Category Archives: Articles

A School Boy’s Story

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I was a young school boy studying at Bishop Cotton School, Simla when partition took place. After 60 years I was invited to the School for its 150th Anniversary and I then decided to write about myself and the journey from Simla to Lahore made possible by the kindness of many from both sides but mainly from the Indian side. The story is
factual. I shall be too glad to answer any queries.

Sincerely,
Iftikhar Malik
Lahore

A Schoolboys story – 1946/1947:

The winter of 1946 was spent with my grandmother and parents, brothers and sister in the  village on the banks of the river Chenab on the GT Road in District Gujrat. It was cold and frost covered the land in the mornings. The sun came up shortly before noon for a few hours before people retired and smoke from their homes wound  up and settled  at a height.

I was a boarder at BCS in Simla and as I had learnt the best way of spending holidays was to walk around the house, fag for my elder cousins Nasim and Akhtar, play football with the local schoolboys and read stories. The elders in the family excelled in medicine, civil service, engineering and were a source of inspiration for me and books around the house on the subjects were of some interest. Grandfather’s desire was that all his children excel in studies and they did not let him down. Visits to the fields were interesting especially where jaggery was prepared.

Off and on news from the city about a rebellion, civil disobedience, public meetings, hartals, tear gas and those who were arrested in the city defying the authorities filtered down to the village. Some of the village folk who used to go to the city  would return and tell us what happened. The word ‘Pakistan’ featured prominently and the village bard hoped to be sitting in the ‘Coamatee’ Hall ! Continue reading →

BCS Boys create sea-diving history

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Pranav Sardana, 10 and his brother Ayush, 8, both students of Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, [their mother is a Sky Diver and jumped for BCS for the 150th] have created history by qualifying for the junior open water diver course and bubblemaker course respectively. Pranav is the youngest boy from Himachal to obtain the license from Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), USA, a premier diver training organization. He has the license to perform diving in sea anywhere in the world, whereas Ayush has learnt the art of bubblemaker in diving.

The brothers said they have undergone rigorous theory and practical training sessions since past three months to learn sea diving [...... read more here]

“Ingredients for a Real Close Shave” – writing by Vivek Bhasin

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Another good piece of writing by Vivek Bhasin:

Ingredients for A Real close shave……

..yes the Moon that evening was at its brightest; its closest in nineteen years so they say to Madre Tierra. Saturday 19th March 2011/1920 hrs. We sea dogs would called it perigee…..What a sight as I shot up the stairs off Embankment and took the Millenium Bridge and then walking at my own pace towards South Bank,  simply stunned by the magnamity yet peacefulness of the Bright Satellite.  I was coerced into buying a ticket for a Piano concert by Lola Perrin at the Purcell Hall…..and though her genre was classical and mine Pure Rock like Rata Blanca*, nonetheless I wanted to give her a chance to take a bit-o-cheese of my flesh….

Read / download the full document here

HOW DO YOU BECOME A WORLD BRAND?

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For me at least, my start and my present journey through my life, my family, my career and friends always and invariably has the umbilical cord connected to the heart beat of Bishop Cotton School.  I sometimes reflect on my present juncture and try to tick of  in my mental check list if what I am today, what I have done in the past and what sort of a person I have become has the grains of BCS imbibed in me.    Possibly yes in many ways.

The English alphabet and children’s nursery rhymes I was taught by my Mother in such a clever way that at the age of Five when I entered School I was supercharged with intelligence that I was given a double promotion to ‘Transition’….I had to work doubly as hard to ensure that when I finished Sixth Form I was barely 15 years old.

The love for American Wrigley’s and Rowntree Fruit Gum , Toblerone and Black Magic chocolates I got from my Father who always returned home after piloting the grand old cargo ships up the Hoogly River with these goodies for my Brother and I.

Nature Study I learnt from Mrs Advani; the ferns, the sweet peas, the dandelions and the rare four leafed clover.

The Beatles Abbey Road and the Red Coloured LP I first saw with Pawan ‘Aku’ Pawa.

English cut suits and patent leather shoes from Homer Gill.

The Love of Hot Bread with Sugar and boiled potatoes from the School Bakery and the Kitchen.

Commerce from Mr Malvea (and the Poetasters of Isphan; the Lefroy House play)

The map of India from Mr Mull who could draw it so beautifully on the black board, blind folded.

The art of beautiful writing from Mr Paul.

The art of crawling from Mr Bharpur Singh

..and the art of never getting caught, sliding down the Anderson Staircase or placing one foot in side the fountain by the Sly Gang: Father Bhasin-Anil Chopra and Prabuddha Singh…

The art of making traps: Michael Banon and Rajiv Pandit

The art of staying young: Krit Tippakorn

To read Shakepeare’s Macbeth by heart ..by Anil Mediratta and Karan Singh who used to rant it talking in their sleep.

..and profound apologies to Mr Bhasin ( and Raja Bhasin); his scooter ventured away from the straight and narrow, losing control finding its way to the Khuds…and we having to lift it on our backs and bring it back; feigning innocence.

The second lady I ever kissed at the age of Five, was Mrs Goss our Linlithgow matron ( before going to bed)  who insisted we do so after kneeling down, saying our prayers, our faces plastered with BCS vaseline

…But today with all those memories, tuition and wisdom intact..having visited 85 countries…and speaking 5 languages…feeling at home in Himachal, Rajasthan..England, Sweden, Costa Rica, Chile, Belgium and Italy to name a few, I feel the time has come to give back to my School.   To go and show the young men what the world is all about and what they can do about it…. As Cottonians we are part of that exclusive Club….we need to form a Network Club…to pool our resources and help each other FIRST…. The Old Boys Club is an established fact. Our own careers, our own businesses….within the pool we should first seek out another Cottonian and try to help, advise, assist in any way possible. This needs to be done.

…at least for me. When I walk up the gangway on to one of our super container ships, or enter the Board Room of my Company, or shrug down my bespoke suit and Tommy Hilfiger Ties with the green silk patch in my jacket; wash away the suave smell of Tuscany ( that I pinched from my brother)..and take on my Levis 517, a pink double cuff shirt, a paisley bandana, a borsolino hat, Grenson boots, a bespoke white leather belt from DaMilano, gel my hair..sitting behind the mixer console at the ‘Sound of Your Life’ taking the role of a Radio Presenter, playing a heavy track from Rata Blanca ( a hard rock act from Argentina)….changing my voice from the Queens English to A New York twang and then say Buenos Dias y Vaya con Dios*  and later Hej sa lange*…or being the MC at the Salaam Balak Trust’s ‘Salaam Rocks’……I AM NOT BLOWING MY TRUMPET.

I AM TELLING THE WORLD WHAT ALL I HAVE DONE AND WHAT ALL I STILL DO…AND WHAT ALL STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE. I MAY BE INDIAN, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND PROJECT MANY FACADES. HOWEVER I DO HAVE ONE PERMANENT DEPARTURE POINT; ONE PERMANENT BRAND.

…THE BRAND OF BISHOP COTTON SCHOOL….

(Some one needs to play the Chapel Piped Organ SO LOUD that the world gasps in admiration… All Good things should and must emanate from BCS)

Vivek Bhasin
Lefroy 1961-1970

* Buenos Dias y Vaya con Dios:     Good Morning and Go with God.(Espanol)
* Hej sa lange: See you soon again (Swedish)

Benchmarking other schools – by Vijay Stokes

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Benchmarking Other Schools – Anecdotal input from a Doon School alumnus

Vijay K. Stokes
Rivaz 1948-1954

Rather than to continue to look for collaboration or guidance just from schools in the UK, such as Marlborough College, it makes sense to also benchmark what other well-known schools in India are doing—an exercise that may help BCS to better develop a vision for its future. 

In this spirit, here is an input from an alumnus of The Doon School who was my classmate in Banaras Engineering College (1957-61). In August 2010 I had written to him to say, “As an alumnus of The Doon School, you might get a kick out of an article that I wrote on the occasion of the first 150 years of Bishop Cotton School.” Here is an excerpt from his response:

“I have read your article on BCS and agree with you to quite a degree, but perhaps the changing world also means some loss of pure Indian culture and a mixing of it with other cultures. And perhaps, this is not a pollution but a rejuvenation of sorts. … One thing I must say is, that the Doon School never seemed Anglicized to me—we always had a dual curriculum of Indian and western music, arts, theatre, etc., and all our prayers and hymns were sung in Hindi and were Hindu. Almost a 100% of the students were Indian. Many of our teachers were Britons, but were required to attend the prayers at assembly each morning. We were also required to go into the villages and help local people build homes and schools and clear land for farming, and even teach at their schools. It was quite different, however, at my previous boarding school—the Oak Grove School in Mussouri—which was for the employees of the then East Indian Railways, and was very British indeed when I was there from 1948 to 1951 and only about 25% of the students were Indian.”

OCA UK – Winter 2010 newsletter

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Old Cottonians Association (United Kingdom)
Bishop Cotton School
Simla, India

Winter Newsletter 2010 (from  Sweden: Temperature -24C!)

Capt. Vivek C.Bhasin (Chairman OCA United Kingdom)

The First Real Englishman that I encountered was Reverend Dustan when I arrived at BCS on a snow filled day in early March 1961…….weeping like hell, homesick to the bone and frozen to my socks. I was Five Years old and felt I had reached the end of the world. ..Roll Call prior lights out in the evening revealed that young Vivek Bhasin was absconding/missing/lost.   Missus Goss went ballistic and shot out the bearer ‘kanhayiyalal’ from Linlithgow to look for me…..

At the age of Five and Three foot tall, School looked vast; the first flat covered with Siberian snow and I did not have a clue where the dorms were.   Mummy had told me ‘son if you ever get lost, politely ask a passer-by…that’s what I did ‘ excuse me Sir, can you help me please, I am lost’…The Sixth former towered over and looked down on me; an even colder shiver ran down my little spine. Hells-Bells. I was lifted up and then sat down in a snow pit…. slowly but surely they covered me up to my neck in snow…just as the Bearer having found me shouted and scooped me up, running towards the dorms…  The First Real Englishman was having soup in the Lodge. (That Sixth former who wanted to covert me in to a snow man did not have the guts to jump from the three feet diving board and gain one point for Lefroy…I did!)… From there onwards everything went uphill……most importantly how to tie a Windsor knot( Samosa knot) or a single knot and making sure you had some boff to stick in to the tweed coat pocket…..the Housemaster never found the difference….coz handkerchiefs were whacked during chapel as the guy behind you stretched forward to nick the same. Unless you had a safety pin stuck inside.  

The Second Real Englishman, perfection personified was R.K.von Goldstein, my Headmaster. His stance, his demeanour and the rest of all those adjectives was immaculate……..I never ever saw him in an open shirt; always a tie, starched collars, waistcoat, coat, dark pleated trousers …..so when he stood at his precise vantage point on the first flat, the clock on the war memorial reflected 1300 hrs off his mirror shine brogue shoes. 

The world has come a long way since Goldie……

England and the UK continue to evolve…in the true and right direction…..

Traditions, culture, history……India, our India is shooting ahead ( what though does worry me is Malaria, Dengue and some other dish called Chikan Tikka Masala, where your joints all swell up, excruciatingly painful; I am told some African Seamen jumped ship off The Gateway of India and smuggled this strain of mosquito in their ruck sacks…. I grit my teeth in anger..)…Regardless we came Second in the Commonwealth Games, Na?   

Greetings Cottonians..(rather late in my script, but Greetings nonetheless)..Sorry I went off into another tangent but the Good News First….. Prince William will wed his Queen Catherine (Kate) in the spring of 2011!!!    Good news for Bishop Cotton School no doubt…… Questions: What? Why? When? How?   Quiz time folks…figure it out for your selves.

Life President Allan Gay Niblett lives in Mallorca…..Why?
Peter Stringer Sahib lives in Whytleleafe….Why?
Kuljinder lives in Linford Christie;s house…Why?
Puneet lives in his Bank and Ealing…Why?
Gursant..in Ilford..Why?
Lumboo Evans in Amsterdam..Why?
Raul Godara lives on a stage in New York…why?
Krit lives on the US-Mexico (pronounced Meh-hee-ko) border…Why?
Rajeev Pandit lives in Chicago and as he writes papers on the brain (dead Cottonian..?!!) still plays his harmonica in the Windy City. Why?
Marshall lives in the Black Forest..Why?
Col Hardy lives in the PM’s Residence..Why?
Sharat lives on the DLF Golf Course ( and understands the difference between the New – Old World Wines distinctly; in my eyes he is a Master Sommelier) Why?
KC taking the Cottonians across the Border for goodwill games..Why? 

Inspite of having travelled to Delhi, London, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Germany, France, Belgium , Holland, Ecuador…survived bandits on the border crossing between Guatemala and El Salvador and drug runners between Santa Marta and Cartagena,  I live in Bishop Cotton School…Why?

And Yes, Katherine Middleton hails from Marlborough College, where our Great Founder was Master!!   We all are cordially invited for the Wedding of the Confirmed Future King and Queen of England.

….for we Cottonians are all travellers…..global wanderers…..everywhere….

We never had to scream or shout to get attention; to get noticed. A mere whisper amongst ourselves was enough for the world to strain its ears……Old Cottonians!

The Old Boys Club.

…some say the younger generation never has the time…..its probably true to some extent but not true for most. The younger generation is what will drive our Association forward. OUR SCHOOL FORWARD. They think fast and strike like lightning……2011 is a water shed year…….On behalf of ALL of us here in the UK , I send you  Good Wishes, Glad Tidings of Comfort and Joy  for Christmas and The New Year. May the Star of BCS forever shine and guide us all along the proper path…..For Cottonians, life is a Continuous Marathon…..Keep running Mate…there is no qualifying time.

Live Life Well.

The OCA is ALIVE

ALL LOVE INDIAN VALOR AND ENERGY

El Capitano
Vivek Bhasin (Lefroy 1961-1970)
Chairman, OCA (United Kingdom)

 

A Sanawarian writes about a Cottonian

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Harbans Singh Sidhu [BCS Rivaz 1947-1949]

2nd November 1933 – 29th October 2010

I met Harbansji around my 13th birthday in 1958, during winter vacation from Sanawar.

He had come to visit us from Delhi, as a suitor to marry my elder sister. A friendly and obviously intelligent person, he left me with mixed emotions because he told me he studied in “BCS” before B.Tech, Electrical, at IIT Kharagpur and a career in Siemens.

1957-58 had seen the worst of BCS-Sanawar’s traditional rivalry. We juniors were strongly influenced by the extremely jingoistic atmosphere during inter-school contests, which actually had to be cancelled for a while. And here was a Cottonian in our home!  

Harbansji and my sister Gursharan were married on June 21, 1959 and soon after went to Germany for a year at Siemens headquarters. I got to know him only on their return in 1960 and subsequent years of interaction with him, his relatives, school/college friends and colleagues.

The family lived in Lahore where his parents were both established doctors. They left for Delhi in 1947. Harbansji and younger brother Gurdeep were admitted to BCS. He finished schooling in December 1949. A BCS classmate of his later told me, Harbansji topped the class in the school-leaving exam and carried that on to Kharagpur.

With his first year prize money at IIT he bought a Rolleicord camera, thus beginning a long and accomplished relationship with photography. He loved to travel by road, driving his family for vacations from Kashmir to Coorg and from Gujarat to the East. Always with two cameras, loaded with colour and b&w film respectively. He participated in exhibitions and won awards.  

From 1960, the Sidhus (Harbansji and my sister) kept a beautiful home in Defence Colony. Music was another major interest. I first heard many of my favourites at their house – from classical to Broadway – on his radiogram and tape deck, amongst the many German electrical gadgets he maintained. He was also an exceptionally good ballroom dancer (Delhi Gymkhana Club members and others remember this). And he loved plants – in home, garden or wild, even cacti and specially trees. I imbibed much by watching and listening to him, gaining insight into photography, colours and music.  

He constantly guided me on subjects, courses and hobbies. In my final year of school, he took leave and drove up my mother and siblings to attend all days of Founders. Small wonder then that most of my friends in college were Cottonians and I became totally comfortable with them.

In 1970, having experimenting in courses and career options, I visited the Sidhus in their home in Bombay. He told me about Advertising, then an obscure career in North India. I was hooked. I asked him to get me an interview with an agency head and that started a fascinating professional career. I stayed on with the Sidhus till they left Bombay in 1973, sharing interests in road holidays, photography, plants and wildlife.

He was then Divisional Head for cables, but left a promising future at Siemens Head office to shift to Delhi to look after his aged father as both his siblings had migrated to USA. I caught up with him again when I too moved to Delhi in 1977. He had a wide circles of friends at Delhi Gymkhana, Rotary, photography, Max Mueller, German Chambers of Commerce, OCA, IIT alumni, WWF, etc while building his career, bringing up his kids and looking after the wider family’s interests. We consulted each other on improving our respective OCA and OSS organizations.

The Sidhus’ two daughters grew up to successful professional careers, marriage and kids. The elder one, ex-NID, now runs People Tree out of her late grandfather’s old laboratory in Regal Building, Connaught Place. The younger, after years in Salomon Smith Barney is now with the American India Foundation in New York.

Harbansji finally retired from Siemens, did a few advisory stints in areas that interested him – engineering corporates and an NGO that helps maintain the Corbett National Park – until the gradual scourge of Parkinson’s surfaced. He read everything there was on the debilitating illness, sourced every medical help available, never complained and fought it all the way until his body could take no more.

During his last year he repeatedly told me to start writing seriously. I made an effort, and despite his condition he was visibly happy when I read out some of my work to him. I will continue to write, but never realised how difficult it is to compose a note on someone so close.

Prabhsharan Singh Kang
(Sanawar 1955-61)

Bishop Cotton School Shimla is ranked 4th Best in India

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Congratulations BCS!
Bishop Cotton School, Shimla India was ranked 4th in India’s Most Respected Boarding School for 2010.
Here is the letter to the Head Master Mr. Roy Robinson:

Dear Sir

Congratulations! I’m pleased to inform you that your school ranking has moved up from 10 last year to 4 this year among Boarding/Residential schools in the annual EducationWorld-C fore India’s Most Respected Schools Survey 2010.

Commissioned by EducationWorld (estb. 1999) — India’s  pioneer education news and analysis (monthly) magazine with over 1,000,000 readers countrywide — the survey has been conducted by the Delhi-based C fore Consulting — one of India’s top market research and opinion polling companies with a client list including Reliance, Tata, NDTV and Outlook.

The EducationWorld-C fore survey India’s Most Respected Schools is based on the responses/opinions of a carefully selected sample of 2026 SECA (Socio-Economic Category A) parents, teachers, principals and eminent educationists across 15 cities countrywide (Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopal, Dehradun, Kolkata,  Jamshedpur, Darjeeling, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Chennai, Bangalore,  Hyderabad).

The country’s top 250 schools (selected by EducationWorld) have been rated on 12 parameters—Academic reputation, Co-curricular education, Sports  Education, Quality of teachers, Teacher-pupil ratio, Value for money,  Leadership / management quality, Parental involvement, i.e. PTA,  Infrastructure provision, Quality of alumni, Integrity / honesty, Selectivity  (in admissions).

The results of the 2010 EducationWorld-C fore survey of India’s Most Respected Schools will feature as the Cover Story in the September issue of  EducationWorld. Your school has fared particularly well on several parameters including quality of teachers, quality of leadership, management etc. 

Warm regards

S.VIJAYALAKSHMI
Marketing Manager

EducationWorld – The Human Development Magazine
703-704, 7th Floor, Devatha Plaza
132 Residency Road
Bangalore-560025
Tel: 91-80-2248 0880/ 3052 2227
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