Pushpa Shiri celebrates her 75th birthday

Happy 75th Birthday, dear Pushpa.

Many of you will remember Pushpa Shiri, wife of our much beloved Physics Teacher, William Shiri. Pushpa was also a teacher in the Girls School.



Today is Pushpa's 75th birthday. I have conveyed greetings on behalf of all 59ers to her.

Those of you who would like to directly send greetings to Pushpa, please do so to "Pushpa Shiri" (Replace at with @ symbol and leave no spaces before or after the symbol and the letters.)

Willie and Pushpa live in Toronto, Canada and have played host to many Cathedralites who have visited that city.

67ers plan their 40th year reunion

I had an email from a fellow 67er, Hira, who had seen a mention of 67er Shobha Jhunjunwalla (née Agarwal) on one of my web pages and asked to be connected to her.

I did connect them.

In return, Shobha sent me an email telling me that she was busy planning the 40th year reunion of their class on the 14th of November.

Some of the 67er bevy of beauties
at their 37th year reunion.

The last time the 67ers had a reunion, Shoba and Anita Watamull sent me some wonderful photographs, some of which I was able to put up in the 37th year Reunion page.

As we reflect on reunions, this last week my mind was drawn to one person who, with humour and dedication, brought together Cathedralites from all corners of the globe - my dear friend, the late 57er Behram Badhniwalla (aka Budhni).

Monday October 8th would have been his 66th birthday.

As the 57ers plan the final touches of their 50th Reunion programme, I am sure that all of them must be reflecting on the life and work of this wonderful human being that they must celebrate for getting them together the way are today.



My heart goes out to his wife, Carmelita. Budhni worshipped the ground she walked on.

May the spirit of Budhni reunite all Cathedralites in the common cause of dedicated service to their fellow men and women with a joyous smile on our faces.

Finland best for living?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the St. Stephen's College Kooler Talk Blog.

In a Readers Digest report just released titled Study says Finland best for living and which was covered by Reuters, caused Annikki and me to think about our combined life in India, Finland, Sweden, Germany and England over the last 60+ years.



This evening, we went to the Nallikari beach for Annikki to collect stones. (I just walk around doing some photography with my lousy camera) and help her carry the collection to the car!




The yellow, gold and red autumn leaves were strewn all around, truly beautiful.




The autumn sunset was glorious. It felt as if we were lifting off into space!

Looking at these photographs of today and the peacefulness that surrounded us on this beautiful autumn evening, maybe you and we can agree with what has been claimed in the report!

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and, despite the cold winters, Finland is the best country to live in, according to a Reader's Digest study released on Friday.

Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said.

My having lived here for the last 23+ years (of course, Annikki was born here and lived the first 18 years of her life here) makes it difficult for us to either agree or disagree with even this specific conclusion.

Annikki said that when we came to Finland there were several reports saying how unhealthy the tap water was in Finland as it was over-chlorinated. In her opinion, things have not improved since then.

She queries the validity of this report as the source of the data is not known to us. If it came from Government sources, then both of us agree that it is a load of bull!

Finns are great at creating a golden image like a beautiful polished apple, but remove the skin and we will find many worms gnawing away inside.

Many environmental activists also may not agree with this study done by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education (totally stereotyped) and income (low after high taxes without corresponding benefits).

When we look at education in Finland, there is nothing even coming close to the level of "education" provided by my alma maters, Bishop Cotton School (Bangalore), which had 7 playing fields for its student in its town centre campus, Cathedral and John Connon School (Mumbai) and St. Stephen's College (Delhi).

Incomes are certainly not high. Retained income is low. Savings are virtually non-existent.

But people feel they are rich because of the easy accessibility to long term low interest loans that enable them to enjoy their "own" homes and new cars and other material benefits!

But that is certainly not a reflection of the income standard in Finland.

Certainly, I do not drink anything but tap water. Annikki and many others tend to buy bottled water. Many go to bore well taps located around the city to collect their drinking water as they do not think the tap water is healthy.

My philosophy has always been that tap water contains all the germs and bacteria that our bodies require to build resistance to the local environment. Avoiding that diminishes our natural resistance.

It used to be said that India had the greatest advantage with regard to germ warfare as all the Indian Government had to do was export water from Calcutta!

My health over the last 23 years compared to most others I know in Finland proves my point of view. I have had no major or even minor illness during that time and never lost a day of work during my working life.

Mathew Kahn obviously did not meet the many thousands of Finns who suffer terrible allergies to dust, pollen, cat fur, dogs and many edible items as nuts, milk, etc. etc. Our grandson, Samuel, is a typical example - allergic to tens of things!

This is a direct consequence of a bad environment and living practices, so this would contradict his conclusions.



Finland is a great place to live if you follow the rules we have laid out in the book "Handbook For Survival in Finland" written by Annikki and me which was published in 1994.

But for others - life can be very very difficult on all fronts.

Our new Findians Google Group, which should go online in a few weeks, will tell you many of the pros and cons of working and living in Finland and the changes that have occurred during the last two decades.

So stay tuned!

Johnny in the news

I had this query from 49er Naval Patel in Mysore:

Ivo Tennant's account on Cricinfo of the Darrell Hair prosecution now in progress in London refers to "former England batsman" John Jameson "who was called for his expertise on the Laws of Cricket."

Would that be "our" John Jameson, and have you seen any mention of his official position which qualifies him as having expertise on the Laws of Cricket?

Jacob, have you got John on your roster?

Regards Naval

You can find aspects about this case mentioning John in this report cited by Naval at Darrell Hair tribunal, 3rd day: Reverse swinging in the court: Ivo Tennant in London: October 4, 2007

Here is a Profile of Johnny from CricInfo:

Full name John Alexander Jameson


Picture, courtesy John.

Born June 30, 1941, Byculla, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India
Current age 66 years 96 days
Major teams England, Warwickshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Fielding position Wicketkeeper
Other Umpire, Coach

John Jameson was a solidly-built opening batsman with a propensity to attack rather than defend, and who on his day was one of the cleanest hitters in English cricket. Add into that his brisk medium-pace bowling, a good slip fielder and, on occasion, a reliable stand-in wicketkeeper, and it was clear to see why he was so highly regarded at Warwickshire. His international opportunities were limited and were undone by his habit of being run-out - three of his first four innings ended that way, including the first instance of it happening to an England batsman twice in the same match. In the Caribbean in 1973-74 he top-edged the first ball he faced out there for six over the slips. In 1974 he featured in a world-record second-wicket stand of 465 with Rohan Kanhai, and the following summer was included in England's World Cup squad. He retired prematurely in 1976 to coach at Taunton School (his alma mater) before becoming a first-class umpire (1984-87) , Sussex's coach (1988) and then MCC's assistant secretary in 1989. As late as 1994 he was still playing for Warwickshire's Over-50 side, despite bad knees which left him with an increasingly rolling gait.
Martin Williamson

John is very qualified to comment as he served as an umpire between 1984 and 1988 in English first class cricket and was also the Assistant Secretary of the MCC. He is much respected in all cricketing circles.

John is a Savageite and was one of the outstanding sportsperson while at school. He would have been an international in any sport he chose.

I had a chance to play hockey, football and cricket alongside John. I especially remember one football game at the Oval where, between the three of us, my brother, Ranjit, John and myself, we turned certain defeat in a House Match into a victory due to John leading us from the front. He greatly encouraged my slow right arm leg spin bowling and gave me a sufficient time to get among the wickets. Even as a schoolboy his field placings are something I remember vividly. We won games because of how he handled us.

We Savageites missed him sorely when he left school to move to England?

Yes, John is on my roster.



I have this great picture of John submitted to me by one of his childhood friends, 57er Aubrey Ballantine, brother of the late 54er Pamela Ballantine (Pamela was awarded the MBE for services to race equality, London Borough of Redbridge in October 2000 just a few months before her sad demise).

And if you search through earlier entries of this blog you will find an appreciation of John's dad by 56er Ubi (HS Uberoi). John's father was a great friend of our school in more ways than one.

Two faces of sport in India

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanians Kooler Talk Blog.

Cathedral School Hockey side in 1959:
I am the goalkeeper!

I have always been a hockey player and enthusiast.

(My interest in hockey, especially to be a hockey goalkeeper started in 1952-53 when I was a 10 year old living in Bangalore. I used to live opposite the St, Joseph College Hostel and sports grounds.I had many friends studying in the college. One was a guy called Abe Tharakan. He was the hockey goalkeeper for the college. I used to watch the team train and watched all their games. Abe inspired me to take up the game and the position of goalkeeper after I moved to Bombay in 1954. Today, Abe and I are good friends and he runs a popular blog Song of the Waves - I repaid him by bringing him into the world of blogging at which he has become a real expert and writes beautifully!)

I played for the First XI of the school for two years. I played for St. Stephen's College, Delhi, till injury cut short my further prospects to play for the College, the University and higher. When I played for the College, I played alongside some of the future greats of Indian Hockey, with Arun Shourie as my Captain.
In London, I played for my college and then played in the trials for London University. Injury again kept me from progressing my hockey career.


Shrewsbury Town Hockey Team:
I am fourth from left.

Then when I started my professional career in Plastics at Shawbury Village near Shrewsbury Town, I played for the Town team regularly, first in my preferred spot in the goal and then as the centre half in the line up.

I loved to play hockey. Though I wanted to see good hockey, I never got to watch it on TV as it has never been a popular spectator sport to merit much TV time.

I love football equally, and though I played it at school, I never progressed much, as my love for hockey was over-powering. However, as it was on TV in England, I watched a lot of it and learnt much about strategy and the game from the hours spent in front of the box. The real highlight was watching such greats as the Portuguese wizard Eusebio and the Brazilian Pele along with the English household names of Bobby More and Charlton, with England winning the World Cup in 1966.

I used much of what I learnt of the sport from watching the best players on TV to help me manage youngsters getting into the sport. I became a master of strategy in a game that I hardly played, even though, if I had played, I would have progressed as far as I did in the sport of my choice.

I played many other sports as table tennis, badminton (right up to the age of 55). I was active in athletics. I enjoyed TV coverage, however limited of each of these sports. My last sporting exploits was when I skied for the first time in my life at the age of 57 and finished the 20 km course tearing every ligament in my body. And then at the same age I raised a crew of long boat rowers to row the 30+ kilometers from Muhos to Oulu.

I enjoyed my gym training doing as much as 2 hours of intensive gym work to ensure all my muscles were kept fit and also helping me to solve serious problems with my back and also avoiding operations on my knees.

Now at 65, I keep fit by walking whenever I can, sometimes as much as 20 km keeping my pulse rate at as high as possible for my age - 140 to 150 pulse beats per minute!

My interest in cricket was generated by the excellent radio commentary that I used to listen to when I was just 7 to 8 years old. England playing against Australia and the Commentary broadcast by Radio Australia and BBC were the starting point, later followed by following the fortunes of the Indian Cricket team with stars such as Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Ghulam Ahmed, Polly Umrigar, S.P. Gupte, Bapu Nadkarni. And we had some good Indian Commentators too, but some exasperating ones, as well.

I did not liked watching cricket on TV as the sponsors hogged so much of time that I hated sitting through the irritating ads. However, when the International Cavaliers played the Sunday afternoon 40 overs, with great names as Sobers, Lloyd and others showing their unbelievable poweress with bat and ball, as well their superb fielding, and with NO ads intervening, I really took to watching ad free cricket on TV.

What I could, however, not understand was the super star status given to the Indian Cricket players. Yes, they may have been good players, and Kapil Dev's team winning the World Cup certainly gave the players the boost.

But considering that the Indian Hockey side dominated the Olympic and World Hockey agenda for generations, I could never understand why they were never given the super star status of the cricketing counterparts. It was no wonder that Indian Hockey sunk into the toilet.

This year was no exception. The Indian Cricket team won the Twenty20 Cricket Tournament and the whole of India and the politicians have been all rolling over to be seen with the cricketers.

In the same period the Indian Hockey side won the Asian Hockey Tournament against major rivals, and it was difficult to even find this mentioned in the headline news.

The news that the State Bank of India was doing something to correct this by giving each hockey player in the winning side $ 12,500 for the world beating performance was news, but in comparison to what has been showered on the cricketers, the air coverage time, the print space given to each sport, it really makes my heart sink.

India can quickly produce the best hockey players of the calibre of Dyanchand if it wants. It can beat other world sides if the Indian side was given only walking sticks to play with. But when the sport and its players are treated so shoddily, can we ever expect the Indian Team to ever become the real world class they are capable of being!

On a final note. the commercialisation of sport where one has to pay money to hear a cricket commentary between two country sides, unlike the time when I was a small boy, will only destroy the sport in the long run.

Founders Week Programme

The Alumni Association has just sent me the programme for Founders Week this November:

November 2007 - Founders Week Schedule

Sunday November 11th, 2007

10 to 11:30 am Tee Off - Alumni Golf Tournament (includes present students) at Willingdon Club followed by a high tea and prize giving ceremony.

Wednesday November 14, 2007

9:00 am to 10:00am - Founders Day Church Service at St. Thomas' Cathedral
10:15 AM onwards - Cricket Match - Old Boys V/s Present Students at Bombay Gym
10:30 AM to 11:30am - Founders Day Tea and Alumni Association General Body Meeting at the Middle School & Release of the new Alumni Association Magazine

Friday November 16, 2007

8:30PM onwards - Founders Day Dinner & Dance at the Blue Sea, Worli Seaface, AG Khan Road Worli, Mumbai

Contact Information

Sponsorships - Rajiv Bhatia - rajiv@catalumni.com - HelpDesk 99203-21463
Cricket Match - Sanjay Shah - 98210-15871
Golf Tournament - Akshay Kilachand - akshaykilachand@hotmail.com - 98210-27000
Dinner Event & Branding -Gopika Saran -98195-13698
Decor - Nazneen Gamadia - 98200-45100
Magazine - Sunaina Murty - sunaina001@hotmail.com - 98190-75553

Dinner Dance Donor Passes:

Chitra Rajkumar 22-23519897
Shyla Boga shyla_boga@yahoo.com
Rohita Doshi doshi.rohita@gmail.com
Sonal Modi 98201-84762
Radhika Shums 98702-04615
SoulKurry Art Point Gallery, Gr. Fl., Chowpatty, Mumbai 7 (11am to 6pm)
Rhythm House Kala Ghoda,Mumbai 1 (11am to 6pm)

All queries to Rita Vaswani
Administrative Help Desk
catalumni_helpdesk@yahoo.com
99203-21463

I have also received two files, one which speaks of Sponsorship Opportunities for the Founders Day Dinner and the other which offers advertisement space in the Magazine which will be released at the time of Founders Day and will have a circulation of around 5000 alumni.

Contact me and I will send you these files.

I need volunteers who will attend the various events and rush me digital pictures for this Blog.

As you know "Seventh Heaven" is one of the oldest established web sites for our school and serves our alumni in all six continents. I have been pushing the nostalgia button for over 10 years. I have helped various years organise their reunions and have carried pictures and reunion reports of many of them.

Your help in getting the news out to those who are unable to be present in Mumbai at that time would be greatly appreciated.

Acknowledgements for all material contributed will be given.

57er Reunion Programme

Here is what all of you have been waiting for. The letter from the Chairperson of your 50th Year Reunion Committee:

Reunion week – Cat ‘57

Hi Everybody !!

This message comes to you from our Beautiful Bombay !!

We have been working towards finalizing the programme for our Reunion Week. Many suggestions have come in from various classmates, and we thank you for your interest and enthusiasm, which we are sure will really bubble over when we meet in November.

Programme: One of the main suggestions that came from many of you was that the official functions stretching over seven days would leave little time for people to get together in smaller groups with your closest classmates, many of whom you would be meeting after 5 decades. After a lot of discussion, we finally decided to merge the dinner planned for Monday November 12 with the dinner on Wednesday November 14, reducing the official programme to six days.

We do know that many of you have planned your arrivals according to the original programme, but as so many have said, it will give you all an opportunity to touch base with each other on Monday 12th and also to catch up on your memories of the Bombay you knew.

Attached is the final programme summary. Timing of each function and some final venues will be confirmed later. Apart from the lunch on 14th Nov, which is for classmates only, your spouses are invited to all the other functions.

Function hosts will also be inviting Cathedralites they know well from other years.

Church service : Since the school can only reserve a limited number of seats for our class, we would all need to arrive early to be sure of getting seats. If not, we are all still young enough to stand if we have to !

Class Photo : All the “boys” should bring a jacket for the photo.

Catalumni Function : Everybody would need to communicate directly with the Alumni Association about their participation in this function on Friday. The details would be available on the Alumni website. It will be fun for you to catch up with Cathedralites from different years, so do join in. We hear last year's event was a big blast.

Budget : There is now only one contributory function, the lunch (for classmates only) at the Bombay Gym on November 14. The expenses for this lunch, together with other expenses to be incurred for the souvenir book, photographer, photo discs and other incidentals are estimated at Rs 1500 per classmate.

Dharini (Bhogilal) Anand has been appointed as Treasurer for collection of funds, her tel no is + 91 22 2281 3353. Those who live in Bombay are requested to give the money to her after 15 October, as she is currently out of town. Those who are arriving from out of Bombay or from overseas can give her the money on arrival in Bombay. If any funds are left over after the accounts are completed, it is felt that we should donate it to the school for an appropriate use.

Participation Form : Many of you have already sent in your RSVPs on the website created by Billoo Bhatnagar and some of you have sent it in various e-messages.

Unfortunately, the website has run into glitches (as many websites tend to do !). Also, Billoo had some surgery recently. He is much better now, but unable to sort out the glitches. We, therefore, request you all to send your RSVPs again, and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but we do need it asap to put the numbers together for each function.

To make it simple, we have attached a participation / contact form - pl fill in the number of people attending each of the functions (keeping in mind that the Lunch on 14th November is only for classmates) and mail to avantico@bom4.vsnl.net.in - even if you are not participating at all, please do send us the completed form.

Once again, apologies for asking you to repeat this exercise, but all of you would have had your own experience of website glitches and how they can mess life up !

Best wishes from all of us in Bombay, we will be in touch with further info.

Pramila

I have set up special web pages of the PROGRAMME and the PARTICIPATION FORM that Pramila had sent by email. But she informed me that many emails bounced.

You can see, either by clicking on this link, the detailed PROGRAMME or by visiting this URL:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=djgrxzs_4ff4bvm

You can see, either by clicking this link, the PARTICIPATION FORM or by going to this URL:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=djgrxzs_3fzw6hq

Please act fast to remove the suspense of the Organising Committee who have done a grand job of getting this far.