During the revelry,,,

Please give a thought and say a prayer for one more who has left us.

We just received this from 62er Adil Gandhy:

---

Dear Jacob,

Just heard some bad news about another old Cathedralite called Danny Hillel.

I think he was from the class of the mid sixties, (exactly which year I do not know.) He has a brother called Henry who is a very senior Rabbi in Israel, who was in my class of 1961-62.

Danny apparently died yesterday (30th Dec) in Goa, where he had been living since many years apparently.

Since he had no living relatives living with him in Goa, the Israeli consulate flew his body down to Bombay, where a local Jewish friend named Solomon Sopher took care of the rituals & rites and he was interred in a Jewish cemetry here in Bombay today morning (December 31st 2006).

My friend Reuben Solomon of Manchester just called to give me the news and asked that I pass it onto you so that many other friends of Danny would come to know through your Blog.

May his sould rest in peace.

Regards,

Adil Gandhy

---

As we take time to wish you into a New Year, we hope all of you will stand in silence remembering many of our friends who are no more and we pray for their relatives who will remember them as the old year passes on and the New Year leaps in.

35th year reunion

I am extremely grateful for Rajesh Jhaveri for submitting the 35th year Reunion Report of the 71ers.

SHORT REVIEW OF THE 35th REUNION
OF CATHEDRAL & JOHN CONNON SCHOOL’S
BATCH OF 1971

The 35th reunion of the 1971 batch from Cathedral was held on Saturday the 23rd of December 2006 at Red Light (Khyber restaurant).

Scheduled so as to allow out of towners to return home the same evening, it was probably the longest brunch that most had ever attended, kicking off at 11am and stretching till 5pm, when the restaurant’s manager had to politely usher everyone out.

The venue, a nightclub, was decorated with streamers in the colours of the school and the four houses. Nostalgic ‘60’s hits piped from the speakers as each of the understandably hesitant at first ex-Cathedralites entered, introducing themselves with shrieks and squeals of joy, surprise and delight to their classmates, some of whom they were meeting after 35 years!

As a joke one ‘Cat’ even took another’s name to the consternation of all!

The familiarity of old established, everyone exchanged stories of the paths they had taken since leaving school, half a lifetime ago.

Reminiscing about the good old days brought back memories of an era when one had few cares in the world except having to pass exams and deciding what to wear to school socials.

Out of the 100 odd batchmates, 50 were contactable and 42 attended, some with their spouses.

A few of the absentees, who lived overseas, expressed regret at being unable to make the trip.

Despite an immense effort, it was practically impossible to trace the other 50, comprising mostly of ladies who’ve probably changed their surnames and addresses after marriage.

It will take a detective with worldwide reach to search for and locate the missing ones.

The jovial attendees more than made up for them with unbridled exhilaration fuelled with a little help from the bar’s spirits. The merriment reached a peak with a full throated rendition of the school song sung to a remixed track and some frenzied dancing as ‘Sounds of Silence’ gave way to Bollywood remixes.

After a late, late lunch, a minutes silence was observed for the 5 souls who had been prematurely snatched away.

A T shirt was distributed which bore the school’s logo (it took a week of constant phone calls to get permission from the principal to use it) and ‘Class of 1971 Cathedral & John Connon School’ printed on the front side in the school’s traditional purple colour.

The 3 (Arts, Biology & Maths) class photos were printed on the back.

Eventually everyone stumbled, slightly inebriated, out into the real world back to the present from the past after promising to meet again in five years for the 40th reunion, reluctantly bringing an afternoon of unparalleled fun and joy to its end.

Such truly wonderful and memorable moments are to be cherished.

Thank you Rajesh, and I hope you will send me some more photographs to put up on the Reunion site.

Great greetings

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Blog.)

Annikki and I got some outstandingly beautiful, some really deeply emotional, and many other types of greetings this year. Each one was viewed and appreciated.

As a tradition as of today, every year we intend to pick out the most unusual one for the blog.

Here, in our legally non-binding, uniquely humble and completely personal opinion, is our choice of the possible winner for this year, which choice may be modified if anything seemingly more unusual is received during the following days of the year, or even during any subsequent period, if it can been shown that it was dispatched during this current year, 2006 and relates to the current year:

Holiday Greetings to everyone !

I wanted to send some sort of holiday greetings, but it is so difficult in today's world to know what exactly to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter/summer solstice holiday, practised with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or other traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that it is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms...

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawals. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Yours in spirit.

--
____________ _________ _________ _________ _____
Cosma Papouis

Thank you Catherdralite 54er Zarin Aga for sending us this!

Incomplete list

My list people (in the previous blog entry) from whom we received season's greetings was totally incomplete. The list was just too long to add to one general posting which I had made for all the blogs.

I hope this one of Cathedralites alone is bit more complete.

I am sorry if I missed anyone, but I have archived a lot of my post and my computer is a bit sluggish today:

Staff: John Billington
49ers: Yezad Kapadia, Naval Patel, Sheila Vaney (née Contractor), Peter Vaney
52ers: Atul Shenoy
54ers: Rahul Bajaj, Suhas Phadke, Sadhana Shah, Nilina Parker, Gracie Hayeem, Armaity Patel (née Mody), Nilina Parker, Saleem Fazalbhoy, Zarrin Aga, Indira Subramaniam, Rumy Kapadia
55ers: Buuny Rao, Usha Shroff (née Shah)
56ers: Meena Bhat, HS Uberoi, Joan Austin, Doreen Hemlich, Rishad Talyarkhan, Suguna Ramanathan (née Iyer), Silloo Captain (née Mistry), Dina Daver
57ers: Fleur Ezekiel, Budni Behramwalla, Abe Hayeem, Homi Commissariat, Herbert Vaney, Tom Peters, Phiroze Dastur, Aubrey Ballantine, Arun Mahimtura, Tom Holter, Jimmy Patell, Charu Shah
58ers: Suresh Peter Philip
59ers: Vijay Shivdasani, Viney Sethi, Hasnain Chinwalla, Jack Haskell, Armeane Choksi, Narayan Acharya, Piloo Tata (née Dastur), Ramesh Mirchandani, Naubir Mohindar, Sudhir Anand
60ers: Sheikh Zahur(Mehfooz Ahmed), Cynthia Wilson (née Abbot), Claire Knight (née Pharoah), David Keidan
61ers: Adil Gandhy
63ers: Ranko Ivancevic, Billy Kapur, Kishore Shivdasani, Alenka Breznik (née Miovic), Anjali Puri, Eddie Pettersson
65ers: Jimmy Uranwala
67ers: Anita Watumull, Shobha Jhunjhunwala, Dori Schmetterling
68ers: Tarun Kataria, Kapil Mathur, Ravi Nangia
69ers: Barbara Rossi Montevecchi, Prakash Thadani
70ers: Pranay Shah, Amita Maliye
71ers: Rajesh Jhaveri
72ers: Ajeet Mathur, Bonnie-Preeti Singh
82ers: Priya Malik

Thank you all and have a great 2007.

Merry Christmas to all our friends

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

It is Christmas morn. Annikki and my email Inboxes are filled with greetings from all corners of the globe.

63er Stephanian Ajay called me on a Skype video link from his farmhouse in Lund, Sweden. (I was able to see him, but as I am still having a problem finding an economic web camera for my Apple Mac, he could not see me!)

Chaff participant Kannan, who is taking his mother on a pilgrimage called us from Kashi, Varnasi, India.

Chaff participant Tingting checked in from her home town in Northeast China where she reported all the shops were open and brimming with customers.

63er Stephanian Aftab Seth (the twin brother of Roshan Seth who acted as Nehru in the movie "Gandhi") from Japan, 66er NCRTer Christie Robert from Malaysia, 60er Cathedralite Mehfooz Ahmed from Saudi Arabia, 62er Ranko Ivancevic from Cerbia, 95er Oulu University Ramesh Devu from Silicone Valley, California, USA; from India - 57er Cathedralite and 61er Stephanian Ashok (Tony) Jaitly (retired Chief Commissioner in Kashmir) from New Delhi, Cathedralite 59ers Viney Sethi and Vijay Shivdasani from Mumbai, cousin Satish Abraham from Kerala, Catheralites 43er Naval and 54er Armaity Patel from Mysore, etc...., from Finland Rotarian Ville Suomi, Women's Empowerist Ildiko Hamos, Chaff participant Pekka Keranen and family, on and on.... were among those who shared their greetings with both Annikki and me.

This made us feel profoundly humble that so many hundreds of you, of every age group, took the time to share your thoughts of the season with us.

On our part, we have made it a tradition to ask a couple of young foreigners who have no family here in Oulu, to join us for our very simple Christmas meal.

Year-before-last it was a young Tanzanian lady, Christine. Last year it was Kannan. This year we called two youngsters, Benjamen Hayes and Kanchan Gupta.



Benjamin is from Australia. He has been here for a few months. He is all what I call Australian, friendly, outgoing, understanding and a lovely human being.

We have a rule in our home that no gifts are exchanged at Christmas. For us, the time for giving is not one day, but the whole year.

Despite this, Benjamin brought me a CD which he cut of some of really best jazz tunes he has collected. Even as I write this I am listening to the CD "Jazz for Jacob". Forever-lasting melodiies, oldies rendered by many great artistes, as George Benson (Eternally) and Diana Krall's "Cry Me A River".

There is beautiful message on the back cover:

"And promise will come
To those whose kindness,
Leaves you without debt,
And bends the shape
Of things to come,
That haven't happened yet."

These are words of the New Zealand pop star Neil Finn, whose career from 1976 till today has been an inspiration to many, including me.

We had also asked Indian newcomer to Oulu, Bihari Kanchan Gupta, to join us. Unfortunately, he went for a walk on the previous day, fell and hurt his hand. He obviously consumed an overdose of pain-killers, which put him to sleep.

When I rang his doorbell to pick him up, and also rang his mobile several times during the course of the evening, he was in deep sleep and dead to the world.

He woke up after our meal was over, just about midnight, telephoned us, apologetic, but sadly, he missed a feast!



Annikki's mother, now 86, was also in a festive mood wearing the elf's hat, as she enjoyed what delicacies that were on offer.

I prepared the turkey. As I was thinking what filling to make, Annikki, as usual, came up with a most humourous and unusal suggestion. We had a box of chicken wings on the shelf. She suggested I stuff the turkey with that.

We laughed our guts out.

I had fun making a new Christmas dish, roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings beautifully flavoured with herbs and light spices carried in plenty of onions!

The meal was fully traditional Finnish in other ways.

The menu: Apple juice and orange juice to accompany Christmas brown bread made with a trace of molasses syrup, pickled herring, salted salmon slices, freshly tossed salad, potato salad, mushroom salad, turnip casserole, carrot casserole, roast potatoes, and, of course, the roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings! Afters were whipped cream with chocolate swiss roll and Annikki's own Christmas cake, full of all the rich dry fruits. Coffee to end the evening.

Mika, had his fill as well. Annikki's brother, who lives as a hermit in the forest, also landed up on the doorstep. Annikki put him to sleep in the cellar. He slept through the meal but enjoyed it later!

It was a true Christmas spirit as Benjamin had a tour around Annikki's garden and enjoyed the humour and simplistic creativity and beauty of what makes us so happy, day-in and day-out!

We finally thanked our Creator and Maker for all the simple things in life which make us so happy.

But, this year we dearly missed our grandchildren, Daniel, Asha and Samuel, who are holidaying in Florida with their parents!

Canadian 59er hits Mumbai

The success of the Seventh Heaven Blog has been mainly due to the input received from Cathedralites all over the world.

Toronto, Canada: 59er Hasnain Chinwalla (left) with
our Physics teacher, Willie Shiri, when he
delivered flowers and a bottle of wine on
behalf of 59ers on Willie's 80th birthday.

No one has contributed more than 59er Hasnain Chinwalla (Chin), who during his visit to India last year got me some absolutely superb photographs from the alma mater as well as many shots from Mumbai.


One of Chin's shots: This is of the school front.

I still have not used up many of his photographs.

I had an email from him a few minutes ago that he is once again in Mumbai. I have asked Rajesh Jhaveri whether he can cover the 71er Reunion which is tomorrow, as I will be sure to get some great photos.

Also, I have sent out an email to all 59ers in Mumbai whose email addresses I have so that Chin could meet up with them and I can get a file full of recent photographs of our classmates.

My mouth waters at this thought!

35th year Reunion of 71ers

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the 71ers will have their 35th year reunion on the 23rd December 2006 in Mumbai. Here is the anouncement:

Forthcoming Reunion

Class of 1971 Reunion on Saturday, 23rd December 2006

The Class of 1971 is having a reunion brunch from 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on Saturday 23rd, December, 2006 at Khyber - Red Light, Kala Ghoda, next to Rhythm House, Mumbai.

For further details, please contact Rajesh Jhaveri

Date December, 23 2006
Venue: Khyber - Red Light, Kala Ghoda, next to Rhythm House, Mumbai.

December, 2 2006

Please contact for further details.

If you do not have Rajesh Jhaveri's email address, send your email to(jmatthana@gmail.com) and I will forward it, pronto, to him.

71ers - HAVE A GREAT REUNION!

Budni proposes a concept

57er Dr. Behram Badhniwalla (known affectionately as Budni), the man behind the 57er movement, sent me a very interesting email.

I will post the entire idea he suggested. But before that, I thought I would give you my take on this.

You are free to enter comments on the idea by clicking the Comments Button at the bottom of this blog entry. Positive and negative comments are welcome, so that Budni can then draw up a Master Plan so as to vitalise all Cathedralites, Past, Present and Future.

Budni's first premise is absolutely correct. Not all Cathedralites are from the "super-rich" class or even the "rich" class. Most of us have come lower and upper middle class backgrounds and most of us have entered and worked our professional lives so as to earn, save and enjoy a reasonably good life.

Budni's second premise is also very true in that good health is vital, but for circumstances beyond our control we could land up in a hospital and then be stung for doctor and hospital fees far outside our financial capabilities.

Living in Finland, where we have universal health care, it is something I would not worry about myself. Also as 99.9% of Finns belong to Unions, and Unions, such as mine, give me comprehensive Travel Health Insurance (100% cover) even after I have retired, should I travel to India and fall ill, I do not really have to be worried.

However, how many can boast this level of cover? Not many outside Scandinavia.

Budni gave me an example how, when he fell ill just a few days ago, even though he knew the doctors and the hospital was one he has good contacts, his bill for 6 days in the hospital was Rs. 24000 (Euro 500) after discounts.

That is a hefty sum for anyone from the lower middle class.

Budni's concept is to start a Cathedral Medical Foundation.

This is part of what he wrote (his full concept follows later):

Remember all of us are not covered by insurance so if we can create a Medical Fund in India, by voluntary contribution and make a Trust. The trust funds are handed over, to some good hospital (Like Jehangir Hospital in Pune or Bombay Hospital/Breach Candy/etc, etc with a provision for free/very nominal cost treatment for any Cathedralite over the age of 60 years.

This idea has given a great and new focus to the Reunion Plans for 57ers. It will not just be a question of getting together, but to focus the energies of a group of intelligent 57ers who have lived active lives around the world on a concept to help those Cathedralites who could be in need of assistance at a crucial time of their lives.

Although Budni focused on the benefits to those who may need access to such a FUND, my take is that it could be the motivation for more of our students to get involved with the noble profession as they spread themselves around the world and bring our Cathedralite morality standards to bear on their communities.

And here is Budni's post:

"The Cathedral Medical Foundation”

The Class of 57’s gift to all Senior Cathedralites
OUR G2G CONTRIBUTUON

The greatest gift our batch can give back, to our Alma Mater is a Medical Foundation, for the senior citizen Cathedralites, globally.

For a long time it has been on my mind, about a year ago I did mention this to someone from our batch!

This suggestion is based on the fact that today hospital admissions in India and overseas cost an arm & a leg. Although overseas Cathedralites do have state medical benefits, but the period of waiting is far too long for major surgery and a private surgery would cost both arms & a leg overseas. This is also true in case of medical admissions.

Today India is advancing in professional management of the medical fraternity. In fact the new fast growing business is ‘Medical tourism’, combining medical treatment in India + a short holiday, post - treatment! For the overseas chaps, it falls far cheaper than a private treatment in their current homeland. So with this concept in mind, I have been toying with this Idea, for quite some time, for us middle-class senior citizen Cathedralites!

Remember all of us are not covered by insurance so if we can create a Medical Fund in India, by voluntary contribution and make a Trust. The trust funds are handed over, to some good hospital (Like Jehangir Hospital in Pune or Bombay Hospital/Breach Candy/etc., etc., with a provision for free/very nominal cost treatment for any Cathedralite over the age of 60 years.

My seniors & teachers taught us medicine, where, the patient came first, then the financial benefits. Unfortunately this is not true today, and it is honestly a business & no more a profession. So what happens to a not so affluent person? I am sure many of us may have experienced the dilemma!

Looking back retrospectively many of us at school did not necessarily come from affluent families. Many of the cathedralites specially the Anglo-Indians & others were on free or on scholarship! Adding up all these factors, many of our chaps are still not very well financially, I think a Medical Foundation for the senior citizen cathedralites, would be an excellent venture, and a gift from the Class of 57!

Take my own example lately I had to be admitted once again for COPD and peripheral cyanosis. One full day in the ICU & 2 days, in a private room cost Rs.31.000/-. Thanks to J. Jehangir, (Ex-Cathedralite), I paid only Rs.24,000/-!! (Hey JJ, Carmie & I deeply appreciate your kind gesture!)

Please don’t misunderstand me - I am not, for one moment crying poverty, Carmie & I are very comfortable with our finances, but I know for sure, in the days to come people like us, both here in India & our overseas chaps, can easily get wiped out on medical expenses. So why not find a self help solution...and extend it universally for all Senior citizen Cathedralites?

It is not how affluent one is, but how much one has to spend on each admission. This is the key question and how long will our funds last?

We can raise funds thro various means, like in 1982, I did a musical show "An Affair to Remember", at the Rang Bhavan for the Handicapped Children of Mumbai i.e., "The fellowship of the Physically Handicapped" also known as FPH (Opp Haji Ali). I had raised in those day approximately Rs. 165,000/- for the FPH. (That was a lot of money in 1982)

We can have sponsors, fashion shows & we can start an active voluntary participation by all of us. Please also remember some of our teachers are still alive over “80”++, who could benefit!

There will be many of us who can contribute – I mailed this to our Jacob Matthan. He was quite taken up by this idea, and is coming back to me, as also work out a P.O.A.

People could toy with this IDEA a little more - and come back and surprise me ;-)

I am going to try, and do my best to make this a success. I am quite a determined chap. U must have judged me by now, and as more heads are better than one, people let’s all pitch into this project together, for one can achieve the impossible, if we stand focused & united.

Please also remember some of our teachers still alive over “80”++, who could benefit!

I know, as in all major achievements there is bound to be oppositions. Well, all I can say is if we keep politics out and some serious search with in, there will be more light in our lives! The modalities could be discussed later!

I would be the first to commit Rs. 100,000/- towards this trust and that is my word!

People, nothing is impossible!

Impossible is a routine affair if u have experienced living on the edge, it is those ‘miracles’ which take up extra time! Specially if u believe in the good Lord himself!

If I did not believe in this, maybe I would still be an old man hobbling on crutches!!

So till u all come back on this....take care & stay healthy!

Cheers
Budni

"...maybe I would still be an old man hobbling on crutches!!"


Budni in 1956 - note a crutch under his arm.

Those words went straight to my heart.

I remember Budni, on his crutches, in school, taking part in everything he could take part in. He was there at the Lemondrop Cricket competition cheering his team. He was here, there, and everywhere.


Budni with his charming and beautiful wife Sheila Carmelita.

Who would have believed that Budni would ever throw them away, become a doctor and serve the people with such devotion.

May I suggest that all of you take this suggestion seriously and work on it, so that within the next 10 months we have a concrete plan to work on.

This is not something new or unusual. The Plastics Institute, of which I used to be a member from 1963, had a Benevolent Fund especially meant for Senior Citizens.

All it needs is the courage and drive of people like Budni to make this take off and fly.

Reactions flow in

After I posted the web pages of the reunion of 56ers, along with a 2 hour slide show, I have had many tens of interesting and highly positive comments flow in. Doreeen, after travelling halfway around the world after the event, emailed me even before she had got over her jetlag!

56er Chitra Ashokkumar (née Bhogilal), daughter,
Nandita, and grandaughter, Anjali (8).
Photo by 56er Doreen Heimlich (née Feibusch).

From the collection of lovely photographs she sent me I chose this one of three generations of a 56er - Chitra, her daughter and her granddaughter - as that is the true spirit of Cathedralites - family values which bind us together as human beings.

One 56er emailed me that he had been sceptical about attending the reunion as what would a group of kids who knew each other 50 years ago have in common today?

The answer he got was more than just positive.

It is indeed most interesting that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves enormously. Every email I have received from those who were present said that the reunion was outstanding. Meena and Ubi outdid themselves in perfection. The hosts spared no effort and money to make sure that each event was top class. And the dramatic entrance of Muku at the opening event showed the character behind us Cathedralites.

I spent a few minutes, actually an hour watching the video of the 54er reunion, which Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) and Suhas Phadke had kindly sent me. (I did get a mention in that too!) It had been an outstanding reunion. As things stood it was the best that had ever been held.

Now, 57ers Budni and Fleur are racking their brains as to how they can make their better (not necessarily bigger).

Photographs and comments from around the world are still pouring in. Pictures from other year groups are also pouring in. My email is alive and buzzing.

But the real value of the web posting was that several who had not been able to attend, as well as several staff members, who remembered all these guys when they were kids, enjoyed this presentation.

I just had an email from Priya Malik, daughter of my classmate 59er Head Girl Harmohina Malik (née Uberoi) who is organising the 25th year reunion of her class. It will take place on 16th December 2006 (5 days hence) - and I wish it all success.

Of course, several ideas to make the 57er Reunion next year interesting come to mind - such as getting 57er Johnnny Jameson of Warwickshire and England to lead out a team of Old Boys to play against the School IX!

I am, however, not letting on the secret plans of the 59ers. We were, are and will always be the BEST! :-)

Slide Show of 56er Reunion

Finally it is finished!

Combined Group Photo of 56ers at their 50th Year reunion.

With 56ers Ubi and Meena working round the clock at the Mumbai end, and with me thumping away at my Macintosh, I am glad to say that I have been able to create the web pages of almost 200 images taken at the Reunion of the 56ers held between the 7th and the 14th of November 2006.

You can also see the permanent link in the column at the side of the main entry.

The two written reports of the reunion submitted by Ubi and Meena are also on the Page 5 of these web pages.

If you click on any thumbnail you will be able to sit back and enjoy a slide show of these 200 images. I have set a 7 sec gap for slide changing, but you can see additional controls above and below the images.

It is interesting to note that each year the reunions are getting more and more intensive as each year tries to outdo the previous one.

The 57ers led by Behram Badhniwalla (Budni) and Fleur Ezekiel in Pune are very far advanced in organising their reunion for next year. They are going to have a tough time trying to meet the standard set by the 56ers.

I hope my fellow 59ers will outshine all else, especially as we have the power of the Internet behind us.

In order to make the 59ers Reunion in 2009 the most outstanding, some decisions have to be made. We have a head start on everyone else as we have had 2 great reunions already (1989 and 1999).

Now we lead all others with our internet contact.

Using me as the link coordinator, we have to start working NOW.

59ers Piloo Dastur, Elijah (Ooky) Elias, Ashok Kapur, Anjula Mansukhani, Viney Sethi and Vijay Shivdasani, all in Mumbai, have been nominated (by me) as the Primary Organising Committee.

Assistance could be provided by Renuka Batliwala, Adi Cooper, Vikram Kamdar, Venkat Kurma, Delbar Mendis, Ramesh Mirchandani, Percy Mistri, Phiroze Mistri, Naubir Mohindar, Vijay Nayar, Farahana Poonawala, Anil Ruia, Indarjit Shah (Pune), Ratan Singara, Gita Vasvani.

International assistance could be provided by

John Beddow (Australia),
Abdilwahab Zayani (Bahrain),
Hasnain Chinwala (Canada),
Shabir Ahmedbhoy (Karachi),
Bashir Currimjee (Mauritus),
Sudhir Anand, David Colaco, Deepak Kaikini (UK),
Narayan Acharya (née Seshachar), Armeane Choksi, Noel Ezekiel, Jack Haskell, Ellis Hayeem, Peter Miovic, Arvind Thadani (USA).

Two 59ers who should be invited are 1959 School Captain Bhupinder Singh Anand and School Vice Captain Abe Hayeem.

Family members of those who have left us should also be invited to attend our reunion.

Respected staff members such as Shiri, Pande, Gregory, Patel should also be invited to attend te Reunion.

If we start now, and set up a budget, we should be able to organise a reunion which like all that we have done in the last 55 years will remember unsurpassed.

We still have to track about 35 missing 59ers. If someone will provide me a list, I will try to track them down.

Come on 59ers - let us wake up!

Hundreds of "Returned Messages"

As expected, my mailbox is full of "Returned Messages" due to changes in email address, Inbox Quota Limit exceeded, and some who do not accept Bulk Mailings. So winter email address cleaning is now in process.

I was glad to see that I got through to many whom I wanted to.

Johnny Jameson, who played for England and Warwickshire in cricket, read the Christmas Message. This made me look back in my Archives to see that I had received this message from him last September:

Jacob,

You may use the photos on the Seventh Heaven Cathedralite Blog.

I was in Savage House. My memory also confirms that the House Master was Timmins?? Not sure of spelling although I could look it up in my photo album.

I left Bombay to come to England in 1955 – July. 1952 to 1954 I was at Sherwood College in Naini Tal.

Salaams

John

I remember very vividly our playing hockey and cricket with John in 1955. His spelling of Derek Timmins name was correct. (Wouldn't I like to get a look at John's Photo Album!)

Here come those from John's Album pictures which had been kindly sent to me by 57er Budni.


The face of a great Savage Cathedralite.


John at the Taj.




John's family.

Please keep sending me those pictures from YOUR Albums.

Newsy Notes: Season's Greetings and Email Validation

Sunday, December 3, 2006

(Click images to see enlarged version.)

Dear Cathedralite,

Season's Greetings to each and every one of you from Annikki and myself from the land of Santa Claus.


The greetings come to you from Santa Claus himself!



This year, the Seventh Heaven blog has been extremely active, thanks to some wonderful photograph input from 59er Hasnain Chinwala, like the one above.


From the 1958 hockey team photo.
56ers Ubi, Jimmy Tata, Staff Member Mr. Pande and 59er myself (on the floor).

The blog was also very active due to the intensive campaign by 56ers Ubi and Meena to get a good turnout for their 56er Reunion. That was a blast.

The 57ers led by Behram Badhniwala and Fleur Madnani (née Ezekiel), both located in Pune, have been working hard to get their base active for their 50th reunion.

The Class of 58 has been remarkably quiet. To tell you the truth, I have very few 58ers in my email list. I do remember many of the names from the Class of 58, eg., Jaffar Hussain, Peter Philip, Rosario, Gupta, etc., and I do have a list of some sorts. If any of you can fill me in on the whereabouts of any of the 58ers, I would be greatly obliged.

The Mumbai 59ers, my usual crowd, have also been very quiet this year. I do hope Vijay Shivdasani, the spark of life of our group in Mumbai, is actively planning the best ever get-together for our 50th year Reunion in 2009.

There may be some clash, as the School is planning a great do for the 150th Founders Day Celebration in 2010.


Mrs. Meera Isaacs, Principal, receives Best Teacher Award
from the President of India APJ Abdul Kalam.

Mayhe the 59er Reunion Organising Committee should work with Principal Meera Isaacs to kick off the 150th year celerations with OUR Reunion and end it on November 14th 2010!

It may also be prudent to work with the 49ers who will be planning their 60th Year reunion in 2009. Yezad Kapadia and Naval Patel are two active 49ers. I am sure that they would love to join up with us 59ers.

The email version of this blog entry is going out to over 3000 Cathedralites in all corners of the globe. If, by chance, you get more than one copy, please let me know which is your preferred email address. I will know from the bounces how many of you have not taken the time to let me know that you have moved. Usually it is about 25% of my email addresses, but I certainly hope it is is less.

From the Return Receipt I will also know those who do not want to read these once a year newsletters to wish you the very best for the new year. I will take these people off my list. So no need to let me know separately to take you off the list.

In the email, next to your first name, which I am using to address you directly, you will find a number indicating which year you left school - eg. Yezad 49er, Sadhana 54er or Jacob 59er. If the number is incorrect, I hope you will spare a few moments to email me and tell me exactly which year you completed school. If you stayed onto do HSc, please give both years. If you were Staff or became Staff after studying in school, please also let me know.

This information will help many of the Organisers who are planning their class reunions. I will not have to wade through 3000 email addresses to prepare the lists for them.

The 49er, 54er, 56er, 57er, 59er, 63er, 67er, 69er, and 80er lists are fairly comprehensive, but I may have made mistakes in classification, so do help me out.

Another thing you could do is to let me know which House you belonged to, whether you were School Captain, School Vice Captain, House Captain, House Vice Captain, Captain of any particular team, Prefect, or any other data you think shows out your standing in the school. This may appear that I am focusing on leadership and sports, but that is not the idea. If you shone in the School Final exams, that also would be of great interest to me.

If you did not get the email, it will be obvious that you are not on my circulation list. If you want to be on it to receive my very occasional postings, please email me giving me as many details about yourself that you would like to share with others.

Our apologies to those who did not receive our 2006 Cake Calendar as there were about 100 or so lost in transit, some to Canada, but most of them sent to Central Europe.(It appears the Chinese Stamps on the cover were too tempting!)



Annikki and I, pictured above, wish you a very prosperous 2007.

Jacob Matthan
email: Jacob Matthan

56er Meena reports in....

I must thank 56er Meena (née Lele) for sending me the 50th year Reunion Report of the Girls who were in Mumbai during the Founders Day Week.

I am able to add a couple of photographs of the staff, most probably of the 56 era, from my collection.

1956 Girls School Staff members.


1956 (?) Boys School Staff members.

Dear Friends,

Two weeks have passed since our wonderful farewell dinner at Patsy (née Dubash) and Pallon’s house, and I am sure the euphoria has now disappeared as we return to the normalcy of our lives. Speaking for myself, it was an unforgettable week.

The auguries were not good. Two weeks before the party began, Muku (Hamied) flew back from a Goa holiday with multiple fractures of the knee and shoulder, and Suguna’s (née Iyer) husband Krishna underwent surgery to pin his broken femur. Chitra’s (née Bhogilal) husband, Ashok, also gave everyone a fright, but we are happy to know he is on the mend. But the ice was well and truly broken and the party generated warmth from the moment that Muku was wheeled in to the Cabbage Patch on a gurney! It was a moving moment. He was co-hosting the first party, it is true, but his heroic gesture in putting in an appearance almost straight out of the hospital was spontaneously applauded by all present.

The next morning, bright and early, the ‘girls’ drove off to Pune for two days of bonding at Patsy’s Pune home. Paulette (née Glover) and Doreen (née Feibusch) had not come back to India in the intervening years, but they reverted to their old ties as if they had never been away. Ruma (née Ghosh) and Razia (née Quamarain), who had left in the 7th and 8th had had reservations about how they would gel, but amid all the “do you remembers” they picked up old friendships.

The visit to Patsy’s Stud Farm a bit of ways out of Pune saw Rajni (née Shivdasani) come into her element. She knew the names of all the sires and dams and looked over their progeny with an expert eye! The rest of us just looked with awe at the magnificent equine specimens. Silloo’s (née Mistry) Italian menu dinner and Meena’s Maharashtrian one offered contrasting cuisines. Mention must be made of the inspired impromptu recreation by Thrity (née Vazifdar) and Ruma of the Marathi folk dance we had performed in Std.6.

Work took Ruma away on our return to Mumbai, but we had a good representation of boys and girls at Chitra’s wonderfully filling High Tea on the 11th. As you must have heard from Ubi (Uberoi), the boys had had a bonding session at Iqbal’s on the night of the 9th and we heard that it carried on late into the night. It was also the night on which the boys managed to entice Michael (Tahseen) out of his self-imposed seclusion.

Rajni and her daughter Kaajal, had made meticulous arrangements for our transport to Kihim the morning of the 12th and the day was spent is the lap of luxury with food and drinks being served from the time of our arrival till the time of our departure. Kudos to both mother and daughter who had planned the whole affair down to the last detail-- music from the 1950s being piped over the PA system all through the day. The music had been ordered by Rajni, but supplied by Ubi and Meena!

The highlight of the festivities must surely be the party of the 13th at the Yacht Club hosted by Ubi, Ranjit (Matthan), and Sohrab (Kapadia). An attempt was made to recreate the atmosphere of the school socials and it was a huge success. The DJ, the balloons, the drinks and the splendid dinner made everyone nostalgic. This party was special for it was attended by Kirti’s (Doongersee) sister, (54er) Pushpa, who provided the cake for dessert, Tara’s (Malkani) wife (Baby) and son (98er Aditya), and all four of Fulmala’s (née Sagar) children (Kunal, Maneesha, Rahul, Mallika) and her brother too. More especially, Michael’s wife and daughter, two wonderful people, dragged Michael out of his cocoon to join his classmates. And he really enjoyed himself. We are not going to let him slip back into oblivion again!

Founder’s Day with all its solemnity and its moving service caused many a fumble for tissues. The Choir was magnificent, given all the odds against enticing boys in for practices when there is competition from exciting things like cricket! Then came the class photograph. The boys all came formally turned out, Iqbal (Chaiwal) made it in time for the snap all togged out in a superb grey galaband . Mention must be made of Suguna who flew in from Ahmedabad in time for the Service, the contributory lunch at the Bombay Gym and then flew back to be with her husband by the evening flight. Muku and Suguna quietly emphasise the pull exercised by old ties and we salute their efforts.

Then we knew it was time to say goodbye as our friends started packing their bags and checking their schedules. But there was one last splendiferous bash at Patsy’s. As usual, she and her husband had pulled out all the stops to make the evening a memorable one. There was ‘live’ music, singing and dancing and even the partings were made without too much emotion. It was an Auf Wiedersehen, with everyone’s eye on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the school that falls in 2010. That’s when we will all meet again.

A word about the Yearbook. It took me a year and a half to compile and gave me immense pleasure, with only the occasional vent of frustration. Please forgive me all of you for hounding you in the way I did, but you must concede the entries not only reflect what our classmates did, but also what they have left unsaid or only obliquely depicted. So we can spend the next four years, till our next meeting, playing detectives and finding out more about our friends. Thank you, all of you, for making this Reunion so special and unique.

Meena Bhat (née Lele)

Now, I await those photographs of their Reunion so that I can put the entire 50th year reports (Meena's and Ubi's) in a permament place on the Internet alongside those of the 49ers and 54ers.