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 15 Issue 5: Gandhi Jayanti

 

The author is Delhi-based senior journalist and writer. He is author of Gandhi's Delhi which has brought to the forth many hidden facts about Mahatma Gandhi)

https://www.bizzbuzz.news/national/a-gandhi-jayanti-exclusive-the-teacher-in-gandhi-always-drew-him-to-schools-and-colleges-1252681?infinitescroll=1

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 14: Budget Battleground

This post is made in three of my blogs as it of interest to all my readers of Jacob's Blog, and more specifically the readers of my Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School Blog, Seventh Heaven, and readers of the Stephanian Blog, Kooler Talk (Web Version).
I apologize for this multi-blog posting, as many of you are readers of all the three blogs!
Budget Battleground was  event that took place against the backdrop of my alma mater, St. Stephen's College, beautifully lit in the background, had a selected audience of young economists from Delhi School of Economics, Shri Ram College and St. Stephen's College, three of the many premier colleges in Delhi.
The anchorman was NDTV Managing Director, Dr. Prannoy Roy, who was connected with another good friend, great economist with tremendous wit, the person who turned around Doordarshan in the late eighties and early nineties and then went on to head Rupert Murdoch's Star TV and then his own channel, Broadcast Worldwide Ltd.,  and also a Stephanian, 61er/63er Rathikant Basu.
This is from the Wikipedia entry for NDTV Managing Director, Prannoy Roy:

Controversy
On 20 January 1998 Central Bureau of Investigation filed cases against New Delhi Television (NDTV) managing director Prannoy Roy, former Director General of Doordarshan R Basu and five other top officials of Doordarshan under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the CBI charge-sheet, Doordarshan suffered a loss of over Rs 3.52 crore due to the “undue favours” shown to NDTV as its programme The World This Week (TWTW) was put in `A’ category instead of `special A’ category

The two in the hot seats were 63er Montek Singh Alhuwalia, who was very much present in St. Stephen's College during my three years there, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen (difficult to say whether he is an Indian or Bangladeshi as both countries have laid claim to him).
One can never forget 63er Montek, not for his knowledge, but for the unique way he wore his turban and certain mannerisms (the nervous laugh when he knows what he is saying is not what he believes), which have not changed, even as of today. The way he argued a point was always from a point that he could not be wrong, although many times, he was and is!
I give below three extract from the autobiography of Amartya Sen (Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1998). In these extracts you will see the mention of a name - Mumbai Cathedral School 59er Sudhir Anand, my classmate who is Professor of Economics at both Oxford and Harvard, a brilliant economist and undoubtedly a brain who influenced Amartya Sen considerably more than a three time  mention in his autobiography.
59er Sudhir was from our Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School. Although unable to make it top our 50th year reunion in 2009, he was very much there in spirit.

"I was also fortunate to have colleagues who were working on serious social choice problems, including Peter Hammond, Charles Blackorby, Kotaro Suzumura, Geoffrey Heal, Gracieda Chichilnisky, Ken Binmore, Wulf Gaertner, Eric Maskin, John Muellbauer, Kevin Roberts, Susan Hurley, at LSE or Oxford, or neighbouring British universities. (I also learned greatly from conversations with economists who were in other fields, but whose works were of great interest to me, including Sudhir Anand, Tony Atkinson, Christopher Bliss, Meghnad Desai, Terence Gorman, Frank Hahn, David Hendry, Richard Layard, James Mirrlees, John Muellbauer, Steve Nickel, among others.) I also had the opportunity of collaboration with social choice theorists elsewhere, such as Claude d'Aspremont and Louis Gevers in Belgium, Koichi Hamada and Ken-ichi Inada in Japan (joined later by Suzumura when he returned there), and many others in America, Canada, Israel, Australia, Russia, and elsewhere). There were many new formal results and informal understandings that emerged in these works, and the gloom of "impossibility results" ceased to be the only prominent theme in the field. The 1970s were probably the golden years of social choice theory across the world. Personally, I had the sense of having a ball.
From social choice to inequality and poverty
The constructive possibilities that the new literature on social choice produced directed us immediately to making use of available statistics for a variety of economic and social appraisals: measuring economic inequality, judging poverty, evaluating projects, analyzing unemployment, investigating the principles and implications of liberty and rights, assessing gender inequality, and so on. My work on inequality was much inspired and stimulated by that of Tony Atkinson. I also worked for a while with Partha Dasgupta and David Starrett on measuring inequality (after having worked with Dasgupta and Stephen Marglin on project evaluation), and later, more extensively, with Sudhir Anand and James Foster."

Later he says in his autobiography:

"During my Harvard years up to about 1991, I was much involved in analyzing the overall implications of this perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy (this is reported in my book, Inequality Reexamined, published in 1992). But it was also very nice to get involved in some new problems, including the characterization of rationality, the demands of objectivity, and the relation between facts and values. I used the old technique of offering courses on them (sometimes jointly with Robert Nozick) and through that learning as much as I taught. I started taking an interest also in health equity (and in public health in particular, in close collaboration with Sudhir Anand), a challenging field of application for concepts of equity and justice. Harvard's ample strength in an immense variety of subjects gives one scope for much freedom in the choice of work and of colleagues to talk to, and the high quality of the students was a total delight as well. My work on inequality in terms of variables other than incomes was also helped by the collaboration of Angus Deaton and James Foster.

Readers of Seventh Heaven will remember how I have written about Sudhir and the Nobel Prize awarded to Amartya Sen!
The discussion was lack lustre. Montek took the view that he could not discuss the Budget (the whole point of the programme) and gave no real answer for the blazing question how the poor of India had not improved their lot during the time he has been at the head of the Planning Commission. (At one point he says "We have said, the Government has said,…." )
Montek minced  words as only a political chamcha can do!
Roy was not hard-hitting in his position as Anchorman. He was being pleasant to his guests!!
Amartya Sen was his own self and wanted to be nice to everyone.
Not a receipe for a successful  discussion, but for me, being in the setting of our beautiful college was good enough to sit through the 45 minute discussion!
Anyway, it was good to be away from the depressing media coverage of our hallowed institution which has been plaguing us for almost half a decade!

KTWV Volume 13 Issue 11: Mind is on food still

I certainly have good food on my mind. My dear wife dished out a great and very colourful pasta, accompanied by a spicy sauce and a meat ball dish for dinner. I am stuffed.

I never felt stuffed after any meal in College. I am not fussy about food and did not mind the college cuisine. I used to spend time in the kitchen talking to our gyps / cum cooks.

One comment to my last blog entry was especially interesting. The writer said he could hardly remember what he had for breakfast the previous week, so how in the earth could he remember what he had 45 years ago!

That is the best part as he actually did remember what he had 45 years ago, and even remembered the parathas that  were served for the vegetarian breakfast on Sundays in our College Mess.

His post did bring back a lot of memories as I used to alternate between the non veg and veg breakfast every morning. The eggs were sometimes quite cold, so I did not fancy having them every morning with the bread, butter, jam.

The roti was far more appetizing.

A few more posts about the food in college. till I have fried the subject!

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 10 Issue 24: Meeting Another Heap

(Also posted on my main blog - Jacob's Blog, where I am posting all the entries during this extended trip around India.)

Lunch yesterday at the India International Centre in New Delhi was a most pleasant experience. (Not just the Thali meal!)

I renewed contact with another of my dearest St. Stephen's College friends - Niranjan Desai (also know as Heap 1: Ajay was Heap 2: I was Heap 3 - meaning a Heap of TROUBLE!). Niranjan was a year senior to me and was studying English Honours. He was from East Africa. He was and is still is a thorough gentleman with a great sense of humour.

In college, we were a group who lived between 1960 amnd 1963 in Mukerji East residential block. (Mukerji West did not exist in our time.)

Even though I say it myself, we were a great crowd. Besides Niranjan and myself, Ajay (Sweden), Badri (Switzerland, youngest every Padma Shiri), Choppy, Daisy (London), Norval, late Rajen, Rajiv, Ramani, Ravi, Rijwhani, Sujit (Kolkotta), Titch, etc., were just a few of our very happy and lively bunch. We were like one family.

The group consisted of Eco, English, Chemistry, History, Maths, Physics, and General Science students - but that did not make a difference, as we were all on the same wavelength.

When I met Niranjan this time, it was not as if a day had passed since our college days. He was looking trim, and except for his white hair, like mine, he was still the same smiling jovial self.

He has seen much of the world as he took up Indian citizenship, joined the Foreign Service and after being declared persona non grata in Uganda, when Idi Amin was on the rampage, he has served in various capacities including his Ambassadorship to Egypt, Switzerland and senior appointments in London and USA (both New York and Washington D. C.). He organised the Festival of India in both London and the USA, both of which received wonderful international coverage.

Of course, I did not know all this, but learnt a lot during our lunch together when time just passed quicker than one wanted.

Niranjan now works for an interesting organisation run by a brilliant young NRI presently based in Mumbai, who was described by Niranjan as a talented workaholic, Neville Tuli. Known as the OSIAN's, their contribution to Indian Culture is something which takes the breath away. They could not have found a better Ambassador than Niranjan.

Among the many things that have been established, two stick out. They have attempted and succeeded in launching the first serious Auction House in India, much on the lines of Sotheby's, Christies and Philips.

Niranjan gave me the Catalogue they had prepared for the first auction which took place on 29th October 2009. It is a publication which can be treasured as it is of the quality that one expects only from the large international auction houses. And Osian's has built up the in-house expert group which is the only way such an enterprise can succeed over the long term.

The second interesting avenue that this group has organised is film festivals covering a range of subjects. This is something which is different from the film festivals which used to be the attraction for those interested in seeing flesh exposure in the old days!

Anyone who is serious about buying genuine Indian Antiquities and Modern Art, may I suggest that they get in touch with this group. They know what they are doing. Their catalogue explains all the laws and procedures in the simplest of terms, so anyone following their guidelines will hardly fall foul of the "laws" as they are practiced in India!

Niranjan was a bit sceptical about the future of India. Like me, he is of the opinion that the country is fast moving into a state of terminal decline. He agrees with me that civic society has collapsed and the only driving force is the bottom line, which is neither Indian culture or heritage. Corruption has increased to such an extent, in his opinion, there is no meaning in the rule of law. He too is of the opinion that the Naxals will wait and make their move at the appropriate time, resulting in horrific bloodshed.

Having been a diplomat and a civil servant almost all his working life, his assessment coinciding with mine was indeed very strange.

We also agreed that what is happening in our alma mater is a sign that that too is in terminal decline. The college is not about education any longer, but persons in the "administration" jockeying for more power as they file suits and counter suits in the law courts. Even today, the High Court chided the Principal for his misuse of power. Further, the battle between the Bishop and the teachers has hotted up!

Is this what one wants appearing in the Press day-in day-out?

1. St Stephen's row: Court pulls up principal


2. HC chides Stephens Principal for misuing power


3. Stephen's tense over bursar appointment

Are these the examples to set for the students of this august institution?

And, is all this "Christian"?

My visit to the college certainly demonstrated that what is important in the college is being forgotten, while all these external battles are in progress. As I had already mentioned, it appears that no one cares about the state of the college.



The Junior Common Room (JCR) is in shambles. That pained me immensely, as when I was the JCR President, it was my close work with the then Principal, Mr. Sircar and the Vice Principal, Mr. Shanklund, that had driven the JCR to become something of a force in the college for the college residents. The students earned the respect of the staff by the way they organised all the different events and finally the JCR Evening.



The beautiful lawn and rose garden which stood in front of Mukerji East is no longer there - it is just a barren piece of brown earth. The lawns have not been swept of the fallen leaves.

The white interior walls of the college are dirty.



The pictures in many places do not hang straight.

It feels like one is in a third rate institution.

Where is the order and pride in the alma mater that had existed in our time?

It is obvious that people are more concerned of their own political ambitions rather than the state of the college.

Niranjan also expressed that many of our friends had changed over time with their own priorities weighing in their lives. Natural, but unfortunate.

What values we shared when we were in college are those that are worth standing for, even today. A strong alumni can influence the happenings of the alma mater.

Thank you, Niranjan, for showing me that we can still hold our principles, whatever we have been through in the intervening years.

KTWV 10 Issue 14: Passing of Dr. Anil Wilson

News has just reached me of the passing away of our past Principal, Dr. Anil Wilson, today in Delhi.



Dr. Wilson (1947-2009) was an educationist who served as the Principal of St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1991 to 2007.

His schooling was from the Irish Brothers at the St. Edward’s School, Simla. He graduated in Science with additional English from the Punjab University. His post-grad degree in English Literature was from the Centre for Post Graduate Studies at Simla. He was selected by the Public Service Commission to work in the lecturer cadre in Colleges in Himachal Pradesh. He obtained the M.Phil and the Ph.D degrees.

In January 1991 he was selected to head St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Dr. Wilson was the eleventh Principal of the prestigious institute and the first to have been appointed without prior teaching experience at the college. Throughout his tenure as Principal, however, he continued to serve as a lecturer in English to all three years of the undergraduate honours programme. In 1996 he was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University where he also officiated as the Vice Chancellor, but before he could complete his term there he was recalled by St. Stephen's College.

He was Principal till 2007. He received the Beresford Hope Award which he received in 1984 from the St. Augustine’s Foundation, England; the Soka University Award of Highest Honour bestowed on him in 1992 at a special investiture ceremony held in Tokyo, Japan; the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for outstanding achievements and contribution to education in 1999; the Distinguished Educationist Award in 2001.

He was a member of number of national boards and committees. He was nominated by the President of India to the Executive Committee of the North Eastern Hill University in Shillong and was the nominee of the Governor of Jharkhand on the Executive Council of the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi. He has served on the Executive Council of the University of Delhi.

Dr Wilson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2008 and was undergoing therapy. In a highly courageous step, he had decided to donate his living body for further medical research on the disease. He passed away today, 25th June, 2009.

The funeral service is today at 5pm IST, at St. James Church, Kashmere Gate. Burial thereafter at Nicholsan Cemetary.

Before Dr. Wilson started blogging, he was a faithful reader of the Kooler Talk Web Page which became this blog. If you go trough the archives you will find communications from him when he was launching the official college web site.

Dr. Wilson's son, Amit, and I were in close contact for several years, but he then vanished from the scene. His daughter, Aparna and wife, Rita, have been in the news after the pancreatic cancer was diagonosed.

I convey my deepest condolences to the family of a man who served in one of the most prestigious positions in India, educating some of the best brains of our country.

May Dr.Wilson now rest in peace.

KTWV02-Issue 9: Gossip galore

Another month has passed. Hence, it looks as if the routine of the web version of Kooler Talk will be as a monthly, despite a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from many of you. It is no stress for me to keep this going at this pace.

First - some of the hot news about a few Stephanians.

Rathikant Basu is again in the news, as he and Rupert Murdoch were asked to appear in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi, Prem Kumar, on 27th October for "offensively invading and depraving public morals" for showing 4 "obscene" films on Star TV using cable transmission.

How hypocritical can some in Indian society be if they feel that movies can deprave and yet allow all the possible violence to be shown, day-in and day-out, in the Bollywood productions. The suggestive sex in Bollywood films is far more depraving than anything that I have seen on the western screen during my 30 plus years of living in a Western society, but, of course, moralists in India cannot dare challenge the money and power of Bollywood!!

Another couple of Stephanians in the limelight are Pradip Kishen, husband of Arundhati Roy, who was the first home-grown Indian to win the Booker Prize this year, and Pradip's elder daughter Pia (20) - Arundhati's step-daughter, currently a 3rd year history student at Stephen's. Pia is a fourth generation Stephanian, and all the generations have studied history. Pradip is a film director. He has directed three feature films, Massey Sahib, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones and Electric Moon (facts courtesy Stephanian Debasish Mukerji - special correspondent of The WEEK).

Massey Sahib was hilarious. My better half (Annikki) and I had the chance to convert the script of this movie to Finnish and Annikki read the script over the microphone (microphone interpretation) while the movie was being shown during the International Children's Film Festival held here in Oulu a few years ago. I must admit that is one of the very few movies that I have enjoyed in recent years. I understand that Arundhati acted in Massey Sahib, although I do not particularly remember the cast.

Pradip's younger daughter, Mithva, who is the 12th standard in a school in Dehra Dun, may also become a Stephanian, but maybe not, as she may follow in Arundhati's footsteps as a writer or an architect (?), now that the world is at their feet.

Now let us take a look at a Stephanian who has been in touch with me during the lay-off of this web-rag. I had mail from someone whose address was shown as Inderjit Jhala who claimed to be in Stephen's the same time as me.

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 10:41:56 +0530
From: Indrajit Jhala (email address provided)
Subject: Hi Jacob, Remember Me?

Came across the KT Page , U did not tell the sequel to the Luck story, i.e. the revenge of the Bridge Fanatics, and poor Luck's situation as reported by Kundan Singh. More if I can get a reply from u.

Nirmal

I knew of two Jhala's but no Indrajit, and in my carelessness I had not noted the signature which was in the body of the message. So I sent a message describing the two Jhala's I knew and back came the reply:

Got your prompt reply. First let me make a few small corrections in yr recollection of yrs truly.

* My name is Nirmal Jhala, Indrajit our eldest boy is the holder of the VSNL student's concession account. I only fiddle about with it now and then.
* I am NOT the gent who acquired undying fame as "Mad" Jhala, that distinction belongs to Mahendra Jhala who was also a part of our gang of cricket freaks, Ajit(singhji) being the first member (Jacob: Ajit was my year, - captain of the Stephanian cricket team in our last year 1962-63 and possibly the cousin of Stephanian and Indian wicket-keeper Inderjitsinghji. Ajit was a real gem of a person, always smiling, even when he was out for a duck!!).

He died soon after leaving college, of throat cancer, never having smoked all his life. Incidentally, Mahendra also lives in Cal. He now leads a life of leisure, having quit after a near fatal encounter with a brain tumour. He has a son working in USA.
* Parmar, Jitu - (Jacob: Also a fabulous and elegant stroke-player) has retired to his home town Rajkot. He played Ranji Trophy for a few years.
* Re self, I joined the IAS in '67, Married a fellow probationer, Krishna Dasgupta , (sister of C. S. Dasgupta, History '61, IFS '62 (Jacob: Remember him very well - very prim and proper, he was), Currently at Brussels), Transferred from Haryana to W Bengal in '72, Begot Three boys, IJ, Age 22, first year IIM Cal, Ranjit J., Age 19, 2'nd yr Computr. IIT Delhi, and Sanjit J, 17, hoping to do same this yr. (Jacob: Sadly, like me, no Stephanian genealogy to follow!!)

That more or less sums up the story of my life. Yes, I have been working, if that is the word, for the Govt. of WB and for the GOI for about thirty years now. Not much to show for it ,as you can see from the little story (Jacob: not) given below. Don't send it out on KT (Jacob: Sorry Kooler Talkians, only my privilege to get to see some of the juicy stuff), The Statesman might object.

The Moral of the Story

Nirmal Jhala

Jacob's memory had struck again!!

More next month about some more Stephanians of the past - so keep those letters rolling in!!

Regards

Jacob Matthan,
Honorary Editor,
Kooler Talk (Web Version),
Oulu, Finland

Web Pages of Stephanians

Alumni Directory

As requested by many of you, here is a list of Stephanians with web pages (thanks to Krishna Kumar) unsorted - oldest (used to be me at the top of the list).

Let me know of any mistakes or any missing ones. I shall try to find a permanent place for this list and also try to keep it up-to-date.

Keep your fingers crossed and Click - and hopefully you should reach the page in question.

I am still waiting for our Monsieur from Canada to replace me as the oldest Stephanian on the web!!

Updated as of 2nd August 2005

1. Dr. Anthony P Stone's Staff
2. Enver Masud 1959 B.Sc.
3. Jacob Matthan 1963 B.Sc.
4. Vikram Randhir SriHari 1969 B.Sc. Link Not Functioning
5. Cyrus Mehta 1974 B.A. (Hons.) History
6. Rajive K. Khanna 1974 B.Sc. Passed away Link removed
7. Gautam N. Achanta 1978 B.Sc. (Hons) Physics
8. Anil K. Sahai 1979 B.A. (Hons.) Mathematics
9. Sunil Joel Porter 1979 B.Sc. Link Not Functioning
10. Satyen G. Baindur 1982 B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics 1984 M.Sc. Physics Link Not Functioning
11. Raman Uppal 1983 B.A. (Hons.) Economics
12. Priya Raghubir 1983 B.A. (Hons) Economics
13. Michael Joseph Rebello 1984 B.A. (Hons.) Economics Link Not Functioning
14. Bhala Narayan Ghatate 1987 B.Sc. (Hons.) Mathematics
15. Bhaskar Vira 1988 B.A. (Hons.) Economics
16. Gita Kerstin Lal 1988 B.A. (Hons.) Economics
17. Mandhir Singh Uppal 1988 B.A. (Hons.) Mathematics
18. Amartya Tanay Bhattacharjya, 1989 B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics Link Not Functioning
19. Ram Seshadri 1989 B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry
20. Sunil Saxena 1989 B.Sc. Chemistry
21. Gautam Bhandari 1990 B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry
22. Radhika Vathsan 1990 B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics
23. Sushmita Roy 1990 B.Sc. Chemistry Link Not Functioning
24. Krishna Kumar 1991 B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry
25. Rajiv Krushna Kamilla 1991 B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics Link Not Functioning
26. Sanjay K. Reddy 1991 B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics Link Not Functioning
27. Sreenath Sreenivasan 1991 B.A. (Hons.) History
28. Kaustav Biswas 1992 B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry Link Not Functioning
29. Abhishek Begerhotta, 1992 B.A. (Hons.) Mathematics Link Not Functioning
30. Saurabh Saxena 1992 B.Sc. Link Not Functioning
31. Subir Kumedan 1993 B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry
32. Arvind Ranganathan 1994 B.Sc. Link Not Functioning
33. Divya Mahajan 1995 B.Sc. (Hons.) Mathematics Link Not Functioning
34. Jhelum Chowdhury 1995 B.A. (Hons.) Economics Link Not Functioning
35. Shymmon Banerjee 1995 Link Not Functioning
36. Rajesh Ranjan 1996 B.A.(Hons.) Economics
37. Royans K Tharakan 1997 B.Sc. Computer Science Great Site!!!!
38. Kanishka Singh 1998 B.A. (Hons.) Economics Link Not Functioning
39. Shashi Tharoor 1975 B. A. History
40. Ali Kazimi B. A. 1982
41. Luke George Haokip 1995 B.A. (Hons.) English 1997 M.A. English
42. Tushar Dev 1985 B.A. (Hons.) Economics

KTWV02-Issue 3: History of College

Hi Web Surfing Stephanians,

I received this letter last week:

From: vepaa (email address supplied)
Organization: Huron University USA in London
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 13:45:34 +0
Subject: History of SSC

Dear Stephanian,

I wish to inform you that a compilation of College history entitled "Glimpses of St Stephen's College, Delhi" is now available on the St Stephen's page on the web or at the following address:

http://ase.tufts.edu/chemistry/kumar/ssc/html/sschis.html.

If you any remarks/observations, please email them to the undersigned at: email at site and pass on the info. to other Stephanians.

Regards,

ARVIND VEPA

I promptly visited the site and found a goldmine. I downloaded it, sent a thanks to Arvind and mentioned the KTWV.

Here was Arvind's reply:

From: vepaa
Organization: Huron University USA in London
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 12:26:41 +0
Subject: 3 Cheers for Kooler Talk

Dear Mr Matthan,

Thank you for sending the Kooler Talk addresses. Hats off to you Sir, for maintaining the page. For Stephanians, the world will always remain a small place.

Regards,

ARVIND VEPA

Yes, to us Stephanians scatterred around the world, it is a small place. For then I received this letter,

Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 23:14:10 -0700
From: amitcv (email address supplied)
Subject: Hello

Hi Jacob,

My name is Amit Wilson and I passed out of SSC this year in May. In case you are wondering (though I wonder why you might wonder) about how and why and what and when.... I share my surname with Dr. Anil Wilson, Principal on leave of/from SSC, its because he is my father.

Forgive me if you find my letter a little(???) weird but I feel its in keeping with the kind of KTs I have been exposed to.

My e-mail is (supplied)

Try and drop me a few lines. I would love to hear from you. I was in Finland last year in June. I had come to attend the World Youth Assembly held held at Aland (the first "A" is supposed to have a little circle on top of it). I had a good time there though it was a little chilly considering it was the height of summer and the place was awfully empty compared to the kind of crowds I am used to.

Anyway, I'm doing my MBA at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

I believe that you send out copies of KT. I would be grateful if you could send me one too.

Thanks a lot. Sorry for babbling on.

Regards,

Amit Wilsom

I had to explain to Amit that the Web Version was a Web Version and that I had even stopped sending out the reminder notices since all of you are now dropping in regularly without any prompting.

Pity Amit did not know of our existence when he visited Finland!

I will not keep you this week any longer but suggest that you quickly hop over to the page maintained by Arvind and really relish it.

I will have more next week and Arvind's page will be a permanent link in the Contents list from the next issue onwards.

I would welcome any comments on the history (especially clarifications, etc.) as presented as you recall the characters mentioned therein. Many are waiting to hear from you through these issues of Kooler Talk (Web Version).

See you in a fortnight, take care

Jacob
Stephanian 1960-1963