether I knew a Farookh Metha?

Now, did I know a Farookh Metha?

You bet I did.

Not as a Cathedralite, as Farookh would have been in school before I joined as he is about 8 years senior to me (possibly a 52er) but because of another event in my life.

When I ended my education and my career in England, Annikki and I decided we would sail back to India. Since the Suez was closed, the route was around the Cape. We boarded the ss Victoria of the Lloyd Tristino line at Venice.

1969: Susanna, Jaakko and Jacob on board the Victoria


1969: Susanna, Jaakko and Annikki on board the Victoria


I think it was at Barcelona - another Indian family joined the boat.

As both the men liked to play table tennis, we got friendly.

His name was Farookh Metha. I learnt a lot about Farookh on the trip. Although he whipped me in the finals of the on-board table tennis competition, we were good friends.

I do not remember his wife, Bhakul, but I knew he was travelling with her and their children. One of those was a 9 year old boy - none other than Rags Ravi Khote, as he had kept the name of his late father. Bhakul had been married to Harim Khote who had passed away.

Yes, we had travelled together around the Cape, crossed twice across the Equator and into India, 36 years ago!!

I had met Farookh a few times after our journey on the boat as we had a few common friends. It was certainly a great thrill to hear first hand of a wonderful personality who is still hyperactive that I had got know on our journey to India.

Who says nothing happens to hibernating Polar Bear Cathedralites stuck up in isolation near the North Pole!

Ashok Kapur's YES bank IPO

Check out the Economic Times for the news today "Yes Bank IPO to hit market in May" where one of the two promoters is 59er Ashok Kapur.

59ers Ashok Kapur, Ramesh Mirchandani and Pilloo Tata (née Dastur)

Let us wish Ashok all success with his IPO which hits the market on 9th May 2005.

Wish I had a few quid to invest in it in the names of my grandchildren!

Happy birthday Ashok

I hope all of you will join me in wishing one of our greatest 59ers, Ashok Kapur, a very happy 62nd birthday,

Ashok and me in Bombay sometime in the 1990's

Ashok lives in Bombay with his beautiful and charming wife, Madhu.

Ashok was and is a great sportsman - playing hockey and cricket for the school and being involved with a lot more sports as badminton, squash, etc.

Soon after he left school he joined the National Grindlays Bank and was sent for training to the Banks training centre in England. That was the time I was also in London and I remember visiting his room in his Blackheath hostel.

On returing to India his growth was meteroic and he served National Grindlays in Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay and reached the top. I remember visiting him when he served in Calcutta, one of my very few visits tpo that city, and I even stayed with him. That was before he was married.

He left the bank to further his personal role in Indian banking, and has been involved with some great banking developments till today. He is the Chairman of a new bank in which he is one of the major shareholders.

Happy birthday Ashok.

And the thanks today from an another 60er

Jacob,

I want to thank you for reuniting some of us 60ers through your efforts without which it would have been virtually impossible.

Its been hectic for me during the last week receiving calls from David Keidan and Nusly Pocha who were good enough to fill me in with all the news that I've been longing to hear even though it took almost over 40 years! It felt as if I was back in school again.

What a wonderful feeling to be a Cathedralite!

Thank you and God bless.

Say hello to the family for me.

Sheikh Zahur
Class of 60
9th April 2005

Two 60ers from North America check in

I had this email from a 60er, Ravi Modak, Savage-ite.

Hi Jacob,

Whatever are you doing in Finland? Nokia?

I trust you'll remember me - your newsy news was passed on to me by my brother Sanjay.

We live in Tupelo, Mississippi - home of Elvis Presley - only claim to fame! Run my own business in Industrial Food flavour mixes - R&D.

Saffron International is it's official name for Spice And Food Flavour Organization.

When you have time let's hear from you.

Best regards

Ravi Modak

I remembered, as besides school, Ravi as he used to come to church on Sunday with his parents. I do not quite remember his younger brother Sanjay. So I replied:

Hi Ravi,

Police Inspector's Modak's son I presume?

What about your mom and dad. I have thought of them many times.

Started Seventh Heaven for my 59ers and it proved a great success as a web page. Have transformed it now into a blog which I update every couple of days. Separated my blogs into my various interests. Great feedback from Cathedralites of all ages.

When you have some time to waste, go to the Cathedralite blog and start at March 1996 entries and you will see a lot about many Cathedralites you will know.

Best regards

Jacob

Quick reply from Ravi:

Dear Jacob,

Ta for your prompt response and all the news!

Yes - Police Modak's son. I will be visitng them next week in Poona where they live - my wife Melalie is there - we shall meet as ships passing in the night. Running a business means at least one of us should be here at all times if possible.

Class of 1960 had a grand reunion in 2000 which was also the 140th year of Cathedral. Nusly Pocha (medical Dr.) if you remember him did a grand job of arranging it.

He tried a rerun for last year but gave up - a bitter pill for him to swallow.

I have some years to retire but my business is such that not only is it fun but it has its monetary rewards as well. As long as I can taste and smell, I shall continue.

Blog sounds interesting - will look into it. If you travel to the US please contact us.

Regards to you and your family.

Ravi

To which I replied:

Hi Ravi,

Give my very best regards to your parents whom I remember very well.

I was wrong to say Inspector Modak - if I am not wrong he was Commissioner Modak!!

Know about your successful reunion - have many photographs from it.

Lots of Cathedralites settled in Pune - all year groups from 54 to 69ers!! Many in touch with me.

Regards

Jacob

And this was Ravi's reply:

Dear Jacob,

You're right - he was Commissioner and later became Inspector General Maharashtra (now upgraded to Director General). He did a 2 year stint deputised as I.G.P. Jammu and Kashmir back in 66-67. It was fun going there for the summer hols from IIT Bombay.

Can you by any chance find a list of the 60's group in Poona?

If so would appreciate a list and their e-mails.

Thanks and stay in touch.

Ravi

Must say it was lovely to tie up with an old friend. But then I had an email from another 60er who I always thought was one of the great Cathedralites in the same mould as Pamela Ballantine:

Hi Jacob,

It was wonderful that you contacted Monty out of the blue. I enjoyed reading the
link Monty sent me re your Blog articles. Where do you get the time to keep such
an amazing site?

Keep up your excellent work.

Thank you for being so complimentary, but unfortunately I cannot remember you from
the photograph, please send me a school picture so that I can refresh my mind.

On Sunday past we went to visit Bill & Pushpa Shiri (ex school teacher) and had a wonderful trip down memory lane, (albums were out). We took down a few names and phone numbers to contact. (Christine (née Brown) & Cliff Haamill. Mr. Chinwalla and Mr. Gregory. It will be fun speaking to them over the next few weeks.

I am in contact with Joan (nee Edwards) & Kevin Dean, also Vernon Williams. If, you do not have their contact information let me know and I will forward to you in my next e-mail.

About 7 years ago I went back to school, received my AMI Diploma and have been a Montessori teacher for the past 5 years. The career change has made a difference in my entire life, working with children 3 to 6 years of age. Sometimes, I wish I had made the career change many years ago, but I know it is only forward that I must project myself!

Imagine you must be enjoying your retirement and no doubt your home in Finland must be "a perpetual inn of past happiness" with old friends visiting. If you have time keep in touch.

Bye for now,

Sincerely

Cynthia (née Abbott) Wilson

To which I was pleased to reply:

Dear Cynthia,

In the blog entry for 13th December 2004 you will see three people circled. The one who is sitting next to Abe Hayeem is me. Go on to the entry of 28th January 2005 and you will see a picture of me 8 years on when I got married to the most beautiful girl in this universe in a small town called Shrewsbury in England where I was working as a Research Scientist after completing my second degree in London.

I was in the Cathedral church choir (1954 - 1959) - when I moved to do my University education (St, Stephen's Ciollege in Delhi), Savage House Captain in 1959, School hockey goalkeeper two years running (1958 and 1959) and one of the few who got appointed as Prefect already in the 10th Standard (1958).

Sadly, I was one of the few who cannot claim to be a full-blooded Cathedralite as I never got lifted by the seat of my pants by Pop and given the bacon slicer treatment, although I got dangerously close to it on quite a few occasions.

Beautiful women - and I do not ever mean just physical - beauty matures with age, and that is what I find in common between you and Anikki!! Your character, loving spirit, just shines through and I am sure that Monty and your children are enjoying just that.

I remember meeting a lady I have known since I was a small child, Margret Wilson from Bangalore, mother of Abner, Beverley, Cedric, Dinky (my classmate) and Zena in Bangalore when she was over 80 and she was truly beautiful as her eyes were always smiling. You will find a mention of that family in my blog entry of 17th March 2005 - My First Day at School.

Elizabeth, my sister, was Blue House Captain in 1962 (I think). I do not know whether you remember her. Very bossy girl. Still very bossy!!

We have around 1800 Cathedrlaites (from 1945 to 2005ers) reading the blog which I started way back in 1996 and have had it going in fits and starts. It has survived the test of time by its popularity, namely due to the inputs from around the world. Willie has been a regular contributor as also Hasnain and of late, even Chris. I checked my records and did not find Joan Edwards or Kevin Dean on the list. Joan Twist, now Joan Croft is on, but she was much senior, a 54er. Also Joan Myers, a 56er, now Densham, is on the list.

Please let me have their contacts and I will put them on my now very occasional mailings. Or you can just direct them to my blog which I update every couple of days.

I am an expert on Montessori education as Annikki finished her course and had a final result of 98%. Because she did not type, she would read out her tutorials to me and I would type it out on my computer - so I learnt all about Montessori teaching through that process. She read a couple of score books when doing that course. Many have asked me to put her tutorials online as it is really a truly Finnish piece of work - Finns only like to do things to a perfection!!

Love to the family.

Jacob - more commonly known as "the Dead Chicken" a truly earned nickname!!

So that was why I was called "Dead Chicken" - in the grave most of the time!

67er Shobha sends out ALERT

67er Shobha Jhunjunwala (née Agarwal) sent me this important alert.

From: Shobha Jhunjhunwala
Date: Apr 4, 2005 8:54 PM
Subject: Fw: Passport holders attention..

This is frightening.

See you passport stare back at you, on the internet!

Delete it please. I did.

I was rather shocked to find a website that holds everyone's passport details along with photograph. Anyone can access other people's personal info. Which is of course a major worry in terms of identity fraud, etc.

You can remove your info. I suggest you do the same.

Act as soon as possible and please forward this important info to family and friends. The website is

HumNRI

Shobha

Thank you Shobha for warning me.

By the way, Shobha, I am waiting for the photo's of the 67er men and also the picture captions for the photographs you sent me.

A problem of identity

A few days ago I raised the issue of the identity of a 60er.

I had some interesting comments but no one recognised the individual from the name!!. Then along came David Keidan who said he knew Sheikh and remembered him well.

The jigsaw puzzle is now solved.

Below is a recent picture of our 60er Sheikh and his wife, Adeeba, in London. Doesn't his very broad and friendly smile show he is a Cathedralite. Can any of you recognise him from this photograph. I could!!!


Sheikh and Adeeba in London 2005

Then I was sent a series of photographs of school teams from the peroid 1956 to 1960 - and "Bingo", that part of my brain which had been demolished 21 years ago by alcohol was partly rejuvenated - and I remembered the Sheikh as if it was just yesterday. He certainly was one of our great sportsman but, unfortunately, he lived in a day when our class of 59 was overwhelmed with enormous sporting talent that it was almost impossible to make the first team with just normal skills!!

I present here a series of photographs where many readers to this blog feature - even the one who made rather a caustic joke about our fellow Cathedralite - they both played in the same team!!

I will list team members of each team only at the end of this blog entry, so that you can enjoy yourself working out who is who. Some names I have forgotten - so please forgive me. It is not that I have forgotten you, but like in the case of Sheikh, the name and my association to the face escapes me just at this moment.

1. 1956 Junior Football Team - The guy sitting on the right of Wabhi and just below Jack is Sheikh!!


1956 Junior Football Team

2. 1956 Junior Hockey Team - The guy sitting on the far right next to Noel and in front of David is Sheikh.


1956 Junior Hockey Team

3. 1957 Junior Football Team - The guy sitting between Noel on the far left and Viney is Sheikh.


1957 Junior Football Team

4. 1960 Senior Football Team - The guy sitting between Trevor and John Kurian on the far right is Sheikh.


1960 Senior Football Team

5. 1960 Senior Hockey Team - The guy standing between Naubir and Ajeet and above Mr. Pande is Sheikh.


1960 Senior Hockey Team

Now the million dollar question. Has dementia set in for you?

Here are the teams as far as I can remember the guys names. Please correct me if I am wrong. In some cases I may only remember the first name or the surname:

1. 1956 Junior Football Team:

Standing: ?, Viney Sethi, Johnny Jameson, Jack Haskell, Ajeet Mehra, Noel Ezekiel
Sitting: ?, Vijay Shivdasani, Wabhi Zayani, Sheikh Zahur, Solomon
Sitting on the Ground: ?

2. 1956 Junior Hockey Team:

Standing: Solomon, Ajeet Mehra, Jack Haskell, Roger Cloy, David Colaco
Sitting: ?, Viney Sethi, Ashok Kapur, Noel Ezekiel, Sheikh Zahur
Sitting on the ground: Mark Sopher

3. 1957 Junior Football Team:

Standing: ?, Phiroze Mistri, Armeane Choksi, Solomon, David Colaco
Sitting: Noel Ezekiel, Sheikh Zahur, Viney Sethi, ?, Flicky Shroff
Sitting on the ground: ?

4. 1960 Senior Football Team:

Standing: ?, ?, Armeane Choksi, Roger Cloy, Ajeet Mathur
Sitting: Maurice Belacourt, Phiroze Mistri, Trevor Newnes, Sheikh Zahur, John Kurian
Sitting on the ground: Jaswant Ghatge

5. 1960 Senior Hockey Team:

Standing: ?, Maurice Belacourt, Naubir Mohindar, Sheikh Zahur, Ajeet Mehra, Andy Gordon
Sitting: Trevor Newnes, Arvind Thadani, Ashok Kapur, Mr. Pande, Phiroze Mistri,
Sitting on the ground: Jaswant Ghatge

And thank you for the literally hundreds of birthday greetings that have poured in yesterday and today from Cathedralites from all corners of the globe. I will acknowledge each one individually in the course of this week. I am truly overwhelmed by the number of you that took the time to email me and the many who sent email greetings cards. I especially liked the one sent by Willie and Pushpa Shiri, but all of the cards conveyed to me a feeling of great camaraderie that exists amongst this Seventh Heaven community of Cathedralites. I would like to thank Shabir Ahmedbhoy for wishing me two things I have enjoyed almost all my life - Health and Happiness. In that I especially remember, today, as also the start of each day I am on this planet, our PT Master, the late Mr. Morecroft, who gave me the chance to live a second and full life.

Photos from 62er Ranko

I am blessed with such good inputs to keep this blog so interesting (at least for me!!). 62er Ranko Ivancevic sent me info that his daughter, Maja, was married in February. He also sent me photgraphs of Maja with her husband, Marko, Maja with her brother Goran and two beautiful photographs of Ranko with his wife Gordana.


Ranko's daughter Maja with son, Goran


Ranko's daughter Maja with son-in-law, Marko


Ranko with his gorgeous and adorable better half, Gordana
Ranko also sent me a picture of him with his hand draped over the shoulders of a beautiful woman whom he called Julie (and I do not think it is from Madame Tussaud's Waxworks Museum), but to prevent family war outbreak, there has been enough of that in their region, I am holding back on publishing that (unless I have vociferous demands)!! :-)