KTWV Volume 15 Issue 1: Ineffective Stephanian at the helm

 When Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of India, we had a whole lot of Stephanians who were in positions of power as well as an enormous number of bureaucrats who were Stephanians.

Here is a shortlist of those who were in the top echelons of Government at the time of Manmohan Singh:

1. 68er Kapil Sibal - Minister Telecom

2. 73er Salman Khurshid - Minister External Affairs

3. 72er Ashwani Kumar - Minister Law & Justice, Rajya Sabha (Parliamentary Affairs)

4. 74er R. P. N. Singh - MOS Home

5. 76er Shashi Tharoor - MOS HRD

6. 90er Joyti Scindia -  MOS (i/c) Power

7. 97er Sachin Pilot - MOS Corporate Affairs  

What did these Stephanians achieve globally to positively touch the lives of ordinary Indians?

When I attended the Founder's Day event in College in 2014, where the chief guest was Supreme Court Judge Justice Madan Lokur.

(Madan Bhimarao Lokur (born 31 December 1953) is an Indian jurist. He is a judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He is former judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is also a former chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Gauhati High Court and judge of the Delhi High Court. Lokur was educated at the Modern School, New Delhi. He later attended St. Joseph's College, Allahabad for his ISC examinations. For his university studies, Lokur graduated in history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University with honours. He obtained his law degree from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.

Justice Lokur said that many consider Stephanians to be elite, but he countered this by saying the largest number of Stephanians in civil service were those who served in the field, influencing the lives of ordinary Indians. 

Both ends of the spectrum are true as when these Stephanians climb the ladder, they lose their touch with the common man and become elitist, something they usually have day to day contact with when they are serving in the lower rungs of the Administration.

I did an entry somewhere on one of my blogs taking to task this group of 7 for not being true Stephanians. 

If I was in their position, I would have had a clear strategy as to how to be effective, Stephanian style.

When I was elected President of the JCR in my second year in college, I formed a team of advisors and we changed the face of our activities in residence by making it totally inclusive.

However, none of these 7 were Trumpian type Stephanians who would do chamchagiri to their political masters. I can accuse them of being ineffective. That is very harsh criticism of our college education!, 

However, when I listened to Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, our current Minister of External Affairs, deliver the first MRF Foundation lecture in the College last year, I was shocked to hear a political speech from the podium.

Later, I have heard him speak on several occasions on several subjects and he praises his Master, oblivious that we Stephanians are watching his antics as a chamcha. I have tweeted him several times on his behaviour!

I do not equate him to Jyoti Scindia who threw his political "principles" to the winds to change his political loyalty.

Watching the spat of Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan with his chief minister is equsally embarrassing for a Stephanian.

Many years ago I did do a blog entry telling Shashi Tharoor not to stand for the Lok Sabha as his character was far above that. Sadly he did not take my advice. 

He had the courage to stand for the position as head of the Congress Party. However, I still hold my view that a person of his calibre would have been far more effective outside of main stream politics.

 I am not concerned with Indian Politics and neither am I likely to visit India again because of age and health issues. 

But I do watch the general deterioration of politics in India with no one willing to change the track.

iIn this sort of situation, we will soon see democracy vanish in India as the sort of behaviour seen by Trumpian type Indian politicians is growing day by day. 

God help My India.

KTWV 12 Issue 5: Vir Sanghvi on Mani Shankar Aiyar

Although I have great regard for Vir Sanghvi, I must take issue with him when he headed his recent piece - "Parallax View: University fundamentalism is no different from religious fundamentalism". 

Belonging to any club, society, hobby group (philatelists, numatists, etc., bears exactly the same conotations as belonging to an alumni chapter. I could rate him belonging to a "foodie" group on the same parallel of Foodie Fundamentalism to Religious Fundamentalism.

There are literally hundreds of alumni chapters of alma maters spread around the globe. (I think Vir Sanghvi's Mill Hill School in London has a very active alumni association.)  

I remember asking my friends to become a member of their alumni association, being a money making proposition on the internet in the mid nineties. I did try my hand at that!

It has absolutely nothing to bring it on par with religious fundamentalism. It is related to man's basic need to be part of a social group with which one can identify oneself and one's interests. 

Religious fundamentslism is about usurping power with deception to control the masses.

In this process of alumni bonding, there has to be a catalyst. 

I started my online webletters to my alumni colleagues in the mid nineties because of a very personal experience. 

With the advent of the internet, it was fun to go through the hundreds of search engines (prior to the advent of Google) to see if one could track down old friends. In 1996 I hit the jackpot when I traced a long lost friend, him in California and me in the European Arctic, our roots, Indian. Within a short pace of a few months we were having a whale of a time exchanging notes about our lives after we had parted.

Then one day he told me to put him on hold as he had got a match and was going for a kidney transplant. He never came back!

That day I vowed to re-establish contacts with all my past friends so that we could share our appreciation of each other. In 2009 we held the 50th reunion of our school classmates, and it was if not a day had passed since we went our different ways. 

We paid tribute to those that were no more, gave comfort to those who had been left behind by them, and revelled in each others success. Classmates, and their spouses, assembled in Mumbai from USA, Canada, Malaysia, Finland, UK, and those that could not join us from Germany, Australia, were there in spirit.

This had nothing to do with fundamentalism. It had everything to do with friendships and bonds built by us having been in close proximity with each other, not only in the classroom but also on the sports playing fields.  Not only were we friends, but we shared our parents. Many of our children were also friends. We were a community with common interests in our nostalgic past. There was no power politics or fundamentalism involved.

I definitely take umbrage at the spin put on University comradeship by Vir Sanghvi - he certainly got this one wrong. And Mani Shankar Aiyar (and yet another Stephanian of my time - Arun Shourie) certainly do not represent the views of Stephanians . Exceptions prove the rule.)

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 21: Old Cottonians act

I have mentioned on my many blogs the unfortunate media publicity attached to some of my alma maters.

I am heartened to see how the Bangalore Old Cottonians Association (OCA) have acted swiftly to ensure to show that they are actively concerned about their alma mater. Past Old Cottonians, as both my late father and uncle, who served as Chairmen of the OCA, would be proud of the stand taken by the present OCA.

I reproduce here the letter that was sent by the present Chairman of the OCA to the Moderator of the Church of South India as per the resolution passed at an Extraordindary General Meeting of the Old Cottonians in Bangalore. Sitting here in Finland, I was kept abreast of the developments and I too fully support the actions of the OCA.:

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS EMAIL TO OTHER OC's YOU ARE IN TOUCH WITH AND ON YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES.

5th April, 2010

The Most Reverend Vasantha Kumar
Moderator,
Church of South India
Mission Road
Bangalore


Dear Sir,

We, as the Old Cottonians' Association, have a considerable stake in the upkeep of the fair name of Bishop Cotton's Boys' School and all that this entails. Principals and members of the Board of management may come and go, but once a student passes out of the school, and leaves its gates, he becomes an Old Cottonian and this status remains throughout his life and no force on earth can take it away from him.

We earnestly hope that other stake holders in the school should realise this and act accordingly.
Recent happenings in the school have caused us great concern. Old Cottonians from all over the world have expressed their deep worry.  As a consequence, the OCA held an Extraordinary General Body meeting at the Rotary House of Friendship, Bangalore on the 3rd of April, 2010 and the under mentioned resolution was passed and the same is being communicated to the various persons connected with the management of  the school.

Accordingly I quote below:

"The Old Cottonians' Association (OCA) noted with anguish that the matters concerning the administration of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore had recently become the subject matter of various media reports, which had tarnished the good name of the Institution.

The OCA further noted that under Article 2.2 of its Constitution containing the "Aims and Objects", the OCA was entitled and obligated ".... to be in constant interaction with the Management of the School in the matter of maintaining the standards, traditions and conventions of the School."

It was therefore unanimously RESOLVED that the Board of Management of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore be called upon to take immediate corrective measures to ensure that the incumbent issues be fully resolved, so as to restore the smooth functioning of the School in keeping with its rich traditions and standards, and to keep the OCA informed of the said measures.

It was further RESOLVED to offer the assistance and support of the OCA to all concerned to enable the resolution of all outstanding issues.

The Chairman and Management Committee of the OCA were accordingly requested to communicate the aforesaid resolution to the Principal, Bishop and Board of Management of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, and to await a positive reaction to the same before undertaking any further course of action."

Yours faithfully


MICHAEL WATSA
CHAIRMAN
OLD COTTONIANS' ASSOCIATION

I wish my other alma mater alumni, The Stephanians, would also act with the dignity and purpose shown by Old Cottonians.

KTWV 9 Issue 17: The fine “Gentlemanly World”

Last week I had a copy of an email from a Mr. Kapadia to a Mr. Chopra.

It appears that in Delhi they have a Club where people get together to see movies. These two gentleman attend this club and share their company with a few others.

Mr. Yezad Kapadia (Yesh to me) is a Cathedralite of the 49 era, 10 years my senior. He discovered that Mr. Dev Chopra was a Stephanian, also of the 49 era.

Mr. Kapadia got talking to Mr. Chopra, and of course the topic came up about me, a Cathedralite and Stephanian. Mr. Chopra expressed a desire to know more about my blog.

A few minutes after an email from Mr. Kapadia to Mr. Chopra (introducing me), I had a nice email to “Dear friend Jacob” from Mr. Chopra.

I replied “Dev” with a copy to “Yesh” thus:

Jacob Matthan
15 June 2008 11:10
To: “Dev Chopra”
Cc: “Yezad Kapadia”, “Jamila & BGV Verghese”, Ajay Verma, “Sarwar Lateef”, “Montek Singh Ahluwalia”, “Suresh & Meera Philip”, “Aftab Seth”, “Raj & Roshni Sircar”, "Rahul and Rupa (née Gholap) Bajaj", "57er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly", “Niranjan Desai”, “Deepak Mukarji”, “59er SUJIT BJHATTACHARAYA”, Ajeet Mathur Prof, Swaminathan Aiyar, Sreenath Sreenivasan, John Dayal

Bcc: 64er Deepak Deshpande

Dear Dev,

It is a great honour that you have chosen to be in touch.

I have chosen to share this email with many of whom I know will be pleased to hear about you. These include Raj Sircar (Canada) and Deepak Mukarji (Mumbai), whose association with our alma mater is not just as students! I am also copying Sreenath Sreenivasan, Professor of Journalism in Columbia University who runs the New York Forum of Stephanians and is also the Moderator of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) in the US.

B. G. Verghese and his wife, Jamila, are the oldest Stephanians that I am in touch with presently. Both are just a tad younger than you. I was in touch with Col. Shafat Hussain in Canada, but I seem to have lost contact with him over the past 5 years. He was in college around 1945.

My time in Stephania was 1960 to 1963. It was an exciting three years. I was probably the first and last 2nd year student to be elected as President of the JCR. The first JCR evening of music was the highlight of my Presidency as also the introduction of various JCR tournaments - Bridge, Chess, Caroms, Draughts, Table Tennis. The Rai twins, Chandra and Suraj, beat Ajay Verma and me in the very last hand of the Bridge Finals with an unbelievable call of 7 Spades on the very last hand where Ajay and I had bid 7 Hearts! It was only the intuitive communication that twins have that prompted that call! Both were makeable contracts!

It was also during my years that Sarwar Lateef (World Bank), Montek Singh Alhuwalia (Planning Commission), Swaminathan Aiyar (Economic Times), Dr. Peter Philip (MRF), Zaffar Hai (creative films director and producer), Prakash Joseph (the artist), Aftab and Roshan Seth, and a few others started the college rag - which was called Kooler Talk as the name Blacksmith was rejected by Principal Sircar and Dean Rajpal. Niranjan Desai (ex-Ambassador), Ajay Verma (who lives in Lund) and myself were known as The Heaps and we did write exposés for the rag during our time.

Kooler Talk as a hard copy has had a chequered life. I started the online web version from here in Finland in 1996. It has a worldwide readership of Stephanian's interested in a bit of nostalgia. Over a thousand Stephanians correspond with me regularly and help me keep my spirits up in that I know I am not writing to thin air.

Originally it started as a web page monthly. But times have been changing. About 5 years ago I changed it to a blog. Others have copied my style and presentation, but my Kooler Talk Web Version Blog keeps going. Now I am experimenting with the new fashion - FACEBOOK!

Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, in his book about our college, kindly gave my online efforts a nice reference. I do try to stay above politics and stay with nostalgia, although I have been drawn into the recent controversy which surrounds the College Principal fiasco. Friends, such as John Dayal, keep me abreast of happenings behind the scenes.

I also started a similar online web site / blog about my school, where Yezad and I went, Yesh being 10 years my senior. Seventh Heaven is extremely popular and also more active than Kooler Talk Web Version.

There are a few of us who share both the alma maters - including Industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Bajaj, Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, Dr. Peter Philip (MRF), Sujit Bhattacharaya (son of the former Governor of Reserve Bank), Prof. Ajeet Mathur (now Director of Manpower Planning in the Planning Commission and also at IIM, Ahmedabad).

Rahul celebrated his 70th birthday last week and I did a small tribute to him on both my blogs. He was kind enough to spare a few moments to write a word of thanks to me.

I would love to broaden the horizons of my efforts which is purely a labour of love of both my alma maters. I am happy that many former staff and ex- and present students stay in touch with me and give me a pulse of the institutions today.

My wife and I will visit India in November 2009 to take part in the 50th Year Reunion of my school class. We will also visit Delhi to meet with several tens and tens of my friends who are there. I hope too organise a joint Stephania / Cathedralite reunion session while I am visiting the capital, our last visit being as long ago as 15 years ago!

Do let me know what ideas you have in mind. You can read the blog and delve into its archives at the Kooler talk Blog. Thank you for being in touch and a special thanks to Yesh for having put you in touch with me.

Yours most sincerely

Jacob Matthan
Stephanian - 1960 - 1963
JCR President 1961 - 1962

It was great to see that because I copied many who were mentioned in my email, that a large number of sub-converaations resulted, people remembering each other and their previous associations.

And the two gentleman, Mr. Kapadia and Mr. Chopra, exchanged an email marvelling at the rapidity of communications of today across continents.

No doubt, at the next film viewing session in Delhi, Mr. Kapadia and Mr. Chopra will exchange a few words about the Kooler Talk Blog and the Seventh Heaven Blog.

Thank you, Yesh and Dev, for being part of our alma maters communities and may your wonderful gentlemanly formality live for ever!

KTWV03 - Issue 5: Thanks to all...

Dear Stephanian,

What kicked my butt into putting up this issue of Kooler Talk (Web Version)?

I have masses of material, but some personal aspects of life have kept my usual active self from being virile on the computer keyboard.

It was two posts that I received in today's mass of email - I get around 300 to 500 every day - Sunday to Saturday. It included the very first negative post about Kooler Talk (Web Version). The other showed up a very dire dry situation in Bombay.

My duty is to bring to light a message which shook me to the very core. It was from one who signed himself as Shujoy Dutta although the email address is of one Gaurav Srivastava!!

---

Subject: sorry for being so anti your page
Sent: 7/11/98 23:15
From: Gaurav Srivastava, gausri@geocities.com

dear jacob

let me first say how shocked i am that kooler talk has become a chat page for stephanians. inspite of the fact that it was hardly the forum for chatting in college. but then what better way to attract stephanians.

well anyway, college has changed !

little surprise considering the fact that everything around it is changing too. so has kooler talk. in the 4 years that I spent editing and writing for it, it was just a trip-taking ragmag. substituting for spice, the black widow and pretending to be intellectual and snobby. not to mention literate. about 20 people understood the jokes.

am i cynical ?

not really.

college is too. captured by the mtv generation and administered by a group of british raj types. totally mixed up. you wouldn't recognise the place. but it still is a beautiful place.

i miss the cockiness of stephen's in this kooler talk page. i miss kooler talk. and i get very upset by goody-goody stephanians thinking of college as some sort of idealistic Camelot.

sorry for being so anti your page it's just post-college angst.

shujoy dutta.

---

This not being Kooler Talk, but Kooler Talk (Web Version), which settles the raging debate as to whether I should name this as Kooler Talk (Online) - which it is not, I did promptly reply:

---

Hi Shujoy,

That is because you were not around when Kooler Talk was launched in 1961-62. It was not an anti-establishment operation then. It was a rag which was meant to be enjoyed by those in college - and it certainly was.

I did write one of the earliest articles of the nature you describe but it was rather an exception. Sarwar, Swami, Montek and Prakash were certainly not anti-establishment, neither were Peter, Zaffar and others who were behind the launch. At that time, I was JCR President and we all enjoyed the issues when they came out.

There was no confrontation except the threat to rusticate the three HEAPS - Niranjan Desai, Ajay Verma and myself!! However, even Princi Sarkar saw sense when it came to investigative journalism.

Thanks for your input, the first negative one in the history of my Web Version - and, of course, there must always be a first. I am however gratified that the readership which spans a good 40+ years of Stephanians, has found this Web Version as one which transcends the generation gap - which was what I was trying to do.

It is possible to castigate a few people but that will not draw the readership - and that was what I set out to do from this remote Arctic corner of the globe, and your letter proves I have reached many (Ed: although the one from Alok, given below, will certainly raise some doubts!!)

Thanks a lot for your input.

Regards

Jacob
Oulu, Finland

---

Which brings me to the subject of Little Heap - Niranjan Desai. I received this letter:

---

Subject: Niranjan Desai
Sent: 4/11/98 23:40
From: John Hobbins, john@lib1.lan.mcgill.ca

Hi Jacob:

I notice in your Kooler Talk you mention Niranjan Desai. I am trying to get in touch with a diplomat of that name who in 1966 was working in the Human Rights Division of UN Secretariat. It seems this could be your friend.

Do you have an address for him?

Thank you,

John Hobbins
Associate Director of Libraries,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

---

When I expressed doubt whether Little Heap and the Niranjan Desai of the 1966 era were one and the same, I received further input from John.

---

Subject: Re: Niranjan Desai 2
Sent: 5/11/98 08:30
From: John Hobbins, john@LIB1.Lan.McGill.CA

Thanks Jacob.

I have found a website that tells me of an Indian diplomat who was recently ambassador to Venezuela and had been Director General of the ICCR and Administrator of the Festival of India. I suspect he is in fact your friend and hopefully also the person I'm looking for.

It seems to be a common name, alas. I have found 8 in the USA alone.

John

---

Will someone out there tell Niranjan - the original Little Heap of the original Kooler Talk forum, that there is a search party out here looking for him!!

Now comes the second letter that shook me.

But the ones following this from Arpit (in Bombay?) and Akash (in Singapore) should, hopefully, get things sparkling for Alok.

---

Subject: Re: Kooler Talk (Web Version) latest issue is on line NOW
Sent: 7/11/98 22:06
From: Mr. Aloke Chandra, aloke@blr.vsnl.net.in

Jakes,

Caufth your recommendation for a bottle of Smirnoff for Gopkiran Rao's little gem a bit late - nevertheless, will honour all committments - if only people would TALK to me ! (OK, will settle for message from cyberspace).

Seriously, not one Stephanian in BBY has yet called - my tel no (off) is 495-2558, and, guys - we're in the process of merging with United Distillers (the Johnny Walker guys) so VALHALLA !

Alok

---

Gopi - hope you collect your due!!

Can what Alok writes possibly be true - or does Alok have to add a dose of Viagra with his offer to get Bombay Stephanians to raise their dopey heads and call him?

Maybe Alok should contact Arpit:

---

Subject: Re[2]: Kooler Talk (Web Version) latest issue is on line NOW
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 12:42:09 +0900
From: Arpit_Agarwal@pcmailap.japan.ml.com (Arpit Agarwal)

Jacob,

I will send you a little note on the Stephanian Western India
Society in a day or two.

I will also mention the name of some of the extremely well known
Stephanians like the Director of Bandit Queen Movie,
"Shekhar Kapoor", MD of Bajaj Auto Mr. Rahul Bajaj.

Thanks

Arpit

---

Arpit, I am awaiting that note eagerly. In the meantime, Shekhar has hit the world headlines this last week with his new film ("Elizabeth", I think is the name) which is grossing many a ton in the box-offices around the world!! Well done Shekhar, and hope you give us an exclusive for Kooler Talk (Web Version). What ho, Arpit can you manage that for us? I am sure Alok will compensate you liberally for that act of kindness.

There is an important message I want to get across, possibly from all Stephanian readers of Kooler Talk (Web Version) - hopefully before the Singapore Stephanians get together for their reunion today. It is congrats and all best wishes for a long and happy wedded life to Akash and his newly wed, Manali. (Annikki and I will be celebrating our 32 wedding anniversary in a couple of months time!!)

Here is the message received from Akash from the equatorial region.

---

Subject: Hi Jacob
Sent: 4/11/98 18:47
From: Akash & Manali, manaliakash@pacific.net.sg

Hi Jacob

As usual, it was a pleasure to go through the Kooler Talk. And I liked the pictures.

An update on the Stephanians in Singapore - we are meeting up this Saturday, Nov 7th. at 7 PM, in a restaurant called Bukhara (Welcome Group).

There are about 30 families here and I shall send you the updated address list and a few photographs after the get-together.

Incidentally, there is a Stephanian who has recently joined Welcome Group as the head of strategy - Nishi Mukherji. He was a faculty at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila and moved back to India last year.

Please note my new Email address:

manaliakash@pacific.net.sg

I got married to the 'best girl in town' - Manali - and decided to change my email address along with my life - I am enjoying my new life - so the bachelors out there, I highly recommend marriage.

Here is for the information for Alok who wanted names of Stephanians in Bombay.

Alok, here are a few names.

Pravin Chatterjee (7572699 - a very enthusiastic Stephanian who has an excellent PR),
Sanjay Sane (TIFR),
Tara George (6121223),
Ricki Husseni,
Vivek Chachi,
Murli Dhar Madhur (Railway Accounts),
Rashmi Shukla Dave (Railways - last heard was ACM goods at 3085555 Ext 212),
Shantanu Nagpal (Tata Administrative Service),
a big gang in Arthur Andersen, and
another big group in TIFR.

My information may be a little dated as I used to be in Bombay a few years ago. We used to have get togethers quite regularly.

Look forward to read the next issue of KT.

Regards

Akash

---

And now for some real sentimentality and pure nostalgia. I received this message from one Deepak Mukarji:

---

Subject: Hello
Sent: 28/9/98 16:07
From: Mukarji Deepak, deepakm@lucent.com

Hi Jacob,

It was delightful to have read Kooler Talk on the Web. It brought back a lot of very fond memories of a time past.

The family has had a very close association with the college since the early 1900s. And I am constantly amazed that no matter where I may be, there is someone who knew my father, my cousins, my brother. From the streets of Tokyo to the bars of Cairo and on to the waterfront of Seattle, I have met Stephanian's of every generation. And some have been brought to me by acquaintances.

Most recently, an 80 year old man rang up through a family friend to ask if I could give him a photograph of my grandfather's since he had dreamt of him every night for three months.

I had but one, but willingly parted with it. I was touched that at an age when most people forget all but the most dear, this venerable gentleman remembered little other than his time at St.Stephen's.

I would love to correspond with other Stephanians since in my industry I don't get the opportunity to meet with too many. It was fun for a while in the early nineties when I worked for an organisation where a college friend sat in the cabin next to mine and we had as a wonderfully supportive colleague another Stephanian ahead of us at college by some 10 years. Do keep in touch.

Deepak Mukarji
General Manager
Communications & Operations

---

I promptly replied asking whether Deepak was the grandson of Principal Mukarji? To which, I received this reply.

---

Subject: RE: Hello 2
Sent: 30/9/98 07:15
From: Mukarji Deepak, deepakm@lucent.com

Jacob,

Your assumption is quite correct.

My father was Ramesh -- the youngest son of Rai Bahadur S N Mukarji.

As of now only two of the five sons are living -- Sadanand Mukarji and Nirmal Mukarji.

But ... when my father was alive in the early 90s, one warm November morning, Principal John Hala invited him for lunch out of the blue. We thought it rather strange, particularly as my father was recovering from a heart attack. But having spent his childhood growing up at St.Stephen's, my father was excited to be going back and agreed readily despite words of caution from me. Also, he was very fond of Principal Hala.

I drove Papa to the college and as usual went to Alnutt Gate despite his protests. Sure enough the malis and the guards sent us round to the front gate which was wide open with a guard placed to welcome us. Papa couldn't resist his wicked smile saying, "remember, I too am a Stephanian and know which gate to use when".

Principal Hala ushered us in to his office where, for the nth time, I was told by Papa that the chairs in the room were brought by my grandfather from Cambridge. A pleasant cup of coffee in the staff room with many of my teachers whom I was delighted to meet again, and then Principal Hala and Amin Sa'ab coughed gently and requested that Papa please walk through the new library.

Old portrait shots had turned up in the archives and now graced the galleries but no one could identify them. Happily my father straightened up, and for someone who was barely 10 days out of hospital, brought a bounce into his step as he walked the halls of college. An exercise that should have taken 5 mins. ended up taking one hour since my father had to tell me and the others around all about T E Lawrence (of Arabia's) brother and Charlie Andrews (not my nick-name but my father's, since that is how he was taught to address the Rev. Charles Freer Andrews) amongst the many others. He kept his audience regaled with practical jokes played on various members of the staff and his father.

All in all a very warm memory for me today. Just the thought is making me tight in the throat. Lovely to have heard from you and do keep in touch.

Deepak

---

To this I did express some of the present difficulties in putting up Kooler Talk on time as I was facing a problem on the family front. Our youngest son of 24 is recovering in hospital from a third major surgery during the last three months to his vertebra and he will be unable to walk for a very long time. To which I received this touching reply.

---

Subject: RE: Hello
Sent: 30/9/98 08:05
From: Mukarji Deepak, deepakm@lucent.com

Jacob,

My heart goes out you and your family. Even though I am not a Roman Catholic, I will visit the Infant Jesus church in Bangalore this afternoon and light a candle for your son. And I promise when I return next week to get Mass said for his complete and speedy recovery. May God bless you and the family in this trying time.

Its amazing but it suddenly got cold for me when I read your note. I look forward to much happier notes about very much happier circumstances in the near future.

With very warm regards to your family.

I am still a happy bachelor and the family for me is Mama and a younger brother. I had a fight with him last week and therefore do not want to discuss him at this moment.

Maybe next week.

Thus a small and close family.

Oh yes! Lucent. It is a break away from AT&T in 1996 and comprises the research, manufacturing and marketing of telecom products that were part of the AT&T stables. I am part of Bell Labs in general management since I really should have graduated in theater having spent more time in SkakeSoc than Eco lectures or Tuts. However, God has been good to me, that in a limited sense, the world has expressed value for my specialised talents of writing, communications and people interface.

Deepak

---

Deepak - brother's are meant for fighting with. The best part is making up later. The same goes in marriage - (Akash and Manali, please note)!!

Mika, our son is recovering steadily, thanks to prayers being said, like the one by Deepak, for him all around the globe by the many readers of our, now sadly irregular, webletter, Findians Briefings. But it is still a long haul before Mika will walk again. From this, you will probably guess as to one of the reasons for the delay in putting up this issue of Kooler Talk, and probably a few more of the issues to come.

What was enlightening during the intervening period was the message I received about the "unofficial": web site for our college which has been put up by Kevin D'Souza.

Here was his message.

---

Subject:St. Stephen's College Unofficial Web Site
From: Kevin D'Souza

Dear Alumni,

It's time to update all your Links & Bookmarks. The unofficial website of St. Stephen's College is now on the World Wide Web. It is available at :

St. Stephen's College Unofficial Web Site .

This makes Stephen's one of the few colleges affiliated to Delhi University to have its own website. You have been registered automatically into the alumni directory. If you want to make changes to you existing entry please use the online registration form available in the Alumni page. I would be very grateful if you could visit the site and provide your valuable feedback.

Please do not hesitate if you can contribute in any possible way.

Thanks

Kevin
WEB MASTER

P.S. Kevin D'Souza ( Web master ) is a first year student studying B.Sc. Computer Science. Email Technical enquires to him at kevindsouza@technologist.com

---

There is a page of links to Stephanian related sites and sure enough, Sreeni from Columbia University and myself, had our links put up almost immediately. May I suggest that all of you put your links on that page.

In that context, Dr. Anthony P. Stone sent me this message:

---

Subject: Include Web Address Link
From: Dr. Anthony P. Stone

Dear Jacob,

If it's not there already, I should appreciate having my web page listed:

Dr. Anthony P Stone's Home Page

The India section gives some of my experiences. Otherwise a lot of it is mathematics.

Regards

Tony

---

and here was a message about the change of link address from Royans K Tharakan.

---

Subject: St. Stephens: my home page has changed
Sent: 7/11/98 16:02
From: Royans K Tharakan, rkt@sprintrpg.com

My Home page address has changed. The bookmark is

Royans K Tharakan

Would be kind of you to reflect the change against my name on your pages.

Regards,

Royans
Sprint RPG India Ltd
+91 11 6961722/6863172

---

With pleasure Roy.

And now to more nostalgia - if you can stomach it!!

I had written a letter to a few ancient Stephanians like me on the lines of:

"Being one of the oldest Stephanians registered at the Stephanian Alumni Registry, I would be grateful if you would kindly send me a few words about yourself to be included in one of the coming issues of Kooler Talk (Web Version)."

---

Subject: Re: Hi,
Sent: 14/10/98 01:07
From: Enver Masud, wisdom@twf.org

Judging by the dates, we must have been in Stephens together.

I have two resume's on the web. The shorter one at

E Masud

will lead you to the second. If I can add anything please let me know.

By the way, what do you do in Finland? I was supposed to be traveling to Latvia this weekend, but the trip has been delayed.

I have copied Sanjoy Acharya in Canada - a classmate at Stephens.

Enver Masud

---

And this was the continuation message including my reply to Enver:

---

Subject: Re: Hi 2
Sent: 14/10/98 14:59
From: wisdom@twf.org

Jacob wrote:

* Hi Enver,

* Till now, I was claiming to be the oldest Stephanian to maintain a web
* page - but now, and publicly, I will gladly hand over the title to you. I
* did not count Dr. Stone in that calculation as he was not a Stephanian by
* education, but that he later taught Mathematics there.

Enver:

How time flies.

Jacob wrote:

* You passed out in 1959, one year before I joined - but you would have
* been there the same time as my elder brother, Dr. Ranjit Matthan
* (now in Madras), who used to live in Q-block and he was a part of the BSc
* General crowd consisting of Anil Kumar (Annie) now in New
* York, T. J. Joseph (Josey) now in Bangalore and Kazim Raza
* who used to work as a steward inAir India till he died. You may also
* recall Ranjit Jacob who was part of that crowd, who fell off the
* train at Jamuna Bridge and returned to college a year later.

Enver:

You're right. I had the dates wrong. '60 to '63 is when I went to the University of Oklahoma. My memory must not be so good. Sanjoy's seems to be a lot better. I remember a Promod Chakravarty, and perhaps Kazim Raza. He must have been quite young when he passed away.

Jacob wrote:

* Of course, Kamalesh Sharma, now the Indian Ambassador at the
* UN and Arun Guha (who has just recently been in touch) will be
* those who are in touch with me which overlaps with you. You may also
* recall Chinmoy Banerjee who is presently in Canada. Samuel
* Alexander was also probably your time, but in the last few weeks I am
* having a problem with his email contact address.

* Dr. Peter Phlip joined the year you graduated - he lives in Bombay.

Enver:

Now I'm sure my memory is failing. That's what my sister frequently says. I don't remember any of these folks. And I reply that one remembers what one gives priority to, or that which is reinforced by some other incident., etc.

Jacob wrote:

* PS: I live in North Finland about 700 km from Helsinki and very few
* Stephanians reach here - except possibly Prof. Ajeet Mathur, who
* lives in Tampere, Finland - grand reunion of the two Stephanians in
* Finland whenever we get the chance!!

Enver:

That is way up where it must be really cold. I assume you've learned to ski. My colleagues in Riga come from Norway. I've made several trips there. If it weren't so cold I might have considered relocating. It is beautiful, and the people somewhat more civilized than here in the U.S.

Best wishes,

Enver

---

But I had a more informative message from Sanjoy, even though in his first message (not included here) he did take me for being a cross between my brother, Dr. Ranjit Matthan and Ranjit Jacob, both being his year mates!!

---

Subject: Re: Hi 3
Sent: 14/10/98 04:30
From: Sanjoy Ahcarya, acharyas@idirect.com

Hello Jacob,

Yes, Enver and myself were indeed classmates together during Raja Ram's tenure at St.Stephen's.

We both scraped through "Compulsory Hindi".

We both enjoyed our 3 years at SS and the University of Delhi, under professors such as Dr. Kichhlu (Physics), Harnam Singh, Dr. Bannerjee (Physical Chemistry), etc. Mr. Sarkar and Mr. Nagpal taught us Mathematics at the SS home base.

We were both day boarders, but stayed for lunch at the college refectory.

Personally, I loved Wednesdays when we had Kaddhi and puri, so I used to sit at the "veg" table that day, even though I was a "non-veg" person normally.

Anyway, we both passed our B.Sc. degrees and I went to London, England to complete my Electrical Engineering degree. I worked at various companies in the UK, got married to Ann and had 3 children, Lalita, Ranjan and Manjula.

Then in 1998 we emigrated to Canada.

I currently work for Atomic Energy of Canada as an Instrumentation Engineer.

Regards to all Stephenians.

From the Acharya family.

---

Is it really possible that someone liked any college food served in the Mess? The days I was on the Mess Committee when I was JCR President, the complaints I had every week were mile long - the only acceptable stuff on the table being the green mirchis and the onions - now, I understand, in scarce supply in Delhi. Must be a riot in the Stephanian mess!!

Believe it or not, I must stop now, even though I am loaded wth great post from Stephanians from all corners of the globe (such as Arun, Amit, David, Reji, Deepu, Mariam, etc.....). I do read all my mail - that I prpmise. I will get around to putting up all your comments in some of the coming issues - that I promise, although I cannot quite promise it will be on time as previously.

Don't stop writing as I have the desperate urge to prove to Shujoy that Kooler Talk (Web Version) is something that Stephanians around the world appreciate and enjoy, not because it is just for chatting, but because we all have something to say and contribute to each other's lives - as Deepak's prayers in Bangalore have helped me and my wife, and our son, tremendously.

A short while ago, when the existence of all my web efforts was under threat, over 200 of you around the world sent me cheques to continue this page. Luckily, the issue was resolved and I was able to return all of the cheques, UNUSED!!

That spontaneous response showed me how supportive our community is online, and how much this effort of mine is valued. So, despite Shujoy's comment, I intend to continue it in the same framework, albeit, irregularly. Hope Shujoy will contribute some of those non-understandable jokes for us to digest.

Your Kooler Talk (Web Version) Honorary Editor

Jacob

KTWV01-Issue 6: Variety is spice

Hi Stephanians

(Sorry to Seventh Heaven readers also visiting here for some duplication),

Ad at the top

You may have noticed an ad at the top if you are using Netscape. It is part of a contract with a Portugese group that all my web pages will carry a rotating ad at the top. If it offends anyone or affects your access time or download time, please do let me know. I shall reconsider whether I keep it at the top of the Kooler Talk (Web Verson) page. (Ed: I have to try to earn some money sometime - I am not very successful at that task!)

Annoyance

Last issue I asked whether my annoying reminders should stop - I have a posting of just over a hundred messages to Stephnians. I received a total of 2 replies, one saying not to stop them and the other asking what was the URL-minder. Well this split the response 50/0/50 (undecided), so I am continuing my reminders. Any of you that wants out should let me know.

GOPIO

May I please direct you to the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). You can read the letter from Prof. Thomas Abraham from Columbia University in the Letters to the Editor on my main web page. Do take a break and visit it and the appropriate link.

SAJA

In keeping with the message about GOPIO, I thought I would share this tidbit about another Stephanian from Columbia.

Sreenath Sreenivasan, who is the active Stephanian in the Big Apple, is also an Assistant Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Along with a friend, he decided to form an informal organisation of South Asian Journalists, calling the organisation South Asian Journalists Association (SAAJA) (Ed: Sree, where does that extra A in the middle come from?).

Sreenath is reported, by Laviana Melwani (India-West) whose article "Brown-Skinned WASPS" was run in the 21st January 1996 issue of THE WEEK, as recalling that

"A few of us would see each other at press meets and say, we should get together. So we made a list - we thought there would be about 20 Indian journalists in New York. Actually, there are about 200."

As you would have read from earlier issues, Sree is also active in organising the Stephanian meets in New York. In fact just as I was writing this I received his "SSC new york newsletter". Truly amazing that there are 115 in that city and that as many as 45 attended the get-together. It seems to show the love and attachment we have for our alma mater.

Just for posterity I include the list of those which were mentioned by Sree in his newsletter.

Anil Kumar (eco'60, CFO of Population Communications Intl), Gaurav Laroia (chem'93, studying at NYU medical school); Brij Raj Singh (former professor who left in 1972, professor at Hostos College); Priya Ranjan (a.k.a. PRJ; eco'89; left in 1992, completing his eco PhD at Columbia Univ); the senior-most woman Stephanian: Padma Rao (eng'78, reporter with ADR German TV).
I feel we should all join in wishing him a great success in developing SAJA, as well as making the Stephanian group of North America, popular rallying points. From the Arctic wilderness, presently blazing in summer sunshine, I wish him the very best and thank him for having mentioned this fortnightly webletter.

Hey Sree, any other Stephanians among your SAJA group reading our Kooler Talk (Web Version)?

Other sites mentioned by Sree are:

Krishna Kumar (chem'91; Phd at Scripps) runs Global Alum Directory
Montek Singh - son of Prof. G .S. Bhatia (who, I think, was my Physics Lecturer in 1960-63); spent the first 21 years of his life on campus; did physics for a year; now computer science PhD at Columbia maintains Pix and Info from NY Events.

Rev. Jarvis/Luck

Going back to my college days, does anyone out there have any information about Rev. Jarvis. He was the Chaplain for the first two years of my time (till summer 1962). He was replaced by Rev. (David or Dennis) Luck in my last year. Rev. Luck was a "bigun" from Canada and did not like much noise in Mukarji Block after 10 pm. He did not have much luck (PJ - if you did not notice) in keeping the peace.

One night, around 2 am, he stormed into a lively bridge session and ripped the packs in half. He apologised the next evening to the group and the block for his lack of understanding and patience. I think he even replaced the packs. He knew if he continued his demonic show of brute strength, he would probably have got twice in return. Kundan Singh had warned him of the plots being hatched behind his back. Poor Kundan would probably have had to clean up the mess!

Stamps

Rev. Luck (I would be glad to know of his whereabouts) gave me my first Canadian Stamps and rekindled my childhood interest in that hobby. Now I am an active Stamp Dealer with a very good Finnish and Indian collection in which I trade using the web. So any of you having stamps to buy or sell, please do let me know. I have connections with over 250 reputed dealers worldwide. (Anyone know if the stamp of our college is around - I have many of St. Stephens Hospital.)

Yours in nostalgia

Jacob Matthan
Editor Kooler Talk (Web Version)