A tribute to late 47er Farrokh Mehta

 I am well on the way to organising the 65th Reunion of our Class of 59.

47er Farrokh Mehta (1932-2023)

I was looking for infomation about the many Cathedralites who have over the years had been regularly corresponding with me.

One was 47er Farrokh Mehta.

Although I did not meet Farrokh in my school years, when Annikki and I travelled back to India on board the M. S. Victoria in 1969, on board was another Indian family, Farrokh, his wife, Vijaya, and two small children.

On board there was a chess competition and the final was between a very racist South African, who thought us brown people were inferior, and me. 

Standing behind me was Farrokh who spurred me on to win that battle.

Photos from our 1969 trip on the Lloyd Triestino M. S. Victoria.

Later there was a battle between Farrokh and me in the ship Table Tennis competition. Farrokh was a mile ahead of me and it was tough playing table tennis on a tilting lilting ship.

 Farrokh and my paths crossed a fews years later as he was working with a couple of dear friends of mine, Nargis and late Vinci Wadia of Interpublicity. 

Farrokh was a regular correspondent and would read this blog. 

Farrokh was married to Vijaya, one of the most well known and celebrated stage actresses of Marathi theatre. Farrokh was also well recognised in the field of theatre as is conveyed in these articles.

It was a shock to read that last June (2023) Farrokh, at the age of 91, he had passed away.

And here is another report on the passing of Farrokh.

When reading the reports online I found that his daughter was Anahita Uberoi, who had married the son of one of my dearest friends, late 56er Harminder Uberoi (Ubi), my friend guide and counsellor. Ubi had adopted me, a 59er as an honorary member of the Class of 56 as I helped him organise his class Golden Reunion! Ubi's sister , Harmoihina, had been my classmate in school.

Anahita had married her classmate, Samir, Ubi’s son. Both had been school captains.

I addressed a condolence letter to Anahita and she replied me immediately with a lovely tribute to her father who had passed away peacefully with Anahita at his bedside.

A few moments later I had an email from Farrokh’s son, Deven, who sent me the above photo of his father.

We rejoice in having had the pleasure to know Farrokh. 

We honour Farrokh, remembering him with a smile on his face and the joy of the jazz beat of Charlie Parker in our hearts.

Controverdy on our Seventh Heaven Google Group

Everybody is entitled  to their own religious and political viewpoint.

Our 59er classmates together in 2009, 50 years after we left school.- Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, Sindhi, from around the world reunited for our Golden Reunion..

Several years ago, Annikki and I made it clear that on our Seventh Heaven Google Group for 59ers, religious and political opinions are personal and we would not permit posts that may demean others.

For several years this has been the rule followed by everyone.

With the Israeli/Palestinian conflict there were views expressed on both sides which provoked the other side to react to them and that resulted in threats and counter threats.

The problem  was of my making as I put moderation on auto-pilot which meant the posts violating our principles went through ”unmoderated”.

Annikki and I apologise for this.

I have asked Robert Tyabji, a  co-moderator to follow these rules and he and I will discuss anything we consider bordelline cases.

These rules do mot apply to our blog posts and our opinions. Where relevant, we will be post our views on our approptiate blog, and we have several!

We hope-all concerned will follow these rules we have set down for our Google Group for 59ers.

Guest Blog: John Billington - Classmaster Std. XIA 1959

I requested the classmaster of Standard XIA in 1959, John Billington, to write the Guest Blog to coincide at the time our 59ers are joining together in Khandala/Lonavala on the old Mumbai-Pune Highway this week at our 60th year Reunion.

(You can see  the picture of the unique "Golden Reunion", Directory of 1959ers which was released at the 50th year Reunion in 2009.)

Not only John, from UK, but also our Physics Teacher, William Shiri, and his wife, Pushpa, from Canada, did make it and attend what is now known as the Mother of Reunions! ".

The picture of most of those who attended oir 2009 Golden Reunion has been included in John's Guest Blog.

From our personal correspondence I learnt that  John is still playing his morning game of tennis!

Thank you John for this Guest Blog contribution.

"Jacob has asked me for some recollections, so here goes: 

The Class of 1959 was my second year of teaching at CBS, as I arrived in Bombay in the middle of the monsoon in 1958 just days after receiving my degree at Oxford. I chose India for my first job because from the age of 16 or 17 in England I had been drawn greatly to India for its spiritual heritage. Young people are often interested in the great unanswerable questions (Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Why is there so much suffering? etc.) but I was unusual in that I had read Jiddu Krishnamurti while doing my O levels in 1952, and Paramhansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi and Christmas Humphrey's Buddhism in the same year – closely followed by the works of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna. So I arrived in India not just to teach but to learn. 
From the start I loved India. In few (if any) other countries can you drop into a roadside cafe and find yourself deeply involved in a serious conversation on matters spiritual. Western males especially shy away from talk about the "inner life", preferring the safety of football or politics as topics for conversation. 

The Indian practice of referring even to casually encountered people as bhai or bahaina (brother/sister) struck me as profoundly wise and right, and indicated a way of thinking about other people very different from Western practice. I gave a talk in London three weeks ago about relations between Tibet and China and found myself taking about our "brothers and sisters in Tibet" and the need to persuade "our Chinese brothers and sisters" of the injustice of their treatment of Tibet. I owe the locution to India. 

I was enormously impressed by the CBS students. Their intelligence, commitment to learning and the inter-communal harmony they exemplified were admirable. 1959 was a good time to be in India for the idealism of a recently-independent country was still untarnished and India led the way for a high-minded grouping of non-aligned countries, steering a path between the communist USSR and the capitalist West. That idealism has long since gone and the world is poorer for it, but it was probably China's betrayal of the Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai catch-phrase and the 1962 border war that hastened its, and Nehru's, demise. 

1959 also saw the flight of the Dalai Lama from Tibet to India. A notorious left-wing Bombay rag called BLITZ, probably funded by the communist party, lampooned him mercilessly and was vociferously pro- communist. I bought an old Grammar of Colloquial Tibetan from a bookshop near the Prince of Wales (as it then was) Museum and took the train to Darjeeling to find out more. Sixty years later I am still an advocate for Tibetans to have the right to determine their own future. 
Bombay (as I still think of it) was a fascinating city culturally because of its rich ethnic, religious and linguistic mix. I visited all the temples I could get entry to, attended concerts of Indian classical music and dance, and was a fan of Ustad Vilayat Khan and Mrinalini Sarabai, among others. Oh, and I attended a talk by Krishnamurti at the J.J. School of Art. 

I said I was highly impressed by CBS students. Names and years get muddled up but I enjoyed taking a small number of pupils for A level and among them Statira Guzdar and Yasmin Batliwala from the Cathedral Girls' School joined Madan and Hussain from the Boys' side. They were very bright and a pleasure to teach, as were the O level classes. First names now escape me in many cases but Sethi (Ed: Viney), Ashok Kapur, Parasuraman, Jacob Matthan of course, Dabolkhar (Ed: Vinay), Sabnis, Ajgaonkar, Cyrus Guzdar, David Colaco, Trevor Newnes, Choksi (Ed: Armeane), Stevenson (Ed: Abe), Venkat Kurma, Mark Sopher, O'Halloran and Peter Miovic all come readily to mind – as would others if I saw their names or photographs --- but I will certainly have muddled up people's years. (Ed: Names in bold are 59ers)

 Picture of 59ers at St. Thomas Cathedral Church after the 
2009 Founders Day Service on 14th November 2009. 
(Photo Courtesy 59er Hasnain Chinwala)




 A number of your year I did, of course, meet again ten years ago at your Bombay re-union and Peter Miovic is one with whom I have remained in contact and met a year or two later in Wales, and again this year when he very kindly invited me to visit his native Slovenia – a lovely country, iridescently green from its Alps to the sea, and the highlight of my year's travels. With some staff also I remained in contact until they died, including Rider Salmon, James Clarke, Alberto Zavala and Olpherts Gregory; and I am still in touch occasionally by email with Willie Shiri, and regularly receive messages from Mohan Rao. 

( Picture courtesy 64er Rajiv Ved- 2009)

And I meet Pauline Salmon annually when I visit north Wales to see the Welsh Opera. I have always admired her cheerful outlook and in her late eighties she continues to paint and to exhibit with undiminished creativity. Which reminds me of Lady Marie Temple... But I must stop! 

Faces and memories merge with age but are not forgotten – they are all part of life's rich tapestry. But I remember with affection how kind, polite, intelligent and well-behaved were the boys at CBS. That I have returned frequently to India and treat it as my second home is a measure of your hospitality. My Namastes and Salaams to you all! Floreat CBS!

John Billington (CBS 1958-1961)"

And now there are two again

For many years, from the mid 90s, there were two Cathedralites in Finland, Prof. Ajeet Mathur and myself. Ajeet lived in Tampere, and me in Oulu (from 1984).

We used to hold reunions at my home whenever Ajeet had felt the need for some company or needed Annikki or my advice on something. (We authored a paper on E-Governance together and I read most of his papers before publication as a critique.)

Ajeet left a few years ago and is now a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

That left me as the sole Cathedralite on Finland.

After my retirement, I have been running a small service apartment business with apartments in Oulu, Tampere, Espoo and Helsinki.

Oulu is where I live and is a high tech city. Tampere is the industrial hub of Finland in Central South Finland. Helsinki, in South Finland, is the capital city and adjacent to the county of Espoo, which is also famed for higher engineering as it is the home of Otaniemi, the Technical University of Espoo.

The service apartment business is a sort of social service cum hobby. The main clientele are young engineers from various Indian MNCs as Wipro, TCS, Aricent, NSN Bangalore, Hughes Systique and many others.

Recently, I had a request from two engineers from a company I did not recognise. I was able to place them in separate shared apartments in Edpoo.

On my visit to Edpoo, after a hectic schedule, I found my way to the apartment block where I had placed thes guys. It must have been past 10 pm when I reached there.

I found both of them in one of the apartments as they had been dining together. Introductions over, as is customary for me, I pry! Both of them were from Mumbai. "Which school?" I asked, and Ashwin promptly came back with the answer - Carhedral!

I could not believe my ears. Another Cathedralite in Finland. Our Alumni Association was back in buiness.

For the next couple of hours we shared many a topic and I was able to show Ashwin and friends what Cathedral School had meant to me, my association with the school, our fabulous 59er Mother of all Reunions, and much more.

Ashwin has only passed out in 2003, so he probably could not quite fathom how we had kept our spirit so alive. I think he will learn as the yesrs go on.

I have visited Espoo a couple of times siince and made it a point to visit him. He has now moved to his own apartment. I will try to meet up with him on future visits to ensure that our Finnish Alumni Section is kept active.

Great to have you in Finland - Ashwin.

What makes it happen?

I was thrilled to read that our alma mater was rated as the best school in India for this year.

Last year, I was a little disapointed when  saw that we were not in the top postion, which was held by a Delhi school.

Our School - by 59er Hasnain Chinwala

I thought to myself - WHY are we No. 1?

Is it the Management, is it the staff, is it the students, or is it the alumni?

If I look back on my life at the school and my times in other schools, we did not have playgrounds, we were cramped in the City Centre, and yet our lives were full of everything.

Our staff, from around the world, those days, were simply of a class well above others.

But then, now comes the rub!

Which has been the best Class EVER in the 150 history of our school.

Having written about this school for the last 15 years, in my mind, there is no doubt.

It is the 59ers, as is embodied in the song written by a 59er Ratan Singara, called "THE CLASS ACT". (Click on the image to see an enlarged version of the song.)

If you look at the 50th Year Golden Reunion organised by our class last year, it is going to be a very hard one to beat.

This picture taken outside the St. Thomas Cathedral on November 14th 2009, shows most of our 50th Year Golden Reunion Group assembled from around the world.

This reflects on how wonderful a class we were and are!

Reflecting on the past, I would say that what made our school exceptional was the combination of the staff and the students. That made our school No. 1, 51 years ago.

Maybe someone could enlighten me as to why our school is still No. 1!

History of the School

I understand that for this year's Founders' Day, 2010, our Alumni Association is planning to release a definitive history of our school. They would do well take advice from an Alumni member, 57er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, who produced a masterpiece for our college, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, when it celebrated its 125th year.

Three outstanding Jaitlys have passed through the portals of our school, 54er Ravi, 57er Tony and 60er Jotysna. All three were brilliant all round students.

From Jacob's Blog

All three, including Ravi's wife, Krishna, and Jotysna's husband, Siddarth Singh (who was my Stephanian yearmate at St. Stephen's College, Delhi), were present in the Delhi Cathedralite Reunion organised by 64er Deepak Deshpande (accompanied by his daughter Pallavi) when Annikki and I passed through Delhi on our Bharat Darshan at the end of last year. Others who attended were 49ers Jamshed Desai, Raj Bhandari and Yezad Kapadia (with wife Rati), 54er Rahul Bajaj, Savage House Captain and also a Stephanian, 55er Anil (Bobby) Bhalla, 56er Pradeep Anand, 57er Annelita (née Uttamsingh) Thadani and her husband, Ravinder K Thadani (Baby), 58er Maiti Sayal, 59ers Harmo Rani Malik (née Uberoi) accompanied by her daughter, 82er Priya, and Vijay Nayar, (and myself), and 60er Dellinder Kohli. Dellinder left early so is missing from the photograph.

Like a few others, Tony and I went through the second alma mater. Our years overlapped by just one.. His subsequent brilliant career in the IAS is well known.

I am publishing here the review I did of it a few days ago for my Stephanian Blog, just to show what would be ideal in publication of a history. Any Stephanian would be proud to be associated with such a publication, which should be the target of our school history. Those who are well known are already well known, so why focus on them? Focus on those who are not so well known but have contributed much to society in their own quiet way.

(From my Kooler Talk, St. Stephen's Collge, Delhi Blog
I have written about the book authored by 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly for the 125th Anniversary of our College. Tony, like me, was a 57er Mumbai Cathedralite and then a Stephanian. The character of both these great institutions he graced do come through in this book.

Tony joined the college for exactly the same reasons as me - to save a year! Little did either he or I know at that time that we were joining to the most prestigous educational institution in India!

Yesterday, I completed reading his treatise for the third time. Although quite a slim book, it is crammed with the most interesting facts about our alma mater, that I have not been able to absorb it all in just one or two readings.

Almost everything that we need to know about the history and character of our college is included. The author has not blown his own trumpet in the book. He is an outstanding personality and was, during his time in college, on several fronts - on the sports field, in the theatre, in studies, and also as a Stephanian in Rez.

He has also not blown my trumpet ;-) , as although I get a mention as the 1961 JCR President and also the publisher of this outstanding blog (!!), he failed to mention that I was the only 2nd year student ever to be elected to the JCR Presidency, the organiser of the first JCR evening made up wholly of our internal talent in acting, music, comedy, and also the organiser of the first JCR indoor tournaments - chess, carrom, bridge, draughts, table tennis.

In fact, other than mentioning my JCR Presidency, Tony, covered almost every other institution in the college,  but forgot that the JCR existed as the main centre for the residents in college, the main meeting point for all residents in the evenings and also for day scholars who had to pass the time of day between lectures. The JCR President was the Head of all residents and served on various Committees including the all important Mess Committee! I did a lot of campaigning to change the quality of our food in 1961-62, but it fell back to old standards in 1962-63!

I was lucky to have Shanky (R. I Shankland) and Sircar (S. C. Sircar) supporting all my efforts and 62er Sarwear Lateef on the JCR Committee, who used his diplomatic skills to get many things done. We installed the first gramaphone in the JCR during that year. We installed colourful curtains. We allowed students to stay after 10 pm so that they could listen to Test Match Commentaries from places such as West Indies.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, the present JCR is quite a morbid place compared to absolutely electric atmosphere we enjoyed there in 1961 - 62. When 63er Norval Prakash (Sherwood College, Nanital), my classmate, succeeded me at JCR President in 1962 - 63, he did not have the same hectic agenda as he was busy with his final year studies!

Coming back to Tony's book, it is superb on all fronts except where it was outside his control - the publishing. The sequence of pages in my copy is as follows:

102; 109, 110; 107, 108; 105, 106; 103, 104; 117, 118; 115, 116; 113, 114; 111, 112, 119. 120: ...

Whether it is a simple binding error in my copy or one which has been carried in all other copies, certainly is a spoiler in an otherwise brilliantly written book.

The book is also lacking an all important Index and Bibliography, which are most important for any book purporting to be "A History". That again is not the author's responsibility, but the publishers! In this age of computerised editing, these should have been a couple of the easiest tasks to accomplish!

The amount of research Tony has done, not only from written matter, but meeting and talking to Stephanians of all ages, has been a heroic effort. His comments, like a true diplomat are guarded, but the importance of our college as a secular institution from Day 1 comes through.

I would advise the present Principal, Valson Thambu, to read this book to understand something about the college, as almost everything he has been doing for the last 5 years is diametrically in contrast with the hopes and wishes of our founding fathers and all the Prncipals that have preceded him.

Valson Thambu would do well to remember that the first four students of our college were 'Hindoos' (Sansar Chand, Har Gopal, Kirpa Narain, Ram Lal) and the fifth a 'Mohammedan' (Sajjid Mirza).

I was certainly not aware of the involvement of many of our past staff and students with all the drama that India went through during the last century.

I was certainly not aware that the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh was condemned by, in writing in the Stephanian 1920, by the editor C. B. Young!

As a public institution it is our duty to avoid taking sides on strictly political issues... (but) we are in emphatic agreement with the condemnation bestowed on the action of General Dyer... as Christian missionaries we cannot avoid the duty of forming and expressing a judgement on such a deed of horror as the slaughter in Jallianwalla Bagh.

All the characters that I knew are portrayed with great accuracy throughout the book and it is a credit that Tony was able to write it without causing offence!

I was not aware of the close connection of our college to Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and many more historic personalities of the world stage.

I will be using this book now to put many of my blog posts in context, in future. It is something which has been at my bedside for the last 3 months, but has now been moved to my office table so as to be of service to the rest of you.

I recommend that you get yourself a copy, also! Certainly worth every rupee I paid for it - just Rs. 365 (€ 6!) in New Delhi. They had to order it from the Publisher and I was able to pick it up just hours before I left the city.

Tony went to the right archives, met the right persons and corresponded with all those who could contribute. He did not focus on his years, although those were probably some of the most exciting times of the College. He went to the meat of the matter, such as the association of the College with great leaders as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, as well as those Stephanians and staff who held by the values they associated with the College.

The Cathedralite Alumni Association would do well to get in touch with established historians when contemplating such an important document.

I think we 59ers lifted the bar as to the quality of publications with both our CD and the Coffee Table Book which we brought out during and after our reunion. Those that follow will have to really make superhuman efforts to do even half what we 59ers achieved. I am sure that some years will greatly surpass what we did, and I can probably predict now which years they will be.

But let us wait and see!

Most poignant moment of memories of School

Annikki and I started a programme amongst our own Seventh Heaven Google Group for 59er Cathedralites to ask them to record the most poignant moment of their historic 50th Year Reunion.

We have several non-59ers who are observers on that Google Group.

I have received requests from quite a few of them whether I could put up a request on this blog, which is read by Cathedralites from 1945 up to 2010, for submission of the most poignant moment of their individual year reunions, or even more possibly, the most poignant moment of their life in relationship to our school.

For instance, it could be the depth of feeling you had being appointed as school captain, or getting an unexpected first class in the final exam, or winning a coveted medal, or award from or on behalf of the school, or your grandchild taking part in an event of the school!

I know it will be hard work for Annikki and me to sift through such submissions that come, as we will not personally know many of you who make them. So it may appear out of context for us. However, we decided to entertain such submissions, which will then be published on this our Seventh Heaven Blog. You can email it to either Annikki or me. (jmatthan at gmail.com or jmatthana at email.com)

Probably all of you will think that the moment I opened my eyes after being resuscitated by Mr. Arthur Morecroft on the sandy beach on the banks of Vasind river was my most poignant moment of my entire life. Good guess...

But, let me assure you, there are competing moments, such as the most embarrassing moment of my life at the school opera, or even the most poignant very personal moment of our experience at our 50th Year Reunion, which is yet to be recorded.

Do let us have your submissions. I think it will be fun to read them. I think it will provide an important link between Cathedralites of all ages.

Commonality in Reunions

During my recent trip to India to attend the 50th Year Reunion of our Class of 59, I joined several year groups with whom I have built up a bond of friendship over the years. The 49ers, the 54ers, the 55ers, the 56ers, the 57ers, the 58ers, the 60er, the 64ers, the 67ers, the 69ers, to name just a few of the years who went out of their way to greet me and comment on this blog which they have found to be "interesting".

All the time I thought to myself: "Do I have anything in common with all these people who have become my friends?"

So many of them sent us gifts!! The Alumni Association gave me the new alumni tie! Hasnain gave me something Annikki and I love - an art glass piece representing Canadian Indian culture, Sadhana gave me an engraved keychain and Annikki a gift voucher, Prakash sent us a variety of things, the Delhi Cathedralites gave us a beautiful collection of books (photograph featuered in another blog entry).

Some were so thoughtful and considerate enough to give gifts that we would consume and enjoy while in India and not have to cart them back to Finland. Several of them got names for easy identification by Annikki, as the humourous "Head scratcher", a collection of dry fruits and nuts by "Nutty"! :-)

There are literally thousands of others who correspond with me regularly and irregularly. I do not know their faces. I know nothing about their individual lives. Some have inspired me. Others have caused a variety of feelings deep inside me by their brutal honesty. Some do not like my politics, others love it.

But in the main, I learnt that all of them hold this blog in great respect mainly because I have not gone on a rampage against anyone. If I dislike something, I say so, but try to do it in a way that is a sort of constructive criticism.

I may have failed on several occasions, but I have been forgiven.

But let us come to my classmates and teachers - the 59ers. Only very few of them read this blog as they are used to seeing me in my Google Group which I have set up for them. But meeting them all in person, many of them after 50 years sent a thrilling feeling down my spine.

It was a warm glow. It was a feeling that I used to experience when I drank my first glass of rum on a lonely evening sitting in a village about 80 km from Bangalore, faraway from my family. (Considering I do not now drink alcohol and have not touched it for 27 years, it is strange that I still remember that feeling!)

(Photo courtesy 64er Rajiv Ved.)

Seeing Bill Shiri (my physics teacher), Joe D'Souza (my history teacher), John Billington (my class teacher in XIA and English teacher), Armeane, David, Hasnain, Indarjeet, Jangoo, Khurshed, Peter, Robert, Venkat, Vikram, after a space of 50 years, was a feeling that caused me to think - "Do I have anything in common with this crowd?" Especially meeting so many of the girls from our class I had not known while I was in school, was yet another surprising feeling!

It so happens, we all had so much in common. We were genuinely interested in each other. Even those who were indifferent at the start of our reunion became endeared by me by the end.

Did I get to talk about their families and their lives in the intervening years? Actually - NO! There was so much about the present to discuss that even a week together did not get us past the last decade!

many of them asked me to cvisit them. unfortunately that was not possible, simply because the number of invitations far far exceeded the days available!

We all spent a great deal of time and money taking part in this reunion. I sort of thought "Was it well spent?"

The answer was simple - YES!

If you are planning a reunion, not just your 50th Year Reunion, but any reunion, focus on just the present, and the past will look after itself!

1959 Issue of The Borderer

Today I received the 1959 Issue of The Borderer from 59er Trevor Newnes in Australia. (I also got the 1960 and 1961 issues from Trevor, but I already had the last one sent to me by Mr. Billington a few years ago, which I must return to him!)



It is fascinating as much as it is a memorabilia which is worth a small fortune. That is like all things from our school in 1959! :-)

If anyone else has a copy or knows of any, please ask them to contact me immediately. I want to establish how many copies of this issue are available out there. Considering the Prefects´ Notes by School Captain 57er Bhupinder Singh Anand in The Borderer, maybe not many!

It looks like the 59ers Coffee Table Directory is going to be a publication which is going to be worth a million, considering I am only going to publish just a 100 copies of it. Free to all our Class Members attending the reunion and those who assist our reunion efforts (seen and unseen) and on sale to others. (Also free to staff members attending the reunion.)

I already have the 1959 Cock House photograph (Palmer), School Prefects photograph, School Hockey Team photograph, School Cricket Team photograph, School Football Team photograph, Sports Day brochure, many other items, and some absolutely wonderful pictures of many of our year. I do have photographs of almost all the staff members.

I am still looking for input from the 59er girls. I do have a class photograph of them. Wish I had one of the boys, but I do not think we had class photographs for us boys in that time! Maybe I can be proved wrong!!!

But there are a few surprises in store for you in this publication.

Anyone having an undamaged copy of the picture of the class visit to the Sathe Biscuit Factory in 1954 should scan it and send it to me. The one that 59er Percy Mistri sent may may be too difficult to restore - but my photo experts are trying hard to restore it. Was the Sathe Biscuit Factory owned by our late Sudan Sathe's family? Is it still functioning and can anyone get me a photograph of it if it is still out there.

Anyone with snaps from our 1955 visit to Vasind should also let me have a scanned copy of it. Remember the Dead Chicken was reborn there!

Two things on my mind

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

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

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

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

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

The second issue on my mind is more important.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plea to all 64ers

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

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

In that context I received this email from him:

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

Hi All,

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

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

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

Please do put in some effort !

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

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

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

Here's hoping to hear from all of you.

Cheers !

Deepak

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

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

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

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

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

I wish the 64ers great success with their reunion.

58ers - A special year for Willie

I had this copy of email from 58er Homi Khusrokhan, one of the Governors of the School Board, to Willie Shiri in Toronto - only the relevant part is quoted here:

from Homi Khusrokhan
to William and Pushpa Shiri
cc Jacob & Annikki Matthan
date Nov 25, 2007 7:55 AM
subject RE: 58er Cathedralite please read full message

Dear William,

We had our Founders Day service last week and that jogged my memory to get cracking on organizing next year’s 50’iers. I am meeting Peter Philip, Kamal Gupta and Darshana Boghilal for lunch next Wednesday.

Bye for now, keep well and definitely look forward to seeing you sometime.

(...more but deleted.)

Best regards,

Homi

This was in response to a beautiful email from Willie to Homi:

From: William and Pushpa Shiri
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:06 AM
To: Homi

Subject: Re: 58er Cathedralite please read full message

Dear Homi,

Do forgive me for this unpardonable delay replying your letter. It always happens to me that when I get a beautiful letter like yours, I say to myself: this deserves a long reply, not a one-liner, so have to find a long time slot. This long time-slot is often beyond my grasp!

Just about the time I got your mail, many things happened, a waste of time to enumerate, so let me stick to replying you! Incidentally, I was so pleased when John Kurrien wrote to me a long letter that I had to wait till I found time for a long reply, and it finally came ....after 40 days ! Just shows my tardiness!

A while ago, I had mentioned to Jacob Matthan with his tremendous access to all who matter to him through his BLOG, that I had seldom seen the names of any '58ers in his list of Old Boys. You see, that group has been of particular interest to me as the first bunch I taught right through their school years starting from Grade 4 ! It didn't matter what subject.

The school didn't need a physics teacher when I started in '51and I didn't care what I taught, I needed a job! Whatever, you now know why your lot is rather special to me. I seem to remember every one of you. I remember you as you used to be in the lower classes, petite, bright eyes and a ready smile!

You may like to know how my family and I fared after we left CBS and Bombay in 1962. To save typing time, (I still type 4 or 5 words per min., and that rate will never change!) I shall here reprint from my letter of about a week ago to John Kurrien, begging your pardon. Here goes :

Dear John,

Today it is exactly a month and ten days since I got your newsy long letter. I am as a rule, slow with my replies, but believe me, I am never this bad ! It never before took me 40 days to reply a letter ! My sincere apologies, John.

There were a few pressing demands on my time like the annual bugbear of Tax Returns of Pushpa ( my wife) and I, due by this month-end, and also for me, a Seniors' Driving Test (every 2-yrs for those over 80 yrs). Besides, a Cuba visit post-poned many times, had to be done before month end. (Cuba gets too hot in May) I hope I have now convinced you with reasons good enough to ignore my tardiness!

I think it was when you were in Std. 4 in 1951 that Mrs. Rispin, your regular teacher went on leave and I started at CBS as her substitute and when she returned I became a teacher of subjects like gen. science, non-scripture and perhaps a few other non-subjects ! Yours was my first lot of physics at the final level.

My wife Pushpa was also a teacher. Did you know she taught in the Junior School the last few years of our stay in Bombay? We left in 1962 April for Hertford UK, the County-town close to the hamlet John Billington hails from. It was because of John that I got a physics teaching job in the local Grammar School. That was rather unlike my experience at the Cathedral school where I had to wait for years till Mr. Gunnery's arrival when he found out what my subject was!

In England Pushpa became a peripatetic (as the term is) music teacher doing just music in 3 different schools in and around Hertford. We enjoyed life in the UK. Our daughters Nina and Kiron were unique in their schools, being the only non-English kids - thereby earning some popularity of sorts, I suppose! In today's England there must be more black or brown faces than white in many class rooms! In my school in Hertford there was just one boy from India then, and that was David Colaco from CBS who also moved to England the same time.

We moved to Montreal, Quebec in '68 and were there till both Pushpa and I retired (I retired in 87 but P only retired in '90 when we moved to Ontario where both our daughters had settled. We now live in a Condominium apt. in a suburb of Toronto called Mississauga.

I first started getting in touch with my past CBS students about 7 years ago through Nusly Pocha, '60 and then the flood gates opened with Jacob's Seventh Heaven!

I am in touch with two past teachers, both in the US. Will attach their photos for you Homi. I do keep in touch with Mr. Billington in the UK , not frequent, although he did visit us here some years ago. I am not in touch with my British or Canadian past students. CBS is unique, you know. I have had visits here from some past Cathedralites and the most recent two are in the photos attached.

What a terrible news it was, re Budni! We got the news on our return from Havana, and in the dazed state I was in, mostly due to sleep-deprivation, (age certainly has something to do with it !), I did not believe what I was seeing. I had to verify it by phoning my nearest CBS friend and old pupil, Hasnain Chinwala. This tragedy will have stunned all friends and is bound to change at least for sometime, the lives of all old friends of his in Poona who used to have frequent parties and jazz sessions ! (I had strayed from the letter to John. Now I go back, maybe to some repeat!)

This letter will not finish unless I stick to the basics!

We moved to Montreal, Quebec, in '68, after job interviews in London, England, by the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal. The warm summers and general dry weather of Montreal , unlike the damp Hertford air would suit, we were told by doctors, both Pushpa and Kiron who were asthma prone. We lived in Monteal till we both took early retirement, I in '86 and Pushpa in '90 and moved to Brampton, a suburb of Toronto. Both our daughters by then were in Ontario, so are now close by here. We have two grand sons 22 and 18.

We moved from Brampton to another suburb, Mississauga in the year 2000 and live in a condo now, on the 23rd Floor. Another month or less and I will be 82, and that was the reason for a move to a low-maintenance home, no back-breaking snow-shoveling!

Yes, clarinet is my new love, since I have stopped all singing in choirs involving night driving which I avoid. I have no clarinet back-ground. It was Pushpa's birthday gift to me for my 80th. I am making some progress, not fast enough, I'm afraid. I am glad I am now in touch with you. Lets keep to two letters a year, what do you say ? You (I notice from your letter Homi,) are a working busy guy, and I am getting slower by the day, oddly, more in mind than body! Two a year will suit us; more frequent, of course, when the spirit moves! Attaching a couple of snaps to make this complete .... implying that your last mail was incomplete ! There were no family photos. Old ones also welcome , to fill the time gap ! (end of J's letter)

Thanks again, Homi for your letter. I feel flattered, being remembered! Also an honour to be in touch with a Cathedral School Governor!

Bill (always)

PS:
(I do not have Willie's picture No. 136 to reproduce here. Jacob)

No. 136 is the very latest pic. of us taken on April 22 in our hotel lobby in Havana.



No 4e with Viney Sethi, visiting from Mumbai, Pushpa, Hasnain Chiwalla (lives 10 min away from me. Both are '59. We are celebrating Jacob Matthan's birthday - don't miss the cake and the solitary candle!!

(This picture is not with me. Jacob)

Are you anywhere in this next School pic.? I am sending this and a couple separately. It may be too much for one mail.



Adding one more, of the Patels and the Rao who visited us some years ago when we lived in another suburb of Toronto, Brampton. Mr.s Rao and Patel were both in the Physics Dept of CBS. Remember them?

I am making up for the late mail by sending these pics….. but you don't have to make yours late just to attach your photos!

What a thrill that a group across the Atlantic celebrates MY birthday and I was there when they called me in Finland to serenade me with "Happy Birthday"! (The truth is that Pushpa had made a cake for Viney's visit and they decided to adopt it as my birthday cake - but that does not matter, does it?)

Is it not great that the 58ers are getting on with organising their reunion. Let us wish them all success.

And I would like to repeat Willie's words "....CBS is unique..."

57ers have a blast - Behram Style

I was so happy, and yet over-powered by a feeling of great sadness, when I received this input from 81er Rajiv, President of the Cat Alumni, from Mumbai.

A fitting tribute to a wonderful human being:

Dear Jacob

I guess the batch of 1957 is still asleep this morning as I write to you.

Dr. Ajay Bhatnagar was kind to invite my wife, Devayani, and me to the dinner last evening.

They rocked and remembered dear Behram all through the evening.

I once again did a solo with Sinatra's `My Way' just as on 18-Mar-07. It was for Doc Budni that evening on Mar-18 when he smiled and clapped. It was for him last evening too.

I couldn't see him smile but my heart felt him doing so. I could hear him clap, though. Through his friends who loved him so dearly.

Some photographs are enclosed.









Regards

_______________________________________________________________________
Rajiv Bhatia (Barham, 1981 ICSE)
President @ your service

Thank you 57ers and thank you, Rajiv.

57ers Reunion Programme - Final

57er Pramila Shivdasani has sent me the final version of their 50th Year Reunion programme. I hope that all of you will join me in wishing it a huge success.

I also hope the organisers will send me the report and the photographs to create a special web page to add to my collection of 50th year reunions.

Program for Reunion Week Cathedral Class of 1957

November 12 - 18, 2007

DAY	DATE	Time	FUNCTION	HOST
Monday	Nov 12		Free time to connect with classmates
Tuesday	Nov 13	8.00 pm	Dinner at Dome (Intercontinental Hotel, Marine Drive)	Ranjit and Namita Mathrani
Wednesday FOUNDERS DAY	Nov 14	9.00 am 10.15 am 10.30 am 1.00 pm 8.00 pm	Church Service Cricket Match (BGym) Tea at Middle School Tour of Schools Class Photos Lunch (Contributory) "Social" Dinner/Dance Band sponsored by Dinner hosted by	St Thomas' Cathedral School v/s Alumni Bombay Gym For classmates only Joss – Kala Ghoda Tom Holter and Biloo Bhatnagar Pramila Shivdasani, Saker Mistri, Charu Shah, Dharini Anand Rupa Shah
Thursday	Nov 15	8.00 pm	Dinner at Willingdon Club, Cabbage Patch	Sunil Sahni Bhup Anand
Friday	Nov16	8.30 pm	CATALUMNI Dinner & Dance	Blue Sea (Worli) Tickets can be collected from Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda
Saturday	Nov 17	8.00 pm	Dinner at The Rooftop (Taj Hotel)	Arjun and Judi Waney
Sunday	Nov 18	8.00 pm	Farewell Dinner at Petit Hall (66 Napean Sea Road)	Homi and Tan Commissariat

Bombay Contacts in case of need

Arun Mahimtura 98210 19772 Dharini Anand 93225 91328

Bhupinder Anand 93225 91202 Fleur Madnani 0 93731 37964

Pervez Antia 98200 70509 Pramila Shivdasani 98200 46783

Sunil Sahni 0 98232 17541 Saker Mistry 98200 99544