Report and Pictures of the REUNION IN HUA HIN

Report and Pictures of the REUNION IN HUA HIN

Saturday, August 9, 2003 from Thailand, Fr Van writes:

Dear Alumni

Now about the reunion. Every moment till last night when Paulites hosted a dinner for us on our arrival back in Bangkok, has been fantastic. Everyone one including Ashok Sadhwani is wondering how to describe it properly. One thing sure is no one will be able to catch the spirit that prevailed so strongly from start to finish. It was so well arranged by Dan and Joan Windsor that there was no hitch at any time. We were picked up about 7 p.m. at Bangkok airport. The Loretos were taken to Joan's place for dinner, we to Dan's.The next day after Church we all went to Joan's for the day.Monday early we left in two long buses for Hua Hin, arriving there at noon. The Cham An(or something like that) Hotel with three pools and a long beach was ideal. It has many long wings, So we were all accommodated there which made everything simple. Meals were extended conversations. The first night there was a dinner and dance. The second day was a picnic to another beach and a visit to caves for those who boarded a ship. I don't think a one evening reunion will ever be able to give us the same sharing on serious and lighter veined topics. We are were always in close contact with one another. Some played early morning golf or tennis or went for swims. I am not giving you any names but I am sure the list will eventually be sent around. It was very clear that a very strong SQ (Spiritual Quotient) prevailed. I now can see the real value of boarding school life and the absolute value of Reunions of people who have been brought up sharing the same roots for so many months every year. There was a terrific communion of spirits. The values and principles imbibed during school days were so evident. You must read parts of the recent book entitled SQ-the ultimate intelligence and though it doesn't mention boarding schools, it does mention the strong support system that comes from joint families and boarding life is certainly akin to that. It is a source of wisdom and even health, so different from what happens in the very fragmented lives of the western world, where neighbour hardly knows neighbour, living so alienated from one another.

Anyway these are my views. We had a charity dance and two nights of auctioneering to raise funds. The second night of that brought in well over a Lakh, I am told. I didn't hear a single complaint. There were prayers for deceased alumni/ae, help asked for alumni/ae who have ended up in straitened circumstances- there didn't seem to be any aspect or concern that was not covered in these six, really seven days.

All for now till Somendra Pradhan arrives to take me to Vietnam and after that I go to Burma.

Fr.Van

Dan Windsor, Monday August 11, 2003
Bull # 1 (Time to take off your make up)

Hi everyone,

Don't know where to start !. On Saturday evening I sat in front of my

computer and drew a blank for 15 minutes. Me at a loss for words !!

Wow !

Someone said that we should just take a 1 week break just to reminesce

about the week that has past. It went by in a blur and now I am

suffering from Withdrawal Syndromes. It was like how you felt when

you spent weeks looking forward to a Social, and then bang ! it's

over. You know what it is like when you spend 20 months planning for

an event and then BANG, IT'S OVER !! Funny thing is that, if it

had not been successful, it would have been easier. We could just

chalk it up and put it behind you. You could choose a few pleasant

highlights and selectively edit your memories. But, it succeeded

beyond my wildest dreams, one highlight after another. The reason

entirely YOU. Everyone involved made it a point to throw themselves

into the melee headfirst, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. It

made every single minute such fun and as a result there was a Chemistry

between us that overcame age, cultural and demographic differences. We

were back in school like we had never spent a moment apart. We were

young again.

If you ever watch Sitcoms on TV, whatever the show, the subject of

reunions is always treated with such dread and fear. There are 2 common

themes, everyone hates them as they bring up such bad experiences from

the past or they all come to show one-upmanship or to settle scores.

How come they never show a reunion like the one we had ??

Anyway, now that it is over, if any of you want to be removed from this

Chat Room, please let me know. I will delete your address. I warn

you though, I plan to write a new series of newsletters. The first few

will be bulletins, called ''BULL # 1 etc''. (The symbolism of the title

does not elude me). The first few BULLS will be used to re-hash what

happened, event by event, since many of those who weren't here have

asked me to do this. Also, this gives me a chance to rub a few noses in

it and say '' I told you so. You should have been here''.

Then I will do an accounting of the costs and let you know how much is

being contributed to the causes we chose. For some events, I added a

safety net of 10 or 20%. Whatever is left over, I will add to the sums

we collected and sent to North Point and to Hayden Hall. I estimate the

final tally will be about 2 Lakhs. Not bad at all since it was not the

primary purpose of HIHH. I omit Loreto because the LCD girls have asked

me to. It seems the new nuns there were not interested in any funds

raised or whatever we were planning to do.

After that, we can start planning the next one. I don't think it is too

early to do this. We already know that it will be in Chiengmai roughly

between mid July to mid August of 2005. We will look into the exact

dates and let you know. I hope this will allow everyone to start

making plans from now. Maybe you can plan this around a longer

vacation, whether it be in Thailand or in transit to any other

holiday. This way you can get your full money's worth from the plane

ticket and start saving vacation days and money.

In the meantime, please make some suggestions for the next name to use.

For simplicity, we will keep the same email address.

Once again, I want to thank you all for setting aside the time to join

us here and helping to make this an Event of a Lifetime.

Regards Dan

Dan Windsor, Thursday August 14, 2003
Bull #2. Burst those pretty balloons

Dear ''Old'' Friends,

Well, I am finally rested. Already 7 days passed since we were sitting

around the Regent lobby preparing for the Farewell. I remember

thinking about Marlowe's Faust, (permit me to paraphrase) :-

''Oh were this hour but a year, or a month, nay !! just one natural

day. But the clock turns, time flies and Faustus will be damned''.

All good things must come to an end.

I have had a lot of emails and kind Thank You notes. I really feel it

is unfair to take any credit since I enjoyed doing it so much, I feel

that it is I who should thank you all for making it as good as I ever

dreamt it would be. The mix was perfect and it was spontaeneous

combustion.

Since there are already 10 sign-ups for HIHH 2005 ( still need a name

for this !! ), I thought I'd start with the meeting of the last

Thursday. I think it will be of interest to everyone to see what the

future has in store for us.

The meeting was very very informal. There were mainly 3 things on the

agenda. Ashok, the next reunion and forming an international Alumni

association.

It was easy to decide on the next Reunion. We all liked the idea of

change of venue to Kathmandu or Bhutan, however, both had some huge

draw-backs. Both have a big base on alumnae, much better than Thailand

for sure. However, the infra-structure is not there. I think the best

thing about HIHH was that we were bunked at the same hotel. It was

like hostel days, only we were not as poor, not as young, not as

starved, not as restricted and much more energetic now ( Okay, Okay,

it was not like hostel days, but you get the drift). I cannot picture

the same set-up in either place. Then, there is the cost or hotels and

transport. Add to this the political instablity and insecurity in

Kathmandu. Thailand was suggested and Chiengmai in particular. We

decided to put this to the vote at The farewell and it was unequivocably

agreed to subsequently.

We also discussed what we should do in future. Other than just having

fun, as a group we hold the potential of doing a lot of good. Rajiv

told us rightly that The Paulites are way ahead of us and have an active

Alumni Assocs which have scholarships and the like. We thought about

joining forces with them and with other schools and forming something

like Hill Schools Association. Most people felt like I did that this

was not attractive to us and we prefer to have our own identity. I

for one, feel the attraction to North Point/Loreto and would not feel

any loyalty to ''Hill Schools''. I know I am die-hard Spagie and a

notorious Anti-Paulite, but this is more a case of

Anti-Everthing-Else-Other-Than-NP/LCD. We do not rule out

collaboration with other alumni in the future. In fact, we look forward

to it so that we can steal some of their ideas.

Then we decided to set up an INTERIM COMMITTEE.

Father Van is the Honorary CHAIRMAN.

Noreen Dunne is the President ( very appropriate since she represents

LCD, NP and Hayden Hall and will be in close contact with Father Van).

Paula Helfrich is the Secretary

Then there will be a VP from the next host country. Other than this,

we will work with existing Alumni Associations as well as set up new

Delegates to looks ater geographic zones. The following names are

INTERIM & VOLUNTARY ( in most cases, we volunteered them).

Peter Murray Australia

Maureen Dennis (Blake) Pacific Rim

Tshering Huber ( Lhamu ) Europe

Mya Thwin Myanmar

S.P. Agarwal Assam-Nothern India

Deo Dixit Kathmandu

Tobgye Dorji Bhutan

Arun Barman Middle East

Other areas of India, US & UK already have existing associations and

we look forward to liaising with them.

I am sure I have left someone out, but Paula will fill you in with a

more detailed report.

Being the way that I am, I will end with the beginning of the meeting.

Before we got into serious discussions, Ashok Sadhwani told us about his

work on the NP and LCD web-sites. Those of us who know Ashok, know that

if you pricked him, he would bleed NP Blue blood (which is even better

than Royal Blue). He has dedicated so much time and effort into

setting up and up-dating our sites. He told us of the many many

options available. Obituaries, contact addresses, sites of upcoming

re-unions, photographs old & new, news and information. We will also

have a ''FALTERING BROTHER'' line where you can ask for help for a

needy alumnus. I think we should also set up an OLD BOY NETWORK.

For those who don't know, what I mean is we should support each other in

business too. i.e. if my roof leaks, then I should check if one of

our members has a roofing business. If price and quality are

competitive, why not give the business to one of our own ??

The possibilities are limitless, so think about it.

HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT FROM THIS SITE ?

WHAT CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THIS SITE ?

Regards Dan

Felicitations from North Pointers world wide

Ivan St.Clair Sequeira Q.C.
To all the Great Adverturers in Thailand

Greetings. On the occasion of the Massive Spagies reunion

(which a lot of hardy folk and Lorettoites will be attending)

we poor spagies in Ontario send our prayers and wishes

for a successful celebration. Our congratulations go out

to Dan and all his helpers, for working out the logistics

of this great event. Have fun, avoid the massage parlours.

We hope to see all of you in Toronto next year for Fr.Van's

60 years in the priesthood. Sursum Corda. Ivan

Fr. Van responds
Dear Ivan,
I have read out your greetings. Dan was very happy. He has done a

great job. Every moment people are rejoicing. Last night we had a river

cruise for 3 hours with dinner, some line dancing around the aisles and

ending with a fantastic display of fireworks. This was all put on free(the

cruise included) by the Tourist authoity of Thailand. Naturally there is an alumnus (college) by the name of Daeng heading this organization.

This celebration I am going to in Toronto next year, God willing, is not

60 years of priesthood but sixty years of Jesuit life or Religious life. I only reach 50 years of priesthood in 2008. I am not quite as old as you may think!!!, Ivan. Only a mere 76.

Thanks again for your greetings. Dan just had a call from Ronnie Hsu

in California. With all these good wishes the next 5 days will continue to be great- also we hope for the fund raising. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Fr.Van

Ashok Sadhwani
The fun and rollicking that started a few years ago does not possess in its vocabulary the word 'end'. The merry sight of North Pointers and

Loretoites within their wide age spectrum swaying, swishing and

sashaying on the dance floor last night engulfed the emotional well in us all with its deep reach into our past. Memory glands were alive with

wildfire and conversation was non-ending.

The momentous U.N. evening with our sisters and brethren from

Switzerland, United States, Singapore, India, Nepal, Bhutan Thailand,

Myanmar, Australia and the U.A.E. shall be shared with you and all who aspire to make your past catch up with you in the form of photographs on the NP web site soon.

Long live the spirit of Darjeeling that in its infancy beckoned the

establishment of educational fortresses of North Point and Loreto that

drew each of us within its walls and nurtured the myriad human qualities you now possess before projecting us out into the wild blue yonder to become true human beings. Just close your eyes for a moment now and witness the gathering here today and you will know what I mean.

Sursum Corda!

Ashok Sadhwani (NP '64-'71)

writing from Hua Hin, Gulf of Thailand

Dear Fr. Van,

My email address is ronhsu2002@yahoo.com. I have been following the updates on the Reunion in Bangkok with great anticipation and envy. To be able to share even in a minute way through the writings of you and my brothers have been exhilarating. I rejoice that the communion of spirits has brought back fond memeories and the teachings in our early lives. I now await eagerly for the pictures of this momentous gathering, hoping to catch a glimpse of the comrades from days gone by; wondering about their well being, fortunes and experiences sparked by old NP. Ever since learning about the alumni reunions and attending them, a new chapter has opened for me in my book of life, bringing me back almost a full circle. What better way is there to enter my golden years than to relive and share with my spagie friends, a second childhood, so to speak. For all this, there always will be a special place in my heart for NP, my teachers, friends (all spagies for that matter) and you, for bringing it back to me. Thank you Fr. Van.

Sursum Corda

Ron Hsu "57

Eddie Hsu

Dear Fr. Van,

I think that you are presently travelling in Burma, meeting the alumni. Please give my best wishes to all the Burmese boys.

We received an email from Phyllis's niece Jo Anne, who lives in Bangkok, regarding the reunion there and thought you, spagies and Lorettos would enjoy the excerpt below.

"One of the reasons Patrick (Andy's cousin) and Jeannie are here is for the North Point reunion, Patrick's old school. The Darjeeling schools (North Point for boys
and Loretto for girls) are having a reunion in Thailand. Dan and his sister
Joan, as the Thailand coordinators, managed to convince the Tourism
Authority of Thailand to pay for a dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River.
It also included a great fireworks display near the Shangri-La Hotel. Now I
know what some of my tax baht are going for! Andy and I thought Mom would
have loved the fireworks if she was here."

"These alums like to party hearty. Benjy Dorji from Bhutan led them in the
singing of the school song (apparently there are some things you never
forget!), and they did a conga around the boat. It was quite a sight. We
also met Father Van, whom Eddie and Ronnie might remember, who is/was the
rector (equivalent to a college prez) and who does alumni relations for
North Point. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the school and a
photographic memory for people's names and faces. Father Van wanted to know
my connection since I was not married to an alumnus nor an alumna myself. I
explained we were friends of alums (Dan and S.P. who also went to Marquette)
cousin of an alum (Patrick) and that I am niece to two alums (Eddie and
Ronnie Hsu). Father Van agreed that it was indeed a small world. Dan says
that Eddie called all the way from California to wish them well."

"After the cruise, the alums headed off for 4 days at the seaside resort town
of Hua Hin where Dan was able to arrange for them to stay at US$35.00 per
night. Andy, who has become a sort of honorary North Point alum, was
invited to come down on Thursday. We all were but I couldn't as I was
working, and AJ (son) thought it would be the most boring thing in the world to go
to somebody else's school reunion. I give him at least until it is his tenth
class reunion to understand what all the fuss is about."

{End of excerpt)

We are looking forward to celebrating your 50th anniversary in the priesthood in Toronto in 2004.

Hearty congratulations to Dan and his sister Joan for a job well done!

God Bless,
Sursum Corda, Eddie

Rajesh Poddar

Dear Dan,

Your thoughts are very inspiring. I have been trying to propagate the same ideas that you have brought forward. If we have to do business, why not with a North Pointer if the price & quality is right. You will find that our flock will slowly grow if we extend a helping hand to each other.

You are also right about Ashok. His contribution cannot be measured in any way. I would like to say the same for your efforts. Wether you enjoyed it or not is another issue. Who else would take the trouble? No one ! Fantastic effort Dan. I would propose a standing ovation to you in the Next NP meet that I attend.

Ashok, since you are reading this, can I request you to put my thoughts up on the site!

Regds!

Rajesh Poddar

Dan Windsor responds

Dear Rajesh & Ashok,

In fact, this kind of thing exists among alumnae of many Universities and is called ''Good Ole Boys Network''.

Regards Dan

Mala writes

Roshan - if you had made a farewell speech i would have made one too ! There was so much to say but when there is too much to say you can get tongue tied and thats what happened to me !

What a REUNION it was almost a dream and the credit goes to Dan, Prim and Joan, we really don't know how to thank you for all the hard work or should i say ` service with a smile'. Little Mathew has actually stolen my heart away - he wanted to know whether i slept well every night !! how long i danced for and whether my feet were paining I wonder if he thought i was a wild kid ?!

Dan, we would love to read all your BULLS so dont let anybody discourage you!

Paljo (Yapper) are you reading this ? Your presence at the next reunion is compulsory. You sure was a DOLL ! I told Maya how much you miss her - she went all jelly and is planning to go to the next get together !!

Ronnie and SP I am still sad that you were not allowed to touch the piano perhaps we can take our own next time ! Should not be a problem for SP as he is the volunteer for the NorthEast !

Yes it was like going back to hostel life but this time it was a hostel for boys and girls all in one ! Roshan when you mentioned Loreto girls, I had a feeling you meant me !!

If I choose to go down memory lane this mail will be never ending and why should I bore you to death with my memories. All I want to say is that this Reunion had done wonders to all of us and will keep us `young' for a very long time I am also sure all of us are already looking forward to the next one. All of you who missed it this time do make it a point to join us in 2005.

Love to all

Mala