SHV02-Issue 3: 961103

Hi Cathedralites,

Cathedral 1959 Cricket Team
Back Row: Noel Ezekiel, Vijay Shivdasani,
the late Brian Abraham, Viney Sethi, Hussain
Seated: Vijay Nayar, Jaffar Hussain, Jimmy Tata, Ernest Haskell,
Nalin Dharia, Ashok Kapur, Elijah Elias
Seated on ground: Jacob Matthan (scorer)

I wonder if the Lemondrop Cricket Tournament is still in existence.

It was our cricket championship in the cramped confines of the quad. The stumps were painted on the stone column, the one just before the place where the stairs come down. The run up for the bowlers was from the steps of the Sports Store Room to the Steel Girder at the edge of the lunch/PT shed. Of course, to start playing we had to wait till all the tables were cleared after lunch, and then the competition began.

Playing with a tennis ball, it may have looked easy, but the pace that some of the bowlers got on that short run up was really something. I remember 58er Nalin Dharia, 59er Ooky (Elijah Elias) and 59er Trevor Newnes who certainly whipped up a lot of pace. Or there was the fantastic off-spin of 56er / 58er Earnest Haskell, 59er Vijay Nayar and 59er Noel Ezekiel.

The real big hitter was 57er / 58er Jimmy Tata. If the ball went on top of the roof, there were the few anxious moments while all the fielders waited till it rolled down the steel sloping roof. More often than usual it dropped where there was no-one underneath to catch it.

I often wondered why it was called the Lemondrop Cricket Tournament - was it because of the way the ball would drop of the roof? If I remember correctly, it was a six a side competition. Our class had two teams. Our star batsmen was Ashok Kapur who consistently kept our scores high. There was always some great running between the wickets, as the few minutes we had per game really put pressure on both sides to go for the runs. Present day one day cricket on the international arena probably got its beginnings from such half hour cliff-hangers that we used to have in the school.

Being a leg-break bowler, it was difficult to get many wickets but it kept the runs down as there was not much room for stroke play on the leg side. Not so many left-handers were around in our day. I could get quite a mean turn of the cement quad floor and did get a fair share of the spoils. Did not get much batting, however, as our opening pair usually struck off the runs!!

Going to another topic, I hope that the Bombay crowd will soon have the History Page of the school up on the web. In my other webletter for my other alma mater, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, we are very fortunate that a couple of guys have put up a complete history of the college covering its 115 years existence. That link now has a permanent presence on my page. Stephanians all around the world were excited and extremely pleased - just as I am sure that Cathedralites world-wide will be pleased and eternally grateful if someone in Bombay would take the trouble to put up our school history page on the web.

More in a fortnight,

Your Cathedralite friend

Jacob Matthan
1959 Savage House Captain
Oulu, Finland

SHV02-Issue 2: 961020

Hi Cathedralites,

This week I thought I would talk about the inter-class quad footer competition that we used to have annually in the fifties. Our football in that small confined space with a tennis ball in the cemented quad was probably the reason why we developed quick sharp reflexes, so useful in our other sports activities.

I played in goal (like in field hockey), and one of our class teams, we had so many great sportmen in our class that we fielded three great teams every year, as far as I can recall, always won the championship.

The game was fast and quite dangerous, mainly because the cement surface was broken and uneven. I am sure if there had been some safety conscious parents amongst ours who witnessed our lunchtime sport, they would have put a stop to it.

Surprisingly, I can only remember one accident in all my time - that is mine, when, during a really hard fought game, I fell while attempting to save a goal. I completed the game, but by the time I reached class, sweaty and filthy as usual, my wrist was swollen.

Because of the pain when I reached home that evening, I visited the orthopaedic specialist, Dr. Dholakia, located somewhere near Opera House. The Xray (which was a big event in those days) revealed a crack somewhere in the right wrist, which meant plaster and no sport for a good six weeks. Sheer murder.

Some of the best quad football players were the little fellows, people like 59er Noel Ezekiel (brother of the first Miss India, 56er Fleur Ezekiel - thought I would mention this considering the present controversey raging about the staging of the Miss World competition in Bangalore - and whose mother was the French teacher in the girls' school - I think Mrs. Ezekiel lived on the top floor of the kindergarten section between Flora Fountain and Petit School) and Rodericks, compared with the big six-footers like me and Arvind Thadani, who is presently a bigwig somewhere in IBM. Their small height and build gave them tremendous flexibility and ball control.

Mrs. Ezekiel, French Teacher, Girl's School and
mother of 56er Fleur and 59er Noel Ezekiel

Some of the quad football greats that I can remember were 56er /58er Nalin Dharia, 57er Jimmy Tata, 59er Viney Sethi, 59er Vijay Shivdasani, 58er Andre, 59er Peter Miovic, 59er John Beddoes, 58er Jaffar Hussain, 54er Ravi Jaitly (not 57er Tony but his elder brother), 53er Rolf Sonawalla.

I wonder if any of these old boys are reading these reminesences. The half hour games were really exhilarating, especally when the tennis ball which we kicked around was wet and stung you like a wasp if it touched your skin.

My forte was the goal throws I used to make. These were so accurate that my team-mate, Rodericks, almost always headed in a goal at the other end. We were a perfect couple as far as quad football was concerned, my enormous frame which covered half the goal mouth and my fleet footed five-foot high partner.

How I wish we had some good shoes in those days. All we had were those white or brown cloth canvas gym shoes - no Nikes, Reeboks, Pumas or Pumas - just plain Bata and Flex canvas shoes with rubbery soles!

This week, in my second editorial in Findians Briefings, I tackle the question of Education where I ask the question as to the number of handicapped persons, those who are blind, deaf, dumb, or wheel-chair ridden, who are being used as teachers in schools and colleges. Can any of you name any handicapped person who has been in a teaching or administration position in our alma mater. Just curious! (Don't all stand up and shout that I have just described the average Cathedralite through the ages!!!)

More about the Tin and Bottle competition and the Lemondrop Cricket Championships in coming issues of Seventh Heaven.

Till then,

Your Cathedralite friend

Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland

SHV02-Issue 1: 961006

Hi Cathedralites,

This week I thought I would share with you the craze we had for table tennis and other racket sports in the school in the fifties.

Cathedral Rackets Team 1959
Back Row: Noel Ezekiel, Percy Mistri, Kai Lam, Vijay Nayar,
Ramesh Mirchandani, Armeane Choksi, ?, ?
Seated: ?, David, the late Brian Abraham, Nalin Dharia,
Ashok Ruia, Ashok Kapur
Seated on the ground: Sudhir Anand, Roger Clay, ?

We used to have to set up the table in the school hall during the lunch hour and after school if we wanted to play. There were two tables, the better one being reserved for the 8 top seeds, the other wobbly one being the one on which us lesser mortals were allowed to play.

There was usually a mad rush once the school lunch bell rang to be the first one to get to the table. We used to charge down to the hall and the order was stricly on a first come, first serve basis.

Everyone got a game and there was a quick turnaround over the lunch hour. We were allowed 10 warm-up shots before being asked to play a game. The last ones playing before the lunch break ended had to put up the tables and prop them against the wall before returning to class.

The evenings were better as those who stayed were few and we used to get a fairly clear run on most days, even playing best of three, in many instances. We could occasionally even steal a couple of games on the better table.

We were all extremely possessive about our rackets and I was lucky to be given a Barna one year as a birthday present. It lasted me for as many as 10 years. The sponge rackets had not yet made their mark in those days, the best ones being just plain pimpled rubber.

Every Monday morning there was a seed list put up on the notice board just by the tuck shop. Anyone could challenge any of the seeds by paying 4 annas, later raised to 50 paisa, at the tuck shop and putting a mark on the notice. The challenge had to be played on the Friday afternoon, unless another time was agreed, the choice being dictated by the seed.

The most unusual people were the best players. During our years, the John Saxon of the school, 59er Ramesh Mirchandani, who is married and settled in Canada, was undoubtedly the most stylish and best player.

I used to take great pleasure in challenging Ramesh as that way I got two games in a row on the better table and also I got to play against a really good player.

Ramesh always whipped me, but it was great fun as I would promptly practice harder to try and beat him the next time. I never did, although in one of my final attempts I did get a single game of him. I still remember that happy day!!

I do not recall Ramesh, however, taking part in any other of the blood sports in school as cricket, hockey or football.

59ers Sudhir Anand, Armeane Choksi, Neelam Lakhani, Ramesh Mirchandani, Jangoo Moos, Percy Mistry and Vijay Nayar were all good table tennis players. I was lucky that I got a chance to play against all of them as it stood me in good stead when I went to study in London where, without much effort, I got into the college league team and also did well in the London University Open Championships. (Never won anything!!)

Also, when I sailed home from Venice round the Cape if Good Hope (the Suez was closed) with my family in 1969 I was runner-up playing the game on a lilting and listing ss. VICTORIA somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

I wonder whether this mad tradition of table tennis still exists in the school. Is there still the rush to get in just a couple of games during the lunch hour?

More reminisences in a fortnight, probably about the quad football traditions of the fifties!

Regards

Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland

SH-Issue 12: 960922

Hi Cathedralites,

Shocking Newsletter Contents

I received the rather shocking newsletter from 93er Vivek Sikri with the unprovoked attack by an individual on 94er Vikram Somaya.

I am glad that it ended with an apology but it would be interesting to know what provoked such an attack in the first place, especially as in all my life I have never ever encountered a Cathedralite who expressed himself as fiercely as this one.

Am I getting too old - or is that what the school system of today breeds. I remember 57er Kashinath Dandekar making a plea to tone down the language as we old-timers probably are not used to such strong verbal presentations.

Missing Persons

I wonder why Vivek has a few well-known missing persons on his list - and in this I particularly refer to the mother of Vikram Somaya, 64er Brinda, and her sister, 62er Ranjini, who I gather are both on the Internet.

Bombay Support

I do hope the Bombay support that 69er Rohet Tolani was proposing is soon in coming, as I have loads of requests for information about various aspects of the school which I am holding on to. It would be nice if Bombay would have its web site up with all the historical data for us to link to and also refer the enquirers to - such as the early history of the school, the relevance of various names, list of principals, words of the school song, etc. etc.

School Buses

In our days in the fifties we used to have BEST supplying the school bus service. A bus used to pick me up from my home on Cooperage Road at 7.45 and proceed down to Colaba Causeway and round behind the Taj and reach school at 8.20. the evening buses used to leave at 16.15 and reach me home by 16.45.

I can still remember many of the persons in my bus round. The monthly charge used to be Rs. 15 - which was a large sum of money those days as the standard bus fare from Regal to school by A4 was about 2 annas or later 12 paisa. I shifted to the public service when I reached the IXth Standard as there were so many things to do before and after school that I hardly could keep to the bus timings. saved a grand sum of Rs. 7.50 as a result which meant I could see a few more movies over the weekend (where the good seats cost 12 annas or 75 paisa). I do remember seeing "Rock Around the Clock" (Bill Hayley and the Comets).

Knowing the explosion of Bombay, I must imagine such a bus service would probably be an impossibility, considering the traffic jams that exist all over Bombay. It would be interesting to hear from some of you what sort of school bus service now exists or do all the students turn up now-a-days on their own flashy Kawasaki 500 cc mobikes!! Just wondering.

End of Reminder Messages

I am afraid that I will need you to subscribe separately to be able to continue to receive these reminders as the whole process seems to have got out of hand with my postings touching about 3000 every fortnight and the number of wrong addresses resulting in returns amounting to about 10% every time. My mailbox is just crammed with returned messages so it takes me a while to get to my normal mail. Most of the returns are people who have registered and then not informed me about change of address, etc.

Our main site has expanded at such a remarkable pace that I am getting fully tied down with getting these three webletters up every fortnight and also getting the mailing list out that it has really not left me much time for the investigative journalism for which my web pages were originally created.

Hence Cathedralites who want to get a reminder from me should send a SUBSCRIBE message to our email address as otherwise from the next issue you will not get any reminder.

Regards

Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland
The Polar Bear Cathedralite from the Arctic Circle

SH-Issue 11: 960908

Hi Cathedralites,

This week is just a very short memo about how ridiculously small the world is.

A few days ago I received email from the mother of 94er Vikram Somaya, who is known to almost all of you as the maintainer of the Cathedral School email directory. I was a bit shocked when 64er Brinda Somaya (née Chinnappa) asked me whether I was brother of 62er Elizabeth. She went on to explain her connection.

Elizabeth, my younger sister, Cathedral School Girls School Blue House Captain in 1962 (I think) had been the classmate of the elder sister of Brinda Somaya, Ranjini Kalappa (née Chinnappa).

In addition, when my father, the late Kuriyan Matthan quit his post as Chief Engineer of BEST in the mid sixties and joined the Killick Nixon/Bombay Suburban Power Distribution group, the father of Rajini and Brinda, Mr. Chinnappa had asked his childhood friend from Bangalore, my father, to take charge as Engineering Manager of the fledgling Tata Consulting Engineers, a small consulting group which had been formed to engineer and maintain the power projects belonging to the Tata group.

Under the guidance of Mr. Chinnappa, Tata Consulting Engineers grew from a small Consultancy Company into the largest private Engineering Consulting company in India with offices in Bombay and Bangalore, the home town of both my dad and Mr. Chinnappa.

When my father fell ill in the early seventies and had to retire, Mr. Chinnappa asked him to organise and set up the offices of Tata Consulting Engineers in Bangalore and be the Resident Manager. So our family connection with the Chinnappa's went far deeper than just the fact that Ranjini and Elizabeth were in school together!

Although much junior to me, I can recall Ranjini and Brinda, both of whom, I understand, are now thriving architects and even architects to our school.

Elizabeth, by the way, finished from Cathedral, did her Masters in Nutrition (I think) from MS University in Baroda, married an Engineer who worked for UNICEF involved with setting up milk projects in developing countries, lived a colourful life in various parts of the world (has two dughters neither being Cathedralites) - Brazil, New York, Kampala at the time of Idi Amin, Nairobi, Dubai, etc., and now, as her husband has retired from the UN, is settled in Madras!

Those of you semi-dinosaur Cathedralites (me, like 57er Kashinath Dandekar, 57er / 59er Bhupinder Singh Anand and 59er Bala Parasuraman are the dinosaur group) who want to establish contact with Elizabeth, should get in touch with me for her address - sorry, no direct email contact at present.

More interesting anecdotes and personality assassinations in a fortnight,

Your Cathedralite friend,

Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland

SH-Issue 10: 960825

Hi Cathedralites,

My hockey tale seems to have struck a chord in many of you. Thanks for all the nice words. I think I just enjoy writing about these events. I am so glad that you all seem to enjoy reading about them.

The sequel to that drawn game was not too good. The following year we had to travel to Bishops School in Poona to play them on their home ground. Our hockey team was really oriented to playing on grass. The pitch at Bishops was just plain earth and gravel and we could do nothing right. It was just to dusty and messy for us. I had no grip on the ground and was slipping all over the place. All the great saves I made that day, and there were plenty of them, were pure accident.

Hockey Team of 1959
Back Row: Andy Gordon, Mistri, Maurice Belcourt, Arvind Thadani,
Trevor Newnes, Ashok Kapur
Seated: Noel Ezekiel, Vijay Nayar, Jaffar Hussain,
Mr. Jagdish Pande, Viney Sethi
Seated on the ground. Jacob Matthan

I had a very difficult game. I was a slightly better goalkeeper than the previous year, having matured rather well, but even my heroic efforts could not stop us being trounced fairly and squarely - I think it was 3-0. Not a game I would like to remember as it was pobably the largest score line by which we ever lost any game.

That trip to Poona otherwise was really a great one. The Ruias had a guest house in Poona. Our group of about 15 did not stay at the Bishops Dormitories but at the Guest House. It was great fun as it was extremely well equipped and the Ruias had a great vegetarian cook at the Guest House. Ashok and Anil were great hosts.

Do the sporting contests with Bishops and Mayo College in Ajmer still occur or have they been replaced by the school taking part in the local circuits?

Now, the much promised story - about Jesse Owens.

I joined Cathedral in 1954. I had transferred from Bangalore where I had studied at Bishop Cottons, which was great school with plenty of playing fields - we had a first eleven cricket pitch and right down to a fifth eleven playing pitch.

So sports was part and parcel of the way of life of us Cottonians. I was therefore taken aback to find the school in Bombay without a single sports field within sight.

I had asked our class teacher, Mr. Timmins about this. He promptly put me down to take part in the school athletics championships which was hardly a few days hence.

I entered the high and long jump (the days of egg and spoon races were far gone by then) and I was asked to turn up at the CCI for training. Being lanky and springy and having had the benefit of the sports culture of Cottons, it was a piece of cake, except I had to come second, as my elder brother was in the same juniors group. He took the first prize while I came second, both of us breaking the junior high jump and long jump records in the bargain.

This double win by these two brothers from the south made us exteemly popular and we were in great demand for all the sporting events - for Savage House.

Just about that time we heard that Jesse Owens was going to visit Bombay. There was much excitement in the air as we heard that he was going to visit the school. That was a false rumour. What had been arranged was that he would conduct a training session for some of the members of our school at the CCI. Both my brother and I were among those chosen to take part in the training session.

I hardly understood a word of his American English as he talked to us and told us how to do the straddle and western roll - a far cry from today's style of high jumping. But the real thrill was when he showed us how to do really do the long jump. He did not have to talk, but he showed us that as we left the ground we should start pedalling as we if we were riding a cycle. I think within a couple of jumps we were doing a foot more than previously.

To my mind, it was one of the most rewarding evenings of my life having had a chance to spend a couple of hours actually being trained by this almighty individual. I am sure that if Indian youngsters were given this same opportunity today we would motivate them to become winners in the sporting arena.

Your Cathedralite friend,

Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland

SH-Issue 9: 960811

Hi Cathedralites,

Continuing my reference of last week to Mr. Pande, he was in charge of our hockey team 1st Eleven when I reached the Xth Standard. There was quite a tough battle for the post of goal-keeper between a good friend, the late Ghatge, also of Savage House, and myself.

In my opinion, Ghatge was a better goal-keeper than me. However, I was more regular for practice and I was the more sociable fellow. So I got the into the team.

1958 Cathedral Hockey Team
(59ers unless otherwise mentioned)
Back Row: Maurice Belcourt (61er), Viney Sethi, Ghatge, Arvind Thadani,
Ashok Kapur, Andy Gordon
Seated: Vijay Nayar, Harmindar Uberoi (56er), Jimmy Tata (57er),
Mr. Jagdish Pande (Staff), Jaffar Hussain (58er)
Seated on ground: Jacob Matthan

We had a good team in 1958 with most of the players being from our class. Viney Sethi was centre forward, Ashok Kapur the inside right. Rodericks was a very fast outside right and Trevor Newnes was extremely fast on the left flank. Vijay Nayar (hockey captain the following year) was a solid left half-back. Captain of the side was 57er Jimmy Tata for part of the season and 58er Jaffar Hussain (related to film actress Nargis) for the latter part. We had a great full backs in Arvind Thadani and 57er Jimmy Tata.

With such efficient full-backs I really did not have much work to do except when Mr. Pande or Mr. Zavala, our Peruvian Geography master (he was far better at football than hockey) came pounding down on top of me in the staff versus students match. Tall and sportsmanlike, the late Mr. Salmon, our English teacher, was also a fast staff forward that I had to contend with, although he was more of a cricketer than a hockey player. Mr. Gregory (our Chemistry teacher) was also always attacking and if it had not been for our half and full back line up, we would have been licked thoroughly by the staff side. However, on most occasions our fast forwards were able to keep the score line in our favour.

Mr. Pande used to make me train with my pads on, that is run around the hockey field with the heavy pads strapped on. This meant that I was literally doing double the training of my team-mates. It did stand me in good stead later.

The key match of that year was when the team from Bishops School in Poona came to Bombay. It was an early morning match at the Bombay Gym. I had been warned of the lightening speed of their outside right Dudley (if I remember his name correctly).

Our team played brilliantly but we just were unable to score a goal. The ball never came to me right through the first half. All through the second half we kept pressing but did not get a goal.

It was just a few minutes before the end when, suddenly, Dudley broke loose on the right flank near their 25 yard line, left Jimmy standing and outstripped Arvind just past midfield. As I saw him reach the 25 yard line there was no one but me for him to beat. Normally, I would have charged to the top of the D to cover the angle, but seeing his speed and excellent ball control, I held my ground just advancing a few steps to reduce his shooting angle.

Dudley came hurtling toward the D and was in perfect control. I think he was surprised that I had not rushed out to meet him. As he entered the D, I made as if I was going to rush him but stopped dead a couple of steps in front of the goal-line. This prompted him strike the ball hard and fast into the left corner of the goal, thinking he would catch me while I was moving.

I do not know what made me put out my left leg. The ball smacked hard into the curve of my foot, just below the pad and stopped dead! I think I was more surprised than anyone else. I had been certain that he would try to dribble past me.

I kicked the ball slightly in front of me and hit it hard over of the sideline just as Dudley, looking for the rebound tumbled, on top of me.

There were cheers from all round the pitch. I knew my place for the next year was safe - though it was certainly not my skill!!

Those few seconds of the drawn match were the talking point of the entire school social that evening. The guys from Bishops were a great set of lads and we had a wonderful social that year.

Query from Arnav

This week I had a very nice letter from 91er Arnav Sheth (1980-1991) who sent me a message while holidaying in Bombay. He asked me a question as to whether I could confirm whether the School Song had been written by Rudyard Kipling.

I am afraid, sitting in this Arctic Wilderness, I could not get hold of much of the works of Rudyard Kipling. Maybe one of you knowledgeable Cathedralites could let me know who authored our School Song, and probably also post me the full version so that I can put it on a separate page for reference purposes!

Arnav mentioned that the institution where he studies at in the US, "Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, is regarded as a mini-Cathedral because at one point in time there were a total of 8 Cathedralites studying there at the same time."

It is great that there is a institution which supports Cathedralites to such an extent. Arnav mentioned that Lawrence is known for the aid it offers to Cathedralites. Arnav says that rumour has it that the Dean of financial aid has said that they almost always give aid to Bombayites (of which 90% are Cathedralites) as we, apparently, have the highest GPA amongst internationals.

Sorry, no room this week to tell you about my episode with Jesse Owens, so hopefully you will listen to that tale in the next installment.

Your Cathedralite friend,

Editor Jacob Matthan
Savage House Captain 1959
Oulu, Finland