Monthly Archives: December 2010

A very happy New Year

One ends and a New begins.

A very happy New Year to all!

Sun nien fai lok – Xin nian yu kuai – Godt Nytår – Gelukkig nieuwjaar – Aide shoma mobarak – Bonne année – Aith-bhliain Fe Nhaise Dhuit – Gutes Neues Jahr – Hauoli Makahiki Hou – Shanah tovah – Nav Varsh Ki Badhaai – Naya Saal Mubarak Ho – Nyob zoo xyoo tshiab – Elamat Tahun Baru – Buon Capo d’Anno – Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu – Godt Nyttår – Maligayang Bagong Taon – Szczesliwego Nowego roku – Feliz ano novo – La Multi Ani – S Novym Godom – Feliz Año Nuevo – Wilujeng Tahun Baru – Gott Nytt År – Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda . . . . .

OCA CENTENARY LUNCH – NEW DELHI INDIA

OCA (INDIA)
1, Sri Aurobindo Marg
New Delhi – 110 016 India
Tel: +91-11-4209 2302
E Mail: OCA INDIA

CENTENARY LUNCH – OCA (INDIA) NEW DELHI on Sunday 13th Feb 2011 at 12.30 pm

We are the oldest alumni association in the country and happily we are celebrating our Centenary.

The HM, the School, OCA Chapters and all OCs are to be congratulated for an outstanding Sesquicentennial Celebration from 1 – 6 October 2009. Over 1,300 OCs attended.

The OCA Annual Lunch will be held at 1, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi -110 016 on Sunday 13th February 2011 at 12.30 pm
i) Donation for Lunch:
(a) Above 70 yrs & all OC’s wives    Guests.
(b) OCs       Rs.700/-
(c) College Students     Rs.350/-
(d) 1300 hrs to 1400 hrs “Happy Hour!”   All drinks on the House!
ii) Dress: Blazer with Tie/ Lounge Suit/ Combination Suit
iii) The Inter -House Inni Bawa Golf Tournament will be held in March 2011 date and venue will be announced by Chetan Singh, contact no. 98110 20062
iv) All Chapters are requested to assist in OCA Centenary celebration and programming of events. Please forward your suggestion by 15 January 2011.

Happy Days are here again!

Col. R. Dewan
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR ATTENDING OCA AGM AND LUNCH

I, (Name) ………………………………………………….House I/C/R/L (Please tick)
Years in School from …………….to………………Batch year …………………….……. Address……………………………………………………………………………………..
E-mail ID……………………………………………………..…………………………….
Tel: (Off)…………………………………………….(Res)………………………………..
Mob: ………………………………….
Will be attending the OCA, Lunch on Sunday 13th Feb 2011 at 12.30 pm Yes / No ……………….

RSVP:  Ms. Gopa Seal
Tel: +91-11-42092302

OCA UK – Winter 2010 newsletter

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)

 

Mr. & Mrs. N. Singh – tragic loss of family

Mr. & Mrs. N. Singh former teachers at Bishop Cotton School recently  lost their daughter, son in law and their 13 day old grandson under very tragic circumstances in a car accident.

The bhog is scheduled to be held in Nawanshahar, Punjab on Wednesday, 22nd December, 2010.

Mr. & Mrs. N. Singh can be contacted on 0091-9915343602.

Kunsang N. Shakabpa –

I shall appreciate if you will kindly post this on to the Bishop Cotton alumni site, so Kunsang’s contemporaries may be informed of his demise. We are proud that our uncle attended this prestigious school and received a great education, as well as other relatives of our family who graduated from Bishop Cotton.

9/16/10:
Dear Family and Friends, Last night Paljor, my brother brought the sad news on the passing away of our dearest uncle Kunsang Namdol, known as KN Shakabpa. Uncle KN was the oldest among his siblings, who attended St. Joseph’s School in Darjeeling and completed his Senior Cambridge at Bishop Cotton School, in 1954. He completed his college degree at the Mitchell College in Connecticut. He was instrumental in assisting his late father during the early years of the exile plight of the Tibetan refugees. Later he was a primary interpreter to his father’s Tibetan Political History text. His father was the last Finance Minister of independent Tibet, and the Dalai Lama’s first principal representative to New Delhi from 1959-66.

He spent his last years in a state of blindness having lost his eyesight. He had so much information, and a lot of this went into the online pictorial website ‘The Tibetan Exodus’, from the interviews I had with him. His intelligence was brilliant, and his knowledge was vast. As with every human with weaknesses, and on my reflection for him, I felt he could have achieved more with a generous dose of wisdom. He was though a very sweet man. He was 74 when he passed away on September 16th, 2010.

Paljor, my brother took much loving care for him, as well as there was a deep concern for his well being from his loving sister Chukiela Shakabpa Wangdu, his brother TN Shakabpa, sister-in-law Norzin Tsarong Shakabpa, and the many nieces, nephews and relatives including myself. He was known to many fellow North Pointers and Old Cottonians. We shall appreciate if a small prayer was said for him, as this will be the biggest gift you all can shower him.

Respectfully,
Jigme D. Shakabpa
Madison Wisconsin USA

Adarsh Talwar –

I would appreciate if you could host on the web information regarding the sudden demise of Adarsh Talwar (Rivaz house), he passed out from BCS in 1968, and his younger brother Sanjiv Talwar (Chaku) was in my class. I had been in constant touch with  Adarsh and last met him during the 150 year celebration, he was delighted to have met his Rivazite friends, particularly  the group from Thailand and Deepak Stokes.  He passed away in Nangal on 2.Dec.2010, and had spoken to Sanjiv his brother (based in UK) the previous evening, and had seemed perfectly hail and hearty. I would let you know details of the scheduled prayer meeting. Kindly host the information for all OC’s.
 
Regards,
Narinder Chauhan