Budget Battleground

This post is made in three of my blogs as it of interest to all my readers of Jacob's Blog, and more specifically the readers of my Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School Blog, Seventh Heaven, and readers of the Stephanian Blog, Kooler Talk (Web Version).

I apologize for this multi-blog posting, as many of you are readers of all the three blogs!

Budget Battleground was  event that took place against the backdrop of my alma mater, St. Stephen's College, beautifully lit in the background, had a selected audience of young economists from Delhi School of Economics, Shri Ram College and St. Stephen's College, three of the many premier colleges in Delhi.

The anchorman was NDTV Managing Director, Dr. Prannoy Roy, who was connected with another good friend, great economist with tremendous wit, the person who turned around Doordarshan in the late eighties and early nineties and then went on to head Rupert Murdoch's Star TV and then his own channel, Broadcast Worldwide Ltd.,  and also a Stephanian, 61er/63er Rathikant Basu.

This is from the Wikipedia entry for NDTV Managing Director, Prannoy Roy:

Controversy

On 20 January 1998 Central Bureau of Investigation filed cases against New Delhi Television (NDTV) managing director Prannoy Roy, former Director General of Doordarshan R Basu and five other top officials of Doordarshan under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the CBI charge-sheet, Doordarshan suffered a loss of over Rs 3.52 crore due to the “undue favours” shown to NDTV as its programme The World This Week (TWTW) was put in `A’ category instead of `special A’ category

The two in the hot seats were 63er Montek Singh Alhuwalia, who was very much present in St. Stephen's College during my three years there, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen (difficult to say whether he is an Indian or Bangladeshi as both countries have laid claim to him).

One can never forget 63er Montek, not for his knowledge, but for the unique way he wore his turban and certain mannerisms (the nervous laugh when he knows what he is saying is not what he believes), which have not changed, even as of today. The way he argued a point was always from a point that he could not be wrong, although many times, he was and is!

I give below three extract from the autobiography of Amartya Sen (Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1998). In these extracts you will see the mention of a name - Mumbai Cathedral School 59er Sudhir Anand, my classmate who is Professor of Economics at both Oxford and Harvard, a brilliant economist and undoubtedly a brain who influenced Amartya Sen considerably more than a three time  mention in his autobiography.

59er Sudhir was from our Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School. Although unable to make it top our 50th year reunion in 2009, he was very much there in spirit.

"I was also fortunate to have colleagues who were working on serious social choice problems, including Peter Hammond, Charles Blackorby, Kotaro Suzumura, Geoffrey Heal, Gracieda Chichilnisky, Ken Binmore, Wulf Gaertner, Eric Maskin, John Muellbauer, Kevin Roberts, Susan Hurley, at LSE or Oxford, or neighbouring British universities. (I also learned greatly from conversations with economists who were in other fields, but whose works were of great interest to me, including Sudhir Anand, Tony Atkinson, Christopher Bliss, Meghnad Desai, Terence Gorman, Frank Hahn, David Hendry, Richard Layard, James Mirrlees, John Muellbauer, Steve Nickel, among others.) I also had the opportunity of collaboration with social choice theorists elsewhere, such as Claude d'Aspremont and Louis Gevers in Belgium, Koichi Hamada and Ken-ichi Inada in Japan (joined later by Suzumura when he returned there), and many others in America, Canada, Israel, Australia, Russia, and elsewhere). There were many new formal results and informal understandings that emerged in these works, and the gloom of "impossibility results" ceased to be the only prominent theme in the field. The 1970s were probably the golden years of social choice theory across the world. Personally, I had the sense of having a ball.

From social choice to inequality and poverty

The constructive possibilities that the new literature on social choice produced directed us immediately to making use of available statistics for a variety of economic and social appraisals: measuring economic inequality, judging poverty, evaluating projects, analyzing unemployment, investigating the principles and implications of liberty and rights, assessing gender inequality, and so on. My work on inequality was much inspired and stimulated by that of Tony Atkinson. I also worked for a while with Partha Dasgupta and David Starrett on measuring inequality (after having worked with Dasgupta and Stephen Marglin on project evaluation), and later, more extensively, with Sudhir Anand and James Foster."

 

Later he says in his autobiography:

"During my Harvard years up to about 1991, I was much involved in analyzing the overall implications of this perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy (this is reported in my book, Inequality Reexamined, published in 1992). But it was also very nice to get involved in some new problems, including the characterization of rationality, the demands of objectivity, and the relation between facts and values. I used the old technique of offering courses on them (sometimes jointly with Robert Nozick) and through that learning as much as I taught. I started taking an interest also in health equity (and in public health in particular, in close collaboration with Sudhir Anand), a challenging field of application for concepts of equity and justice. Harvard's ample strength in an immense variety of subjects gives one scope for much freedom in the choice of work and of colleagues to talk to, and the high quality of the students was a total delight as well. My work on inequality in terms of variables other than incomes was also helped by the collaboration of Angus Deaton and James Foster.

Readers of Seventh Heaven will remember how I have written about Sudhir and the Nobel Prize awarded to Amartya Sen!

The discussion was lack lustre. Montek took the view that he could not discuss the Budget (the whole point of the programme) and gave no real answer for the blazing question how the poor of India had not improved their lot during the time he has been at the head of the Planning Commission. (At one point he says "We have said, the Government has said,…." )

Montek minced  words as only a political chamcha can do!

Roy was not hard-hitting in his position as Anchorman. He was being pleasant to his guests!!

Amartya Sen was his own self and wanted to be nice to everyone.

Not a receipe for a successful  discussion, but for me, being in the setting of our beautiful college was good enough to sit through the 45 minute discussion!

Anyway, it was good to be away from the depressing media coverage of our hallowed institution which has been plaguing us for almost half a decade!

Your very first day at school

Some join a school in the KG, some join somewhere along the way.

How many of you remember your very first day at school? Cathedral School!

I remember that I joined school in the 6th Standard in 1954. I had shifted from Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore, which had a different system. I had been promoted from the 4th to the 5th Standard, which was equivalent to the 7th Standard in Bombay.

Mr, Bernard Gunnery was the Principal. I went for an interview. My cousin, Peter, was in the 7th Standard, being a few months younger to me. Also Peter's brother, Sen, had been the Best Academic Student in 1953. So it was Peter's father, Mr. K. M. Philip (now 97, attending office daily, and still playing bridge daily at the Willingdon and also occasionally playing a hole or two of Golf ), who accompanied me and my dad, to see Mr. Gunnery.

For some reason, which Mr. Gunnery explained, there was absolutely no room in Standard 7, so I would have to drop a year and be in Standard 6.

My parents were not very happy, but I was quite oblivious to the implications of dropping a year, except that I was a bit disappointed that I would not be with my cousin, Peter, who was a great friend.

So, I joined in Standard 6 in the first week of February 1954.

It could not have turned out better, as I probably walked into the best ever class our school has produced - the 59ers!

But that is another story.

When I arrived at school on my first day with my dad, I was welcomed by Mr. Timmins, the Class Teacher, who later became a dear family friend. My dad did not stay more than a couple of minutes as he saw I was quite happy and he knew I was an extrovert and would make friends quickly. The class was next door to the Physics Laboratory. (The hidden Chapel was not discovered at that time!)

Mr. Timmins was a wonderful person. He sat down and talked to me explaining to me that dropping a year was not going to be a problem as I would probably find all the stuff very easy and I would be able to fit into the class quickly.

He got me a seat right in the centre of the room. I cannot remember who was my neighbour, but within 5 minutes, I was part and parcel of the class in all respects. After the attendance register, we were off to Assembly and I was fully part of the school and my class!

Mr. Timmins took special interest in getting me adjusted. He fired arithmetic questions at me which he knew were simple, as I had already studied them the previous year in Bangalore. This was a real ice breaker, as the other kids did not know that I had dropped a year.

The biggest disappointment was to learn that the school had no playing fields. In Bangalore we had almost 10 pitches - one for each XI!

But I was told by Mr. Timmins that sports was compulsory and that we would be playing sports at different pitches.

On the very first day we were taken to the CCI, where we were told to practice for the School Athletic meet. I was good at High Jump and soon showed my talents, crossing the bar at 4', more than any other classmate! But I was over-shadowed by my elder brother, who was a good high jumper and long jumper. He jumped 4' 3" and later set te record. Although I had been All Round Sports Champion in Bangalore, and had won a few medals and cups, I was not a good runner. But that did not stop me from attempting everything, as my mom's philosophy was to teach us to try everything and do our best!

But being at the CCI with many of my classmates quickly broke the ice as I was immediately part of the sports group as well.

I do remember that when I had sat down with Mr. Timmins that morning, he told me that I had been placed in Savage House, for which he was the House Master. I was glad, as in Bangalore I was in Pettigrew House, whose colours were Green and Black. So I had retained the Green in Savage.

From Cathedral School, Mumbai

So started a wonderful 6 years in Cathedral School where everyone of our class became dear friends. I was not a brilliant student, but a very average one, just enough to get  First Class in the Senior Cambridge Exams. (Ashok Kapur and I both got 15 points to get First Classes!)

Life in school was full and varied. I played all the sports for my House, even attempting the impossible tennis. I was in the Church Choir, I took part in the School Operas a couple of years, was School Hockey Goalkeeper for two years running, And in 1959 I became Savage House Captain, crowning my wonderful years there. (I am second from the right in te photograpgh above.)

But yet, that first day in Cathedral School where I made so many friendships which have lasted for the last 56 years, are still is fresh in my memory! Thank you School! Thank you Mr. Timmins!

Having played cricket, football and hockey with Johnny...

I was so pleased when Naval sent me a link to CricInfo mentioning that there was an article about John Jameson. I did not immediately find the article, but then I entered his name into their search engine. It turned up two Jamesons, one from South Africa and the other JA Jameson from England.

There was a nice short profile about his career and statistical details about his cricketing career in the UK.

Profile

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
Copyright CricInfo

At the end of the article there was a link to a more recent article From Byculla to The Oval, and back by Nagraj Gollapudi datelined December 3, 2009.

Not much new in the article except it did mention that he had studied at our school.

I remember John very well. He was just two years senior to me and also in Savage House. I remember him playing hockey, football and cricket with me in the House Competitions. He was an absolutely natural sportsman, very much like another Savageite, Roger Cloy, several years younger to us.

I wonder whatever has happened to Roger? 

I had just arrived from Bangalore. Both my brother and I were good sportsmen and very fit as we had had the opportunity of the daily compulsory games at Bishop Cottons school, a school blessed with almost a dozen pitches in the school compound! 

In one football match at the Oval, we Savageites were being given a bit of a rough time against another House, when Johnny called my brother and me at half time and worked out a new strategy. It meant playing the game, holding the ball more to ourselves rather than just kicking it wildly around. 

I seem to remember that whatever he suggested worked and we managed to draw that game.

Johnny had complimented my leg spin bowling during the cricket season. As my brother was Captain of the House team, John had persuaded him to give me rather a lengthy spell in one House match where I did manage to get some important wickets without giving away too many runs.

However, my first love had always been hockey. I do not remember actually playing with Johnny in any match, as I think he had left school to go somewhere else (Sherwood College, Nanital?) during my first serious hockey season in Cathedral.

My links to Johnny were rekindled when the 57ers planned their 50th year reunion. Thanks to the late Budhni, Johnny sent me a couple of pictures of himself and his family. These are available in some earlier blog entry.

I am sure if Johnny had decided to play any sport for India he would have done marvellously as the surroundings always suited him, just like they had suited his dad in that country.

56er Ubi remembers much about Johnny and his family. I do not know whether he has had the opportunity to renew contact with his family friend after all these years!

Kitty Kitty

Recently I had a request from a 69er through a 67er as to a game called "kitty kitty" that we used to play in school.

I had vague memories about it, so I circulated the question to my 59er colleagues through our Google Group.

In a flash came the reply from David Colaco who lives in England.

Here is how he described kitty kitty:

One team bent down in the form of a long horse against a wall or similar non moveable object. The other team ran one at a time and jumped on the line of boys bent down in the form a long horse. They tried to jump and land heavily trying hard to collapse the horse.

Once all the boys had jumped on the horse, they, (led by captain of the team on top) shouted kitty kitty kitty and the captain put a number of fingers up.

The team heavily laden had to guess the number. Only after they had guessed it correctly they had a chance to reverse roles.

I believe 3 guesses were only given or else the team on top had another go at running and collapsing the horse!

I did remember most of the game except the bit about the number guessing.

Thank you David for explaining the game - and I do remember it was great fun.

The second question is whether it was a free time game or was it one we played during PT! I sort of remember it being a PT game!

59ers meet as a tribute to our classsmate

In Mumbai, our Class of 59 met at the Bombay Gymkhana to remember our dear felled friend, Ashok. The group pictures of those who attended (mostly 59ers and their spouses) have just reached me. But a few close friends from other years did join, keeping 59er Armeane Choksi's message of "be inclusive" alive. (Shivi has mistakenly ascribed that phrase "be inclusive, not exclusive" to me!)

(My apologies for the small text underthe photographs, so I have given the text again as part of the blog.)



57er Ratan Batliwalla, 59er Elijah Elias (Ooky), 59er Ashok Ruia, 59er Trevor Newnes, Rivca Elias (w/o Ooky), 59er Ramesh Mirchandani, 60er Rashida Anees (née Kajiji), 60er Meher (nèe Tata), 53er M. Anees, 59er Renuka Batliwalla (née Dhanrajgir), 59er Venkat Kurma, 59er Piloo Tata (née Dastur), 59er Vikram Singh, 65er Nina Shivdasani, 59er Ratan Singara, 60er Suchita Shivdasani (née Assomull; w/o Shivi), 59er Vijay Shivdasani (Shivi), Anu Kurma (w./o Venkat), 59er Jangoo Moos, 60er Poornima Sethi (née Mazumdar; w/o Viney Sethi), 59er Vikram Kamdar, 57er Lata Bakhle (s/o late 59er Pradeep Bahkle) (Inset: 59er Hasnain Chinwala). Photograph by Hasnain Chinwala



60er Poornima Sethi (née Mazumdar; w/o Viney Sethi), 57er Ratan Batliwalla, 59er Ashok Ruia, 59er Viney Sethi, 59er Vijay Nayar, 59er Elijah Elias (Ooky), Rivca Elias (w/o Ooky), 59er Trevor Newnes, 59er Ramesh Mirchandani, 60er Rashida Anees (née Kajiji), 53er M. Anees, 59er Renuka Batliwalla (née Dhanrajgir), 59er Piloo Tata (née Dastur), 59er Venkat Kurma, 65er Nina Shivdasani, 60er Suchita Shivdasani (née Assomull; w/o Shivi), 57er Lata Bakhle (s/o late 59er Pradeep Bakhle), 59er Vijay Shivdasani (Shivi), 59er Ratan Singara, 59er Vikram Kamdar (Inset: 59er Hasnain Chinwala). Photograph by Hasnain Chinwala

In Oulu, some of the senior Indian Residents - of course, I am the seniormost, held a short meeting where we maintained a two minute silence period in memory of those who had fallen in Mumbai. A few talked about the tragedy. One had been through the bombing in matunga. I spoke but it was through tears when I told about our dear Ashok. But the very act of expressing the grief gave me strength, a strength that I pray will be with those near and dear to Ashok - like all those 59ers and some of other years in school who were close with him.

Remember that today evening is the memorial for all our Cathedralites who went through this tragedy. Be there.

Two important messages from Mumbai

53er Pushpa Bhatia (née Dongersee) sent me this Notice:



The second is an email from our Alumni Webmaster:

The Cathedral & John Connon Alumni Association

Mumbai
December 8, 2008

Dear Friend,

We mourn with Mumbai and the country as we struggle to come to grips with the tragic loss of lives in the city on November 26, 2008. No segment of society was left unscathed in the most brutal and heart-rending attacks on Victoria Terminus, Nariman House, the Leopold Cafe and the Taj and Oberoi/Trident hotels.

The Alumni Association is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our very own Ashok Kapur (Palmer '59; brother of 53er Satish, 56er Pramila and 64er Anil aka Billy), Sanjay Agarwal (Wilson '77; son of 49er Vijay Ram) and Sunil Parekh (Savage '81).

The tragic loss for the Cathedral family extends to the unthinkable - one of our young students, Udayveer Kang lost his life in the attacks as did his little brother, Samar Singh who was about to enter the Cathedral fold. Bereaved students and alumni, Karan and Nakul Agarwal, Anandita and Arundati Parekh, Vaibhav Garg, Armaan Harjani, Sanjana and Sarjan Shah, Nairika and Arshan Maloo and Radhika Bhatt, have lost either one or both their parents. Our students have also said their final goodbye to an outstanding former teacher, Mrs. Rupinder Randhawa, who taught biology and environmental science in the school for several years.

For them and their families words will be of little comfort but they do have our deepest sympathy in this, their darkest hour.

At this exceedingly difficult time, emotions have been running high in Mumbai, and citizens are surging forward to help create a more secure future for India. Among these efforts are those by Cathedral alumni to provide counselling services for affected children, provide supplies to lower income hospitals, to lobby for political accountability, mobilise public opinion and much more.

The Alumni Association has created a platform for you at www.catalumni.com/voices.asp where you can garner support for your initiative and help channelise this emotion and energy, browse listings to see how you can help, read through ideas and opinions, or simply reconnect with a long-lost school friend at this painful time in our history.

Let us alumni be there for every stratum of society in a positive and sensitive manner, in the age-old tradition of the true Cathedralite.

The Executive Committee

Memorial Service on 10th December for the lost lives on 26/11

The School will be holding a Memorial Service for those children, parents and alumni who lost their lives in the tragic events of November 26th.

Date: Wednesday 10th, December 2008.
Time: 5.30 p.m.
Venue: The Cathedral Senior School Quadrangle.

Please try and be there.

May I also request every single one of you who can get there to be PLEASE there.

Unwanted tragedy and our Open Obituary

Ashok Kapur
Born 19th April 1943, Died November 2008
The funeral will be held at Bainganga at the end of Walkeshwar Rd towards the Govs residence, Mumbai today 29 Nov at 4 pm.

Dearest Madhu,

As the world wakes up this morning, Annikki and I cry with you, dearest Madhu.



For the past 48 hours or more, ever since 59er Shivi (Retired Captain Vijay Shivdasani) wrote to me that a “friend” was missing in the Mumbai episode, and a few hours later, 59er Ooky (Elijah Elias) told me that the “friend” was our most dearest and precious 59er Ashok, Annikki and I have been in constant prayer for him, you and your entire family.

Ashok was the first of my “friends” that Annikki met in 1964 in London. Since then Ashok was never just a “friend” to Annikki, as she knew that bond that existed between us 59ers was not just a friendship but something much deeper and closer than even a brotherhood.

When I started the Seventh Heaven Web page, a few months later, our very dearest 59er Bala (Bala Parasuraman) died in a kidney transplant operation, Annikki and I dedicated our web effort to bring together a group of people around the world who had more in common than just being the Class of 59.

What I write here today is, not just of the thoughts of Annikki and me, but people across the world who are feeling the deep sense of grief that we know you and your family are going through at this instant, as we are, with you, part of that FAMILY.

I did not start our Seventh Heaven Blog or Google Group to send out sad news such as this. But with the passing of Ashok, I have to use this medium to communicate across the globe and shout into the vast Universe - please God let this senseless killing stop.

Madhu, Annikki and I are socio-political animals as we fight, peacefully with the power of the pen, for justice.

On March 31st 2003, when the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the U.S.-led war on Iraq would produce "one hundred new bin Ladens", driving more Muslims to anti-Western militancy, he did not tell us that it would result in the death and destruction of innocent lives of many non-Westerners around this globe. He did not tell us that it was OUR innocent brothers and sisters that would be destroyed by a gangs of people, organised armies and unorganised armies, both terrorists, who hide behind a facade of political viewpoints of their choosing, and ethnicity, religion, colour, caste and creed, to cause the pain and suffering to you and us.

As Annikki and I drove out of a supermarket about 12 hours ago, 59er Ooky called me and informed Annikki and me that one of our dearest brothers had lost his life in the Mumbai terrorist attack. His voice was shaking with the deep emotion and pain that he was going through as he asked me to relay this news around this globe. I cried and Annikki cried as we sat in our parked car and understood the pain that you and your family and all of us would go through as we faced this horrible reality.

Ashok Kapur, born 19th April 1943, was a leading member of the 59ers. He and I were appointed Prefects in Cathedral School already in the 10th Standard. Cricket wicket-keeper for the school as well as playing as inside left in our school hockey team, Ashok was also a good badminton player. As a friend of his who was playing badminton with him recently said, Ashok was still a good player!

Ashok was a wizard with numbers and with people, which was why he went into banking. Although coming from different parents, we were twins in many ways, not just because we are both Arians!



Ashok’s entire family was like my family just as much as he was part of ours. The Marine Drive house was more than home to me as both Ashok’s parents would greet me, and all of us his classmates, with broad smiles and open arms, a glass of juice, and something sweet, whenever we even dropped in casually. Sister Pramila’s home was open house to me when I was studying in Delhi.

Ashok was the contact for me with my 95 year old uncle, Mr. K. M. Philip, (father of 53er Sen Philip and 58er Peter Philip), your next door neighbour in Petit Hall on Napean Sea Road. Every year, on Mr. Philip's birthday, Ashok would do me the favour of dropping in to wish my uncle and report back to me on his health. This personal relationship was deeply valued by every member of my extended family as they saw Ashok and you, not just as neighbours to Mr. and Mrs. Philip, but as our eyes and ears in the life of our uncle.

Madhu, you had a miraculous escape and we thanked God for that even as we prayed and prayed constantly for the safe return of Ashok. But with each passing hour we knew in our hearts, and as many of us kept a prayer vigil across this globe, that we had lost one of our most beloved brothers.

It is difficult to write the Obituary of such a dear friend as every word brings back memories and the tears gush from the eyes. I have started this several times but stopped as each word has a depth of emotion in my heart that makes it impossible for me to convey the grief that is there.

Who would have thought that our Ashok will not be there at our 50th Reunion next year? His passing has redoubled my intention to bring together every 59er and his / her family so that we be together for a short while and know each other as Ashok and I knew each other.

But he was present at this year’s Founders Day Cathedral Church Service representing our 59ers. He was there at an event that evening and as 57er Bhupinder Singh Anand and School Captain of us 59ers in 1959, put it to me when he asked me to convey his grief to you and your family, he told me how Ashok had modestly said to him that he was “the founder of YES Bank.”

Dear Jacob,

I am distressed to just learn from a flash message on TV that Ashok Kapur, Chairman of Yes Bank, was slain in the terrorist attack on the Taj.

Please convey my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues through your network, who have been anxiously seeking news of his whereabouts and welfare through the police helplines over the last 24 hours.

I embraced him warmly - alas too briefly - at the Class of 1958 dinner at the Joss a couple of weeks back, with a feeling of pride at his self-made achievements in life, as he modestly informed me that he was the founder Chairman of Yes bank.

Bhupinder Singh Anand

Ashok started his career in banking at the very bottom, attending the National Grindlays Banking School in London. He used to live in the Bank Student Quarters in Blackheath in deep south London. I would visit him there regularly. He would also often travel up to north London to meet up with me, just to gup shup about “things”.

Even after leaving school we stayed in close touch, visiting each other and staying with each other whenever we visited the city where the other lived. On one of my rare visits to Calcutta, I remember him as the Branch Manager in a Grindlays bank when he took me there to show me the unopened computers the Union had not permitted to be used.

When he was in Delhi, I had many choices as to where to stay - Ashok being one who would always insist that I stay with him. As he said in a recent email, when he was late in acknowledging my birthday greetings as he had been away in Dubai, we were both Arians. Whenever I visited Delhi we would meet for lunch in Connaught Place when he was the Branch manaager there. In Bombay i would visit him in the Flora Fountain Branch when he was going through his most troubling time in his bank career as he stood on HIS principles and suffered the consequences, happily! Probably only you, Madhu, and I know those details as it spurred him to even greater heights and greater success in his fabulous banking career!

Although I have conveyed our deep feeling of personal bereavement to you and children through Ooky, this open letter to you comes not only from Annikki and me but every member of the Class of 59. I know that I do not need to ask their permission to include them in my signature!

Annikki and I have been numbed by the impact of this news as we grieve one of our dearest friends. I am sure that every person who knew Ashok will also claim that he was their dearest friend - as that was the very emotion that Ashok evoked in everyone. That was why he was the successful banker!

One not need look further than the last mini-reunion which was held in Mumbai to reunite our class with Trevor Newnes - which was hosted graciously by you and Ashok at your residence. Ashok wrote to me to tell me that he had missed Annikki and me there and thanked me for bringing us 59ers together.

Madhu, I could write a volume of our personal relationship but this may not be the time and place. As we go through this sleepless night I will put together my photographic record of Ashok which spans the 54 years of our relationship when he sat next to me in Mr. Timmin’s 6th Standard on the first floor and welcomed me to the happiest days of my life in our Cathedral School.

The Class of 59 will remember all our departed friends this coming November.

I am sure that Ashok will be there amongst us in spirit and we will all honour him together.

Madhu, Ashok was not alone in passing as we also ask all our friends to remember another greatly loved Cathedralite teacher, Mrs. Roopinder Randhawa, who lost her life at the Taj Hotel. Along with tributes to Ashok which have poured into my email Inbox, I have had many remembering this wonderful teacher, whom I did not know, but now know was in many respects like Ashok - dedicated to those around them.

Madhu, the tears have not stopped flowing in this Arctic wintry location. It is just past 4 am, 12 hours since Ooky informed me. In those 12 hours there has not been a second where I have not had Ashok and all of you in my mind.

Dearest Madhu, Annikki and I pray that his soul will rest in peace.

Your friends in deep shock,

Annikki and Jacob
Along with every single member of the class of 59

Thank you Deepak

During the last year I have made many new friends from our alumni. One such has been 64er Deepak Deshpande who I realised is a great organiser. He was introduced to me by 49er Yezad Kapadia, who has been in communication with Deepak for organising Delhi Reunions.

Deepak is a wonderful person as he just picks up the phone and calls you, just to say "Hello". He is my kind of man!

Last Friday, he called me and we spoke for a few minutes. But an another incoming call on my mobile made me cut short our conversation. However, I called back a few minutes later and had a great conversation with him including news of the latest reunion of Delhi Cathedralites which was well attended including one of our 59ers, Vijay Nayar.

During our conversation, Deepak mentioned that he had spoken with Mr. Jagdish Pande, and that he was at a Cathedralites office in Mumbai till 1 pm almost every working day. Deepak passed on the phone number.

I have been in close touch with Willie Shiri and his wife, Pushpa, and also Chris Hammill. Mr. O. A. Gregory is on my mailing list, but unfortunately he is not much of an email communicator. I am also in touch with Mr. John Billington. Thanks to the 54ers, William Patel has also been added to my list of staff members.

As we discussed our former teachers, Deepak was all praise for them. But I had a little more to add. It was thanks to the preparedness of our teachers, Mr. W. H. Thompson and Mr. Arthur Morecroft that I am this computer writing this blog entry! I have much more than most to owe to our Cathedralite Staff, as what more can one say when one owes one's life to them.

I was overjoyed at getting Mr. Pande's phone contact that soon after my talk with Deepak, I rang the phone number given. Within a few seconds I was on the line with Mr. Pande himself.

I do not think he recalled who this insignificant person from the 50's was. However, he was happy to receive my call.

I told him the story of how I was his very worst pupil as far as Marathi was concerned. My good friend, 59er Viney Dabholkar offered to help. On Saturday mornings I would go to his palatial apartment at Horniman Circle to study Marathi. But our Marathi lessons soon turned into Billiard sessions. So I still got ZERO in Marathi!

When I recounted this to Mr. Pande this, he was greatly amused. Billiards in Marathi!



Mr. Pande did recall many other 59ers as Ashok Kapur, Vijay Nayar, Viney Sethi, as we had all been under Mr. Pande in our 1959 Hockey XI (picture above).

Mr. Jagdish Pande will be 79 years this October. I hope that I can reach India early enough in 2009, when we have our 59ers 50th year Reunion, to celebrate the 80th birthday of a great Cathedralite teacher.

Old Bombay Project

At my instigation we had planned an Old Bombay Photo Project which involved the joint effort of Mumbai-ite 56er Ubi and Toronto-ian 59er Hasnain Chinwalla when the later was on a visit to India.

Unfortunately, just at the time, Ubi was unwell and we have that project on hold.

However, that did not stop Hasnain from doing some shooting on his own.

He just posted a couple of pictures on our 59er Google Group which I had to share with the wider Seventh Heaven world.

This is the context in Hasnain's words:

Hi Guys,

I am currently in New Jersey, and came across a book titled 'Bombay - The Cities Within' by Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra. It contains some fabulous pictures of old Bombay, that remind me of the fabulous pictures on the walls at Viney Sethi's house in Alibaug, as well as the same type of pictures in Ubi's flat on A Road.

I got a big surprise when I came across this picture that I have attached.

I wonder how many of you were aware of this 'fact'.

I am also attaching another picture of the same building that I took in Jan 2008.

(Please ignore the text about Wilson College, Chowpatty, as this was cut out from the shot.)



Oriental Buildings, Flora Fountain in 2008:



From my archives I am adding two pictures.

The first is the oldest picture I have of our present school from 1890. I wonder when it moved from the now Oriental Building? That part of the history that it was OUR School Building was definitely missing from my records.



The second is Flora Fountain in 1952, but sadly not the view I would have liked to have here!



My mouth waters at the quality of Hasnain's photography as his composition and photo quality are what I strive to attain, but I am nowhere near that level.

Now that I have my new digital I am certainly going to have better quality pictures on the Blog, but it will be a far cry from the work of my correspondent! :-)

I am waiting for Hasnain's inputs from his recent trip to India as I am sure he has some great shots to share with you.

Please send me your best photographs of the school and its history for my November 2009 multi media project. You too can be part of this effort.

Thanks, Hasnain, for this great input. Without you this BLOG would be drab!