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.
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.
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