Card, Cake, Champagne, and a glorious surprise

Chinnie has done us 59ers proud.

He visited Bill on his 85th birthday with a card, cake and champagne on behalf of all us 59ers:

From Bill Shiri's 85th Birthday

From Bill Shiri's 85th Birthday

From Bill Shiri's 85th Birthday

From Bill Shiri's 85th Birthday

From Bill Shiri's 85th Birthday

And guess what, a glorious basket of fruit arrived at the doorstep courtesy our own 59er Ellis Hayeem from New York.

And in my last report I had mentioned that Peter Vaney was a 49er. I was quickly pulled up by my ultra sharp 49er on the web, Naval Patel from Mysore. Peter must be a 50er or 51er. I am at my work computer and these records are on my home computer. Sorry Peter for this slip.

Speaking with Bill

Yesterday evening I rang to Toronto, Canada, to wish my Physics teacher of 50 years ago a very happy 85th birthday. I also spoke to Pushpa, his wife, who had also been a teacher in our Mumbai school. My classmate, 59er Hasnain Chinwala (Chinnie), who also lives in Toronto was with Bill (prearranged) when I called as we, 59ers, paid our respects to a man who firmly shaped our lives.

That Bill and Pushpa attended our 50th year reunion in Mumbai last year was itself such a joy for all us 59ers. They lent their solidarity with a class of boys who have traversed the world and sought success based on the fundamentals of life that were instilled in us by our teachers. Not just our classroom performance, but our moral values were instilled in us by these wonderful Gurus!


(Photo thanks to the 64er Rajiv Ved when we took time off for a fee minutes to attend their reunion in Mumbai.)

In the olden days, as per the Indian Civilisation, the Guru was a man to be revered. All of us 59ers have revered all our teachers during the ensuing years. But Bill and John (who was our class teacher and our English teacher in 1959) are very special as they took the time to travel a long distance at great expense, many thousands of kilometres, to be with us as we reveled in our past last November.

In our conversation we talked about many things - including the greetings from other 59ers (which Hasnain had forwarded to Bill,) the loss of another wonderful teacher, Alberto Zavala from peru, our geography teacher, the exploits of Greg, our Chemistry teacher, and the whereabouts of many past Canadian Cathedralites, as Torontian 59er Narsys, but not just our classmates, as 63er Monty Wilson and 49er Peter and 51er Sheila (née Contractor) Vaney, and Peter's brother, 57er Herbert.

Now that Pushpa and Bill live right in the centre of Toronto, a stone's throw from Lake Ontario, I will make it a point to visit them soon as my grandson, Samu, an Ice Hockey fan, wants to visit that great city, with his Grandpa, to see one of his favourite teams play.

Happy birthday Bill - we love you!

Coffee Table Book arrives

After a long and very nerve racking wait of almost 4 months, the final version of the 59ers Directory, the Coffee Table Book put together by Annikki and me, finally arrived in our post box.

From Coffee Table Book

The new cover had been laminated as the old cover was being damaged by handling in high humidity conditions as Mumbai. A lot of the beautiful photographic lustre has been lost in the new cover.

From Coffee Table Book

The size of the final version is smaller than the first version. It is shorter in length and breadth, as well as thickness, as the printers have used a lighter paper than in the original. This has helped to reduce the weight for posting.

The posting cost to Finland worked out at Rs. 665 (€ 11), so that shipment cost (including packing materials) is about Rs. 750 (€ 13) for the overseas copies. I will ask the dispatchers in Bangalore to use a better envelope. I think they used the best that was available in India, along with the bubble packing material, so that no damage occurred except for a slight warping. Placing the book under a weight for a day has corrected this warp and a serration effect.

Parvin's signature on the contents page, which is a photocopy of what was signed by all those who attended, was cut in half! Sorry!

As reported by Anjula, she had been mistakenly promoted. Luckily no-one had been demoted, as Gita was also shown as the Orange House Vice Captain!

There were several small errors. But almost all the gross design errors that Gita had so painstakingly pointed out, such as the alignments and colours, were all near to what was intended.

Of course, these corrections, and any others which will be no doubt be reported by my classmates, will be done in my master copy on my computer. Those who want to add matter or photographs are welcome to do so, so that the next edition can be better than the first!

Are we happy or sad with the final version?

Annikki is mildly ecstatic because she has got the final product in her hands.

I feel a little let down as I expected much more.

All the errors are of my making, so I take full blame.

Alberto Zavala - Orbituary

Yesterday, I received a communication from my Class Teacher and English Teacher of 1959, John Billington, conveying to me the very sad news of the passing of Alberto Zavala, my Geography teacher in 1955 (8th Standard). 


The late Mr. Glynne Howell taught me Geography  from the 9th to the 11th, Thanks to these two wonderful teachers, who raised my interest in world geography, I got a distinction in the Senior Cambridge in this subject.

He was around 80 years old. He died on 8th March at his home in Masschusetts, USA. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, while resting from working in the garden.  It was quite unexpected as he had not been unwell. 


Alberto was the Junior Housemaster of Barham. As John added, others will recall his help in Table Tennis and Football. and of course as a teacher of Geography. When he was teaching at the school, he had an M.A. from Nashville, Tenessee, USA. Because of his presence, I learnt where South America was on the map of the world, and he taught us about the ancient Indian heritage of the South Americans, and introduced us to the Incas of that great land.

Zavala was a Peruvian and brought a great deal of colour to our school in the 50s. He looked stern, but he had a heart of pure gold and a broad and fascinating smile. He was a wonderful and intense sportsman. I remember him from his antics on the hockey field when he was in the forward line and making rushes at me. He played ferociously and was always ready to strike the ball hard and high into the net. If he beat me, he would console me with a wry smile!


Alberto was the one who taught me that fitness was all important when taking part in any sport. 59er Percy Mistri has recalled how Alberto helped him with his table tennis.


I tried my level best, through both William Shiri and John, to persuade Alberto to attend our 59ers reunion in Novermber 2009, but unfortunately, I failed. Our loss!


I have asked John Billington to convey our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family of Alberto. May his soul rest in peace.

Secularity in Educational Institutions

(Posted on all my main blogs as this is one of my more serious postings meant to get the broadest reach.)

I learnt from the Times of India of 25th March 2010, Bishop Cotton school principals to resign, that my second alma maters, the Bishop Cotton's Schools in Bangalore, both the Boys and Girls schools, are going through a huge upheaval. The alleged interference of the Church in their running and the seemingly marginalisation of the Principals (also known as Wardens) into puppets, possibly all in the greed for the rich pickings associated with running a well-known educational institution, appear to have taken these two schools from reality into a fantasy world. Accusations are flying left, right and centre.

Sitting 7000 km away from that base, I do not know who is right or wrong. The literally hundreds of "Comments" in the newspaper make it difficult to understand the correct situation.

But it is such a shame to see the schools where my late father (he was also the Old Boy's Association Chairman for many years) and all his siblings, and a greater part of my generation of Matthan's, including my four children, being destroyed by these bickerings and the unfortunate media stories being put out.

A similar situation of the differences between the Church and the Principal is causing the rot of the fourth of my alma maters, St. Stephen's College in Delhi. The Alumni in different part of the world are taking actions, but that may not stop the rot.

However, my Mumbai alma mater, The Cathedral and John Connon School, seems to have overcome this problem, or is it that it has not yet come to the forefront.

Trying to remember my days in each school and college, I knew I was in a Christian Institution in all these three cases (and also my first, The Good Shepherd Convent School in Mysore).

In Bishop Cotton's Boys' School we had to go, being a Christian by birth, to the Chapel for morning service before the start of school, every single day.

In Mumbai, we had School Assembly every morning with the reading of the Bible by one of the Prefects and singing of hymns.

My 59er class consisted of Atheists, Christians (a handful), Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Sindhis, and probably various other sects and sub-sects. Not once did it cross my mind that my classmates were from different religions.

The only time I was aware of a difference was we took our shirts off for PT. I noticed a few of my classmates wore quite different vests - the Parsis, as they had a sleeveless type muslin (?) vest quite different from the rest of the class. Other than mentally noting this difference, and I never even bothered to find out or understand the reason for this, we were all equal in every other respect during our hours in school.

The only differences were those imposed by the time table, as the Christians had to do Scripture as a subject while the non-Christians were exempt from this.

These secular values, and the continuation of the same which I imbibed in St. Stephen's College of the early 60s, has stood me in good stead through my life. I learnt to respect people for what they do and achieve and not because of their religion, caste or creed.

I wish this would be the universal philosophy across the world, as the wars that plague us today are based on these stupid artificial values, called as faith - be it by any religion anywhere in the world where the religious hierarchy fights for power and prestige, misguiding the masses along the way.

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!

Pande unwell in Mumbai

In 2008, thanks to Deepak Deshpande, I was able to ring and speak to Mr. Jagdish Pande, who was a teacher in our school from the mid-50s. Not only was he my Marathi teacher, but he was also an outstanding sportsman and was in charge of our school hockey team.

When I spoke to him, he sort of remembered me as I was an absolutely useless student in Marathi. The reason was quite simple. In school I had to study English, French, Latin, Hindi, Marathi and German - besides having had to keep up with Kannada (which I had started while being brought up in Bangalore and Mysore, and Malayalam, our home language).

That was just too much. I had to consciously shut off some languages. Kannada, Hindi and Marathi were the first to get a chop. We were the last batch in school which did not have to Hindi as a compulsory subject for our Senior Cambridge examinations.

I later dropped Latin, as it was also too much for me. Mr. Glynne Howell, who taught us Latin, was a bit disappointed that I decided to drop it!

I stayed with French, despite being taught by the masochist, Mr. Ribi, but later mastered reading German text, enough for my technical studies in England.

Rajiv Bhatia, former Alumni President, informed me that Mr. Pande had been admitted for observation to hospital. He later visited him and said he was progressing.

Let us hope for a speedy and full recovery. We all love Mr. Pande, who though tough, is wonderful personality.