This is not a criticism, but only an observation with a suggestion! (I made a similar observation on the blog a long time ago, but I thought it was worth repeating!)
I have my emails coming in from former staff members, 45ers to students who are still in the school. My present cross-section of correspondents spans the huge period of 64 years of Cathedralite nostalgic history, and much more when you think of some who write to me about their parents (still alive) who were Cathedralites!
This potpourri is what has kept this blog alive for now over 12 years.
Over time I have noted that in the active year groups there stands out one or two individuals who email news items and jokes to his / her mailing list (and I am usually fortunate to be on that mailing list).
I get wonderful emails from 49er Naval Patel, now living in Mysore, about all sorts of trivia which are in some way school, Mumbai or cricket related. Naval is a real cricket junkie!!
It is always a pleasure to get these from Naval. I do use some of them in creating my blog entries. But usually, I am just being educated, which I love.
Here is what Naval wrote on one occasion when he sent me two attachments:
I have attached scans of the research papers which describe the original Duckworth - Lewis Method, and its later modification. Erudite discussions may follow not earlier than two weeks hence; I will have digested them only thereafter.
Regards Naval
Sadly, both our schedules being what they are, we still have not got down to those "erudite discussions"!
54er Sadhana (from Pune) works in fits and starts - as she forwards me jokes, jokes and more jokes, but they do not have an underlying theme, which makes it difficult as you will understand why a little later.
55er Bunny (from Delhi) also send out emails of jokes to his email list. In the month of June 2008 I have had over 35 jokes from Bunny!
Sadly there is a huge overlap of the jokes that most of those forwarding these emails send out. Maybe because we are Cathedralites we appreciate the same humour - but it is a bit difficult when I get 15 to 20 submissions of the same joke!
56er Ubi from Mumbai sends me wonderful notes on many things I write about (or should write about) and I get a great deal of satisfaction just reading his emails. One feels so connected with someone 7000 kms away to the east who is enjoying what I would like to be enjoying (a tinge of jealousy), but is not destructive like second hand smoke! It is exhilarating.
The late 57er Budni (from Pune) used to also send out jokes, but he was a lot like Naval in that there was a underlying message or moral in each one he sent out. I have actually kept all of his jokes as they form a treasure house for me. Rarely did I get a joke from Budni which was sent by someone else in our group, except that many used to forward me the jokes that Budni had sent out!
Oh, do I miss this friend.
59er Shabir (from Karachi) used to send out a huge number of jokes. When I pointed out that I was getting the same ones from over 2 dozen people, he took me off his mailing list, for which, to a point, I was quite grateful, as it did unclutter my Inbox quite a bit.
59er Chini (from Toronto) sends me great submissions of history of Mumbai and the school, usually pictorial. Although Chini is westward to me, we know we are on the same frequency as the relevance of his submissions is just like Naval and Ubi.
60er Sheikh (from Saudi) does send me photos and other submissions, which I greatly enjoy.
There are some many of you, 54er Gracie (California), 56er Doreen (N. Carolina?), 60er Joan (England - such a wonderful submission about Jazz in Bombay in the 60s), Cynthia & hubby 62er Monty (Toronto), 63er Mithoo (Florida) and Ranko (Cerbia), 64ers Deepak (Delhi) and Rustom (Mumbai), 67er Shobha (Mumbai) , 68er Ravi (Phillipines), 69ers Barbara (Italy) and Prakash (Mumbai), and on and on...
Take this great one I got from 67er Shobha just this morning, and it is not just because I am a banana lover!
Or take this email I received way back in November 2005 from Ravi Nangia from the Phillipines (Hey Ravi - Did you know I keep such great submissions as yours for a hailstorming Midsummer's Day!):
Hi Jacob,
Thought I would take your lead and reply promptly.
I can't off-hand recall Ajeet Mathur. Your site had indicated that he graduated in 1974 - so there was just a year when we were both in Stephen's - not enough when set against the 33 years that it has been since College.
Tell Ajeet his photograph on your site doesn't help either -- perhaps a photo of a younger Ajeet, when he was in College, would help!! (Obviously I never read "How not to alienate/lose friends"). There was a Shiv Mathur (not the one mentioned later in this message, this one was History 1973) whom I do remember. He spent the years between graduation and getting into the IAS in brushing up on his general knowledge and would frequently appear on quiz shows on TV and all over the place.
Don't worry about Kapil Mathur and Ranade. Kapil, I know is in Bombay. He has a brother, coincidentally also named Shiv Mathur, who is a friend of friend. Shiv Mathur studied music in Vienna (or somewhere similar in Europe) and between infrequent conducting opportunities writes jingles for Coke and others. As far as Sudhanshu Ranade is concerned, I thought I once saw an article with his by line in the Hindu (the newspaper).
Sadly, no photographs from College, but the one of the Prefects from 1968 is attached (Sorry, had to manipulate image size and number of pixels to accommodate uploading with a dial-up connection, but the image quality isn't bad.) List of those appearing in the photograph is given below.
Yes, we are in the Philippines and yes, there is an ADB connection (good GK, good deduction), but it's the wife who works for ADB. I am compelled to scrounge around as an independent consultant for a living.
Regards,
Ravi
Standing Top Row L-R : Heenali Morarjee, Mohan Shivdasani, Malika (Dolly) Grewal, Dharanvir (Tingoo) Khatau, Monica Chudasama, Jyoti Choudhary, Kapil Mathur, Debby Richardson, Shireen Jeejeebhoy, Phiroze Madon, Bina Sanghvi, Harish Uttamsing.
Standing Middle Row L-R : Nawal Seth, Perveez Merchant, Mrinal Melwani, Ravi Nangia, Guloo Chotia, Ruma Roy, Gautam Desiraju, Naila Kanthawala, Jean Bhavnagiri, Cyrus Kharas, Meher Katgara, Guneeta Khera, Suresh Goel.
Sitting L-R : Yohan Jeffereis, Shobhna Patel, Bahadur Shroff, Urmila Bannerji, Sammy Medhora, Mrs Fernandes, Jean Cabral, TAC Barrow, Antica Milos, Dinsa Mehta, Asha Nerurkar, Jeevak Parpia.
As I go through later years of Cathedralites (80 to 2000s), there are so many of you who are making my life so interesting. You all relate to me as a friend, which I greatly appreciate.
We now have a new entrant into the joke field, 64er Sol S, probably from somewhere in England. Thank you Sol for putting me on your mailing list. It is an honour.
Of course, if you are only receiving these forwards from one source, then they are great, but as I am getting the same jokes from so many of you, it is sad to filter them out. The joke about "Ian and his wife" came in from 5 different sources last week - 2 Cathedralites and 3 from other origins. (Too smutty for this blog, though! We have a few kids reading this blog, including me!)
Indiscriminately sending out what you may think funny to your mailing list may be bothersome for some, and you may get a reaction which is not exactly what you may expect.
I do hope each class co-ordinator will take this up in his / her group and explain the circumstances, or ask the person to read THIS blog entry.
Please do not stop sending your emails to me, as you are the lifeblood of this blog.
Like 49er Naval, 56er Ubi, 59er Chini, former Staff Member Willie, and many others, do try to be a bit more selective in that you see something of value in your submission to the huge audience of Cathedralites that I am catering to.
It makes coming to my email Inbox a pleasure to get such inputs. I am not here just to be titillated, but am really looking for valuable contributions.
Happy Midsummer to everyone from the land of the Midnight Sun where a ferocious hailstorm (for more pictures of the hailstorm visit my Jacob's Blog) with thunder and lightening, each hail the size of a walnut, is pelting down on us.
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