REPORT ON THE NP REUNION in LONDON, June 2003

SPAGIES ENGLAND NEWSLETTER
8 July 2003
35 Hillbrow Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 4JL, UK
tel: 020 8466 7026 fax: 020 8466 8100
email: phillip@mainspeaker.com

There were 60 North Pointers, friends and partners at the London Reunion on Saturday 28^th June, 2003. The choice of Bombay Brasserie as the venue was universally approved, and it is unlikely that there will be a single dissenting voice if we return there next year.

All the ingredients were right – it was the sort of sunny day that might have merited a Surprise Holiday at North Point (signalled by the hesitant bell ringing by a staff member) … the restaurant was spacious, even with the Bishop Cotton reunion being held at the same time, in the Conservatory … the food was excellent and plentiful … and people were kind enough to remark that the organisation was not bad. In fact, Radley Pereira wrote to say thanks for “a bloody good reunion.”

Brian Edwards was unable to be there because he was in hospital (Get Well Soon, Brian!) so we had to manage without his nursery rhymes in pidgin Hindi. Presumably Humpty Dumpty is still phut, Chota Jack Horner is still claiming to be Kaisa Accha Larka, and although Jack’s seer is toot giya, having ghir giya down the parhar (shouldn’t that be Khud?), Jill says, “Cooch parwar nay.”

Other apologies and greetings were received from Trevor Swatman in Toronto, Eddie Hsu in California, Prabhakar Shumshere Rana in Kathmandu, Basil La Bouchardiere, Ivan St Clair Sequeira (Canada), Khatiza (Singapore), Peter T.C. Leong (Vancouver), Peter Dutton (N.Ireland), Edmund Jonah (Israel), Tom Bell (St. Michael’s), Brian Waynforth, Peter De Mello (Geneva), Ron Gogerly, Paljor Benjy Dorji (Bhutan), Koli Pluck, Bob Leeming, Ronald Leeming, Winston Pais, John Farrell, Neville Hartnett, Dennis Woods-Scawen, Ian Bristow, David Lodrick, Sheila Kelly (for Pat Kelly, who has died), Olaf Da Costa, Anthony Tonkin, Arif Vazirally (Bangalore), and Shoilen (Sal) Ghose.

Following the Burra Khana, contributions were invited from the assembled company. Janak De (’55) said it was interesting that in our day the school boundaries were to keep us in, whereas now there were barbed wire fences to keep the town out. Devdan Sen (’68) spoke of the recent sporting success, especially by the football team, and Gerry Taylor (’47) responded by reminding us of the prowess of the team that included Ian Taylor, Alan Moss and Frank Ainslie (or did he mean Michael Ainslie?). Fr Macdonald provided the voice of authority, after he had been reminded of his acts of discipline in 1944. Alan Noah complained about his elder brother, Norman, doing his Elder Brother routine while at school (other elder brothers please note!). Other contributions included one from Peter Rustom, whom I described as the Pavarotti of whistling, in the days when his teeth were all his own!

There was a special welcome for those who had travelled from other countries to be there, including the Faruque brothers, Iqbal, Mohammed and Zahid, from Pakistan, Amal Ganguli from India, Emile Lefranais, Peter Sequeira and Patrick Saha from North America, and Janak De from the Czech Republic. Three ladies represented the North Pointers in their families: Jean Fawkes, Shirley Hall (Watt) and Eileen Greene.

Brian Robb (’54) was celebrating his recent Doctorate, and John Barrington (’51) revealed that his MBE was for Leukemia research. Iqbal Faruque managed to turn up, although he had to leave right after the formal proceedings, to return to his sick wife in Pakistan. We wish them well. Leslie Deefholts was there, striving to recover from the stroke that laid him low a little over a year ago.

The Group Photo was taken outside the restaurant in half the time it took last year (Spagies are always looking to improve on their PBs), and the North Point Chorus was sung lustily in two keys, the first having been too high for those of advancing years.

Fr Van sent a message to the London Reunion, but it arrived the day after the event, so here it is:

I am really so happy that the now well established custom of holding an NP Alumni reunion in London is being carried on with Phillip Khan- Panni at the helm. In 2004 I am planning, God willing, to be with you on the last Saturday of June. I will be on my way to Toronto to celebrate my 60^th anniversary of entrance in to the Jesuits along with those who joined with me, so this is giving me the privilege of being with you also.

One of the features of the alumni life is to deepen the bonds of friendship at a more mature level, a friendship that began years earlier in school. North point has given us an experience that is akin to the joint family experience, something very much lacking in our present day world. Because of that many of us today live lives of wounded fragmentation. We long for what the poet T.S.Eliot called a further union , a deeper communion. I am quoting from Danah Zohar & Ian Marshalls recent book(2000)initiating us into a new measurement of the quality of human life which they call SQ, the Ultimate Intelligence. Your sharing today will bring you closer to the meaning of the life you live built on relationships that endure and are supportive.

It is also a time to consider what you can do effectively to help the North Point family which nurtured you especially now in its adaptation to contemporary needs in education and the renewal of its infrastructure. Various alumni chapters have been very supportive.

Much more, of course, is needed and we hope that you will keep this in mind in your discussions on how to help. If you were to visit us, you would be amazed to see how changed and yet the same, North Point is. Present day parents and students are very happy with what they see going on and they, too, are ready to contribute.

I want to thank Phillip and the others who have worked hard and given suggestions for this reunion today. I hope it will be a memorable event just as the reunion held earlier this month in San Jose near San Francisco. The next reunion will be in early August extending over a whole week in Bangkok and in Hua Hin. Already more than seventy are planning to wend their way there. This includes the Loreto graduates also. The organizers are arranging to have Noreen Dunne and myself transported over there, too.

Just some local news that that may be of some interest to those who may recall the ravages years ago made by incessant monsoon rains. The District already has its share of landslides with one major one in West Point. Though several houses have been swept away and vehicles on the road below smashed and overturned, leaving even the toy train rails twisted, no lives were lost. This is truly a miracle when one looks at the terrible destruction that took place.

Darjeeling itself has in the past decade taken on the appearance of a big city with huge constructions everywhere. It has become the worlds most heavily populated hill town in the world. This year in April and May we had the largest number of tourists ever. Tourists coming from all over India is a new phenomenon and represents the largest share now of all tourist flow into the region. The Central Minister for tourism was here recently and has allotted a huge financial outlay to build up the tourist facilities so that even more may be attracted.

Several Spagies contributed to the Fund, including some who were unable to attend the event itself. The money was collected, on the day, by Evelyn Ryan who, not being a Spagie, was unable to identify all the donors. For this we apologise, and invite any who have been left off this list to let me know.

David Lodrick, Peter Lodrick, Ron Gogerly, Brian Edwards, Peter Vallis, Iqbal Faruque, Peter Sequeira, Leslie Deefholts and Emile Lefranais. The total came to about 340 GBP, and I shall round it up to 400 GBP, and send it to North Point in the most economical way.