What does it feel like?

Adil Ghandy sent me this picture of his recent meeting with his dear Cathedralite friend, Vernon Williams, after a period of 45 YEARS?



They met at Heathrow Airport in London.

Can ether of you tell us exactly how you felt.

Indian Government starts blocking blogs!

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

Freedom, democracy and freedom of speech have been thrown to the winds by the irrational action of the Government of India when they told Indian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to various blogs. This can only be done by blocking access to the entire blog service provider and my blogs are, therefore, not accessible by my readers in India.

I also learnt that most, if not all, Indian ISPs have followed the directive.

Economic Times, India Tuesday July 19th 2006:

DoT casts a cloud on bloggers' paradise

Cathedralite 56er HS Uberoi, one of my faithful readers of my "Seventh Heaven" blog alerted me to this when he emailed me with this:'

Dear Jacob,

I don't know whether you are aware that effective today the Government of India has blocked access to ALL blogsites.

I cannot believe that even your nostalgic Cathedral School and St.Stephen's College sites cannot be accessed by us in India!!

I am at a total loss for words!!

Yours in shock.

Ubi

If you have friends in India who want to continue to access my blogs, even occasionally, please email them and ask them to contact me by email and I will give then the surefire way to continue access.

No Government can stop the internet - as there are many many ways round any censorship, many not known to the stupid politicians who think they are being clever by imposing such foolish bans!!

I will not publish all the methods here for reasons which are obvious.

Coincidence?

(Cross-posted on the Kooler Talk Web Version Blog.)

Is it just a coincidence or was it some fate.

I was informed by the 1954 Green House Captain of the Bombay Cathedral and John Connoon Girl's High School, Zarrin Aga (née Lam), that Rahul Bajaj, who has just been elected to the Rajya Sabha, who was a Cathedralite and a Stephanian, was also the School Savage House Captain in the year 1954.

The 1956 Savage House Captain was also a Cathedralite and Stephanian.

The 1958 Savage House Captain, Dr. Peter Philip (known to most Stephanians as Tubby) was also a Cathedralite and Stephanian.

The 1959 Savage House Captain, myself, also studied in both these instiitutions.

Maybe someone from the school can refresh my memory as to who was Savage House Captain in 1955 and 1957.

Although I am sure they were not Stephanians, this coincidence of the 50's was to me quite astonishing!

5500 kilometres to Oulu

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)



We have a new colourful poppy in the Kampitie garden.



Aiti is back home at Kampitie and yesterday was enjoying wearing her floral summer sun hat.

As the crow flies, Tuusula is probably less than 600 km from Oulu. However, our dear friends, Gopa [our foster daghter and daughter of my dear friend, Cathedralite 54er Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah from Pune)] and hubby, Timo, took the long way round. They had travelled to Switzerland, where Timo attended a course on modern print technologies for newspapers.

They took their new acquisition, a Renault, for a spin, camping along the way. They returned via Germany, Denmark, crossing from Copenhagen to Malmo in Sweden and then drove over the top of the Gulf of Bothnia to reach Oulu at around 20:30 last night.

A total journey of close to 5500 kilometres from Tuusula to Oulu!

Pailin and Unnop had made a special Thai meal of spicy rice noodle salad, chicken red curry and vegetarian green curry (all without fish sauce as Joanna is allergic to fish) for them.



Joanna and Tony, accompanied by Daniel, joined us for dinner. Samuel is away at a summer camp - and Joanna is missing our little rascal, but probably not more than me as I miss our turbulent discussions as the World Cup football has reached the final stage.



The salad was a little too spiced for Timo, but he and Gopa, tired after their long journey, had a good meal and then enjoyed a relaxing sauna in the cellar while Joanna and I watched the French beat the Portuguese in the semi-final.

(We watched the first half together. Joanna and Daniel returned home to weatch the second half. Tony left earlier as he wanted to go for a jog.)







Gopa and Timo were up early this morning and left for Timo's home town, about an hour and a half from Oulu, as they go there to settle things in the house as Timo's mother has now been moved to a Care Centre for the elderly where she can be looked after because of her failing sight and hearing.

It was great seeing Gopa and Timo after such a long time and having them stay a night, as usually they push off after a cup of coffee!

Two mistakes to be corrected

I must apologise for two mistakes in my last blog entry.

Thanks to 56er HS Uberoi (known to all of us as just UBI) for pointing them out to me.

54er Rahul Bajaj was not nominated to the Rajya Sabha - he fought and won an election to be a Rajya Sabha member.

The second is a more grevious mistake. I was taken in by the information that Rahul was the first Cathedralite to be in the Rajya Sabha.

This was incorrect and I blame myself for not having done my homework.

The late Piloo Mody was another Cathedralite who was in the Rajya Sabha after he served 2 terms in the Lok Sabha as the Swatantra Party Member from Godhra, in Gujarat. Like Minoo Masani, he was the President of the Swatantra Party. He later sat in the Rajya Sabha as the Janata Party Member from Gujarat from 1978 to 1983, a time when I was still in India. Minoo went from being a Socialist to founding the Swatantra Party.

Piloo was arrested in a midnight raid organised by Indira Gandhi after the proclamation of Emergency in 1975.

My recollection is that Piloo was a 1950er.

Piloo was rotund that he occupied two seats in the House whereas he was only entitled to one.

There is a story about Piloo which all of us know and it concerned his figure.

In the Rajya Sabha it is considered improper to turn one's back to the Speaker when walking out. Piloo Mody was once accused of doing this.

Piloo Modi was supposedly quick to reply, "Which is my back and which is my back? Even I cannot identify it."

Another version of this story is that Piloo was talking to a member sitting behind his seat. Mr. Sita Ram Kesari addressing the Chair said, "Sir, Piloo Mody is standing with his back to the Chair, which is highly objectionable."

The Chairman is known to have retorted, "Do not worry about Piloo Mody: he has no front or back, he is just round."

Another anecdote abot Piloo is worth recounting.

When Home Minister Giani Zail Singh was taking a Bill through the Rajya Sabha, Piloo participated in the debate. While replying Giani when referring to Piloo's comments on the Bill, stated in Hindi, "Piloo Mody to bade "seasonal member" hain".

The House burst into laughter and a Minister sitting next to Giani said to him that word to use was "seasoned" and not "seasonal".

Giani then said "Muje to angrezi thodi aati hai. Inko to inki biwi ne angrezi padhai hai."

Piloo then thumped his desk and raised a point of order.

The whole House looked at Piloo. The Deputy Chairman asked: "What is your point of order?"

Piloo said, "Gianji is grossly misinformed. My wife did not teach me English. I taught her English."

The House shook with laughter as everyione knew that Piloo's wife was Swiss!

Piloo was one of the funiest speakers in the Rajya Sabha. He was a technocrat who served both Houses with distinction.

My sincere apologies to all concerned for publishing misleading information in these blog entries. But I must thank the alert readers for picking me up on these issues!

Rahul Bajaj in Rajya Sabha

(Cross-posted on theKooler Talk (Web Version) Blog.

Two Cathedralites alerted me to the fact that 54er Cathedralite / 57er Stephanian Rahul Bajaj has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. They were 54er Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) and 57er Dr. Behram Badhniwalla (more commonly kown as Budni).

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Rahul

Sadhana also drew attention to the fact that Rahul had been interviewed by Stephanian Karan Thapar.


Karan

So I wrote this to Budni:

Date: 24-Jun-2006 14:56
Subject: Re: 'HAMARA BAJAJ'

Hi Budni,

Thanks for this input. Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) (another Puneite) beat you to it, however, when she gave me the news and about the TV interview by Karan Thapar.

Karan is much junior to me (about 12 years) from St. Stephen's, Delhi. He is a fearful interviewer. He is the one who drove Kapil to tears!

Rahul is both a Cathedralite and Stephanian, like me and a few others - my elder brother 56er Ranjit, 57er Tony Jaitly, 58er Peter Philip, my classmate 59er Sujit Bhattacharaya (son of former Reserve Bank Governor) and a few later ones including Prof. Ajeet Mathur (who with me make up the alumni from both institutions in FINLAND) - details in a couple of entries can be found on ">the Seventh Heaven Blog.

I do not think Rahul will have any problem being a "industrialist" cum politician. (Sadly, I did not wish him this year for his 68th birthday two weeks ago.)

Rahul appears to be the first Rajya Sabha Member who is a Cathedralite.

We have had some leading politicians - Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto being the most noteworthy ones. Somewhere, long ago, I wrote in "Seventh Heaven" about our dear late Pop Pharoah's story about Bhutto and the Bacon Slicer!

If I am not wrong, Swatantra Party Leader Minoo Masani was also a Cathedralite of some great standing.

We also have a young politician presently in the Lok Sabha, Milind Deora.

I may do a new story about Cathedralites and politics on my blog one of these days!

India certainly needs more politicians from our school.

Best regards

Jacob

There have been more than a fair share of Stephanian politicians - some good and some awful. I won't comment about who was what! Mani Shankar Aiyar and Arun Shourie are two from my era that made it into the world of politics and into the Ministry!

Maybe there are others and I will surely be taken to task for not mentioning them.

Hope Rahul does something positive in the Rajya Sabha - I know he can!

Artist Rehka, wife of Kishore

Kishore Shivdasani a 63er Cathedralite, and a dear friend. His wife, Rekha, is a very talented artist and has had exhibitions around the world. She is having her first show in India NEXT WEEK.



Can anyone identify Kishore and the other 2 63ers in this photo?

Kishore wrote to me about Rekha's show in Mumbai:

Dear Jacob:

I hope by the Grace of God this email finds you and the family in great spirits.

The summer must be in full swing with Mid Summer Day round the corner [22nd / 23rd June?].

How are you? Yet busy with the Cathedral newsletters?

Rekha is having her 1st Art exhibition in India [Mumbai] at The Museum Art Gallery (Rampart Row).

The opening night is from 1900 until 2200 hours on Monday 26th June. The exhibition is open from 1000 to 1900 hours starting from 27th June through 02 July.

Jacob, I toured various art galleries that have sprouted up in this vibrant city over the last three years to view the engrossing work of several artists - some famous and others almost unknown. It was during a weekend event not so long ago that I realized Rekha’s work had enough merit to receive recognition from the art-loving community of Mumbai. Although modest in scale, the suggestive mastery of expression and metaphor in Rekha’s Art is substantially real in a physical sense.

The works produced by Rekha are intimate poems and declarations of peace. Thus the title of her show - “Sublime” – a collection of paintings on canvas & paper rendered in different media – oil, acrylic and charcoal. Her Art exhibits a kind of simplicity in expression - somewhat different from Art produced through abstract principles. Hers is a reaction to the empyreal in a semi abstract sculptural form. Truly – a journey inwards!

Rekha started painting in 1995 and has exhibited overseas. This is her first exhibition in India. She is self-taught and her creative talent stems from an enthusiasm that has no borders! She continues to teach Art and has over 40 adults in her art group.

Should your travel bring you to Mumbai during this period, it would certainly be a privilege for both the artist and me [as her husband & inspiration] to welcome you to the opening night!

Once it’s ok with you – please visit her website Rekha Shivdasani select the photographs of the art you would like to display on the website and I shall email them to you.

Thanks and best regards,

Kishore

I am sure that all you Catedralites out there really interested in some good art will make it a point to be at the opening on Monday next. And do not forget to tell Kishore and Rekha that your read about the show here on our Seventh Heaven Blog!

Please spread the word around about the Show.

The first one to submit a critical appreciation of this event will get a FREE and valuable gift from Seventh Heaven, all the way from Oulu, Finland!