KTWV 07 Issue 14: Rahul Bajaj in Rajya Sabha

(Cross-posted on theSeventh Heaven 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).

<

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!

KTWV 07 Issue 13: Shashi Tharoor for top UN Job?

Recently, when someone asked me what I thought of the possibility of Shashi Tharoor being nominated and elected to the post of UN Secretary General, I sort of pooh-pooed the idea, as I personally think Shashi is far more valuable as a person with his own views as a person hamstrung by the position of the UN Secretary General.

I was, however, heartened to read between the lines in an interview that he gave to TIMES NOW’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on ‘Frankly Speaking’.

Shashi is not only a polished diplomat and a sound one at that, he is also the most careful thinking individual thatI have had the pleasure of having an acquaintance with over the last 7 years.

That he is also a Stephanian, much my junior, also lends some substance to the character we know.

Naturally, I would like to take comfort in the fact that he may occasionally read this blog and that he has commented many years ago that he thought my version of Kooler Talk (Web version) was good writing.

Let us hope that this outstanding individual reaches wherever he aims for as he will accomplish his goals, just as most Stephanians do!

KTWV 07 Issue 12: 100% attendance yet again

The Finnish Stephanian Alumni Reunion had a 100% attendance as we had a three day binge.

We discussed every topic under the sun with all the candor that only us Stephanians can muster.

Both of us are looking forward to the next reunion.