Goodbye dearest Rathikant Badu

 Over last weekend I learnt of the passing of one of my dearest friends from our college days, Rathikant Basu.

I will later share a link with you about his professional achievements, revolutionising Indian tv and entertainment in India, written by a former colleague, but first I must tell you about our personal association from our college days.

Sujit Bhattacharaya, son of a former  Chairman of the Reserve Bank of India, studied in Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay, with me and we both joined St. Stephen’s College in the summer of 1960.

As fate eould have it, we were both in the only Mukarji block of that time. 

Photo of Collrge Mukarji Block

ujit, being a Bengali, quickly caught up with two other Bengalis, Dipankar Basu and  Rathikant Basu, both one year senior to us. 

Sujit is a quiet person with an absolutely great sense of wit and humour. 

We both made some friends independently and they all became our common friends. 

Sujit had earlier studied in Delhi at St. Columbus School, so he knew Rajagopalan Narayanan, who also stayed in Mukarji block, so he joined our crowd. As Rajagopalan  was a Malayali, he found me to be a good friend and sort of hero worshipped me.

Rathikant was of the same mould as Sujit with a great analytical mind, a sarcastic tongue used very carefully and cautiously and was real fun to be with. Commonly known ads Stephanian humour! 

Our other friends were my dearest, late Ajay Verma, Ambassador HE Niranjan Desai, Arun Aggarwal (Tich), Chandu Rijhwani, Devendra Pratap, Ravi Batra, Badrinath, Deepak Chopra, Hirak Ghosh and a few others.

Although Rathikant was not a resident of Mukarji block, as were the others, he literally lived there, going to the cafe or to the dining hall together and hanging out in the JCR.

We had a great time in college. We used to jump gates and go to the movies together.  We shared 7 people in a taxi coming back. 

None of us were the womanising type so we did not hang out in the Wenger cafe but preferred the India Coffee House and the Kamala Nagar restaurants for our out of college jaunts.

The crowd was a cross-section of persons from all parts of India, highly secular, and from a variety of courses as Physics, Maths, Chemistry, Economics and English and covered the years  from 1st to final. All were studious and did spend time clearing our grades.

We loved hanging out together and we had varied sports interests from basketball, hockey, cricket, table tennis, chess, bridge, carroms, and midnight feasts!

Those were golden days and this crowd, along with my cousin Padma Shri Mammen Mathew (Rajen) and his crowd in the first year when I was in my second, stormed me to victory to be the only person to be the President of the JCR in the second year, a feat not repeated again!

Rathikant was a caring individual and immensely knowledgeable about all things in life. 

We discussed every subject that was the topic of the day and I was “educated” by him in the college cafe over coffee, scrambled eggs and mince!

Our paths diverged but came together in the early seventies on my return to India. I used to frequent Baroda as I was doing a consulting job for IPCL.

On one occasion I had an invitation to go to Ahmedabad and was told that Rathikant was the Muncipal Commissioner there. I communicated with him and he responded immediately. He had me picked up on arrival, took me home where his gracious and lovely wife cooked and served a truly wonderful Bengali meal, and he made sure I had everything to make my visit comfortable.

Since then we communicated regularly and he went through many ups and downs, but he always kept smiling. Knowing my family history in the media world he kept bouncing ideas off me. It was a truly interesting time as he went stage by stage to establish a truly strong independent media in India. We owe Rathikant an enormous debt for his contribution to freedom of expression in India!

He lost his better half and was in great depression after that but he found away around that by communicating with his friends like Ajay in Sweden and me in Finland. He must have had others but that is not known to me.

He was in Calcutta and then decided to move to Ahmedabad.

In 2008 I addressed an email to Nirmal Jhalla , one year junior to me, about organising a reunion and and Rathikant was thge first to reply. I attach below my email to Nirmal with cc to others and Rathikant's immediate reply to that. 

From: Jacob Matthan

To: Nirmal Jhala ; Rathikant Basu ; Ajay Verma ; Niranjan Desai ; SUJIT BHATTACHARAYA

Cc: Sarwar Lateef ; Peter (Tubby) Philip ; 57er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly ; Davendra Pratap ; Mammen (Rajen) Mathew ; RamuKatakam ; Aftab Seth ; Aftab Baveja ; Ramani Subramanian ; Badrinath Ramanathan ; Dileep Rao

Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 10:32 AM

Subject: Great hearing from you

Hi Nirmal,

Great hearing from you. Noted your new email address.

Rathikant and I got together through LinkedIn. Ajay came to Oulu after he retired. He is back in Lund, Sweden. Niranjan and I have chatted when he was in London. He retired but is working for an organisation in Delhi. Sujit is back online with me through my school network. 

I am thinking of planning a get together in Delhi next December around the time of Founders Day, December 6 2009. 

I am communicating this email to Davendra, Mammen, Katakam, Aftabs (Seth and Baveja), Tony, Tubby, Sarvar, Deepak,  Ramani, Badri, Dileep, to start with.

If all are interested I can start a Google 2009 Reunion Group and we can plan a good bash in Delhi. I have several more from our years on my list. (Ranjit Jacob, George Verghese, Abe Tharakan, Kamlesh Sharma, Karti Sandilya, Ravi Katari, Siddarth Singh, Arun Shourie (if he will codescend to accepting hiis alma mater?), Swami, Mani Shanker, Jose Vellapally, etc.) 

The Delhi-ites can coordinate with the college (Tony, Niranjan, Siddarth, etc.).

If each of you can add 10 to the list, we could have a great get-together and relive the "Sixties". Maybe a mock cricket match as most of us may not be able to waddle to the centre!

I have done this with my school class group of 1959 and we are having our reunion in November 2009 in Mumbai with hopefully over 160 participants (as many wives will also be joining in). Wives of now absent friends are also joining us there.

So much to talk about and so little time ahead! Ajay and I talked non-stop for the two days he spent here in Oulu.

Want to have this as a special tribute to our Kooler Talk Founders - who have inspired me to run the Web Version for over 12 years.

Would love to see you (and all others) there. Calcutta is not on our travel itinerary - Mumbai, Kottayam, Bangalore. Chennai, Hyderabad and finally Delhi.

Regards

Jacob
-- 
Jacob Matthan

 

Oulu, Finland

Blogs:

Jacob's Blog
Kooler Talk - Delhi Stephanians Alma Mater Blog

 

He wanted to open a Tea House in Helsinki but I advised against it as Finland is a land of coffee drinkers.

We communicated regularly and discussed matters of interest to both of us - politics and entertainment being the primary topics. He was a regular reader pf the Kooler Talk Blog run by me.

I found his knowledge immense and I learnt a lot about the Indian Political scene from his vast experience. 

He never shared his problems with me! He only shared his happiness and always told me that I had helped him through his difficult emotional times with my positive attitude.

He promised to make a trip to Finland, but we lost Ajay and that was a sad blow to both of us.  

As soon as I learnt of the passing of Rathikant I sent a message to Sujit who shared with me his deep personal grief in losing Rathikant.

Sujit also shared a link written by a former colleague of Rathikant about the his professional life.

The Taste by Vir Sanghvi: The story of Rathikant Basu and Rajagopalan Indian television industry - Hindustan Times

When I did a Google search about Rathikant I found numerous links of great tribute to this outstanding individual who completely revolutionised the India media and entertainment world by his far sightedness.

Rathikant was more than a friend. A fellow alumni, he always stood for what was right according to the principles we had imbibed from our stay in the college.

May our dear friend rest in peace.

Dr. Anthony Stone, Memories

 It was a pleasant surprise to receive this email from a Stephanian colleague about a book by Dr. Anthony Stone,  who was teaching Mathematics in college when I was there..

Tony spent a short time with Annikki and me in Oulu many years ago, but then I lost contact till in 2014? I invited himmto attend Annikki’s 70th birthday celebrations. 

It is good to see Tony is still active. 

I have not attached the ”Foreword” as mentioned in the email. If any of you want it , I will happily send it to you. 

If you wish to comment, please contact me and I will put you in touch with Prabhu..

 https://pipparannbooks.com/book/hindu-astrology/

me your sugHeavens 

and Earth: The Story of Astrology through Ages and Cultures , published by Penguin 

 Here are some links where you can discover a bit more about Garima's Heaven and Earth:

 - Simsim: The Story of Astrology through Ages and Cultures: the Amazon UK page.

 - Heavens And Earth: The Story of  Astrology through Ages and Cultures: Amazon India page.

 - Heavens and Earth: The Story of Astrology through Ages: the Goodreads page.

Professor (retired) Prabhu Guptara

Board Consultant, Poet, and Publisher
Cambridge, U.K.
https://linktr.ee/prabhusgu

Remembering our loved ones

 Dateline 28th November 2023

(Posted on Jacob's Blog, Seventh Heaven Blog for Cathedralites and Kooler Talk (Web Version) Blog for St. Stephen's College alumni.

Cathedral & John Connon School 59ers have lost many of our ones in the last few years. 

Here is a partial list of those from our 2969class who have passed on. 

(I do not have any information about our lady classmates except dear Farhana. I hope someone will update me on this.)

Ashok Ruia

Bala Parasursman

Dossu Pagdiwalla

Fali Dhondy

Farhana (Kably) Poonawala

Farukh Kanga

Flicky Shroff

Hasnain Chinwala

Indrajit Shah

Jacob Eapen 

Jack Haskell

 Jaswant Ghatge

Kurshed Balsata

Michael Colaco

Murali Balani

Naubir Mohindar

Pradeep Bhakar

Prem Goel

Ramesh Mirchandani

Virat Gidwani

Trevor Newnes

I have deliberately left out from this list, one of our dearest, who was tragically lost  15 years ago, Ashok Kapur.

59erGolden Reunion Directory

Our Mumbai 59ers met as a memoriam to Ashok

At our 2009 Golden  Reunion of 59ers,  Annikki and I dedicated our Reunion Directory to Ashok with these pages:

But besides Ashok, we lost many others during those fateful days, which has been brought to mind by Rajiv Bhatia on his Facebook page.

26/11

Remembering the late - Ajit & Monica Chhabria, Sunil & Reshma Parikh, Sanjay & Rita Agarwal, Rohinton Maloo, Mohit Harjani, Lavina Harjani, Anand Bhatt, Pankaj Shah, Vishnidas-Nilam-Gunjan Narang, Neeti-Uday-Samar-Kang, Rupinder Randhawa, Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Tukaram Omble

I also remember one of my other alumni from St. Stephen’s College with this post from our alumni Facebook page. 

None other than the heroic Ashok Kamte:

Ashish Joshi , the Moderator of our alumni Facebook   page posted this.

LEST WE FORGET

This is what my friend & college senior, Gary (Justice Anupinder Grewal), wrote in the memory of late Ashok Kamte (Gary's batchmate) a brilliant police officer who attained martyrdom on 26/11. Late Kamte was a friend & one year senior to me in the College .

ASHOK KAMTE

I have been attending the annual St. Stephen's College, Reunion very frequently ever since I passed out of college in 1987. However, this year on 14th December, it was drastically different as it turned into memorial service for Ashok Kamte and I was entrusted the painful task of paying tribute to Ashok. 

It was a tragic personal loss as besides being my classmate in college and a friend, I had the privilege of living with Ashok and his family at his mother’s Flat in Hira Mahal on the Amrita Shergill Marg for about year while studying law. 

Ashok had joined us at St. Stephen's College for his Post Graduation after he had Graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. What stood him apart from the rest of the Stephanians was the enormity of his physical stature, which alongwith his quest for academic excellence was a rather unique combination. What surprised many was why is the National Power Lifting Champion pursuing Post Graduation at St. Stephen's. There is no preference for sports persons for admission in M.A. Little did they realize then that Ashok always strove for excellence, whether in the classroom or the playing field. He had single minded commitment to succeed. He was very happy when he was selected to the I.P.S. He used to say that he was meant for action and disliked other civil services for their bureaucratic file work.

While training for the Power Lifting Championship, he would not compromise on his diet. As his mother would not allow him to have more than two eggs, due to its high cholesterol content he would buy a dozen eggs from the market, cook and eat them at his neighbour's house. He had broken three national records in Power Lifting and won half a dozen Gold and Silver Medals. He had also won the Bronze Medal in Junior World Power Lifting Championship. Power Lifting is one of the toughest sport and Ashok would train for hours in complete solitude. Despite his powerful build, he was extremely agile and could sprint quite fast. Besides his love for swimming and squash he would generate amazing pace and bounce while bowling on the rather placid College Cricket pitch at Morigate. He had played an important role in the victory of our team. 

Ashok was proud of the fact that he had the blood of two Martial Races the Maratha’s and the Sikhs. While his father is a retired Colonel settled in Pune, his grand-father was in the Imperial Police. His mother Mrs. Paramjit Kamte,, who now lives in Gulmohar Park is from the well known Bawa Family of Goindwal Sahib and is grand-daughter of Late Bawa Budh Singh of the Indian Service of Engineers. Bawa Budh Singh was the 14th descendent of the Third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Dass. When I called on Mrs. Kamte, she said that though she is proud of the fact that Ashok has become a National Hero yet at times she cannot comprehend that he is no more. He was the only male member in the family whom she could look forward in times of need. He had perhaps inherited his very fair features from his maternal grandmother Mrs.Surinder Bawa (maiden name Violet) an English Lady. His sister, Sharmila, a well known model and a ballet dancer, now runs her famous Dance Academy in Dubai. His wife, Vinita, stays at Pune alongwith his sons, Rahul and Arjun. Besides serving the U.N. Force in Bosnia, Ashok had also trained in Punjab for some time. 

Ashok was known for his high integrity and efficiency which was evident in his earlier stints in Maharashtra especially in Solapur, where he had brought an inflammable communal situation under control within a few hours. I had spoken to Ashok sometime back when as Commissioner of Police, Solapur, was in the news for bringing to book the local M.L.A who was flouting the law for noise pollution. Ashok had personally gone and arrested the M.L.A. from his residence at mid-night after the M.L.A. had earlier roughed up police officials. I had asked him whether he had really beaten up the M.L.A. He replied that if he had done so, the man would not have survived as though he no longer competed in power lifting but maintained regular exercise regime. It was his conscientiousness, patriotism and devotion to duty which made him the target of the terrorist attack at Mumbai. He was the Additional Commissioner, (East) and even though the area around the Cama Hospital(South) did not fall within his jurisdiction, he had reached there as he had undergone specialized training to handle terrorism and hostage situation. He would lead from the front and was not the kind to send subordinates to do risky jobs. He lived for others and had a proactive approach. He made the supreme sacrifice and attained martyrdom in the battle field and made his family, friends and the nation proud. "

Anupinder Grewal

Additional Advocate General, Punjab (Now Judge, Punjab High Court)

Let us each keep a moment’s silence, wherever we are, to honour of all our alumni. Founder’s Day for the schoo was November 1th. That for our college is 7th December. 

May all these dear ones friends 

Rest In Peace.

Ramu Katakam (1961-1964) Article in The Wire

 

I have blogged an article by our alumni Architect Ramu Katakam (1961-1964) about Indian cities which appeared in The Wire yesterday with my introduction to an old friend. 

He was a close friend of my cousin, Mammen Mathew (Rajen), and late Suresh Mehra,  Azar Siddiqui and Anil Capoor.

Ramu and Rajen hitch-hiked from India to London. That was when I was studying in London.

Hope you enjoy the blog entry.

https://jmatthan.blogspot.com/2023/10/an-important-question-about-indian.html

KTWV Volume 14 Issue 1: Outstanding Alumni: Prof. Ajeet Mathur

I have started a new feature which will highlight many of our alumni who have achieved their mark not only in Indian but international spheres.

As a first in this series I have chosen a good friend who has a shared alumni with me both in Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and also in St.Stephen's College in Delhi University.

Considerably younger to me, our paths crossed when he came to Finland in 1993. We struck up  a friendship  which has grown stronger over the last 26 years. 

You can read his detailed biodata and his huge list of publications, research areas, teaching experience and the numerous awards he has been given on his Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, website. Prof. Ajeet Narain Mathur

.

We have worked together on several projects, even writing a joint paper many years ago. In many of his writings he has acknwledged the contributions of both Annikki and myself in shaping some of his ideas. 

In his most recent book, he has given us a great compliment by referencing one of our major writings "Handbook for Survival in Finland" first published in 1994 and updated in 2014. It was the 1994 edition of our book that helped Ajeet to settle down in Finland.

We were especially happy when he wrote a short acknowledgement when he handed over a personal copy of his book for us.

Although this book covers the business opportunities between the two countries, Finland and India, it is much more than that in that his in depth coverage of the socio-economic conditions, political background and the pros and cons in both countries is much better than many other books that I have had the chance to read.

An excellent feature is the listing of the top 500 companies in both Finland and India. A study of these is most revealing in that it shows the typical differences in the structure of these countries.

Those who know Finland will understand why it is among the top countries in the world in several fields as Innovation, Quality of Life, Happiness, Education, Freedom of Speech, Environment, to name just st a few. 

Taken against our last book "The Titanic Calied India" published after our last visit to India in 2014, the stark contrast between these two countries is obvious.

 

When Ajeet was living in Finland, we had regular alumni get-togethers, which were always 100% attendance as we were were then the only two in Finland. :-)

If you are interested in picking up Ajeet's book about Finland and India you can go to these links in either UK or in the US.

Amazon UK Link for "Finland-India Business Opportunities"

Amazon US Link for "Finland-India Business Opportunities"

For your help here are a few reviews of the book which I found:

“ Due to his long and rich experience of working with Finnish and Indian companies and passionate research at IIM Ahmedabad in India , Aalto University, Helsinki and University of Tampere in Finland, Professor Mathur has a very deep knowledge of how to do business in both countries. I think that every company leader who considers starting Finnish-Indian business should read this new book. This valuable new book will help companies entering new markets to flourish by building robust sustainable business relations.”

- Päivi Leiwo, Chairperson Oilon Oy, Lahti, Finland

“This book is a treasure trove of knowledge explaining the business opportunities, policies, cultures, institutions, country trajectories and nuances pertaining to Finland and India. The author has worked in business, government and academia in India and abroad. He has also had a long association with Finland and is able to bring you an insider’s perspective of both countries”

- Ashok Sharma, Ambassador of India

“The author’s deep insider experience in the two countries enables him to make very sharp observations on both sides. This book will definitely help in understanding the cultural differences and in making all interactions and communications smoother. It is also very interesting and helpful to read about the differences in legal structures and where these differences originate from.”

- Iiro Rossi, Managing Director, Holiday Club Resorts, Helsinki

“This book is a delightful and important guide for those who want to do business between Finland and India. It brings you the numerous business opportunities which wait to be availed, and highlights the deep understanding of the author of the culture and institutional environment of both countries. Read this book, learn and be surprised!”

- Niina Nummela, Vice Dean, Professor of International Business, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland

“This book is a reflection of Ajeet’s penchant for deep research on a topic and ability to structure and articulate content. This will be extremely helpful to both academia and practitioners who want to develop Indo-Finnish business relations specifically and international business in general. Sonata is currently engaged with business in Finland”

- Srikar Reddy, Managing Director, Sonata Software Limited, Bangalore

From the two of us, Annikki and myself, we can certainly say that is one of the best books that has come over our table during the last few years, and it is even more of great honour that it has been written by one of our alumni. 

Thanks and well done Ajeet.

KTWV Volume 13 Issue 9: Meeting operational Costs

Two of my 19 Blogs

Now that Kooler Talk (Web Version) is back on line regularly, establishing 16 years of service to our alumni, I am now a pensioner and keeping this afloat with my pension is quite difficult. Thanks to so many of you, I was able to install a dedicated server.

I have just 3 ad places to offer on this page, two at the top and one at the bottom.

If any Stephanian would like to help support this Web Version and would be prepared to advertise to the 3000+ Stephanians who visit this site at every update, I would be most grateful.

This is not a broad general audience, but a very very limited one.

Anyone wanting to reach my broader readership can advertise in Jacob's Blog, which is a very popular site, should look at Annikki's and my larger community called The Findians

Proposals can be sent to me at jmatthana (at) gmail.com.

KTWV 12 Issue 6: Being drawn into a controversy

One seemingly clever individual has been pushing me andy KTWV to come out against his rivals. Very shoddy and shameful. He wants to promote his vision against another, through me thinking he has pushed me into a corner for being a member off another Facebook Group.

Rather un-Stephanian behaviour led by personal rivalries.

Gloating is not Stephanian behavior.

Firstly, Kooler Talk (Web Version) is only MY take on things. I do not represent the views of even one other Stephanian. So what I expound here has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else and their views.

I do not know the present laws of India as I have not lived there for the past 27 years. In the past 10 years, I have only made one visit to India, a 2 month Bharat Darshan in 2009!

The present controversy about one of the Stephanian Facebook Groups certainly requires a comment.

It was written that if a Facebook member of that Group did not inform the Group about her/his not wanting to be a member of an Alumni Association, then she/he would automatically be counted as a member of that Alumni Association. It implied that she/he would be required to pay Rs. 1000 as membership fee.

Correct me if I am wrong!

In Finland, such a statement is not valid according to Finnish Law.

If one wants to join an Association, the Association has to send all the information about it, in hard copy, along with an application form. This must be filled in and signed by the individual. (Pdf formats and electronic signatures are now permitted.)

There was a scam here where people used to send bills based on such a situation, where a negative was taken as a positive.

So to think that because you are a member of a Facebook Group, you automatically become a member of an association is inherently wrong. Facebook Group membership, which is social interaction, does not make you liable in any way to something else.

Not that I have anything against the particular Association, but the procedure to become a member of an Alumni Association must be correctly followed.

As I said, I am domiciled in Finland and the laws of Finland apply to me. I do not know the relevant laws in India.

Regarding the membership fees of Rs. 1000 - I could donate this money to this Facebook Group (or the Alumni Association) for bringing out such an excellent publication - they new SPICE.

Also there have to be different categories of membership - Honorary Members, Life Members and also Members who could pay annual fees. The Memorandum of the Association must be available to all potential members before joining the Association. There must be laid down procedures of how the money collected is used - the annual budget. There must be rules as to the cheque signing authorities granted to people at the helm. etc., etc..... There must be rules of joining as well as removing people from membership!

Neither of the present Stephanian Alumni Associations adhere to the very format of an Association (as the laws of Finland dictate). I am a member of both the Facebook Groups, as also many other Facebook Groups.  But none can claim that I am a member of any Associations formed under their banner. (I am a member of the Oulu University LinkedIn group but that does not automatically make me a member of the University Alumni Association!)

My request to all Sterphanian Facebook and LinkedIn Groups is to sort out differences and come together to form an Alumni Association OUTSIDE of the College. Allow room for different opinions and have a representative selection of people on the Board.

In two of my other alma maters - Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore and Cathedral School, Mumbai, the Alumni Association is in no way linked to the schools. They function independently of the Schools and that is the way it should be. The Alumni Association should not be a rubber stamp for the institution.

A healthy Alumni Association would work well with its alma mater but would also be a balance to greed and nepotism that sometimes creeps in!

KTWV 12 Issue 1: A time for KTWV to come back?

Kooler Talk (Web Version) is BACK.

It is sad that I restart Kooler Talk (Web Version) at this time of great problems within our
alumni.

I have to now stand up and have my say. That is what Kooler Talk (Web Version) has always done during the last decade and half. Unfortunately, for the first time I have to be vicious - quite against the natural grain of my character.

It has been over a year since I made a blog entry. As the old cliche states "Much water has flowed under the bridge".

In my old age, dementia has been slowly setting in. Although past events are crystal clear in my mind, much of what I have written during the past decade, or even the past week, has faded from my memory. (A test at the Lumosity web site revealed that it the disassociation of the various faculties, eyesight, hearing, the sense of smell and taste, that causes this form of dementia. It is not really the traditional form of dementia.)

I visited my blogs to read some of my past scribblings. (During my Bharat Darshan in 2009, I was only blogging at my main blog "Jacob's Blog", which presently remains locked. Much of what I wrote during that period, which included a visit to the College and attending the Founders Day event, is at the moment still unaccessible to Stephanians.)

What a shock I got! 

I seem to have written, with uncanny accuracy, what I see happening today in our alumni and in the College. I takes no credit for this. It was something which was obvious to anyone who could read the lines - not between the lines. I never make people to read between the lines.

I had written:

"The college is in the media limelight for all the wrong reasons".

Let me be crystal clear.

The common factor "for ALL the wrong reasons", then and now, has been and is Valson Thambu!

I am very happy at the positive and constructive things the alumni Facebook GROUPS (Stephanians and Laal Sitara) are doing. I am also thrilled at the Groups on LinkedIn, and many blogs run by Stephanians.

Yet, there is room for more involvement and improvement.

All the young Stephanian alumni at the helm of these various presentations of their take about our College are very sincere in what they are doing. They have the great respect for our alma mater and want to do something positive. I do hope they will resolve their personal differences and work towards a common goal.

The only person who is scared of their activity has to be one with a guilty conscience. That person feels that his "authority" will be usurped. His real intent would stand exposed.

I sort of laid out part of the goal I saw for the alumni in one of my blog entries last year. (Remember, I have been online for 15 years!!! I have said a lot during that time.)

"I would like to state some of the obvious:


We should have the finest faculty in all branches we intend to teach in our learned institution.
We should have the brightest and best students in the College.
We should have professional management to run the College, both the teaching, the education and the premises.
We should optimise all the aspects of running an educational institution.
We should modernise in keeping with similar institutions around the world.
We should involve alumni who have experience in managing a national education institution.
We should change our focus to handle the problems that face the India of tomorrow.
We should stop the reservation policy for anybody which is only detrimental to all communities in the long run."

I note that one leading contributor recently posted in one of the Facebook Groups about being open about what one says. I have always refused to publish details of subject matter sent to me with an anonymous label.

Let us go back a few years when we had the ad hoc appointment of Valson Thambu as the Principal of our College.

During the short time he was there he tried to change the secularity of the college into a fiefdom for a narrow band of Christians. He brought great disrepute to our alma mater!

I am born a Christian but value all the good of all religions.

Our college was not set up just for Christians. Read 61er Tony Jaitly's history of our College. You will see the first four students admitted to our College were Hindus and the fifth a Muslim!

Then Valson Thambu was removed. We hoped an experienced Administrator would be appointed!

While the process of re-appointment of the Prtincipal was going on, back Valson Thambu was, with a "doctorate" in theology from an Agricultural University! Do read an earlier blog entry of mine on this subject.

Despite the excellent credentials of many of the candidates to head our College, Valson Thambu was again appointed as Principal in a very clandestine manner. The collusion was more than obvious, again bringing great disrepute to our alma mater.

Then, there was a huge public war between the Bishop (the Chairman of our College) and Valson Thambu as they battled to get control of the funds of the College. 

This unseemly washing of dirty linen in public was screamed across the headlines of many national newspapers.

I witnessed all this sitting here close to the Arctic Circle, 7000 km away from Delhi. I wrote to many Stephanian alumni to DO SOMETHING!

The College was again the headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

And now we have the alumni scandal, where Valson Thambu has taken a "cease and desist" approach to something creative, constructive and positive done by a section of the alumni.

Why? 


What has this alumni association done to degrade the name of our alma mater? Why this dramatic over-reaction?


Who gave Valson Thambu ANY authority over my right as an alumni to discriminate  or accept the good of two alumni groups? Certainly not me!

If one reads his 8 page "cease and desist" letter - it would be easy to put the name of Valson Thambu to all the accusations he has leveled against what he calls the "Imitator" alumni association!

It is Valson Thambu who is the Imitator Principal!

If people want to do good for our alumni, why attack them publicly with such a ridiculous liturgy rather than talk and sort things out in a Stephanian way.

Although I belong to both the Groups on Facebook, neither Group has asked me for any money. Nor have they made any demands on me, except for my time and my good wishes.

As I said in one earlier posting, Valson Thambu is past the maximum level set by the Peter Principle.

Conflict diverts attention from the real situation, his legitimacy as the Principal of our College. 

Valson Thambu has no management skill that I am aware of. His actions from Day 1 when he took over as the Principal proves my point. His doctorate is highly questionable. The doctorate relates to a subject not even taught in our College (or was so when I last enquired).

There very "cease and desist" letter signed by him proves beyond a shadow of doubt his lack of competency to head our alma mater!

So on what grounds was he appointed to head our College? 


His knowledge of the English language or a hidden agenda?

I hope all the wonderful members of the alumni will get together and make sure that we have a harmonious relationship amongst ourselves and not be at the beck and call of the dubious holder of the title of the Principal of our College.

Valson Thambu is all what our various previous Principals were not - a very divisive personality. And as I have said before - there is not one Christian bone in his body. 

I will be back on line with my traditionally nostalgic reminiscences of OUR College. Stay tuned.

My approach is quite different from the wonderful SPICE or any other College related group.

And your inputs, criticisms, brickbats, are always welcome.

I am so happy that new SPICE is out. It is a great read. It is a wonderful professional alumni presentation - and Valson Thambu wants to kill this creativity? WHY? 

(The original SPICEs were way after my time in College. I understand they were controversial and racy!)

Kooler Talk (Web Version) will remain what it has always been - MY personal take on life in and after my wonderful experience in St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Welcome back to all our regular readers. And welcome to our many new readers.

KTWV 11 Issue 10: Alumni coming together?

2009 Founders' Day Coffee Session after programme of speech
by Past Indian President Abdul Kalam.

I had an interesting email sent to me through the Southern Stephanian Society Alumni Group which operates out of Bangalore:

from CHERIAN JACOB
reply-to southern-stephanian-society@googlegroups.com
date 10 February 2010 11:49
subject Please read this.
mailing list

www.savestephens.web.officelive.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Southern Stephanian Society" group.
To post to this group, send email to southern-stephanian-society@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to southern-stephanian-society+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/southern-stephanian-society?hl=en.

That took me to a site which was called

Save St. Stephen's College
Yes We Can

which had the following text and links (Emphasis MINE.):

College is facing the greatest threat ever to its existence. The administrative and financial autonomy of the College is being undermined. Alumni and well-wishers have to put their heads together and intervene. It is important to have clear understanding of the turn of events which has led to the present crisis. A detailed note on the crisis facing College and other documents is posted on the web. An online petition appealing to the Chairman not to destabilize the institution is also in circulation. They can be accessed through the links provided.

1. Note on the Crisis Facing Stephen's College
   
2. Letter by 23 of the 45 permanent faculty expressing disapproval at the humiliation meted out to Mr. N Raghunathan
   
3. Letter to VC
   
4. Resolution passed by the Governing Body *
   
5. Letter from the Chairman, Bishop Sunil Kumar Singh* asking for an inquiry into the dharna staged by some teachers
   
6. Letter from the University of Delhi * stating its disapproval of appointing a Bursar in violation of university ordinance.
   
7. Online petition appealing to the Bishop not to interfere and hijack the College: http://www.petitiononline.com/sscd2k10
   

Please go to the site to download and see the various documents.

Although I am glad that some members of our alumni are taking steps, preferably I would have liked to do it behind the scenes with each Alumni Group (New York, Kolkotta, Mumbai, Singapore, Bangalore, etc.) calling together its own Action Committee and then meeting at the national level with a strong uniform voice about what should happen in and with the college.

However, I am pleased that this has happened, as I have been calling for something on these lines for several years.

Our College is in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

We should reclaim our College from all disruptive forces and help make the College a beacon for the education of tomorrow, not a hot bed for politics and fundamentalism.


The symbol of OUR UNITY -
The Blacksmith, the modern one (2009)!

I would like to state some of the obvious:

1. We should have the finest faculty in all branches we intend to teach in our learned institution.
   
2. We should have the brightest and best students in the College.
   
3. We should have professional management to run the College, both the teaching, the education and the premises.
   
4. We should optimise all the aspects of running an educational institution.
   
5. We should modernise in keeping with similar institutions around the world.
   
6. We should involve alumni who have experience in managing a national education institution.
   
7. We should change our focus to handle the problems that face the India of tomorrow.
   
8. We should stop the reservation policy for anybody which is only detrimental to all communities in the long run.

There are lot more ideas to offer to any Action Group, as I have seen how our small town of Oulu has a University, which is a Centre of Excellence in several fields, and is also run professionally. If we could do it in a city of just 120000 people, I see no reason why it cannot be done in our College!

Thank you guys for making this happen.

KTWV 11 Issue 07: Alumnis waking up

First it was New York (Prof. Sreenath Sreenevasan), then Singapore (Akash Mohapatra), then Bangalore (Alok Chandra), Kolkotta (Satish Dhall) and now Mumbai (Vijay Shukla). The alumni in each of these cities is slowly waking up.

This is a recent message received from the Mumbai Alumni:

The Reunion Dinner is being held on Friday, 5th February 2010 from 8.00 p.m. onwards at the Main Lawns, Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai.

We take this opportunity with great pleasure to invite you and your spouse/partner for this function. We are confident that your evening would be delightful in our company.

We request you to kindly inform all those Stephanians who are in touch with you to be a part of this occasion.

Looking forward to meet you, your presence would be valuable.

Thank You.

Vijay Shukla

shuks10 @ hotmail.com
+919769210535

All it takes is for a couple of Stephanians of any age to get together, and we have so many memories to share, so many PJs to exchange and chance for a real gup-shup! (I wonder if this language is still used in college?)

It is never ending source of delight to meet up or exchange notes with the alumni.


Standing: 2nd from left 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, 6th from left 58er Rahul Bajaj, 8th from left me (a 63er) and far right, 63er Siddarth Singh.

Meeting 58er Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Bajaj, 61er former Commissioner of Jammu & Kashmir Ashok (Tony) Jaitly and 63er retired Ambassador Siddarth Singh during my recent visit to Delhi and then later, 62er retired Ambassador Niranjan Desai, 69er Integration Council Member John Dayal and then a whole host of past and present day Stephanians and staff in the College during the Founders' Day event (including the Bishop and the Principal - both of the Alumni), certainly was a most vitalising feeling.

I also met a lot of Stephanians in Kottayam when I attended the wedding of my nephew, Harsha Mathew, a Stephanian of recent era. Besides 61er Lt. Col. Jose Vallikappan (retd.), 62er Dr. Peter (Tubby) Philip, 63ers George Verghese and Abe Tharakan, 64er Mammen (Rajen) Mathew, 67er Philip Mathew, I met a whole host of younger Stephanians including Mariam (Anu) Mathew (née Paul), Rahul Mammen Mappillai, Amit Mathew, Riyad Mathew, Adit Mammen and his wife Deepshikha (also a sStephanian) who reside presently in Australia, Rohan Mammen, and many many more. Sadly in Bangalore I was only able to connect very briefly with 68er Arun Matthan.

The West Bengal Chapter of our Alumni has as its current President 64er Satish Dhall. The Governor of West Bengal is a Stephanian - 67er His Excellency Shri Gopal Krishna Gandhi. He hosted the Alumni Reunion at the Raj Bhavan on 21st November of last year. If I had known, I would have flown to Kolkotta to attend it as there are several Stephanians of my era there: 62er Rathikant Basu, 63er Sujit Bhattacharya and 64er Nirmal Jhalla - just to name a few! There are several in Kolkotta who have not yet connected with the Alumni Association there.

My hope is that Stephanians around the world who read this Web Version of Kooler Talk will use this forum to communicate to the almost 3000 regular Stephanian readers who check out here periodically. Please share your thoughts and ideas with me as I start to try to get together a plan to ensure that our alma mater is not pushed down the drain hole!

KTWV 11 Issue 03: Active alumni is important

It is so wonderful to read on Facebook about the very active alumni we have in Bangalore.

The Southern Stephanian Facebook Group is certainly getting their aim right. The Golf Tournament organised by them is pulling in many takers.

Well done, Southern Stephanians, but do also take up the issues which plague our alma mater these days.

Sreenath Sreenivasan, our talented professor, tech savvy journalist in New York, is certainly helping to keep that alumni faced in the right direction. I know we have a great bunch of guys in Singapore, but they have been out of touch for some time. Pressures of the global financial melt down?

It is only with a strong and active alumni around the world that we can drive our college back along the right track.

Above all we need an active alumni centre at home base in New Delhi.

Any Stephanians in Finland? After Professor Ajeet Mathur moved back to India and the Indian institute of Management in Ahmedabad, I am left as an alumni of 1!

And I am active!!! :-)