KTWV 08 Issue 10: An Update

(Cross-posted on my main blogs.)
(Click on images to see enlarged versions.)

I have not been ill or otherwise indisposed. Just very very busy, happy, sad, and going through every emotion that man or woman is capable of.

Over Easter we were especially blessed to know that our three children, Susanna, Jaakko and Joanna, in the UK, were able to get together with their families and also join up with us over the telephone.

This has been recorded on several entries on Susanna's Billinghay Blog with beautifully emotional pictures of all members of the family. They especially enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Lahore Restaurant in Birmingham. Joanna, who has really become quite trim, did say that she did overeat on that occasion. (I must also note that Susanna has also become quite trim - but just wait till they arrive and start consuming their mum's cooking, when they will bloat, like me!)

The grandkids were in their element. Susanna has recorded and put up a few short video clips, using effectively the UTube service.

This has prompted Joanna to think seriously in investing in a better digital camera and to start her own blog - which would be just wonderful for us, the grandparents. Maybe, even Jaakko can be persuaded to start his blog once he gets the old iMac that Susanna is thinking of passing on - Old Macs never DIE. I had promised them my old software, but unfortunately much of te old system software discs are corrupted. Jaakko being an outstanding photographer would certainly add a new dimension to blogging should he decide to take it up.

Last Friday brought Annikki and me much grief when we lost a wonderful friend, a Cathedralite by the name of Behram Badhniwalla, who went by the nickname of Budni. Budni was a couple of years senior to me in school. He stood out as he had been afflicted by polio and was the only boy in school who was on crutches. But that did not stop Budni being one of us. During the latter half of our school years I had an excellent relationship with him.

When I left school, our paths diverged. It was not till 2005 when they came together again. He had been doing almost exactly what I had, in finding his classmates and then making sure that they were kept together.

Introduced to me through our former school Physics Teacher, William Shiri, living in Toronto, Canada, Budni wrote in his first email to me:

from: Behram Badhniwalla
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 21-Oct-2005 10:15
subject Fwd: Hello again

Dear Matthan,

My name is Dr.Behram T. Badhniwalla (Wilson House Batch 57), in school I was 'Budni'!

I used to walk on crutches during our green years.

Of course, I left my disability behind in 1959-60 (Praise be to the Good Lord).



Today my Wife, Carmie and I, have retired, and live in Pune.

From all the Cathedralites of our generation, and many have met u. the common factor is we both are holding on to our flocks!

I am forwarding a message from our teacher Mr Shiri, and I hope we communicate more often!

We have regular get-together of the Pune Cathedralites and shall revert later with more information!

Cheers for Now

Budni

From that day we have exchanged many hundreds of emails on topics ranging from sharing pictures of our school friends, sharing our email lists, finding new alumni, our common interests in music, organising class reunions, his idea of forming a health foundation of retired staff and elderly alumni who were not so fortunate financially, and many more. Budni bounced ideas off me. If I gave him the go ahead, he went about his task of rousing the masses.

Not only that, both of us got on like a house on fire. We assisted each other sharing our ideas, agreeing and disagreeing on issues, but above all promoting our "school spirit". Although our styles were different, but the objectives the same.

Budni made everyone feel loved and happy and part of a beautiful family.

On the morning of Friday 13th April 2007, I had two emails from him in the space of just 10 minutes, te first telling me that he would be away from Pune for 10 days and he would take up an issue I had requested as soon as he got back. The second email was about school, pushing the joint working of my Seventh Heaven Blog to be linked with the official school alumni site.

Budni was thinking of what wonders could be achieved if we all worked together.

By evening I received a message from a common friend in Pune that Budni was no more.

When such tragic news reaches me, I become immobile, unable to speak or do anything constructive. Annikki was at my side when I read this email. She comforted me, as she too had learnt to know Budni and his spirit. I was roused to work furiously to let "our flocks" know of the demise of someone who had become my right hand just so much as I had become his left!

The sorrow, grief and the tributes poured in from every corner of the globe. For the past week I have been composing a web page which I will call "A Tribute to Budni". It is difficult, as each time I enter some text or put in a picture, the sadness that flows through my veins makes me realise the frailty of life.



On the same day, we got news that our granddaughter, Asha, who will be 10 in August, had passed her Grade 3 Piano Examination with distinction, 134/150.


Budni, on the extreme left, is crooning at a CAT bash in Pune a few weeks ago.

Susanna put up a clip of Asha playing the piano on her blog, which helped me greatly to face the sorrow of losing a friend, as he was a great musician.

CEO of Codenomicon, Isaac Sundarajan, has been really jet setting. He flew to Cannes to collect the Red Herring Award, flew in to Oulu, flew out to spend Easter with his wife and elder daughter in London, flew back to the US (San Francisco) to prepare for his next year's strategy meeting, and was here, back in Oulu, yesterday.


Royal Garden Menu

We spent the evening together at Michelle's new Indian Restaurant, The Indian Cusine Section of Royal Garden. The last time he had been there, he had said he wanted food as hot as "Jacob's". Michelle and crowd only address me as "Mr. Matthan". So Isaac was a bit disappointed.

This time, Michelle's brother, Philip, dished out a really superb Chicken Vindaloo and a spicy lamb off the bone curry, which both of us relished. This was followed by some Guju Tea, which is laced with Indian spices.

I think the levels of spice in Michelle's Indian and Chinese restaurants will have to have new labels - "Joanna's level" (which is our daughter Joanna's taste buds saturation point and super not), and then "Mr. Matthan's level", which is only slightly lower, but does bring a fair amount of sweat onto the forehead.

Isaac and I sat and chatted well into the evening. Michelle and Philip regal led us with stories of their life in restaurant business. they were surprised to hear from Isaac that "Indian Chinese" is the "in thing" in California - so Philip has promised to didh this up for us on our next visit!

KTWV 08 Issue 09: Heaps Reunion

I received this email:

Dear Jacob,

Last week I had lunch with Ajay Varma and he gave news about you.

I got onto your blog and got your email.

I do not think we have ever met since 1970 or so. Last time we met was in Delhi when you and your wife had come over to our house in Hauz Khas.

I have now retired from the service in 2002; my last posting was as Ambassador to Switzerland as also to the Vatican. I was based in Bern.

I am now settled in Gurgaon and now working as Senior Vice President of Osian's - Connoisseurs of Art Pvt. Ltd which is a unique company which deals in art and culture.

I am planning to be in London from the 25th of April for about three weeks. I will be with my son and would call you to have a long chat.

Warm regards to you and your family,

62er Niranjan Desai

It will not be long when the Heaps, 62er Niranjan and 63ers Ajay and me, as we were known during our time in college will be chatting away, probably as a Conference Call on Skype. Maybe, even in our old age we may be pesuaded to get up to some mischief!

Great to be in touch again, Niranjan.

KTWV 08 Issue 08: Yesterday and today...

(Cross-posted on all my main blogs.)

It was a great day, as all days are great these days.



Birthday greetings started pouring in from 4 am Finnish time starting from Toronto (59er Hasnain Chinwalla) and Australia (nephew Chacko Kovoor, son of Malli and Thamban) and reverberated around the globe - Chennai (Anand & Shalu), Mumbai (56er Ubi, 59ers Ashok Kapur, Ramesh Mirchandani, Piloo Tata, Percy Mistri, Nihal Kaviratne, Naubir Mohindar, Elijah Elias (Ooky), etc.), Billinghay (Susanna, Chris and Asha), Hewcastle (Joanna, Tony, Samuel and Daniel), New York (59er Ellis Hayeem), Milano (69er Barbara Mont Ros), Washington D. C. (59er Arvind Thadhani), Serbia (62er Ranko Ivancevic), and ended ending back in Toronto when 59er Viney Sethi, in the company of our Physics Teacher, Willie Shiri and his wife Pushpa, and 59er Hasnain regaled me with the happy birthday serenade.

The quartet thought I would not recognise their voices after so so many years. But Viney's was so identifiable and crystal clear (but not quite the old Elvis-like) as also the rich tenor-bass voice of Willie was easily identified, as he had sung behind me in the choir stalls of St. Thomas's Cathedral in the 50s.

These greetings were combined with hundreds of well-wishers from all across Scandinavia.

Such beautiful messages, such beautiful cards, such beautiful email greetings.

I felt awed by such an outpouring of love and friendship - that makes living one more year waiting for the next birthday, really something to look forward to!

The first to wish me was Annikki, who stayed up till 4 am, just so that she could show her appreciation of our ageing together as I woke up.

And the last to greet ME was again Annikki, who prepared a delicious cake - fruit salad and cream, which was being watched over by our most hawkish cat, Iitu! She (the cat) licked the platter clean. (I was out most of the day attending various public events and only got home around half past nine in the evening for our evening together!)

Michelle, the Chinese Calcutta Restaurateur opened her new Indian Restaurant (The Royal Garden) today. I enjoyed my super spicy Madras Curry for lunch and later brought home a Rogan Josh for Annikki and Mika.


Pailin carved me a watermelon as a gift.


Pailin gives me the carved watermelon as my present.

In between, the many Thai families who have adopted me as their father and grandfather, celebrated my birthday with Pailin carving a beautiful watermelon as one of their many gifts to me.


Heikki, Emilia and Päivi.


Eija, Eric and me.


Päivi, Eija, Eric and Heikki.

The organisers of the UN Anti Racism Week helped celebrate the public occasion by toasting the successful week with a closure meeting with a raspberry cream cake!

Old and young friends kept my mobile phone ringing, making it a day that I will remember for many years ahead.

Thank you to all of you, many whom have gone unmentioned in this blog entry - but I do remember all of you and your good wishes.

KTWV 08 Issue 07: Prof. Ajeet Mathur checks in

(Cross-posted on the Kooler Talk Blog for Mumbai Cathedralites.)

Prof Ajeet Mathur, like me and a few others, is a Cathedralite (72er) and a Stephanian (75er). Also, like me, he normally lives in Finland, in the industrial town of Tampere. There the similarity ends, as he is brilliant professor while I am one of the most run-of-the mill individuals that you are likely to meet.



However, Annikki and I are greatly honoured that Ajeet treats us like his elder sister and brother, sharing all his joys and sorrows with us.

Ajeet is related to Cathedralites 68er Kapil and 70er Shivi Mathur.

A few years ago, Ajeet had published an interesting and completely original study about trade between Finland and India.

He just informed me that he has updated that study.

The following Abstract can be found on the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad site, and there is a link to the complete study in pdf form. You can download and read this updated report.

Title : Finland-India Business Prospects 2007-2017
Author : Mathur Ajeet N.
Working Paper No. : 2007-03-01

Abstract

Finland-India Economic Relations were researched for the first time in a study that analysed mutual trade and investment potential through the lens of revealed comparative advantage and identified profitably tradable goods at 4-digit and 8-digit disaggregated levels in the standard international trade classification (Mathur, 1998). This study was made freely available on the world wide web for five years through http:// www.uta.fi/kati as part of longitudinal action research to study how small and large players would take advantage of this freebie. This paper provides initial results of a sequel study initiated in 2005 to understand what happened thereafter, whether trade grew, and to analyse how trade could diversify from identification of new opportunities for product-services linkages after the expiry of the transitional period that brought GATS into effect in 2005. Finland's share in Indian imports and exports has grown rapidly and exponentially and the prospects are vast but the potential realised by 2007 remains considerably untapped and far below comparable figures for other EU countries. This study emphasises the need for policy research on institutional barriers to design new gateways beyond an increased frequency of contact between people from the two countries. The conclusion that robust bridges could be built through tripartite fora comprising business, government and academia points to the need for new institutionalities and deepening research studies, some of which initiated as part of the Finland-India Economic Relations project, are at various stages of progress and expected to be completed during 2007-2010.

In business circles in Finland, India is the BUZZ word. If you are interested in jumping onto what appears to be a fast moving train - may I suggest that you read Ajeet's updated paper.

Finland is virgin territory for Indians. Already a couple of companies are successfully operating here. The early bird catches the tastiest worms. If you are peckish, there are two of us here, Ajeet and myself, who can help you catch not only the tastiest but probably the juiciest worms!

KTWV 08 Issue 06: Award for Stephanian

Recently we published info about one bad apple out of our Stephanian History Department. It is nice to read about the other side of the coin.

Niret Alva, Copyright Mangalorean.com .

Stephanian Nirat Alva was recently honoured in New Delhi. Niret is part of a truly outstanding family. His mother, Margret Alva, is the politician and also who was a Minister in the Indian Government of Rajiv Gandhi. Margret Alva won many battles for the underprivileged and for the women of India.


Annikki at the hotel in Mangalore in 1992 where we spent a lovely few days with a very hospitable and friendly population.

They hail from the town of Mangalore, where Annikki and I spent a lovely few days many years ago. To read about the outstanding Alva family, do read this article from The Mangalorean: Alva Brothers: The Hottest Television Producers

Click on the quote below to rad the entire news item about the award given to Niret..

Niret Alva receives National Award for outstanding efforts in science and technology communication through electronic medium

Media News
New Delhi, March 5

Following the announcement of National Awards in Science and Technology Communication by Department of Science and Technology, Government Of India, a special felicitation ceremony for the awardees was hosted by Hon’ble President Of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam on March 02, 2007 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Niret Alva, Co-founder of Miditech was conferred with the National Award for Outstanding Efforts in Science and Technology in Electronic Medium. Present at the award function were, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister for Science and Technology and R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor......

.....Niret has a long and distinguished career as reporter, anchor and director. He is a graduate in History from St. Stephen's College Delhi, a post graduate diploma in journalism holder from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, a recipient of a certificate from the Radio Netherlands Training Centre in Hilversum(Holland) for a News and Current Affairs course in Television and has earned a law degree(LLB) from Mumbai university. .....

I am sure all of you will join me in offering congratulations to Nirat.

Also, I look forward to any of you with a personal insight into this great Stephanian sending me your views about this talented young man.

KTWV 08 Issue 05: No fire in his belly?

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven.)

Here on a cold winter evening near the arctic, I was enjoying a 40 winks,when suddenly a unique Cathedral/Stephanian sounding voice came over CNN. I got up with a start to see a familiar face on the TV.



It was none other than our 54er Cathedralite and 58er Stephanian Rahul Bajaj.

Here is the transcript of his interview by Andrew Stevens. (To see the video of the interview please click on this link):

The Board Room: Interview of Cathedralite/Stephanian Rahul Bajaj

PUNE, India (CNN) -- He is one of corporate India's elder statesmen. The man, who for nearly 40 years, provided transport for the world's second most populous country. Rahul Bajaj has now handed the reigns of the $7 billion U.S. Bajaj Auto to his son Rajiv, to spend more time in politics. But he is still chairman and still very much a part of the company he took over from his father in 1968. In a business landscape that is increasingly run by hired executives, family succession at Bajaj remains as strong as ever. Rahul Bajaj spoke to CNN's Andrew Stevens.

Bajaj: The reputation of the Bajaj family, leave alone my reputation and almost the entire wealth of the Bajaj family is represented by the equities we own in these companies and today the best in the world have to exert and exert like mad to survive leave alone prosper so if my son whom I wanted to take over was not good enough, was not the best, I wouldn't put him there and not because I would have become charitable to somebody else. It is in our enlightened self interest, his interest, our interest, the family's interest.

Stevens: So how did you prepare for the succession? How did you make sure that a family member was the best one to lead the company?

Bajaj: You can't. You can only try. To be the CEO you require many things. Books have been written on it and business schools teach that. According to me first is something in the person himself or herself. The genes, the DNA. To me they make a difference. The foundations are extremely important. So DNA or genes, upbringing and education. But then I think the person should not forget what we try to teach our children, the rest is up to them. You cannot teach beyond a limit.

Stevens: You gave your son Rajiv a difficult task of turning around a motorcycle division. If he hadn't achieved success there, and he did, would he still be the chief executive officer of the company?

Bajaj: Probably not. When he joined, the first few years he was on the shop floor he was an engineer and learning a lot and then when I started handing over power it was not to convert a scooter division into motorcycles and the 3 wheelers were earning very good money and they still are, it is to get prepared to prepare him to become the CEO of the company to take over from me and he started doing very well.

Stevens: As with all family companies there can be charges of nepotism leveled at you. What do you say to those sorts of accusations?

Bajaj: My first reaction if I find that in a company or in the government or politicians, if somebody is grooming a son, well the desire and obviously you call it nepotism or you want to keep it in the family, it is there. Good or bad, that is for people to judge. As far as I am concerned, it is good. I think a family guy, if he is a professional if he is competent, he has the advantage of continuity. He will not go somewhere else for getting twice the salary, he has the commitment, he doesn't need stock options he already has all of those. So there are great advantages. The whole problem in family management is if the guy isn't competent and you still put him in the chair.

Stevens: You were the chief executive officer for 38 years. How difficult was it to let go?

Bajaj: It was not at all difficult. I was dying to do it. To succeed you need to have a hunger in your belly. You need a fire in your belly and I had that for all of those years. And they have it now and I don't have that fire in my belly for Bajaj Auto but I have that fire in the belly and that hunger to do something, whatever little I can do, for my country. And that was one of the reasons why when I was approached I decided to get into the Rajya Sabha which is our upper house of parliament.

I wrote to Rahul and complimented him on his forthright views about handing over the Bajaj empire to Rajiv.

If you want to read a hard-hitting interview that Rahul had with the rude and ungentlemanly Doscoite Karan Thapar, please go to this link:

Does Sonia pay my salary: Bajaj

In it, he said:

Rahul Bajaj: Where did you go to school Karan?

Karan Thapar: Is that relevant?

Rahul Bajaj: It is very relevant because your logic is illogical.

Karan Thapar: If it is relevant I will tell you. I went to Doon School, Cambridge, Oxford and I know a lot about politics.

Rahul Bajaj: I went to Cathedral, St. Stephens, and Harvard, slightly better than you in every respect. So I understand logic. But I am a humble man unlike you.

Hope you can note the style of a professional journalist as Andrew Stevens against a ruck maker for the sake of ruck making, as Karan Thapar. Rahul certainly gave Karan a rough time. Well done Rahul!

I hope Rahul can make a difference in India sitting as an Independent in the Rajya Sabha!

KTWV 08 Issue 04: Special action on 1st February 2007

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

This message was sent to me by my friend 59er Peter Miovic for the widest possible circulation. Since I believe in this cause, I am posting this on all my blogs and groups.

Hope you will take heed and spread it within your circle.

Send this message to as many people as you know!

---

An action to bring climate change to the notice of Politicians and World Leaders

On February 1st 2007 take part in one of the biggest actions against climate change organised by the people.

L'Alliance pour la Planète (a group of environmental activists) send this call to all civilians:

Make our planet rest for five minutes!

Everybody is requested to dim his/her lights for five minutes between 7.55 pm and 8.00 pm on February 1st 2007.

This not only to save engergy for five minutes, but to bring this message in a way that will attract the attention of politicians and leaders.

It is time for them to take action and avoid the waste of energy.

During the 5 minutes we'll give the planet rest: it doesn't take long and it won't cost you a thing.

And it will make a statement before the Belgian federal elections that we as citizens want climate on the agenda.

And why February 1st 2007?

Because on that day a new file from the climatologic experts of the United Nations will be published in Paris.

Because it is with our Belgian neigbours, it is impossible to let this opportunity slip!

We have to get attention to the urgent matter of the worlds climatological situation. If everybody takes part in this action it will have an effect on media and politics that might have a real influence, this would be good on such short notice before the (Belgian) elections!

---

Make this message go around the globe, send it to friends, family and local politicians. Put it in your newsletter and your blogs.

KTWV 08 Issue 03: 2007 vs. 2006

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

2006 was a wonderful year, better than 2005; 2005 was a wonderful year, better than 2004, and.......

So what lies ahead in 2007?

Our Symbol for 2007 - The White Orchid.

Judging by the first 6 days, it is going to be a hectic year ahead, far more exciting than the previous few years.

We can see several changes ahead.

Already, the blogging world has changed. We have started something different in that we have, besides the blogs, started our own Google Groups.

The first two Groups that we started are the Oulu CHAFF Group and the Seventh Heaven for Cathedralite 59ers.

In a matter of just a few hours, the 40+ people of the Class of 1959 from the Cathedral and John Connon School, both the Boys and Girls, were aboard the Group. In a matter of a couple of days the list of persons grew by over 10 so that we have now identified over 70 members of our years at school. All our Group members are scouring the world to locate the missing persons so that we can hold a great 50th year reunion in November 2009.

This 3-year project which has excited everyone from the Arctic (Jacob) across the globe!

The Oulu CHAFF Group is only slowly taking off the ground. But the restart of the meetings in 2007 have started with a real coup with a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Arpad Hamos and his wonderful wife, from Hungary, gracing the first meeting on Sunday.

It is obvious that the Oulu CHAFF Group will have its work cut out for it during this coming year as there are literally hundreds of issues hanging over the fire. The amazing part is that those that once received help are now making significant contributions in helping others, taking the burden off the few that were origially involved in setting up this Assistance Forum. Much more ways of helping those in distress are becoming available and it is going to be an exciting year as CHAFF consolidates itself.

The main Jacob's Blog will remain intact and present a more focused look at the lives of two individuals, Annikki and Jacob, as it takes another major direction during 2007.

Important changes are just being discussed. But they are causing huge waves across the city of Oulu.

Several, we are sure, who will be quite happy to see the likes of us out of this City. But, there are an equal number who are appalled that we may make some move away from Oulu after the 23 years we have been here.

What is important to understand is that with the new power to the people of the internet, wherever we may be, in Oulu or in Newcastle, England or in Kerala, India, we will still be able to handle the problems, be parts of Groups, take part in the action in different parts of the world, without the need of the physical presence in any location.

In the computer world it is probably refered to as "virtual reality". Annikki and Jacob will be part of that virtual reality not only in Oulu, but in several locations around the world, throughout the year.

With that, both of us would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and let good health and vitality follow you wherever you are.

In that we share a greeting which was sent to us by Thomas Grorge from Helsinki:

May this 2007,
Blessings harrass you,
Happiness attack you wherever you go,
May misery be hijacked from you, and
May thieves pickpocket all your worries.

KTWV 08 Issue 02: Steve Clemons is an expert on foreign affairs

But, Steve seems to have a very short memory, as do most Americans.

Steve is touting the wares offered by the Arlen Specter of today as an
Independent Republican, forgetting the Arlen Specter of 20 minutes ago.

Specter is as Independent as Lieberman!

I had to make this entry on Steve's blog:

After 6 years of sycophantic existence, all these guys seem to be growing some balls!

Have a heart, Steve. Do not play them up for what they are not.

They are implicit in the carnage that has been going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now, suddenly they seem SO concerned.

Ask the simple question - WHY?

Treat them as the War Criminals that they are!
Posted by Jacob Matthan at January 3, 2007 05:25 AM

Let us around the world not rest till we bring all these war criminals to the same level of justice given to Saddam! They will be happy, no doubt about that.

KTWV 08 Issue 01: When do we disown someone?

I hate to start this years Kooler Talk (Web Version) on such a morbid note. However, this is the raging story in North India at the moment, and a Stephanian is at the centre of this storm.

I have a rather large list of alumni in my data bank, but I too could not find this individual in my database.

There are two or maybe three faces to every story that appears on the internet. I present here two faces of one individual as reported by the Indian media this week. One links specifically to our alma mater while the other makes no mention of our loved institution:

This is story which appeared in Delhi Newsline part of The Express newspaper group.:

Batch of ’77 but Stephanians
don’t remember Noida accused

Pallavi Singh

New Delhi, January 2: Batch of 1974-77. History (Honours). Third Division.

This is all Delhi's St Stephen's College seems to remember of Moninder Singh Pandher, the Chandigarh businessman accused of the serial rape and murder of children in Noida's sector 31.

While confirming that he studied at the college, officials at the principal’s office added: “He is a horrendous exception to college’s glorious tradition of grooming gentlemen out of students.”

Even students in the History batch of 1977 that had 45 students do not seem to know him. “I just cannot recall him. I’m sure there is some confusion. I know all my batchmates but cannot recollect this guy,” said Sandeep Dayal, who studied in the same batch and works in a travel agency.

Since the day Dayal read about Singh in the paper, he has been frantically calling up friends from his batch to check if they can recall him. “It was so shocking to read about him so I just called up my batchmates but like me, they too are clueless,” he added.

Singh is also missing from the college’s annual directories that list its alumni for years 1980, 1984, 2004 and 2006.

Professor Mohd Amim, who taught History at the college between 1949 and 1993, said: “It’s up to the students whether they want to list themselves with the college. As of now, there is no trace of him.”

In his last 45 years of teaching, Prof Amim claimed to remember most of his students but none by the name of Moninder Singh Pandher. Prof PS Dwivedi who also taught History during the period was equally flummoxed. “We have had so many students and I can claim to know all of them. But who is this Moninder Singh Pandher,” he asked.

But while the mystery over Pandher’s years at the college continues, alumni and students at the college are seeking “stringent punishment” for him. “St Stephen's in our time produced thorough gentlemen. It’s difficult to believe that he studied in our college,” said Harish Pal Singh, deputy general manager at Itochu, a Japanese multinational company and an alumnus of batch 1977.

In contrast, this is what appears in the Chandigarh newspaper The Tribune:

Noida police searches Pandher’s city house

Yoginder Gupta & Ramanjit Singh Sidhu
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 1

A team of the Noida police today searched the Sector 27 residence here of Moninder Singh Pandher, the alleged serial killer of Nathari village in Noida, and recorded the statements of members of his family.

The Noida police reached the Pandher house around 5 p.m. and remained inside it for about one and a half hours. According to Mr Prem Singh Malik, DSP(East), Chandigarh, nothing incriminating was found by the Noida police, which thoroughly searched the house.

The Noida team, comprising three Sub-Inspectors and two constables, questioned Mrs Devinder Kaur and Mr Karandeep Singh, wife and son of Moninder Singh, at length. The police also recorded the statements of the father-in-law and the mother-in-law of Moninder Singh, as well as the servants employed by the Pandhers. All of them reportedly denied having any knowledge of the “nefarious” activities of Moninder. The family members, the sources say, fully cooperated with the police officials.

A member of the Noida police team told TNS that his other colleagues were interrogating Moninder Singh and his co-accused, Surinder, alias Satish, in Noida. He, however, refused to give details.

The SSPs of Ludhiana and Jagraon, Mr A.S. Rai and Mr R.K. Jaiswal, respectively, told TNS that so far they had not received any communication from the Noida police. The Pandhers have property in these two districts also. Mr Jaiswal said the Jagraon police, under the jurisdiction of which the Pandhers’ native village, Lohatbaddi, falls, had no crime record of Moninder.

The Panchkula SP, Mr Balbir Singh, also said that no communication had been received from the Noida police. The Pandhers reportedly have a farm in that district.

Meanwhile, Moninder’s connections with Haryana have surfaced. He not only is married in a Karnal-based family but also spent his childhood in Ambala, where his father, Mr Sampuran Singh, was a rich transporter.

Mr Sampuran Singh’s old associates in the Transport Market of Ambala city remember him as a gentle person. They say for Mr Sampuran Singh it was virtually a rags to riches story. He started his career as a cleaner in a transport company. He shifted to Ambala decades ago, where his paternal uncle(Mama), Mr Surjan Singh Dhillon, was a transporter. Gradually, with the help of Mr Dhillon, Mr Sampuran Singh rose to own a large fleet of trucks. He also remained the president of the Ambala Transporters Union for several years.

Mr Sampuran Singh enjoys so much goodwill among his former colleagues that though they were willing to share information about him and Goldie, as Moninder Singh was then known to them, they categorically told TNS that they should not be named in any news report because they had good relations with Mr Sampuran Singh and his family. The alleged involvement of Moninder in the heinous crime came as a shock to them.

The Pandhers had a house on the Spatu road, Amabala city, near Manji Sahib Gurdwara. However, Mr Sampuran Singh had shifted to Sector 27, Chandigarh, before the marriage of Moninder Singh. A person who deals in automobile parts still remembers having attended Goldie’s marriage at Karnal and later the reception at their four-kanal Chandigarh house. While Mr Sampuran Singh’s family stayed in Chandigarh, he used to frequently visit Ambala to supervise his business. He also owned a petrol station on the Ambala-Chandigarh road. Now this filling station is run by the company itself.

A former friend of Moninder said that he studied in Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. He had reportedly qualified the IAS written examination, but did not appear for the interview because he felt that the salary of an IAS officer was too meagre to attract him.

Meanwhile, Mr Rajinder Chopra, a former constable of the Chandigarh Police, today expressed his suspicion that his 17-year-old son, Jatinder, who had been missing since October, 2000, might have been kidnapped and killed by Moninder Singh.

It takes all types to make this world.

I wonder what is in store for us Stephanians this year?

On this macabre note, may I wish all my Stephanian friends around the world a very happy and prosperous New Year.

KTWV 07 Issue 27: Great greetings

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

Annikki and I got some outstandingly beautiful, some really deeply emotional, and many other types of greetings this year. Each one was viewed and appreciated.

As a tradition as of today, every year we intend to pick out the most unusual one for the blog.

Here, in our legally non-binding, uniquely humble and completely personal opinion, is our choice of the possible winner for this year, which choice may be modified if anything seemingly more unusual is received during the following days of the year, or even during any subsequent period, if it can been shown that it was dispatched during this current year, 2006 and relates to the current year:

Holiday Greetings to everyone !

I wanted to send some sort of holiday greetings, but it is so difficult in today's world to know what exactly to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter/summer solstice holiday, practised with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or other traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that it is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms...

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawals. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Yours in spirit.

--
____________ _________ _________ _________ _____
Cosma Papouis

Thank you Catherdralite 54er Zarin Aga for sending us this!

KTWV 07 Issue 26: Merry Christmas to all our friends

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

It is Christmas morn. Annikki and my email Inboxes are filled with greetings from all corners of the globe.

63er Stephanian Ajay called me on a Skype video link from his farmhouse in Lund, Sweden. (I was able to see him, but as I am still having a problem finding an economic web camera for my Apple Mac, he could not see me!)

Chaff participant Kannan, who is taking his mother on a pilgrimage called us from Kashi, Varnasi, India.

Chaff participant Tingting checked in from her home town in Northeast China where she reported all the shops were open and brimming with customers.

63er Stephanian Aftab Seth (the twin brother of Roshan Seth who acted as Nehru in the movie "Gandhi") from Japan, 66er NCRTer Christie Robert from Malaysia, 60er Cathedralite Mehfooz Ahmed from Saudi Arabia, 62er Ranko Ivancevic from Cerbia, 95er Oulu University Ramesh Devu from Silicone Valley, California, USA; from India - 57er Cathedralite and 61er Stephanian Ashok (Tony) Jaitly (retired Chief Commissioner in Kashmir) from New Delhi, Cathedralite 59ers Viney Sethi and Vijay Shivdasani from Mumbai, cousin Satish Abraham from Kerala, Catheralites 43er Naval and 54er Armaity Patel from Mysore, etc...., from Finland Rotarian Ville Suomi, Women's Empowerist Ildiko Hamos, Chaff participant Pekka Keranen and family, on and on.... were among those who shared their greetings with both Annikki and me.

This made us feel profoundly humble that so many hundreds of you, of every age group, took the time to share your thoughts of the season with us.

On our part, we have made it a tradition to ask a couple of young foreigners who have no family here in Oulu, to join us for our very simple Christmas meal.

Year-before-last it was a young Tanzanian lady, Christine. Last year it was Kannan. This year we called two youngsters, Benjamen Hayes and Kanchan Gupta.



Benjamin is from Australia. He has been here for a few months. He is all what I call Australian, friendly, outgoing, understanding and a lovely human being.

We have a rule in our home that no gifts are exchanged at Christmas. For us, the time for giving is not one day, but the whole year.

Despite this, Benjamin brought me a CD which he cut of some of really best jazz tunes he has collected. Even as I write this I am listening to the CD "Jazz for Jacob". Forever-lasting melodiies, oldies rendered by many great artistes, as George Benson (Eternally) and Diana Krall's "Cry Me A River".

There is beautiful message on the back cover:

"And promise will come
To those whose kindness,
Leaves you without debt,
And bends the shape
Of things to come,
That haven't happened yet."

These are words of the New Zealand pop star Neil Finn, whose career from 1976 till today has been an inspiration to many, including me.

We had also asked Indian newcomer to Oulu, Bihari Kanchan Gupta, to join us. Unfortunately, he went for a walk on the previous day, fell and hurt his hand. He obviously consumed an overdose of pain-killers, which put him to sleep.

When I rang his doorbell to pick him up, and also rang his mobile several times during the course of the evening, he was in deep sleep and dead to the world.

He woke up after our meal was over, just about midnight, telephoned us, apologetic, but sadly, he missed a feast!



Annikki's mother, now 86, was also in a festive mood wearing the elf's hat, as she enjoyed what delicacies that were on offer.

I prepared the turkey. As I was thinking what filling to make, Annikki, as usual, came up with a most humourous and unusal suggestion. We had a box of chicken wings on the shelf. She suggested I stuff the turkey with that.

We laughed our guts out.

I had fun making a new Christmas dish, roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings beautifully flavoured with herbs and light spices carried in plenty of onions!

The meal was fully traditional Finnish in other ways.

The menu: Apple juice and orange juice to accompany Christmas brown bread made with a trace of molasses syrup, pickled herring, salted salmon slices, freshly tossed salad, potato salad, mushroom salad, turnip casserole, carrot casserole, roast potatoes, and, of course, the roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings! Afters were whipped cream with chocolate swiss roll and Annikki's own Christmas cake, full of all the rich dry fruits. Coffee to end the evening.

Mika, had his fill as well. Annikki's brother, who lives as a hermit in the forest, also landed up on the doorstep. Annikki put him to sleep in the cellar. He slept through the meal but enjoyed it later!

It was a true Christmas spirit as Benjamin had a tour around Annikki's garden and enjoyed the humour and simplistic creativity and beauty of what makes us so happy, day-in and day-out!

We finally thanked our Creator and Maker for all the simple things in life which make us so happy.

But, this year we dearly missed our grandchildren, Daniel, Asha and Samuel, who are holidaying in Florida with their parents!

KTWV 07 Issue 25: Thank you 56ers!

(Cross-posted on all my major personal and alma mater blogs. This is a tribute I received for concerned blogging.)

Monday, November 27, 2006

(Click images to see enlarged version.)

Dear Class of 56,


Editorial page from Class of 1956 Directory, 2006.

To quote from the editorial page of your Class Directory:

“To Jacob Matthan go immense thanks for the support of his blogsite and his indefatigable research.”

Thank you, Meena, for writing these words which will be remembered by my children and grandchildren for another 50 years at least, even though none of them had the opportunity to be Cathedralites.

I do hope that I have instilled some of the “education” that I received from my glorious alma mater to these two generations of my immediate family.

You 56ers have made today of my most wonderful days of my life.

Courier Post this evening brought me the Class Directory and two absolutely precious Tee-Shirts.


Cover of 1956 Class Directory, 2006.

I offered one to my better half, but she said that they were for me.


Annikki & me, Rauma, 2006 October.

Of course, she told me not to wear it as I usually do, as I am, at this tender age of 63, in the habit of spilling my tea all over the front onto my large paunchy area.

When Ubi forwarded me the Reunion Report, my eyes were moist with the tears of joy and sorrow that welled in me. I was especially moved by the news of how Muku, another one of my heroes, came to the reunion get-together. His CV in the Directory explained to me the character of a man I admired in school.

I especially remember when young Aditya Malkani read about his father on my Seventh Heaven website (April 2001), well before it was made into a blog.

From: "Aditya Malkani"

Subject: Re: Picture Champion House 1953

Mr Mathan,

It was great to recieve your email.

I went to your very impressive web site and saw the picture from 53.

I almost had tears coming out of my eyes looking at pictures of my dad and reading about names that i had heard him mention so often.

I am currently a third year in Oberlin college and i will be graduating in may of 2002.

I have several school pictures from around 1956 that my father kept in good condition, if you like i can scan them and send them to you when i return to Bombay in July.

I wish in thirty years from now our graduating class of '98..manages to keep in touch, the way yours has.

Thank you ever so much for allowing me to learn more about my father's younger days.

aditya malkani

When Doreen discovered me and entered into a beautiful relationship, I have enjoyed every moment learning about her life and her family.

And when Ubi entered into my life via the blog, I was so thrilled to be in touch again with someone so immensely dedicated to the school, that it was my greatest pleasure to fulfil his every desire towards making your reunion a success.

And from all the accounts that I have received, it was.

When I received the Directory and turned open the cover and found the mention of ME in the editorial, Annikki and i were so overjoyed that we have still not stopped talking about it.

I explained to her about so many of the personages contained therein, many of you whom i remember so vividly.

Ubi was my hero, but that does not detract from the enormous respect I hold for so many of you who used to be willing to give time to us kids to help us.

What I learnt from many of you is what i practice on my blog.

I do hope that as many of you will send me photographs and details to share with over 3000 Cathedralites from 1945 to 2006 who tune in to this blog faithfully to see what YOU have to say.

I hope that you will allow me to be part of your 60th Reunion!

Thank you 56ers.

Jacob Matthan
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu
Finland
Tel: 041 - 7067788
email: jmatthan@gmail.com

KTWV 07 Issue 24: Is this Oath worth a dime?

I was a little surprised when i read this article After brawl, Stephanians off booze.

....,Stephanians have taken an oath in the college cabinet that henceforth they will abstain from imbibing liquor at parties. The students ' union members have decided that they will proactively abstain from such "drinking" parties.

Anything in moderation cannot be faulted. Anything is excess is obviously to be frowned on. Anything that is related to anti-social behaviour cannot be accpted.

Hence, the Oath itself is a violation of the above principles.

But Stephanians cannot and should not act in any anti-social manner.

I hope a report of this incident is prominently placed in the front verandah at college so as to be a beacon to others of what could ensue should they ever be anti-social in public, even when not identified as being Stephanians!

KTWV 07 Issue 23: Important Talk by a Stephanian

October 28, 2006

---
Enver Masud, an engineering management consultant, founded The Wisdom Fund in 1995. He is the recipient of the 2002 Human Rights Foundation Gold Award, the author of over 100 articles on U.S. foreign policy, and contributing author of 9/11 and American Empire. He managed the U.S. National Power Grid Study at the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and established the Operations Review Division in Iowa. Consulting for USAID, and the World Bank, he has worked in Albania, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tanzania.

But above all Enver is Delhi Stephanian of the 1957-1960 era.

May I suggest that all Stephanians take their friends to listen to this very important lecture.

The Wisdom Fund

Fatally Flawed: The 9/11 Commission Report

Evidence of the use of pre-positioned explosives to accomplish the collapse of 1, 2, and 7 World Trade Center

by Enver Masud


"Fatally Flawed: The 9/11 Commission Report" -- a talk scheduled for November 1 at the NRECA Conference Center in Arlington, Virginia, including the 90 min film by independent researchers on the destruction of the World Trade Center

If approached with an open mind, this presentation will lead you to the conclusion that we were not told the truth about September 11, 2001 -- the stated casus belli for the war on Afghanistan, and repeatedly linked
to the war on Iraq by President Bush, and Vice President Cheney.

Indeed there is prima facie evidence of the use of pre-positioned explosives to accomplish the collapse of 1, 2, and 7 World Trade Center. The prime example is 7 World Trade Center. Its collapse exhibits all of the characteristics of a controlled demolition.

The Iraq war alone is expected to cost the U.S. between one and two trillion dollars according to Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz. A study directed by Johns Hopkins estimates over 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result, and 1.6 million have fled the country. Add to this the cost in American lives, the destruction of Iraq's society, institutions and infrastructure, and millions more maimed and wounded. In the words of veteran journalist Robert Fisk, "We have turned Iraq into the most hellish place on Earth."

It is now incumbent upon all Americans of conscience, specially leaders of faith-based organizations, to speak out and demand the truth -- begin with 7 World Trade Center which collapsed in about 7 seconds. The 9/11 Commission Report does not even mention this, and the National Institutes of Science and Techonology has yet to produce its report.

Muslim leaders, in particular, have a special duty because most of this death and destruction has been inflicted upon the Muslim world, and Muslims everywhere are the target of a new cold war with Islam -- of which my former colleague at Eastern Times, Mowahid H. Shah, wrote in the Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 1990.

And now that it is clear that the Bush administration manipulated the intelligence on Iraq there is the matter of compensation for the victims of U.S. aggression -- the "Supreme International Crime" in the words of former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the first Nuremberg trial. The United Nations Compensation Commission approved $52.5 billion in claims against Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

--
The Wisdom Fund
www.twf.org

Get there if you can.

KTWV 07 Issue 22: My 80 year old Physics teacher sent me this

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog, on the Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.)



Willie Shiri lives with his wife Pushpa in Canada. He taught me Physics in the late 50s in Mumbai, for which I am ever grateful. We discovered each other on the internet a few years ago, and besides Physics, he continues to inspire me on many fronts.

This is a story he sent me. It cheered me up as I set out to launch our Chaff Help Fund. This story is not true but the message it conveys is very valuable and helps me to focus on little things that make differences in the lives of people around me.

Subject: MIRACLE

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet..

She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.

Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good.. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I want to buy a miracle."

" I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

" His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"


"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"

" I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."

" How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.

"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly.

"And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.."

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. "

He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need."

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well.

Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents .... plus the faith of a little child.

In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need..

A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.. I know you'll keep the ball moving!

Here it goes. Throw it back to someone who means something to you!

A ball is a circle, no beginning, no end. It keeps us together like our Circle of Friends. But the treasure inside for you to see is the treasure of friendship you've granted to me.

Today I pass the friendship ball to you.

Pass it on to someone who is a friend to you.

MY OATH TO YOU...

When you are sad.....I will dry your tears.
When you are scared.....I will comfort your fears.
When you are worried.....I will give you hope.
When you are confused....I will help you cope.
And when you are lost...And can't see the light, I shall be your
beacon.....Shining ever so bright.
This is my oath.....I pledge till the end.
Why you may ask?.....Because you're my friend.

Signed: GOD

Yes, many of us at CHAFF know how much miracles cost, so your small contribution to the CHAFF Help Fund, however small, could certainly do miracles for many many people.

Last week at the meeting one retired CHAFF participant gave me 100 Swedish Kroner (Euro 11) as his contribution. It was a wonderful feeling when I accepted this contribution to CHAFF to help someone, somewhere and at sometime.

KTWV 07 Issue 21: What does it feel like...

...when you get a phone call, and on the line is your very very best friend with whom you have not spoken or heard of for the last 24 years?

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

Today, just before 10 am Finnish time, I got a call, from China. Even before the person identified himself, I knew it was Ajay!

Ajay Verma was in St. Stephen's College the same time I was. He was doing Mathematics Honours and I was doing General Science.

We were virtually inseperable. We spent hours together, drinking coffee, smoking, talking, joking, playing tricks on others, playing table tennis together, playing basketball (in which Ajay was superb).

When I went for my holidays to Bombay, I waited to get back to Delhi and college to meet my very dear friends - Ajay and Niranjan (who was a couple of years senior to us and was doing English Honours).

Niranjan was an East African from Tanazia but of Indian origin.

The three of us got the group nickname Heap - Little Heap, Middle Heap and Big Heap, the last being me.

After college I went to London to study.



Ajay joined the Indian Army and Niranjan joined the Indian Foreign Service.

(Niranjan became an Indian Citizen and served as Indian Ambassador in many places including te Vatican and Switzerland. He appears to be is still doing what we three specialised in doing - exposing scandals (May 2006): "How Rajiv’s India was banned".

When I returned, after my studies, to India, I met up with Ajay who related why he finally left the Indian Army.

At the time of one of the stupid Indian - Pakistani wars, he was serving on the frontline. One evening, when he was in a bunker, he decided to go out to smoke a cigarette. No sooner had he taken a couple of puffs, a shell landed on the bunker. He was the sole survivor.

That experience made him leave the army. He got a job in the Bata Shoe Company and he served in Mathura and Calcutta, but he got fed up of shoes (who wouldn't) and decided he would try his luck abroad.

He landed in Copenhagen without a dime in his pocket. But being the survivor that he is, he soon established himself and worked in the hotel industry, working long hours, earning the language and becoming a master of this trade.

Ajay and Else with Sita and Robin.
Youngest girl, Maya was not born then.

Then he met a beautiful Danish girl, Else, and they got married. They moved to a small town in Sweden, Lund, near to Malmo, which is just across the narrow straits that separates Denmark from Sweden.

Ajay set up a small import company and started to market Indian garments and handicrafts. It was tough going. That is when I visited him and met Else and two of their children, Sita and Robin.


Little Sita, was at one time a replica
of our younger daughter, Joanna.

When I was setting up a business in India, Ajay and some of his friends invested a small amount in the company.

But then we lost contact after his visit to see me in 1982.

When I moved with Annikki to Oulu in 1984 I tried on several occasions to try to contact Ajay, but to no avail. On one journey to England by bus from Oulu, I tried to get in touch with him when we passed through Malmo.

But there was no sign of Ajay and his SITA boutique in Malmo.

Annikki and I often thought of my good friend. I used to search the internet regularly, using Google, to see if I could spot him anywhere.

Then a few weeks ago he surfaced on my Kooler Talk Blog with a message. As messages posted on my blog are usually labelled Anonymous, there was no link to get back to him.

So I posted a pleading entry, asking him to contact me.

Ajay tried, using the email address in my profile - which unfortunately I had not changed. It was still showing my dead domain name and the old email address.

So, all his correspondence bounced.

Today, he found his old diary where the Finnish telephone number of my in-laws of the 70s was listed.

Ajay thought of trying it.

I had just come home as I had a busy schedule planned for the day.

I knew it was Ajay after I heard him say a couple of words, a much matured with Ajay, but with the same inflexions and the same humour that endeared him to me over 45 years ago.

We talked till he had to get back to work - and during the time we exchanged emails and got our contacts all correct.

Then he rang again and we talked and talked till Annikki also appeared and she too was thrilled to get news of Ajay.

Annikki knows that there is no one more in my mind than Ajay. The happiness of our telephonic reunion was infectious to her.



Ajay is the Manager of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Beijing, China. It is his second stint at the hotel as he was there when it was started in 1992. He has served in various locations of Radisson including Istanbul.

Now, in December, he will retire and return to Lund where he has bought a small piece of land where he may do some farming.

He gave me news of his mother who lives in the Pondicherry Ashram with his sister. She is now 90 years old. Ajay also updated me about their children and one grandchild! (Ajay, your kids have some catching up to do! We have three.)

Today has been one of the happiest days of my life to be reunited with someone I thought was lost forever. Such joy is unsurpassable.

I want all of you to know that it is such an emotional issue that I am glad that I started these web pages and blogs over 10 years ago - just to feel this emotion that I felt today.

It is all of you that have helped me keep these web pages alive through all these years - and now I feel I can redouble my efforts so that others can find their loved ones and share in that depth of feeling that I experienced today.

We will be having our personal reunion before Christmas 2006 - of that I am sure!

KTWV 07 Issue 20: Finally it is done...

Many hundreds of you have been asking me to email you whenever I make a new entry on my blogs.

Now I have taken steps to ensure that every time I update my blogs, you will get an email.

However, you have to do something IF you want this to happen.

You will find on each blog page a small box just below the link to view my profile.

You have to enter your email address where you want to be informed into that box and send it so that Change Monitor can do the necessary entries.

Only enter this information for the pages that you really want to monitor.

I do not want your email Inbox filled with these update messages!

KTWV 07 Issue 19: A Book Review...

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)



Many thanks to Cathedralite 49er Naval Patel in Mysore for sending me a scan from Bookwatch - which is a short review of Cathedralite 57er / Stephanian 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly's book about our alma mater which I have covered in an earlier blog entry.

Naval identified Tony because he had read about him on this blog. This would be natural as Naval was 8 years senior to Tony. However, it is likely Naval knew of Tony's elder brother, Ravi, who was also a great sportsman, like Tony.

But more in tune with Naval's interest - CRICKET, I did tell him that Tony's sister, School Captain of 1960, Jotysna, married my classmate Siddarth Singh, who was from Doon School and an outstanding fast bowler.

However, Siddarth, although greatly admired by both Prem Bhatia and Inderjeet Singhji (both Stephanian and Indian cricketers), chose to join the Indian Foreign Service and ended his career as the Indian Ambassador in Japan (I think - as it was from there that I had a very interesting phone call from Tony's son when he came across my Cathedral and Stephanian websites which preceded these blogs!).

KTWV 07 Issue 18: I am being bombarded!

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I am not missing. I am quite well. I am not very busy. I have just been lazing away my summer which is unusally hot. You can read more about this on my main blog.

Ashok (Tony) Jaitly.

I got an interesting email from my Stephanian/Cathedralite friend - Cathedralite 57er / Stephanian 61er Ashok Jaitly, more commonly known to all of us as Tony.

From: ashok jaitly
Date: Aug 23, 2006 4:07 PM
Subject: Touching Base
To: Jacob Matthan
Cc: HS Uberoi

Dear Jacob,

Hope all is well with you and the family.

Apologies for not being in touch for a long time.

However,some news that you would be glad to hear - my book 'St.Stephen's College - A History' was launched on 2nd August at the Maurya Sheraton here in Delhi. There was a gathering of about 300, mostly Stephanians, and a good time was had by all ! The atmosphere was very special with the kind of warmth and fraternity that you would expect from such a crowd of old College types particularly with the wine flowing-you can trust Stephs!

Rahul Bajaj released the book with Amin Saheb, Mani Shanker Aiyar and Bunker Roy reminiscing about their memories.Roshan Seth and my wife, Sabina, read a few extracts from the book which, I was relieved to hear,were well received.Incidentally,the book seems to be doing quite well at the bookstands although, for the life of me, I cannot imagine who would want to read about SSC other than our lot.

It would also please you to know that the book talks about Kooler Talk including your blogsite. !

I would love to get a copy across to you but how I know not !

One question from your recent blog -who was the Savage House captain of 1956 who came to St.Stephen's. As far as I recall I was the only one from the '56 batch in School to come to College that year - AND I would have you know I was Wilson House Captain - Savage? Can you even imagine ?!

Do get back. Warmest best wishes,

Tony

Details of the book written by Tony:

Author : Ashok Jaitly
Now : Rs.395 [For Delivery in India]
Publisher: Roli Books
ISBN: 8174364439

ABOUT THE BOOK:

St. Stephens College, which celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2006, has a special niche amongst educational institutions of excellence, not only in Delhi but also all over India. Apart from its revered internal traditions, the College has also been an integral part of the social and structural changes that have taken place in the nation. And it has been the school for a long and impressive alumni list which includes sportspersons, writers, poets, actors, journalists, entrepreneurs, politicians, bureaucrats, ambassadors, techno-crats and corporate executives.

This volume, written by Ashok Jaitly, a former student, traces the history of the College from its original conception by the Cambridge Mission as an institution for higher education in 1881, through the travails of the freedom struggle, Partition, Independence and into the present world of relentless academic pressures, sporting compulsions and ever expanding opportunities.

During all these turbulent and exciting years, St. Stephens College has stood firm for certain fundamental values which celebrate cosmopolitanism, pluralism, a degree of iconoclasm along with an immense enjoyment of learning in the widest sense."Mahatma Gandhi or plain Mr Gandhi as he was then, first came to St. Stephens early in 1915... On the persuasion of... C.F. Andrews who was then the Vice Principal, he stayed in the house of Principal Rudra which continued to be his Delhi abode for several years. The Burra Sahibs house thus became the rendezvous for important national leaders like Rabindranath Tagore, Madan Mohan Malviya, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Surendra Nath Banerjee... It was here that Gandhiji, perhaps for the first time, enunciated his doctrine of non-violent non-cooperation or Satyagraha... It was here that Tagore completed his English translation of Gitanjali. And it was here that the pact between the Congress and the Khilafat Movement was sealed.

Most would agree that it could only have been idle minds busy in some devilish workshop which gave birth to Kooler Talk, the first purely student run rag aimed at providing an avenue for budding and froost - College slang for frustrated - Stephanian writers who could not find solace in the sedate pages of The Stephanian magazine. Sarwar Lateef, Roshan Seth and Peter Tubby Philip were the intrepid perpetrators of this plot way back in 1960... To add respectability luminaries such as Kamalesh Sharma, Shankar Menon, Swaminathan Aiyar, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Inderjit Badhwar were co-opted onto the editorial board while poor, unknowing Rev R.I. Shankland was persuaded to act as the figurehead editor.

About the Author:

Ashok Tony Jaitly was at St. Stephens College from 1958-61 where he studied Economics (classmates say, in exception), played football and badminton (teammates say, on occasion), was active in the Shakespeare Society (theatre-mates say, with trepi-dation), indulged in sundry other activities (conspirators assert, without hesitation) and made many lifelong friends. After completing his Economics tripos from Cambridge University in 1964, he was selected for the Indian Administrative Service and served in Jammu and Kashmir and with the Government of India on several interesting and important assignments, including a few which evoked some controversy. He retired as Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir after a record tenure of more than five years, from 1996-2002. Currently working as a Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi on rural development issues, his primary concerns are water, rural energy and decentralized governance.

Some important points to note:

Tony has done me a great honour by including the reference to this blogsite and my Kooler Talk (Web Version) in his book. Thanks Tony.

Rahul, now a Rajya Sabha member, like Tony and me, is also a Cathedralite / Stephanian - 54er from Cathedral and 57er from Stephania!

Tony was not a 56er but a 57er. The 56er Savage House Captain who was also a Stephanian was my elder brother. The 58er Savage House Captain to join Stephen's was Peter Philip (also known as Tubby). I was the 59er Savage House Captain that joined Stephen's.

In the personal addendum Tony added that he is almost clear healthwise - for which I am greatly relieved.

I hope a Stephanian / Cathedralite passing through Delhi en route to Oulu will pick up a few copies (at my cost, please) and bring them to me. Do not want to deprive the author of his royalties!! :-)

Now the next thing Tony has to do is write a similar book about us Cathedralites - then the Seventh Heaven Blog may get some publicity. :-)