Two reasons to say "TIME FLIES"

I have been busy organising the United Nations Week Against Racism" here in Oulu. Last Friday I gave a 2 hour talk on this subject to high school kids. I do not usually lecture these days, so it took me some time to get organised, finding my slides, etc. Hence, blogging and emailing came to a virtual standstill.

59er Hasnain was the first to note that I had been absent for "10 days". (Hasnain, I am working on a series of beautiful albums to encase your great photographs!)

Let me assure all of you, I am in "pink of health" gallivanting around Oulu on my new "scooter"! Let me also assure that Oulu is the safest city in the world to be on a cycle or scooter of 50cc or less as we have special roads so we hardly come across the heavy traffic! (I have fallen on the ice a couple of times, but no serious damage!)

The second reason why I say "time flies" is this amazing email I received from 50er Dawn Brown (nee Stuart):

Hello, Jacob, Hello Annikki:

Received an e-mail on March 14 from, like me, a Cathedralite who had just returned from India after a 5 week visit.

In the e-mail was access to Seventh Heaven.

This has proven to be a gross understatement. It is the 7th, 8th, 9th and beyond.

Jacob, I am still many days – and I mean that quite literally – days later, on all of those heavenly plains. Time to share a wee bit .....

My Dad had returned to India after serving in Egypt with the 8th Army and had been stationed in Deolali. The nearest school at that time was Barnes, where my parents placed me as a boarder.

I loathed it (sorry all of you who loved Barnes, not the fault of Barnes). I was

a) an army brat, and
b) a spoiled brat at that – spoiled by my Dad – disciplined, (thank you, Lord) by my wonderful Mother.

However, word got back to my parents that I was planning on running away from Barnes.

I was removed the following week (yes, spent one week at Barnes!) and the next thing I knew I was at the Cathedral & John Connon Girls' School in Bombay (not as easily accessible to Deolali) where I was placed as a boarder – this in the year 1945.

And here I stayed until I left in 1950.

I was a boarder from 1945-48 (the year in which the boarding school was closed – there was at the time, just 5 of us).



Dorothy King was the Head Mistress with her apartment on the very top floor of what is now referred to as the “Junior” school – this in even earlier times was the John Connon School.

Our dormitories were located on the first floor (not the ground floor, the first floor).

The Head Girl, who also happened to be a boarder, was Cynthia MacKenzie.

Some of the boarders who come to mind, were Diana Guzder, Elizabeth (Betty) Smith, Pamela Bayley, Hannah and Sumra Kelly, Krishna of Dharampur – crikey, there were others and if they come to mind before I conclude, will add them.

The matron was a Miss Fernandez, whom I nicknamed “Dearie”.

Some of the teachers, who lived on the same floor as Dorothy King, were Sheila Ferguson, Mary Bamford, the Dixons, – mother and two daughters – Dorothy Austin, Dorothy Brown, Mrs. Nissen.

Access to Dorothy King's apartment was via a winding stone stairway with which my legs and I became well acquainted – in fact, if they are still there and anyone would like to check them out, the center of that stairwell dips noticeably – I was constantly on the summons list.

Yes, I was somewhat of a hellion I'm afraid – the epitome of every teachers wildest nightmare. We had an open balcony which afforded me great sport in the dropping of water-filled balloons on passers by; hamals who were in league with us in obtaining some of the most superb Indian food – chappaties and keema being a couple of the favorites – for our midnight feasts; changing the direction of well placed tracking markers when we found out when some of the boys from the boys school were going tracking.

Invariably, no matter what is was, if it went wrong, was wrong, whatever .... neither a rocket scientist nor the all-revealing crystal ball, were needed.

“Dawn Stuart, Miss King needs to see you”!

There was a roster for teachers to do “boarder duty”. During the week this would perhaps be a quick trip to the Oval or to Marine Drive, back to do homework, supper and then bed. Weekends – perhaps a movie on Saturday afternoon – on completion of our chores, cleaning our cupboards, putting up our clothes which the “dhobi” returned each Saturday morning, cleaning shoes, etc., etc. Sunday it was church in the morning and evening at St. Thomas. After luncheon, we would go out somewhere or t'other – if it was Mrs. Nissen who had boarder duty that day – it was a foregone conclusion – away to the Clock Tower at the university.

The classmates I remember were Thrity Antia, Banoo Commissariat, Maki Dubash, Rhoda Wadia, Lulu Dharamsey – tell you a story about Lulu in a minute – Mary Moody (with whom I have been in contact recently).

Lulu was perhaps the quietest in the class, but a group of us were able to convince her to bring a stink bomb to be used, I believe in our Hindi or was it Urdu, class – the teacher was a Mrs. Moose. Of course, my desk was slap up against that of the teacher's podium! At any rate, Lulu revealed this tiny glass vial, swathed in ashes in this huge box just about a minute before the class was to begin. The decision had been made to break it and place it in the wastebasket near the teacher's podium – remember who was near both the podium and that basket!

Just that day of all days, Mrs. Moose had been detained at her previous class, consequently by the time she arrived at ours, St. Patrick's Day had nothing on us, we were every shade of green you could imagine.

Yup, got an order mark – but by some miracle due solely I am sure to my guardian angel having solicited the aid of just about every other available angel, never did get a house mark!

Mary and I reminisced about this during one of our conversations.

Academically I was OK, but I loved sports and did the lot – swimming, netball, athletics and the year I left, 1950, won the award for the Best All Round Athlete.

I forgot to mention that after the boarding school had closed, Miss Fernandez retired and my Mother took over as housekeeper until I left in 1950.

There was a group of alumni who would meet once a week to play badminton at the girls' high school. Yezad Kapadia, Raj Bhandari, Soli Doctor, and some others were part of that group.

My Mum and I left India in 1958 to join my Dad in England. Since then I have traveled extensively, and finally settled in the USA where I have been the last 31 years.

My last day in school was a wrench and I was a basket case as we sang our closing hymn which in my time was “Savior again, to Thy dear name we raise, In one accord our parting hymn of praise. Guard Thou the lips from sin, the heart from shame. That in this house have called upon Thy name”.

That was 55+ years ago – but I remain a Cathedralite – bless the day I decided to make a run for it from Barnes, that my parents found out about it and double bless the day that they enrolled me as a boarder at the Cathedral.

Jacob, I did not intend that my reminiscing should reach such episodic proportion. Forgive.

Before I close, please know what tremendous pleasure all of the contents of Seventh Heaven has afforded me, particularly your tributes to Annikki.

To you both and your families, my very sincere good wishes for continued good health and prosperity.

Incidentally, my youngest son (I have four children 2 boys, 2 girls and 7 grandchildren, 6 boys and 1 girl) and I are planning on visiting India. It has been a while and despite all the changes I am sure have taken place, it remains the land of my birth, the place of my old school, and above all, the place of memories created from a wonderful life, the freedom in which to live it and the love of parents and the security of God Almighty in which to enjoy it.

I am blessed.

Again - yes, I am going to sign off, my very best to you and Annikki.

Take care. Blessings.

Dawn Brown (née Stuart)

That letter brought much joy to my heart just as much as it did tears to my eyes. Time has flown since I too remember saying goodbye to the school. Just like Dawn, the memories of friends, teachers, heroes, classmates, hamals, choir mates, linger, deeply engraved in my heart.

Seventh Heaven has provide me so much as my partially destroyed brain (over-indulgence in alcohol - I have been a teetotaller for 24 years) has been reconstructed due to the inputs of so many of you.

It is my turn to say "Thank You", not only to Dawn and Hasnain, but each and everyone of you out there who have shared your most intimate memories with me.

I still cannot think of changing the name "Seventh Heaven", even though 57er Kashinath Dandekar wrote to me 10 years ago that it would feature on every Search Engines as a sleazy Bangkok massage parlour.

But Seventh Heaven was our class magazine in 1955. The original editors, Viney Dabholkar and Wabhi Zayani, and the cryptographers, Deepak Kaikini and Venkat Kurma, are still out there, reading this blog

This blog remains my tribute to them as also all my 59er classmates, and all of you Cathedralites who are my loyal readers!