Reminisences of an old timer

Recently, I had an email from a Cathedralite old timer who had his computer hard disk messed up and wanted my assistance in locating email addresses of some of his relatives and friends.

I was able to not only give him the email addresses of all he asked for, but also a few more whom I thought he would like to have.

David Sopher had been classified as a 48er in my data base. I was wrong as is evident from this interesting email.

Very many thanks Jacob.

Actually I am a 44er....very old timer. From Cathedral, after the Cambridge School Leaving Certificate I went to St Georges College in Mussourie for The Inter-science pre-medical exam. Then to Grant Medical College in Byculla (J J Hospital).

With me in 44 were Isaac Mansoor, also at Medical School and also in the Indian Waterpolo team in Helsinki in 1952 (passed away in 2007), Eddie Ani, the famous Zufkurali (? spelling) Bhutto, who never, in any of his published educational background, mentioned India although his entire schooling was at the Cathedral, one of the Tata boys, Bomi Kapadia, Phiroze Engineer,..... my senile mind fails me with regard to names of so many others, so many others that I have lost trace of and would dearly love to have news of.

We always referred to Abe (Hayeem) as Abie. Benjy was a brilliant boy and we were all very fond of him. A little younger than me but we met whenever he was in Europe and I kept in touch.

Diana Jardine was also a few years younger than me but I did know her. The girls' school was a few hundred yards away from the boys' school and we would meet on sports occasions or in the school bus.

With kindest regards and many thanks once again.

David

To put you in context, it was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was the Cathedralite and one which Pop Pharoah told us was quite useless at maths!

This is the Wikipedia entry for Bhutto:

Early life

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born to Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai and Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto of a prominent Shia Muslim family. According to the famous spiritual Sindhi leader Pir of Pagara Sharif and some other relevant and authentic sources Bhuttos are Arain, predominantly Punjabi agriculturist Muslim caste, though there are counter claims as well. Zulfikar was born in his parent's residence near Larkana in what later became the province of Sindh. He was their third child — their first one, Sikandar, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953.[6] His father was a wealthy landlord, a zamindar, and a prominent politician in Sindh, who enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Mumbai (then Bombay) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the League's Pakistan Movement. Upon completing high school, Bhutto attended Premier College Nazamabad. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died January 19, 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California. more....

As you will note, the Wikipedia entry acknowledges his time at our school.

It is wonderful getting such emails from old timers who carry so much history within themselves. If any of you out there are aware of any 43ers to 48ers that David could connect with, I am sure he would be thrilled.

David has been a regular reader of this Blog, along with many other Sophers. He presently resides in Central London.

Setting up the Medical Trust

After my last foray into this subject I have had several messages from some very dedicated alumni about the problems of proceeding with this and many have suggested that the best case scenario is of dealing with each case on a case-by-case basis.

I am probably of another opinion!

Our alumni consists of some of the best Captains in every profession - industrialists, lawyers, doctors, financial wizards, managers, engineers, research scientists, etc. It will be no problem for this group to come up with a solution which is legally correct, easy to administer, and will allow us to make best use of every drop that flows into our Trust Fund. We should use the latest and finest technology at our disposal to set up a fool-proof system.

The late 57er Budni and I discussed this at some length. Had he been alive, I am quite sure that he would have brought together the finest brains to have this up and running, something that other organisations would be praying that they had the ability to produce.

To do this we need the time-honoured approach - Innovation, Motivation and Communication.

No single individual has all these three cornerstones of success in his / her arsenal. Our Alumni President has been doing his best, but is constrained by many other things that must have his undivided attention.

Being 7000 km away from where the action lies I am unable to put my best foot forward. But the correspondence I have exchanged with many of you on this subject reveals that we have all the factors between Mumbai and Pune, and possibly Delhi, Bangalore and Mysore, to have this launched as a successful model within my lifetime (sadly to say, not in that of 57er Budni!)

Let us get on with this task so that by Founders Day next year (November 2009) we can have a working system in operation!

64ers are getting more active

I am getting tons of mail as the 64ers have had a sudden spurt of energy.



I am posting a picture of 64er Deepak Deshpande and 64er Homi Mulla, which Deepak tried to circulate - but failed.



Also here is a picture of the Boys School Staff of either 1964 or 1965.

I have a list of 64ers Boys not yet located:-

Shishir Bajaj, Shekhar Bajaj, Aranaprasad Balramdas, Neville Bharucha, Jal Bilimoria, Sorab Boga, Homi Commisariat, Burjor Cooper, Homi Dadabhoy, Dady Dadyburjor, Anand Desai, Darryl Devoss, Brian Elias, Maurice Ezeckiel, Christopher Fido, ?. Gane, Shyam Ghia, Michael Gutsatz, Chris Hardwick, Timothy Hines, Rumi Irani, Michael Issaacson, Satish Jain, Renan Jeffries, Manohar Jesudian, S Jha, Vinod Khiani, Vinod Khurana, Ramesh Kinra, Paul Kurien, ?. Lalkaka, Rajiv Madon, Samy Major, Kumar Malani, Mohan Malani, Cawas Mistry, Noel Morris, Neville Nunes, Homi Patel, Vinay Podar, Solly Sassoon, Anil Seth, Dhun Sethna, Sammy Sopher, Mohan Vaswani, Richard Wood, Khider Zakiuddin,

If you have information concerning any of these 64ers, please let me know. I will inform the people concerned.

If Paul Kurien is the brother of 58er John Kurien, we know John is in Pune. If Neville Nunes is the brother of Trevor, we know 59er Trevor is also presently in Pune. And if Sammy Sopher is in any way related to 45er David, 51er Abe, 59er Mark Sopher or any of the Sopher girls, he can be traced from my database.

This hunt is getting exciting.....

Keep up the good work 64ers, and do let me have more photographs!

Message from Cat Alumni President

I have been requested by the Cat Alumni President, Rajiv Bhatia, to carry his message below on the Blog.

But before I put you to the message, may I draw your attention to the late 67er Budni, Dr. Behram T. Badhniwalla.



I request you to respond to this request in memory of the tireless campaigner for this cause, the late 67er Budni, till his tragic passing just a year ago.

Announcements

Fellow Cathedralites

Some of you may be aware that our ex- teachers, staff and alumni need financial assistance for medical problems they face. In this age of rising medical costs, this is an important need.

Some ex Teachers are asking Alumni individually for financial assistance. Some of these requests are being referred to us. So this provides you with information on the program we had mentioned at the past 2 AGMs. See http://catalumni.org/news6.asp?nflag=AN

We know many alumni who have expressed the desire to contribute financially for such needs. And many of them have asked us to develop a way to provide their funds channeled through the Alumni Association as a charitable contribution. This will ensure effective use of the funds.

Our Alumni Association has put in place a program for getting ex teachers, staff and alumni financial assistance as warranted. This program is currently being piloted and tested with an ex Teacher.

For the program to be successful, we are asking the person who needs the funds to fill out an application form with relevant information to assess the needs so that the assistance can be provided in an ongoing manner and not ad hoc way. We will also try and help the person(s) with access to the alumni network of medical and social service practitioners’. And we will set up a system for monitoring and reporting the right use of the funds.

As you can see, this is an important program that if set up well can be of great help to many. A more detailed description will follow after we test the program. We will need help from any of you who may want to help in different ways to make this an effective strong program.

In the meantime, if you get requests for funds from ex Teachers, staff or alumni we request that you direct them me at catalumni@yahoo.co.in with a subject line "Proposed Contributions for ex-teachers/staff benefits" If we fund the requests through a systematic process, we will be able to help the individual(s) on an ongoing basis, and avoid any duplication of the funds raised for same purpose.

Past discussions are reproduced for your information as follows.

Alumni Association AGM Minutes

14-Nov-06 (Approved)
Presidents Report

"Ex- PE Teacher Mr. Majumdar had been assisted by ad-hoc contributions during and after his illness. Whereas the gestures of assistance were much appreciated by all, it was suggested that such contributions be routed through the Alumni Association for better monitoring."

13-Aug-07 (Draft for approval at next AGM 2008)

"Members Participation & Remarks

Medical Care for needy Ex-Staffers & Members

Pranay Shah, an Association member from the Class of 1970 has been taking an active interest in the development of a wellness & well being program for retired alumni and school staffers. A brief note was circulated to members present at the meeting and members’ feedback is sought. If the concept appreciated by the members, then the efforts forward may be taken. Interested members were encouraged to communicate with Pranay Shah, Pune Tel: (91 20) 400 44 881, 2 (Work) Email: pranayvshah@usa.net. Meena Bhat was concerned regarding the procedures for disbursements and monitoring such an initiative. Vijaya Pastala suggested that her reuniting class of 1982 ICSE, celebrating its 25th year reunion this year desires to raise funds for needy ex-staffers. She enquired if any such facilities existed as provided by the school. Rohita and Shyla responded in the negative. Rohita said that ad-hoc requests were almost always positively responded to by the Committee and generous members. Vijaya suggested that guidelines to monitor must be framed. She further said that Alumni would prefer to assist needy people as opposed to contribute to building funds etc. She questioned if a Pension Fund could be created. The President cited the caution of the Chartered Accountants of the Association who said that the earnings from amounts raised for such a specific fund would have to be disbursed within 5 years else the Association would have to pay tax on such earnings. The Chartered Accountant had advised in favor of all amounts being raised towards the Corpus and then utilized across the objectives of the Association, for better financial management."

It is important that the beneficiary and donors understand, appreciate and adhere to this. Any donor - beneficiary relations outside the inclusion of the Association cannot be monitored by the Association in any way and may be open to criticism as in the past.

Regards

Rajiv Bhatia

President @ your service


March, 27 2008

My personal request is to do it in the name of our late PT instructor, Arthur D. Morecroft, who, by his watchfulness and readiness, saved MY life in 1955.



I also hope that your helping hand will ensure that no one will suffer the ignobility suffered by our Maths teacher, the late Mr. R. J. Karkaria.

Please extend your hand to the needy from our own back garden.



Finally, may I remind you of a phrase that the late Mr. R. G. Salmon, our English teacher, taught me when I was in school.

"It is drops that make an ocean."

What a turnaround?

On January 1st of 2008 I was lamenting that I had only 2 contacts amongst the 64ers - Brinda Somaya (née Chinnappa), who is an old family friend, and Deepak Deshpande,the dynamo who was introduced by Delhi 49er, Yezad Kapadia.

When I looked at my 64ers address book today, we have 26 64er from around the world checked in. The search for more continues and 59er Chin in Canada should be able to help locate 59er Narsys Irani's brother - a 64er! Chin - do convey my very best regards to Narsys when you contact her. She is real angel.

Great going and hope you catch up with us 59ers where we have almost 70 of our theoretical total of 120!

Many of you have asked me about the professional contact site, LinkedIn, to which I have invited some of you. That is a genuine site. I am trying to build a professional school network on that site.

Still, never divulge your email address password to anyone, not even the guys who provide you with the email service.

As you would have noted - I usually lead the pack with things I do on the web. LinkedIn is a site I have been testing for a couple of years.

If you are a Consultant or an active professional, this is a great site to use. I am still not a paid up Premium Member (as I am now retired), as I get all what I want out of being a free member. If you are really active professionally, this is a site worth considering for professional contacts in any sphere. If you look at my small number of contacts that I have invited, they are spread almost among all the continents. Lokm at some in my downline and you will see the enormous spread that is there.

Keep those emails coming guys and gals. Lovely to hear from so many of you all after almost a month's break!!!!

Hopefully back on line

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

Warning about A HACKER

I had this email from 64er Ruston Dadabhoy:

From: Rustom Dadabhoy
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 7:57 PM
Subject: HACKER - VERY IMPORTANT

If somebody called bm_toon7@ hotmail.com adds you to their account/invites you - DON'T accept it because it's a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on yours adds them, you get them on your list and he'll figure out your ID computer address.

So copy and paste this message to everyone and fast..because if he hacks their mail,he hacks yours! If somebody called bm_toon7@ hotmail.com adds you to their account / invites you - DON'T accept it because it's a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on yours adds them,you get them on your list and he'll figure out your ID computer address.

So copy and paste this message to everyone and fast..because if he hacks their mail,he hacks yours!

It is not just getting on the list that is the problem. It is when someone asks you to provide your email address and asks for your password, whether it be Google, Yahoo or Hotmail.

These unscrupulous people trick others by getting into your email INBOX once they have your password and then send out emails, purportedly from you, to everyone else in your email address book, tricking them to divulge their email address and passwork.

These guys then access your email INBOX and archives looking for all sorts of sensitive data concerning your registrations and other passwords, credit card numbers, etc.

The most common trick is to send an email, supposedly from you to all those in your address book inviting you to be their friend and join some organisation. WAYN is one the immediately comes to mind. Thinking you do not want to hurt your friend, you complete the whole procedure giving up your email address and password in the bargain, and then the fraudsters carry on.

Another way is to ask you to take a "colour blind test" and at the end, they say that to get your result you should reveal your email address and password.

In such cases the first thing you should do is to

1. Change your password.
2. Inform your friends about the false email purportedly from you to them and ask them not to act on these requests.
3. Apologise to your friends and ask them to change their passwords IMMEDIATELY.
4. Report the matter to the email provider if you have been compromised. In the case of Google, under the REPLY options you will find a feature called "REPORT PHISHING". Do that to that IMMEDIATELY.

Take care, as there are plenty of these tricksters out there.

Two things on my mind

Over the last few months I have received several emails that Annikki and I should reserve time for various people during our visit to India in November 2009.

As you all know, that will be when the 59ers will hold the Mother of all Reunions, planned and executed by a Mumbai Core Committee headed by Piloo Tata (née Dastur) and Retired Captain Vijay Shivdasani.

I had proposed to prepare a multi-media presentation of the entire photo collection in my possession. I had wriiten to Principal Meera Isaacs about it several months ago. I then learnt that some others were planning a similar presentation.

Not having heard from Ms. Isaacs, I have put my plans on hold as I am not one to go into competition with anyone else.

If someone out there in Mumbai could do me a favour to see what the others planning, I can make a considered decision as I have much work to do to make something unique and do not want any conflict.

The second issue on my mind is more important.

Over the years I have, using the power of this Blog, assisted various Year Groups from the school to organise their 50th year and sometimes other reunions. This has resulted in many close friendshis having developed with people, some of whom I have not seen for over 50 years and some never.

There is a clamour that Annikki and I should make time for so many who are now my dear friends, and they are from 45ers down to present day Catheralites.

Of course, Annikki and I will be taking part in our 59ers Reunion and also in the Founders Day Celebrations. However, it appears that will not enough time to meet with all those who have asked us to meet face to face with them.

Annikki and I could organise a separate reunion with all of you whom I have had the pleasure of dealing with and corresponding with over the last 12 years. Maybe Rajiv Bhatia, President of the Cat Alumni, could help me organise an Open House where we can meet with all of you in a fun-filled day?

Not having been to India for the last 8 years (and Mumbai for over 9 years), I am clueless of conditions that may exist in our lovely alma mater city. I would appreciate advice on how to organise something somewhere for about 300 to 500 people which would give us both a chance to spend time with each and everyone of you.

Let me know on the possible suitable locations, costs per head, etc. as I would like to roll it into not only our 59er Reunion Plans but to widen the scope to follow the theme suggested by 59er Armeane Choksi, "Be Inclusive, Not Exclusive".

I am not one who executes something without a proper budget or plan. So all the advice you give me will be sifted. Then maybe I can organise a local Committee exclusively for this event.

I look forward to your suggestions and volunteers to help me make this THE Event of November 2009, a very special event of the "Seventh Heaven Blog".

Looking forward to hearing from as many of you on this subject.

Urgent Warning to ALL Cathedralites

When going through my spam folder which consisted of many thousands of emails, I came across this one.

prasad vijay hide details 20 Feb
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 20 Feb 2008 10:41
subject MESSAGE OF INVESTMENT IN FINLAND TO MR JACOB MATTHAN. URGENT
signed-by yahoo.com
mailed-by yahoo.com
Dear jacob matthan,

Greetings to you this day.

I am writing you urgently for your cooperation in an issue I need you to handle with me. My name is Mr. Rajiv Vijay, I am a disabled Indian Guyanese presently based in London and a cathedralite. I was actually helping a friend Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshaba, an Australia businessman. He wants to transfer some of his Money from Iraq. Islamic people unjustly destroyed his properties without any form of pity or compensation. Mr.Neenus Y. Khoshaba, was an unfortunate victim of this attack, he was Kidnapped and Murdered .

Before his death,I assisted him to deposit the sum of $12.2 million dollars in a finance vaulting firm. These were proceeds he made secretly from various oil deals in iraq. I had the opportunity of knowing this because I was his banker. He also appealed to me to ensure that the funds were safely kept and if anything should happen to him I should make his fiance his next of kin.

I have made frantic effort to contact any relatives of Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshaba for the past two months without any success, his fiance died of shock after hearing of his death. At this point I am contacting you to act as the next of kin/original beneficiary to Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshabas fund in the bank because the bank is planning to hold the funds as "uncleared funds" and thus make it banks money since no one has come forward to claim it.

I need you to stand as the next of kin so that the funds can be processed in your name and also transferred to your account. I cannot do this alone neither can I make claims to it myself that is why I need your assistance.

If you agree to take up this responsibility, then I will facilitate the process in making you the official beneficiary to the funds and you will be required to contact the bank to instruct a transfer of the funds to your account. I want to really appeal to you that as soon as these funds are transferred to you, you will be trustworthy enough to keep it safely and also to keep it confidential.

As soon as this funds is transfered to your account I shall come over to your country for sharing of the funds accordingly. i was told that you are in finland which is where i intend to relocate to invest part of this fund and become a member of your organisation.

If you agree to assist me in this matter, you will definitely be entitled to 20% of the total for your participation and we shall use some of the money to charity and help the poor and disabled .send mail to me if you are interested in this deal. I await your reply.

Best Regards,

MR Rajiv Vijay

See how this rascal has used our alma mater connection plus the sympathy card, my current location, to get my attention.

I was one of the first to expose the Nigerian Scam which you can read on my Findians site Greed - Missile of Black Gold.

I wrote that article in 1995 and it has saved many lives and much money for many people around the world.

So please be warned, as GREED is something that lives in everyone's heart! And this scam is not just in Africa as you can get such post from Indians, Chinese, English, etc!!

Plea to all 64ers

Deepak Deshpande is a super active Cathedralite in Delhi who has received high praise from many older Cathedralites in the capital city for his organising abilities. This 64er is now on the roll to organise his Class Reunion.

Picture from the Delhi Chapter Reunion in 2007:
54er Ravi Jaitly, 64er Deepak Deshpande & 49er Raj Bhandari

In that context I received this email from him:

Date: 17 Mar 2008 14:42
Subject CLASS OF 1964

Hi All,

When we met in Mumbai at Wellingdon Club on the 05th March, we tried to put together the names of all (as many as we remembered) our old classmates and some of our teachers, with whom some of us had been in touch. This list is attached herewith, with a lot of empty spaces !!!!

Would very much appreciate if each of you could please come back to me with whatever info you may have available, so we could get down to building up our data base.

For instance some of you may have some details of Hemant Sathe in Pune or Paul Kurien in Bangalore or of Sorab Pochkanawala in Toronto, etc etc.

Please do put in some effort !

Everyone thought it would be a very good idea to organise a 'CLASS OF 1964 GET TOGETHER' some time later this year- in October, November or December ! Let's start working towards this objective.

I have also copied this email to Jacob Matthan in Norway - seeking his help in trying to locate some of our old classmates. Jacob, would be grateful for any help you may be ableto offer us !!!

In our list, I have also included Mr Richard Smith (with his coordinates in the UK), who taught us English & French. I have included Mr Karkaria & Mr Jagdish Pande - hoping that some of you would know their coords. What about any other teachers ?

Here's hoping to hear from all of you.

Cheers !

Deepak

I am sorry to inform you of the tragic circumstances of the demise of our Maths teacher, Mr. Karkaria, which was recorded here on the Blog pages last year.

Physics teacher, Mr William Shri, past 80, is still very active playing the clarinet in Toronto and is a regular reader of this Blog. He is in touch with Physics teachers Mr. Patel and Mr. Rao. Chemistry teacher, Mr. O. A. Gregory, also in Canada is a bit computer shy, but does get the messages. Mr Pande has returned to Bombay from his stay in California. I am also in touch with Chris Hammill, also in Canada, but I do not know whether he was still around in 1964.

And how many of your group was taught by the wonderful 54er Gracie Hayeem, of the outstanding Hayeem family. She is full of life in California! I know that even 69ers remember her as their Kindergarten teacher!

I did not see the names of any girls on the list! Do not forget 64er Brinda Chinappa (now a leading architect in Mumbai under her married name - Somaya). I am sure Brinda is in touch with many 64ers.

So anyone in touch with 64ers should ask them to contact me so that I can put them in touch wuth their great organiser - Deepak.

I wish the 64ers great success with their reunion.