Some of us in Delhi started to think of a possible reunion of our class at the beginning of the year 1999. We had a recollection that there were about twenty of us when we sat for our Senior Cambridge examination at the end of 1949. From the class photograph preserved by Aroo Moolgaoker and sent to us at the time of the reunion from London ñ most unfortunately he could not join us but was with us in soul and spirit as he mentioned - we know that we were twenty-three in all. Aroo has sent us his hilarious recollections of his classmates. This is being printed separately in this issue of the Catcall.
Efforts were undertaken to locate our classmates from whatever little information we had. We knew that some of us had gone abroad for studies. But where were we all now? Some of us had kept in touch with one another over the years and decided to pool our knowledge regarding where all we were currently located. Vijay Ram coordinated the efforts in Mumbai, where most of us were still located. For me, Ratan Lalkaka of the class of 47, was a great help in getting the addresses of quite a few of our classmates who were located out of Mumbai and also the country.
Sarosh Wadia, Narottam, Bunny Khattau, Chandrasen Merchant, Vijay Ram, Naval Patel and Jumani were all in Mumbai and all turned up gladly for the reunion.
Although Raj Bhandari used to stay very close to me when I was staying in Vasant Vihar in Delhi, I did not know of his whereabouts then. It was only when we started to look for one another, that we realised how close to one another we used to stay. I still meet Jamshed Desai quite often. He too was keen to have this reunion. So it was the three of us from Delhi.
We got to know that Buster Ley had passed away.
Chottu Padamsee was located in Goa and I visited him there. He was very keen to come but could not at the last minute due to an unavoidable engagement.
Kali Cawasji was contacted in Bangalore and came gladly.
Through the courtesy of Pilloo Hakim (Cooper) and her classmate of 51, Meenakshi (Rangnekar), who now lives in Canada, we did manage to get a few messages across to Maneck Khambatta in Canada, but he too could not make it.
Soli Lam was sought to be contacted in London but we were unable to establish contact with him.
We were informed that Hassan Mirza, the star marathon runner from Palmer House, who went to the UK to study Aeronautical Engineering after the Senior Cambridge exams, was located in Pakistan. We had no means of finding out his address. Similarly, efforts to locate Benjie Hayeem in the States did not bear fruit to get him in time for our reunion. We are happy that we now have established contact with him . He is one of the few from our class listed on the Catalumni site on the web. All efforts to locate the other classmates remained unsuccessful.
Of the girls, we had very little information. Leela Suntook (Punjabi) was in Mumbai and very readily agreed to come to the reunion. Unfortunately, she was the only representative from amongst the girls. Of Betty Ballard, my counterpart as the Head Girl, we knew that she had migrated to Australia after our final exams. It is only after we received the latest issue of the Catcall that we know that she is still there. Anjali (Lahiri) had left for England shortly after we had a final party at her home on Cuffe Parade. She passed away a few years ago. Silla Dubash (Vakil) lives in Delhi and we are in touch with one another but she could not make it to our function. We understand that Dina (Forbes), who along with Leela, used to come to the Boysí School for Chemistry and Physics, is living in Delhi, but we do not know where.
So it was that eleven of the boys and one girl, along with our spouses, from the Class of 49 met in Mumbai for the reunion.. For most of us it was a meeting after fifty years. As we walked in one by one, we could hardly recognize ourselves. Time had inevitably changed us. All in all it was a very memorable evening and we agreed to remain in touch with one another. Something we have done very assiduously so far.
Judging by the response that one reads of to the activities of the Alumni Association in the Catcall and on the website, it is clear that there is something very special about our School. The response to and the fellow feeling at this reunion after a lapse of fifty years only goes to show how special the School truly is.
Yezad Kapadia.
Palmer House.
Class of 49
For further details, please contact