PART I
I still remember the day almost 10 years ago and the series of events which occurred on that day. It was a typical day in May with the warm blistering heat of Delhi when I received a call from D.C Anand’s office. How he traced me is itself an achievement as it was almost a decade since I had any direct contact with him or with my alma-matter. This was an invitation to a gathering of Cottonians in Delhi to meet “Freddie Brown” our Head Master of yester years.
As we drove towards the Taj Man Singh Hotel my excitement grew. The moment we were ushered in to the seventh floor reserved room I saw the familiar faces of Wendy Dewan, D.C Anand, Vinnie (Toti) Aggarwal, my mind went back to June 1948 and I could see my self sitting in the school dining hall with The RIVAZ House Captain, (Late) IVOR HITHCOCK calling the Roll and moving to the Head Master’s table totally oblivious to the cries of the “ATSOM”. And this is how the Roll call went.
Anand – Bhow – Bhandari – Brent Ford – Chandu Lal – Chandu Lal – Cursetji – Dewan – Jain – Harinder Singh – Kohli – Kirschener – Kirschener – Mehra – Mehra – Murphy – Murphy – Naginder Singh – Nakai – Nakai – Preet Mohinder Singh – Raghu Raj Singh – Rudra – Rudra – Renzing – Sarda – Sarda – Samuels Lal – Samuels Lal – Sinha – Dhawan.
Those of you who were in Rivaz House in 1948 would bear testimony to the roll call. However, names of some of the persons who were in the Rivaz house in 1948 but did not figure in the Roll call are listed below:
I.M Khosla (Because he was a day border). The others were the boys who stayed in the dormitory above the “Head Master’s House” (with their special privileges) as they also missed the daily evening roll call at the main dining hall. Some of the names of these others which come to my memory are – Ranjit Puri, some of the Patiala boys & other boys from the erstwhile princely families.
Over the years even though almost half a century has passed we have directly or indirectly still kept in touch.