Reunion News Flash: Fast approaching!

It is time to come out of my summer stupoour and draw attention to one of the fast approaching Reunions. Here is the most recent message that I have received.

Dear Jacob,

It's about a year or so ago since I wrote to you about our intent to have the 50th Annivesary Reunion of the Class of 56. Much has transpired towards this endeavour, and November is almost upon us.

Happily, we have had a great response from our classmates, locally, in India and from abroad.

I give below the revised programme, as of date, for the reunion and the list of those who have agreed to attend.

I shall deeply appreciate your indulgence, once again, in making this known to your readers for their information and in the event any of our classmates, who are not attending, on reading this, will change their minds!

CLASS OF 1956
CATHEDRAL & JOHN CONNON SCHOOL
50 YEAR REUNION PROGRAMME
-----------------
Tuesday 7th November
Dinner at the Willingdon Club, "Cabbage Patch"
Hosts Dina Daver, Muku Hamied, Rima Kashyap and Khadija Sarela.

Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th and Friday 10 November
Ladies visit to Pune
Return to Mumbai on the aftenoon of 10 November.

Thursday 9th November
Dinner at Iqbal Chaiwalla's residence for the boys and girls who do not go to Pune.
Host Iqbal Chaiwalla.

Saturday 11th November
High Tea at Chitrakoot
Host Chitra Ashok Kumar.

Sunday 12th November Day
Long picnic to Alibag.
Host Rajni Anand.

Monday 13th November
Dinner at the Yacht Club.
Hosts Ranjit Matthan, Sohrab Kapadia and H.S.Uberoi.

Tuesday 14th November
Founders' Day church service 0845 hrs in St. Thomas's Cathedral.
Followed by tea at the Middle School
Group photograph of the Class of 56.
Lunch at the Bombay Gymkhana (contributory)
Dinner hosted by Patsy Mistry at her residence Sterling Bay, Walkeshwar


THOSE COMMITTED TO ATTEND
---------------------------

1. Adajania, Zareer
   
2. Anand, Pradeep
   
3. Anand, Rajni
   
4. Ashok Kumar, Chitra
   
5. Badhniwala, Naval
   
6. Bhagwagar, Ruby
   
7. Bhatt, Meena
   
8. Bigg, Jane
   
9. Brelvi, Waseem
   
10. Captain, Silloo
    
11. Chainani, Shyam
    
12. Chaiwalla, Iqbal
    
13. Dandekar, Ravi
    
14. Daver, Dina
    
15. Densham, Joan
    
16. Dongrey, Asha
    
17. Duriaud, Alaknanda
    
18. Gill, Yvonne
    
19. Grover, Razia
    
20. Hamied, Muku
    
21. Harte, Paulette
    
22. Haskell, Ernest
    
23. Heimlich, Doreen (née Feibusch)
    
24. Jaffer, Amin
    
25. Jain, Koshu
    
26. Kapadia, Sohrab
    
27. Kasyap, Rima
    
28. Kotwal, Sherna
    
29. Masand, Aneeta
    
30. Matthan, Ranjit
    
31. Miranda, Habiba
    
32. Mistry, Patsy
    
33. Nagarvala, Sarosh
    
34. Pal, Ruma
    
35. Ramanathan, Suguna
    
36. Saraf, Thrity
    
37. Sarela, Khadija
    
38. Singh, Amar K.
    
39. Sundaram, Nirmala
    
40. Talyarkhan, Rishad
    
41. Uberoi, H.S
    

We expect a large number of spouses to attend the reunion. Thank you for having helped our case through your Blogsite.

Regards,

Ubi

I must also add a line that I received from one of my regular Seventh Heaven readers, 56er Doreen Hemlich (née Feibusch) from the US:

Dear Jacob,

Meena Bhatt, who has done a fantastic job coordinating the Class of 56
Reunion, communicates with the classmates by way of:

classof56@yahoogroups.com.

Unfortunately, I've had to re-register with this group, because of my change of ISP. Hopefully, it's gone through now, but I eagerly read your Seventh Heaven Blog, and appreciate your posting this event, as and when you get the information.

Regards,

Doreen

As a help to the reunion crew I have set up a page of thumbnails wth links to full size photographs of the CBS Staff of 1956.

If someone had sent me the group picture of the Girl's School Staff, I could have done the same for them.

Also, I do hope that you do not make the same mistake as many other reunion groups. After the initial enthusiasm and trading of stories, there is a great vacuum. Many people feel a sense of anti-climax after all the build-up.

There are several ways around this and I hope you will dream up a new one and let me know what you do as a piece of advice to others.

Also, I wish Meena and Ubi had sent me photographs of all those 56ers that were available for a "then and now" page to be created.

There is still time for this - so let's get to work!

For instance, how many of you can guess who this is:



Yes, he is a 56er!

I am being bombarded!

(Cross-posted on the Kooler Talk (Web Version) Blog.)

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I am not missing. I am quite well. I am not very busy. I have just been lazing away my summer which is unusally hot. You can read more about this on my main blog.

Ashok (Tony) Jaitly.

I got an interesting email from my Stephanian/Cathedralite friend - Cathedralite 57er / Stephanian 61er Ashok Jaitly, more commonly known to all of us as Tony.

From: ashok jaitly
Date: Aug 23, 2006 4:07 PM
Subject: Touching Base
To: Jacob Matthan
Cc: HS Uberoi

Dear Jacob,

Hope all is well with you and the family.

Apologies for not being in touch for a long time.

However,some news that you would be glad to hear - my book 'St.Stephen's College - A History' was launched on 2nd August at the Maurya Sheraton here in Delhi. There was a gathering of about 300, mostly Stephanians, and a good time was had by all ! The atmosphere was very special with the kind of warmth and fraternity that you would expect from such a crowd of old College types particularly with the wine flowing-you can trust Stephs!

Rahul Bajaj released the book with Amin Saheb, Mani Shanker Aiyar and Bunker Roy reminiscing about their memories.Roshan Seth and my wife, Sabina, read a few extracts from the book which, I was relieved to hear,were well received.Incidentally,the book seems to be doing quite well at the bookstands although, for the life of me, I cannot imagine who would want to read about SSC other than our lot.

It would also please you to know that the book talks about Kooler Talk including your blogsite. !

I would love to get a copy across to you but how I know not !

One question from your recent blog -who was the Savage House captain of 1956 who came to St.Stephen's. As far as I recall I was the only one from the '56 batch in School to come to College that year - AND I would have you know I was Wilson House Captain - Savage? Can you even imagine ?!

Do get back. Warmest best wishes,

Tony

Details of the book written by Tony:

Author : Ashok Jaitly
Now : Rs.395 [For Delivery in India]
Publisher: Roli Books
ISBN: 8174364439

ABOUT THE BOOK:

St. Stephens College, which celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2006, has a special niche amongst educational institutions of excellence, not only in Delhi but also all over India. Apart from its revered internal traditions, the College has also been an integral part of the social and structural changes that have taken place in the nation. And it has been the school for a long and impressive alumni list which includes sportspersons, writers, poets, actors, journalists, entrepreneurs, politicians, bureaucrats, ambassadors, techno-crats and corporate executives.

This volume, written by Ashok Jaitly, a former student, traces the history of the College from its original conception by the Cambridge Mission as an institution for higher education in 1881, through the travails of the freedom struggle, Partition, Independence and into the present world of relentless academic pressures, sporting compulsions and ever expanding opportunities.

During all these turbulent and exciting years, St. Stephens College has stood firm for certain fundamental values which celebrate cosmopolitanism, pluralism, a degree of iconoclasm along with an immense enjoyment of learning in the widest sense."Mahatma Gandhi or plain Mr Gandhi as he was then, first came to St. Stephens early in 1915... On the persuasion of... C.F. Andrews who was then the Vice Principal, he stayed in the house of Principal Rudra which continued to be his Delhi abode for several years. The Burra Sahibs house thus became the rendezvous for important national leaders like Rabindranath Tagore, Madan Mohan Malviya, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Surendra Nath Banerjee... It was here that Gandhiji, perhaps for the first time, enunciated his doctrine of non-violent non-cooperation or Satyagraha... It was here that Tagore completed his English translation of Gitanjali. And it was here that the pact between the Congress and the Khilafat Movement was sealed.

Most would agree that it could only have been idle minds busy in some devilish workshop which gave birth to Kooler Talk, the first purely student run rag aimed at providing an avenue for budding and froost - College slang for frustrated - Stephanian writers who could not find solace in the sedate pages of The Stephanian magazine. Sarwar Lateef, Roshan Seth and Peter Tubby Philip were the intrepid perpetrators of this plot way back in 1960... To add respectability luminaries such as Kamalesh Sharma, Shankar Menon, Swaminathan Aiyar, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Inderjit Badhwar were co-opted onto the editorial board while poor, unknowing Rev R.I. Shankland was persuaded to act as the figurehead editor.

About the Author:

Ashok Tony Jaitly was at St. Stephens College from 1958-61 where he studied Economics (classmates say, in exception), played football and badminton (teammates say, on occasion), was active in the Shakespeare Society (theatre-mates say, with trepi-dation), indulged in sundry other activities (conspirators assert, without hesitation) and made many lifelong friends. After completing his Economics tripos from Cambridge University in 1964, he was selected for the Indian Administrative Service and served in Jammu and Kashmir and with the Government of India on several interesting and important assignments, including a few which evoked some controversy. He retired as Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir after a record tenure of more than five years, from 1996-2002. Currently working as a Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi on rural development issues, his primary concerns are water, rural energy and decentralized governance.

Some important points to note:

Tony has done me a great honour by including the reference to this blogsite and my Kooler Talk (Web Version) in his book. Thanks Tony.

Rahul, now a Rajya Sabha member, like Tony and me, is also a Cathedralite / Stephanian - 54er from Cathedral and 57er from Stephania!

Tony was not a 56er but a 57er. the 56er Savage House Captain who was also a Stephanian was my elder brother. The 58er savage House Captain to join Stephen's was Peter Philip (also known as Tubby). I was the 59er Savage House Captain that joined Stephen's.

In the personal addendum Tony added that he is almost clear healthwise - for which I am greatly relieved. Hey, we love you Tony!

I hope a Stephanian / Cathedralite passing through Delhi en route to Oulu will pick up a few copies (at my cost, please) and bring them to me. Do not want to deprive the author of his royalties!! :-)

Now the next thing Tony has to do is write a similar book about us Cathedralites - then the Seventh Heaven Blog may get some publicity. :-)

Two Cathedralites to remember

It is sad to hear of the passing away of Cathedralites, whatever age they are or whatever era they belonged to. Each one of them has a wonderful history associated with their lives at school and thereafter.

I pay tribute to two have passed along. Through this page I pass along my condolences to the families of these friends from the past.

Dear Jacob,

I have been informed by my friend, Reuben Solomon ,with whom I am presently holidaying with in Manchester, that David Sasoon of the (1963 / 64 ) batch sadly passed away in London in June 2006.

He was a practising accountant and apparently passed away after a sudden heart attack.

We all remember David as the sweet and lovable boy of short stature, but I have no other way of describing him) who was loved by one and all in school.

Do you remember him ?

This is just for your information.

Regards

Adil Ghandy

I certainly remember David who was probably in the 7th Standard when I was in the 11th.

As Adil as described, he was a very lovable youngster. I request Adil to convey our condolences to any of his family members that he or Rueben may have contact with.

Dear Jacob,

I'm sure you remember Kali Mehta.

He was an old boy of the school, a great cricketer. He had played for the Parsis in the Pentangulars, former president of the Bombay Gymkhana and he used to coach us in cricket.

Surely you must also remember his shapeless hat, blood shot eyes and a very hard throw in! You will also recall that we played in the Kanga League together.

Kali and my son Samir lived on the same floor of a building on Queen's Road.

Kali passed away on Monday 31st July in hospital. He had kept very poor health in recent times especially after his wife passed away. He used to sit at a particular table at the Gym. till recently and when he could no longer go there, he used to sit on the porch of his buiding.

He broke a hip a short while ago, and passed away on 31st July.

I have many very pleasant memories of Kali and I'm sure he will be missed greatly by his family and friends.

He is survived by a son and daughter.

I thought you would like to know.

56er Ubi

I remember Kali (I think his full initials were K. D. B. and he must have passed his High School in 1948) although he had left school well before I joined. (Unfortunately, he is not listed on our Alumni site!)

Not only would he turn up whenever the School First XI had a cricket match, but also played in the Old Boys vs School Cricket Matches. He would also turn up occasionally at the school nets and watch to see if there were any youngsters he could encourage. I went to see him play when the Old Boys were playing in one of the lower divisions of the Kanga League.

Thank you Ubi for informing me of his demise and I would be grateful if you could convey our deepest condolences to his family members from many 59ers who will remember this great Cathedralite.