The price of readability? Zero?

My sincere apologies for not updating the Seventh Heaven and all my other Blogs.

The reason is not ill-health but the fact that I have had several several thousand email Season Greetings in all possible modes including my 10 email addresses (Each email address handles separate Blogs and Groups that Annikki and I run.)

My computers are working round the clock to include everyone in our short annual Season's Greetings. I am hopeful that this will clear by the weekend and I can get back to a normal Blogging Schedule by next week.

However, I received one message which I thought I should share with you immediately. It was a newsletter from our Alumni Association informing us that the First Issue of the new Alumni magazine launched in November 2007 is available as a downloadable pdf file. This was the message I received today:

Fellow Cathedralites

The latest issue of the Association Magazine was released on 14-Nov-07 at the Middle o School Tea. The online pdf version is available at

http://www.catalumni.com/articles/Catmag.pdf

The magazine is being distributed by courier in India only. No distribution will be done overseas. The distribution will be done at a slow pace over the next month so as to minimize address & postal errors. Members are requested to do the following:

1) The magazine is fully sponsored so there will be no charge to members.

2) Send your contact information by email to helpdesk@catalumni.com - Name, Tel, Email, Postal Address, Class of

3) If you are located abroad and don’t want to miss your issue of the magazine, providing us an India contact address (Mumbai even better) will ensure that your copy is delivered to the Indian address - Name, Tel, Email, Postal Address, Class of

4) You may form groups and request a representative of the group in Mumbai to collect your copies from my personal office which is situated at http://www.beemanagement.com/pdf/beemap.pdf

Please call/sms Reeta, our Alumni Officer, at the Help Desk at +91-99203-37424 to fix a time. Reeta works from IST 11am to 3pm, Mon-Fri only. So call or sms accordingly. The group representative must bring along a list of members he/she is authorized to represent and collect copies for. The list must be in the format Name, Tel, Email, Postal Address, Class of. Such representatives will be responsible for delivery to those authorizing them. This method will help you receive your copies at the earliest.

Best wishes for 2008 and a very happy new year to all!

regards

Rajiv Bhatia
President @ your service

I am glad that the decision to have a downloadable pdf version was made for expat Cathedralite Alumni.

I have just glanced through this very professional presentation and it can certainly prove a success in replacing the old CATCALL.

Kudos to the team that has launched this magazine and many thanks to all the sponsors which has made this magazine fully funded and hence available to us expats.

This caused me to seriously think whether I should continue the Seventh Heaven Blog.

Does my nonsensical Blog have a place in this competitive world where people have less and less time to read stuff online?

Just as I was thinking this over and discussing the subject with my better half, I received this email from 57er Tony:

Subject:

Season's Greetings from Oulu, Finland

from ashok jaitly 09:51 (7 hours ago)
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 28 Dec 2007 09:51

Dear Annikki and Jacob,

Always such a pleasure to hear from you. I have not had the privilege to meet Annikki but I have no doubt that she must be a remarkable woman to have dealt with this character called Jacob Matthan for all this time !

Annikki, I recall this gangly young goalkeeper as a rather quiet and civilised sort of a person not realising that he would slowly emerge into what he has....not so quiet or so civilised-with his proclaimed unconventionaal opinions and his unkempt but rather elegant beard...yet such a warm and lovable person who has brought an entire world of school and college friends together in what is perhaps the only network of its kind anywhere.

Well done Annikki ! All these medals we Cats talk about should all go to you !

Jacob, we 57ers had such an incredible reunion that the President of of the Union, Rajiv Bhatia, said to me that 1957 has created a record which will be hard to follow!

You guys have a real challenge on your hands !

Sabina and I send you Anniki and all the family our warmest good wishes for a very wonderous Christmas (belated) and a rollicking New Year with all the peace and love for 2008.

God Bless,

Tony.

As I went through my INBOX with Annikki, there was message after message from Cathedralites, all in the same vein - 47ers (Farookh, your 60th year reunion report will soon find exposure here and your call to other 47ers will go out soon), 49ers (What a great Reunion was hosted by 49er Jamshed Desai in Delhi), 51ers, 54ers, 55ers, 56ers, 57ers (Pramila - your 50th reunion report will see the light of day in a short while), 58ers (Homi - your 50th reunion plans will get the fullest publicity very shortly), 59ers, 60ers, 67ers (Shobha - your reunion report will soon be up here), the Delhi Catedralites, the Pune Cathedralites, the Italian Cathedralites, the Brits, the yanks, and on and on.

Annikki was of the opinion that as long as this outpouring of love and affection by "crazy Cathedralites" who believed that I could have EVER been "quiet and civilised" continued, and it was no strain on me (especially my failing eyesight), I should continue this project I started in 1996.

All the blogs of the school, the alumni and the magazine could co-exist, and we could serve different functions.

I will remain as the mouthpiece for YOU, my readers, in my "unconventional" manner!

Do not expect me to carry the same stories and news items that others will carry in the other school publications.

So the Seventh Heaven Blog has a reprieve for another 2 year - 2008 and 2009!