The pictures of the rediscovered and renovated Chapel in school certainly created much interest, so I got around to getting the history and a bit more sorted out.
The Chapel sits next to the Physics Laboratory on the First Floor of the School. As Hasnain reported, it is about 3 metres wide and runs the width of the floor excluding the corridors on both sides. The large doors into the Physics Laboratory are on both sides of the Chapel.
I got the first part of the story from 49er Naval Patel, who lives with his wife, another very popular Cathedralite, 54er Armaity Mody. (Their charming photograph and history is from the excellent dossier prepared at the time of the 54er 50 year Reunion and sent to me by 54er Suhas Phadke. Wish other "years" would do the same!) I still remember Armaity as she was a great sportsperson the year I joined school and she was (and is still) so beautiful. [Naval, you are still very handsome. :-) ]
Naval and Armaity were married in April 1960 and lived in the various locations at which Naval was posted by ICI India - thrice in Calcutta, interspersed with periods in Gomia (an explosives factory in Bihar during which time both their children were born), Kanpur (twice) and finally New Delhi.
Armaity was an active sportsperson in most of these places, in the Calcutta Parsee Club and in Company Clubs at factory locations. She played badminton, tennis and table tennis, and briefly played basketball and hockey for the Parsees in Calcutta. It was while goal keeping for this team that her knee announced it had had enough, and eventually this imperfection made her end all active participation.
Naval has been an enthusiastic cricketer all his life; he played with considerable enjoyment for club and Company teams until 1987. From their early days together Armaity took to spectating at most matches, and soon became involved with scoring, particularly for the Calcutta Parsees. They nominated Armaity as the team's scorer and she was even taken on tours as a team official. Interest in the game remains even today; though, now, both of them participate mostly in front of the TV! (Don't we all!)
Since they were never posted to Bombay, their children did not get to study at Cathedral. Their principal school was La Martiniere, Calcutta. Afried now lives in Mysore, and Minoo resides in Chicago. They have been presented with two grandchildren from each side of the family.
Naval and Armaity have now moved permanently to Mysore (my favourite city where I spent part of my childhood and started school in the Good Shepherd Convent in the 40s).
I digress. Let us get bacxk to Naval's email.
Dear Jacob,
The story I heard about the Chapel was that it was installed as a prayer room for boarders pre 1914, not sure when.
When the First World War appeared to create a threat to Bombay through the presence of a German battlecruiser in the Arabian Sea, which might have bombarded the city, one of the protection measures taken was to encase the stained glass panels in a "drum" with wooden partitions right across them, on both sides.
Somehow the presence of the panels was forgotten after hostilities ended, and later constructors of the Physics Lab thought that they were dealing with a single wooden partition between them and the adjoining classroom.
So the decorations remained safe from us all while we spent our single years in that room - it was Standard 7 for my batch - until the building was renovated in the 1990s.
I do not recall the story of exactly how the panels came to light and of the decisions to present them as done now; perhaps you can get them from the lead architect of the restoration. I cannot immediately recall her name, but she is renowned in her field and her maiden name was Miss Brinda Chinappa, her father was your father's colleague in Tata Consulting Engineers. When you get that part of the story, I shall be most eager to read it.
Regards
Naval Patel
Naval was absolutely right about Brinda. She and her sister, Ranjani, are childhood friends just as my dad and their father were childhood friends from their Bangalore days in the 1910-1930 time. They remained close friends right through till my dad died in 1993. So also, I consider the two sisters to be part of my family.
Sadly, no picture of Ranjini in my archives, but here is one of a vivacious Brinda from her great website. (Her biodate is from her site.)
Brinda is an Architect and Conservationist. She completed her Master of Arts degree from Smith College, USA after graduating from the Sir J. J. College of Architecture, Mumbai. She believes that development and progress must proceed without straining the cultural and historic environment. Her philosophy: the Architect's role is that of guardian - his is the conscience of the built and un-built environment.
This belief underlines her work at "Somaya and Kalappa", the company she founded and has headed for the last two decades. Her oeuvre, spanning corporate, industrial and institutional clients extends to public spaces, which she has rebuilt and sometimes reinvented as pavements, parks and plazas. These include the Colaba Woods, Ganeshpuri Temple and a slew of pavements in South Mumbai & the reconstruction of an entire village in Kutch. She has won numerous personal and professional awards.
But perhaps one of her most fulfilling involvement has been in Progressive Conservation - best exemplified in the restoration and renovation of her alma mater, the Cathedral and John Connon Schools, prime examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in the historic precinct of the Fort area, Mumbai. An example of how the future can be embraced without erasing the past, this conservation effort embodies, in microcosm, what other historic areas of the city might do to renew themselves and by extension, the city, through focused environment-conscious (and history-sensitive) architecture. She emphasizes time and again that her involvement in conservation is neither self indulgent nor reverential, but an intelligent meshing of the old and new to develop an architectural form that serves the present. Brinda has delivered analytical and critical talks as well as presented papers in India and abroad on Conservation, Women in Architecture, the changing role of Indian Architects and innumerable other subjects.
Brinda is a founder trustee of the HECAR Foundation and has chaired a recent conference and exhibition on the work of Women Architects with a focus on South Asia. The other Founder Trustees of the HECAR Foundation are also outstanding Cathedralites from quite different eras - the 50s to the 80s.
75er Viral Doshi a metallurgist by profession is based in Mumbai. He is managing his company's business of computer software and the manufacture of speciality alloys. After his schooling at The Cathedral & John Connon School and subsequently at the University of London, he graduated in Engineering from Cornell University, U.S.A. An active member of school Alumni Association, he has been on its Executive Committee for nearly two decades. He was closely involved in setting up and managing the Alumni website and co-editing the magazine. His hobbies include counselling students for higher studies. Viral passionately collects memorabilia, photographs, old magazines etc. on the history of school.
73er Mridula Maluste is a Mumbai based writer. She completed her education at the Cathedral and John Connon School and Elphinstone College, Mumbai. An interest in books and passion for writing led her to conceptualise and develop a line of publications for children at India Book House, a publishing house she joined. She went on to attend a Book and Magazine Publishing Program at Radcliffe College, Harvard University. Returning to India, writing became her career of preference. She has since written for magazines, newspapers, corporate films and television serials. She has written for corporate documentaries, including scripts for ABB, SBI, Coal India, Midday and Rallis. She conceived and co-scripted the first 13 episodes of Jeevan Rekhi (Lifeline), a medical serial, as well as India's first talkshow, Mashoor Mahal. With Delhi-based producer, Chanda Narang, she scripted a docu-drama, during the 1992/93 riots titled: 'Ayodhya Temple or a Mosque'. A version of this, which she also wrote, was shown on Channel 4, BBC. She has, concurrently, been writing on business and human interest issues, architecture and design, for a range of publications which include Inside Outside, Times of India, Vogue, Indian Express, Interiors India and Business India - for the last she initiated and held a column on unusual businesses. She wrote and managed, in 1995, an entire issue on the Architecture of Mauritius for Inside Outside, a magazine on interior and design, besides assisting the Mauritius Government Tourism Office in their publicity- related material. For three years, she edited and published Shyam Ahuja's RITUAL, a corporate magazine on architecture and design concepts. She co-authored DHURRIE with Shyam Ahuja, a definitive book on the flat weave rug and the weavers who create them. She is presently co-authoring, along with Brinda Somaya, a book on a premier educational institution based in Mumbai.
83er Ashwin Ramesh schooled at The Cathedral and John Connon School, Ashwin went on to become a chartered accountant and law graduate from the University of Bombay. He has been in the business of investments and real estate development for the past eight to ten years. Apart from Mumbai, Ashwin has business interests in Bangalore, Pune and Navi Mumbai. His project Rustic Highlands is a landmark at Khandala where developing infrastructure such as roads, water and power supply and street lights over seventy acres of hilly terrain has resulted in an organised and well planned bungalow complex catering to individual and institutional needs. He is an articulate writer having written over fifty articles on property and investment markets for publications such as The Khaleej Times - Dubai, South China Morning Post - Hong Kong, Vatan - India and The Property Times - Mumbai edition. Ashwin was the President of the school Alumni Association for the year 1997-1998 in which he launched several new projects and concepts. He is an active member of the Rotary Club of Bombay.
My classmate 59er Gita Simoes (née Vaswani) was born in Karachi, Gita completed her school education from the Cathedral and John Connon School. (I greatly admired her art when we were at school and remember one class party in her house in Churchgate where I was transfixed by the beauty of her paintings and Gita.) After her Bachelors of Fine Arts she went on to specialise in Graphic Art at the Minneapolis School of Art and Design, USA, where she took ancillary courses in Painting, Printmaking, Calligraphy and Fashion Illustration. She has been Art Director for several leading advertising agencies including Clarion Mcann, Mumbai-Delhi and Lintas, Mumbai, where she coordinated the new Lintas offices at Express Towers with architect, Kumar Bubbar around 1970. She was Art Director of the Taj Magazine, and in the 1970's, she established the Graphic Design Studio of the Taj Group of Hotels, to coordinate the design activities of the entire chain. She has also been Art Director for Frank Simoes Advertising where she initiated and developed a program for training junior visualisers. From 1994 onwards, she has been freelancing for a range of clients that include Titan, Air-India and the Taj Group. Her work for Air India won her an award for 'best airline crockery'. Gita is on the board of Shrujan, (an Organisation committed to the economic development of the women in Gujarat through embroidery) and VOICE - a voluntary Organisation for the education of street children.
Brinda, is the last of the Founding Trustees of the HECAR Foundation and lives in Mumba. Brinda has two kids, 94er Vikram, who lives in NYC and her daughter, 95er Nandini, in London.
Vikram used to be regular contributor to Seventh Heaven, but of late has been very quiet. Would love to have input from him abour his generation as Vikram was part of the inspiration to keep Seventh Heaven and Newsy Notes alive!
At my time the class that Naval refers to was the VIth Standard with Mr. Derek Timmins as the Class Teacher. I joined school in that class and used to sit with my back against the wall. The VIIth Standard was on the ground Floor with the wall adjoining the Chemistry Laboratory.
However, coming to the content, let us look at these before pictures submitted to me by Brinda who discovered the Chapel.
And these are pictures after the Chapel were renovated, which were also sent to me by Brinda.
If the BEFORE pictures are actually as the Chapel was found, does anyone note a degree of inconsistency with Naval's historical suggestion? Another puzzle for your grey matter! I am a tease.
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