Another error in the Head Boy Plaque

Having resolved one issue, the fact that Vijay Nayar's name is missing for the year 1960, I was surprised to hear from a 69er Zahid Parker who said that the Plaque was also missing a name for a 1966 Head Boy.

According to Zahid, the Head Boy in the first term of 1966 was Homi Bhedwar.

Jamsheyd Godrej was Head Boy in the second half.

Both were in Savage House.

Anyone like to clarify this and then take up the issue at the school?

Seventh Heaven Scoops DAILY?

Many have asked why it is we have such a broad section readership. It is because we get the news doirectly from our horse's (dinosaur ones) mouth.

How is this for an absolute SCOOP.

45er Desmond Kinnersley and his wife Betty

I am able to bring you a lovely picture of 45er Desmond Kinnersley and his wife Betty taken a few weeks ago in where they live in a retirement village in Perth, Western Australia about 5 minutes away from the beach and enjoy the warm weather although, as Des said, it gets a bit warm in Summer with temperatures around the 40 ° C plus mark. Luckily, he said, it is a dry heat which helps. Both of them look to be in outstanding health for 80+ers.

It is a picture that I and many Cathedralites will treasure.

And now to the second controversy - that of Vijay Nayar's name missing from the Head Boys Board. Both 58er Bhupi and 59er Ashok Kapur confirm that Vijay was Head Boy at the beginning of 1960. He then went to Milfield School in England, when Karl took over as School Captain.

Viney, although he won the McDonald medal for Leadership was never School Captain. Ashok and Viney both joined Elphinstone College for a while but returned to school to do their HSc. Viney left and went to Dulwich College, as I had remembered. As Ashok left school, he gave up all official posts, as he too would have been on the shortlist for top spots as he was a great inside right in hockey, one of our soundest opening batsmen in cricket plus the school wicketkeeper, an outstanding badminton player, and like me one of the few who was appointed as a Prefect already in the 10th Standard!

I stand corrected that Vijay was not Indian Squash Champion. But I know he was in the top group of squash players in India. It was his younger brother, Anil "Lucky" Nayar, who now lives in the US, who was the National Squash Champion for 7 years. He has won the Indian Championship an absolute record number of times - 10!

Western India History, CCI Squash: Looking back over five decades by Raju Chainani:
"Anil Nayar was the only homegrown player of true class India ever produced. He was a winner of the Drysdale Cup in 1965", says Dicky Rutnagur. Indeed, Nayar was something out of the ordinary. His blinding speed and racket skills remain etched in memory and the general consensus is that he is the greatest player India has seen.

I remember when Lucky came to England and played an outstanding game with the best squash player of that country, Jonah Barrington. Jonah, from Ireland, is now a retired squash player who is considered to be one of the greatest squash players of all time. He won the British Open title six times between 1967 and 1973. (The British Open was considered to be the effective world championship of the sport at the time.)

The match was really a momentous one, a 5 setter, and Anil lost purely because of the outstanding physical fitness of Jonah! (I wonder if Lucky remembers that game, which was a ball by ball wonder play?)

Anil got a scholarship to Harvard University also because of his outstanding squash (called hardball in the US) playing abilities and was twice US Squash Champion (1969 and 1970). He is featured in the hall of Fame for Squash Players.

Thanks to all for their inputs in helping to clear up the controversies. Remember, it is your input that makes this the greatest blog for us Cathedrealites - it is really our Seventh Heaven!

Wow! You guys are quick

Within minutes of my last blog entry I had a feedback from former Head Boy, Savageite, 57er Bhupinder Singh Anand.

There is a glaring omission in the Head Boys Board, a picture of which I published in my last entry. And it concerns one of our dearest 59er friends - Vijay Nayar.

Three of our many outstanding 59ers
Ooky (Elijah Elias), Vijay Nayar and Vijay Shivdasani

Bhupi says that Vijay was the Head Boy in the first half of 1960 and was followed by Trevor Newnes. That must be incorrect as I do think that 58er Karl Andres was Head Boy for part of 1960. Question is - which part?



Take a look at the above picture of Prefects for 1959. Vijay is in the top row, third from left.



Now take a look at the picture of the Prefects of 1960, where Karl is the Head Boy.

Vijay is not in this picture!

Had he already gone to study in Somerset, England, or was that in the following year? I cannot remember the name of the school, but was it Milford?

Surprisngly, also missing from this picture is Viney Sethi, who also went to study in a school in Dulwich in South London, England called Dulwich College.

Was Vijay the Head Boy in the latter half of 1960 or the first half on 1961? Am I wrong in thinking that Viney was also Head Boy for a period and that his name may also be missing from the Board?

I do know Bhupi is right that Vijay was Head Boy - but which year, and what was the correct sequence?

Vijay was Indian Squash Champion for several years, he was an outstanding cricketer with his slow left arm spin bowling, he was a great hocky player, playing alongside me for two years, and he was also one of our top table tennis players. (Am I missing anything, Vijay, as I seem to remember you also playing football for the school?)

Once we 59ers get this right, maybe some active 59er in Mumbai will petition the school to get the Board corrected!

45er checks in

Head Boy's Plaque, photograph from
the 59er Hasnain Chinwala / Chhaya Purwar collection

Trevor Newnes (somewhere in New Zealand) and Mark Sopher (somewhere in Israel) were 59ers. Mark was also in Savage House and also School Hockey Goalkeeper, like me! In those days it appears that only Savage House could produce hockey goalkeepers, as following me (2 years - 1958 and 1959) was the late Savageite, Jaswant Ghatge, and he was followed by Savageite Mark. Trevor, a Palmerite, sang in the Cathedral Church Choir, also like me!

Former Head Boys, Savageites 56er Ubi and 57er Bhupi, are regular readers of this blog.

I read with great interest an excellent reminiscence by a 45er Desmond Kinnersley, Wilson, about his life as a Boarder in School.

I decided to drop Des an email asking for photographs from his time. I had this quick reply from him.

Dear Jacob,

Many thanks for your e mail and glad that you found my article on life as a boarder in the 1940's interesting.

I am sorry that I haven't any other photographs of the school; I used to have quite a few but moving around the world and the march of time I seem to have mislaid all the others.

I was Head Boarder and a School Prefect in 1945 and was in Wilson House. I certainly look back with nostalgia and remember the happy times I had at the school.

I had another e mail from an ex Cathedralite, Ellis Sion who is living in the US. He was in the Scout photograph I put on the Website. He had lost his copy and was very pleased to be able to get another one. Unfortunately my replies to him don't seem to reach him as he has an aol address and for some reason I seem to have trouble with my messages getting through to people who use aol. I don't know whether you knew him.

Do you have any other Cathedralites on your blog site who were at the School during the period 1943-1945?

All the best and keep in touch.

Des Kinnersley

So Des is presently the oldest Cathedralite online in my records. I am sure the 47ers and 49ers would certainly like to be in touch with Des.

Welcome to our blog, Des. I am sure many would like to hear of your life in school at that time. This is THE nostalgia and reunion link site for people from 1945 to 2006!

How to survive a Heart Attack when ALONE

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Blog, the CHAFF Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)

I must thank Naval Patel, a 49er from my old school, me being a 59er, having passed out in 1959, for this important post.

USEFUL TO EVERY ONE AND MAY BE FOR OTHERS AS HELP EVERYONE MUST KNOW THIS

Let's say it's 6.15 pm and you're going home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You are really tired, upset and frustrated.

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw.

You are about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately, you don't know if you will be able to make it that far.

You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.

In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

A cardiologist says If everyone who gets this information and then sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we will save at least one life.

Please pass on this information to all your contacts.

Cathedral Boy's School Staff of 1956

As requested by 56er HS Uberoi (more commonly known to us as Ubi) I have created Sepia Tone images of the 1956 Staff at the Boys School which you can find at this special web page.

Sadly, although I know the names of most of the staff, I am either not sure of the initials or the correct spelling. Would any of you who could help me send me the complete name for each of the pictures. I would be most grateful if you would also correct any mistakes that I have made.

I must thank Willie Shiri and 59er Hasnain Chinwalla, both in Toronto, Canada, for sending me the original photograph scanned at a high enough resolution to help me create this web page.

Once complete, I will add this link as a pictures page in the side links, leading eventually to pages for each year. For that your cooperation is required by feeding me the photographs at high enough resolution as well as the complete names of the staff.

Imagine, 125 such pages. Yes, I can imagine!

Dare to think the unthought known?

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Blog, the CHAFF Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)

Prof Ajeet Mathur has been a friend for over the 10 years he has been in Finland. Ajeet is like a younger brother to Annikki and me, and we love him dearly. Like me, although considerably younger to me, he is a Cathedralite from Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and also a graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Like me, he married a Finn, and ended up in Finland. We are the Alumni in Finland for both those institutions, so we have 100% attendance at our reunions.

However, the similarity ends there.

Ajeet is a brilliant professor with immense industrial hands-on experience. He is a prolific writer and his philosophical mind can analyse any situation down to, not just the ground, but deep into the roots. His education skills are seen to be believed as he holds his students in rapt attention. We jointly authored a paper on e-Governance a couple of years ago where he took my mundane and boring facts and turned it into a paper that even had the Indian President, Abdul Kalam, look at "us" in awe!

Many years ago Annikki and friends started a small venture called Aivoairut Oy. Annikki was one of the Board Members. Because of the involvement of members of the Board in many other creative pursuits, the company has been doing just enough to stay alive during the intervening period.


Arne Nystedt, Managing Director of Aivoairut Oy,
Annikki and Ajeet in Kampitie

Arriving in last Friday's post was the first major publishing effort of this company, a book edited by Ajeet called "Dare to think the unthought unknown?"

Dare to think the unthought known?

International Perspectives on Group Relations
Edited by Ajeet N. Mathur
Price: EUR 38 + postage
Publisher: Airoairut Oy, PL 836, FIN-33101 TAMPERE, FINLAND,

This volume, a collective international endeavour, brings together twelve influential scholars and practitioners in group relations. New ways are presented of managing oneself in groups and for the design of management processes. Developments in group dynamics and social innovations are explored at the cutting edge of practices in a variety of settings: families, schools, local governance councils, factories, hospitals, trade unions, prisons, business enterprises, research institutions, religious organisations, higher education institutions, voluntary work and international organisations. Issues are raised for consideration and interpretation about the hidden life of organisations and institutional processes. Novel ideas include suggestions for educators and consultants on group relations training and experiential learning methods. Problems that arise in teams relevant for persons in expert roles or management, administrative or governance responsibilities in private and public systems are discussed. New approaches for working with groups address unique challenges and opportunities that individuals face in stressful roles during turbulent times. This is an important book for anyone trying to understand small and large group behaviour to engage effectively with the politics of relatedness.

Whether you be an individual living in isolation or a person in constant contact with a huge cross-section of people, this book is one for you. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. It is 250+ pages of sheer ecstasy, as Ajeet, along with 11 other brilliant minds take apart the words of the scholar Gouranga P. Chattopadhyay (M.Sc., D.Phil, (Calcutta University), FRAI (London), FASC & T (West Bengal), FAISA (Melbourne), Professor Emeritus of Academy of HRD & CEO, Chattopadhyay Associates: Organisation Consultants &Personal Counsellors.) who proposed a few years ago that spirituality may be used to overcome hate and to understand our lives better. The other contributors are Alaistair Bain, Allan Shafer, Anil K. Sen Gupta, Bruce Irvine, Colin Quine, Jane Chapman, John Bazalgette, Sally Eastoe, Sari Joustimäki, Susan Long and Shelley Ostroff.

Approaching group relations from a series of different angles with a series of conversations, never before published, this book is historic in that every sentence is deep in meaning. It is impossible to review this book without virtually quoting every printed line.

The authors differ from each other on various dimensions. Seven men, five women, six nationalities, from five continents, twelve professions. But two things are in common - all have been students of group relations and they have all known and worked with Gouranga Chattopdhyay.

In the first chapter written by Ajeet, he says

"Groups are created, sustained and accepted not because they are necessary evil residues of the group mentality. Without groups, complex transactions of society that require open systems, porous boundaries and the bridging of frictions of space, time, technology, task and sentinece to enable flows of goods, services, capital, people and ideas would not be possible."

Ajeet is explaining what life and after-life could be all about. Whether it be a pack of wolves or a flock of sheep, these principles hold good, although this book is limited to homo sapiens!

May I suggest you get hold of this book as it will not only change your life but it will open up an entirely new world to you that you never knew existed.

Ajeet will be chairing a group discusssion in Oulu next week geared for foreign business owners and investors to share their experiences. His skill in group discussions will become obvious to all attending. (Contact me if you want to take part in this event.)

Thank you, Ajeet, for giving birth to this book, which Annikki and I will treasure.

Untimely passing of 67er

Shobha Jhunjhunwala just informed of the sad news of the passing away of a 67er.

Dear Girls & Boys,

This is just to inform you about the sad & untimely demise of one our classmates - CYRUS GHASVALA. He is listed in our directory. Although he did not come for the reunion as he was travelling, he had the directory collected & spoke to me thereafter.

I just spoke to Jehan Chichgar & he told me that he used to stand first in class always.

Called himself 'Top Ghasvala'. Wilson House and was just 54 years old.

He had a heart attack and was admitted, just yesterday, to the Parsi General.

Jehan went to see him and was there when he died.

The funeral was today and the few people in town still, in summer went to bid him farewell.

Very very sad indeed

Shobha

From my expereince of several of my dear friends and family, heart attacks between the ages of 40 and 50 were usually fatal. In recent years the upper bar has been raised to 55.

I hope Shobha will convey the heartfelt condoloences on behalf of Cathedralites around the world to his family. We feel deeply for any of our small group who pass on as in some way, because of the intimate nature of our life in Cathedral, they are connected to friends and friend's friends.

May his soul rest in peace.

Photographs continued...

I have so many positive comments about the two photograph series that I am running that I must fill in this post with two more pictures that provoke nostalgia.

Assembly Hall, photograph from
the 59er Hasnain Chinwala / Chhaya Purwar collection

/Flash: Just after I put up the above picture, Hasnain sent me an email saying that the young lady who is dressed in a yellow salwar Kameez on the left is Chhaya Purwar, Physics Teacher in the school.)

In this first picture of our Assembly Hall I see the lectern. Was it the one that many of us stood at and read the Bible?

According to Hasnain the Assembly Hall was being prepared for exams, so that may explain that the famous Table Tennis tables not being propped up at the side of the Hall. But then, do they still play TT in the Hall?

In keeping with the Assembly Hall theme, I decided to publish the picture of the man who was our Principal during our time in the school.


Bernard Gunnery,
Principal during my time in school (1954 to 1959)

There was a love hate relationship between many and Mr. Gunnery. He was a person who did not mix very well, but those who knew him personally said that he cared very much for the school.

I used to see him at the St. Thomas Cathedral every Sunday. The Assembly was also the other main time when we got to see him. I did not see him at many of the sporting events in which the school was taking part. Maybe someone else can give me a feedback on their views of the person who introduced our School and Prefects tie in 1954?

I had feedback from 49er Naval Patel to confirm that income tax expert, Soli Dastur, brother of the late 47er Jal Dastur, was definitely a Cathedralite, possibly a 50er.

A tragic passing

Age creeps up on all of us, and we have to pass on. But, I must report the absolutely unnecessary passing away of 47er Jal Dastur, who was hit bit a vehicle last October and passed away.

(Please click on the image to see a readable version of the text.)



49er Naval Patel, who lives in Mysore, sent me the above piece from the Parsiana magazine. I did not know Jal, but have on a few occasions many moons ago met with his brother, the renowned tax expert Soli.

As was recorded by Naval in his email to me:

Dear Jacob,

Browsing through a Parsiana magazine about four months old, I read with regret an obituary for Jal Dastur.

Jal was of the Cathedral Class of 1947, a real gentleman, even in school days.

He qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and was, I am told a renowned, and more essentially a truly respected, practitioner in Bombay thereafter.

An aspect I recall further about Jal was his eccentric but effective "half-volley" style at table tennis. It was not gainly but he would win against all except those who had fierce topspin or extreme speed of drives.

Curiously he played badminton with a similar style but which was nowhere as effective in that game.


All regards

Naval Patel