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OCA Mumbai Lunch 2025

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OCA MUMBAI CHAPTER Cordially Invites all OCs to its Contributory Annual Reunion Lunch on Saturday, 1st February 2025 Venue: BAR 72, Otters Club, Carter Road, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050 Time : 12 noon onwards Dress Code : Blazer & Tie, Smart Casuals Single : Rs. 2500, Couple : Rs.4000, Students : Free For Further info you may kindly get in touch with Bittu Sehgal – 98210 65159, Yadvendra Sharma – 98209 42310

OCA- NA. Get together.NEW YORK.

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Sent in by Vijay (Kuttu) Singh :

I came to New York to represent OCA India, being Secretary of the Association.So let me give you a complete low down of this trip. This journey was indeed memorable. It started in Delhi with a concept of Jaspal Sawhney,which was followed and brought to reality by Ajay Sawhney & Ajay(Maxy) Bhumitra with the hardwork of the young OC Ashish Katyayan. I landed at JFK in the middle of the night,since the Virgin Atlantic flight was a few hours late. At the airport was Laxman,Ajay Bhumitra’s driver to pick me up and take me to his flat in Manhattan. All were asleep since it was 1.30 am ,but Laxman gave me a full bowl of chocolate icecream to eat. As day breaks Maxy takes me for a walking tour of Manhattan all the way to Central Park. By the afternoon Shelly Bhumitra is there from Princeton,to drive us around in his new Volvo. Next day,Maxy checks me into Lexington,a few blocks away from his flat,an iconic Hotel,where Marilyn Monroe had stayed. D day comes with the OCA- NA lunch at Kimberly Hotel,a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Here I met old friends like DK Stokes, Pompeii,Arun Bhumitra,Vivek Srivastava, Skinny Dewan&Ajay Sawhney.The best part was meeting new friends like Guram,Tony Rana,Monish Kapoor,Arun Bhalaik , Shubam Anand , Nishant Parsad , a finance wisard was keen to know about the scholarship scheme which OCA India is working on. The youngest OC was Akashdeep Verma,who came all the way from Toronto and we had Ramandeep Singh who was the most friendly and helpful to all the ladies around. Ashish Katyayan the young tech savy livewire came in late arriving at Maxy’s home where the party shifted after 4pm. Next day, Shelly Bhumitra drove Arun & me to the iconic Princeton University .It was an eye opener to see this historic University. This get together of Old Cottonians in New York was indeed an experience of a life time,seeing so much enthusiasm and love for our Alma Mater.Do hope this is carried forward for years to come. Moved on to Los Angeles ,where another OC get together was hosted by Arun Bhumitra,about which I have already posted. Cheers…it’s great to be a COTTONIAN.

…..

ATTENDEES AT OCA NA LUNCH Name of OC
1 Ajay Bhumitra
2 Smarth Galhotra
3 Arun Bhumitra
4 Hanit
5 K Vijay Singh
6 Ajay Sawhney
7 Vivek Srivastava
8 Rouble Kaul
9 Shelly Bhumitra
10 Arun Bhalaik
11 Kunal Kamra
12 Ramandeep Anand
13 Amrinder S Cheema
14 Akashdeep Verma
15 Manav Soin
16 Nishant Prasad
17 Aman khanna
19 Shailja Chopra (Bhasin)
20 Ashok Stokes
21 Prithvi Legha
22 Siddharth Mehra
23 deepak stokes
24 Mohnish Kapur
25 Maninder Guram
26 Anupam Sachdev
27 Vijay Dewan
28 Shubham Anand
29 Ashish Katyayan
30 Pradeep Yash Rana
31 D.K. Stokes
32 Inderbir Gill
33 Ayesha Karki
34 Jai Dipikar
35 Avarail Rai
……
The OCs in LA who missed the New York bash..were hosted by Arun Bhumitra ,Class of ’66 at his colossal office in Torrance.We had Paraminder(Pari)1975,Anil Sud,1969, senior most was JS Brara,1965, Mokshinder 1968 and the junior most was Jazzy Sihota 1980.Suprisingly most were meeting for the first time, but with in minutes we were bonding as true Cottonians over bottles of beer.Than we moved to El Torito,a Mexican restaurant next door, where the end was the best ,with bread pudding.After over 3 hrs of fun & gossipI handed them over the Mugs & Coasters,courtesy OCA India.They have now formed a whtsapp group for South California ,hoping to be touch more frequently.
The OCA- NA lunch at Kimberly Hotel, New York was a grand success with 46 attendees. OCs DK Stokes from Eureka, Pompeii from Boston, Guram from Houston, Arun Bhumitra from LA, youngsters from Toronto and many others came from all over.

OCA UK luncheon reminder

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Dear OCs,
We hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits.

As the date approaches, we would like to remind you of the upcoming OCA UK reunion lunch that is taking place on June 24th. At the last head count we have almost 40 OC, confirmed . Thank you for the ones confirmed, I would encourage others to confirm asap asap. We are hoping the director Simon Weale and his wife to be there.
The reunion lunch is always a delightful affair as we get a chance to catch up with old friends, share stories, and create new memories together but this reunion promises to be even more special as we catch up after a 4 year break. So with much anticipation we are looking forward to reconnecting and reminiscing about our cherished school days with our fraternity.

The details for the event are as follows:

Date: June 24th, 2023

Time: 12 noon – 4pm

Venue: Bombay Palace, 50 Connaught Street, London, W2 2AA

Dress Code: Formal suit

We have planned an enjoyable afternoon with a scrumptious buffet featuring an array of dishes and look forward to welcoming you along with your partners.
To ensure a smooth and successful event, we kindly request you to RSVP as soon as possible. This will help us finalize the arrangements, including catering.

The cost per guest is GBP50 and you can transfer the funds directly to the OCA UK account

Name: Old Cottonian Association UK
Account number: 00126972
Sort Code: 309384
Reference: Name plus number of guests;
Or send a cheque (with your name and number of guests on the back of it) to our Treasurer, Puneet Singh (OC – 1999 (C)) to the following address:
Puneet Singh
1 Frognal
London
NW3 6AL

If you have any dietary restrictions or special requirements, please let us know in advance so that we can accommodate them accordingly.

Lastly, we encourage you to spread the word among our OC fraternity. It would be wonderful to see as many familiar and new faces as possible, and make this reunion truly memorable.
Looking forward to seeing you on June 24th and reliving the camaraderie of our school days.

Warm regards,
OCA UK Committee
Vijay Bhalaik – President
T: 07985 060 156
E: vijaybhalaik@nhs.net

Gursant Sandhu – Secretary
T: 07788 716 525
E: gursant@yahoo.com

Puneet Singh – Treasurer
T: 07841 590 990
E: puneetsingh932@hotmail.com

OCA reunion Lunch 2023

OCA Reunion lunch 2023, at Delhi Golf club, Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi was organised on Sunday 12th February. A function well attended by more then 125 OCs on a nice sunny afternoon, good wine, good food and great friends. A happy and a joyous event altogether.

  • Ashwani Singh Virk 

[click these photos for larger view]

Annual Reunion dinner 2022 – OCA Delhi Chapter

Old Cottonians Association
Delhi Chapter
Invites you to its contributory Annual Reunion 2022:

October 26th 2022
7 PM onward at
“Party COttage”
Delhi Gymkhana Club
2, Saftarjung Road
New Delhi

Contributory:  ₹2500 Single ₹4000 Couple.
Dress code: Blazer & Tie / Smart Casual.
RSVP Email ashvirk@hotmail.com Whatsapp +91-9810194724

Great interaction with BCS Directors

Sent in by Vivek Bhasin [1970 batch]:

Thank You OCA Delhi: Kuttu Singh, Ash, Sunny (Chetan) for making this small group invite, a lovely evening at Tonino’s yesterday ( Saturday 10th Sep 2022). Great interaction with Director Simon , Communication Director Rebecca on “ what’s happened, happening and will happen at BCS! ).

A Shout Out to Mr GS Kochhar

A week or so ago, I was in New Delhi for a few short days – and had invited a few people to a party. It so happened that another classmate (Pompei) couldn’t attend, and so as a result, the OC contingent/guests of my party were shifted to another day. This is about that party that GS Kochhar [Lefroy 1963 Batch] then arranged on short notice!

(Currently, am in Nairobi… and on our way to Masai Mara game reserves for a safari trip). As a side note … I must say that even though Kenya and India are similar in poverty/ dirtiness, some Nairobi hotels are very nice indeed — some nicer than US hotels in the same category! (I could elaborate on hotels, their standards and stars at a later time).

Attached are some nice memories of that OC party that Mr GS Kochhar hosted last Sunday. According to Anupam Sachdev, the party was in my honor — but Pompei is in the marketing business, so I take that with a grain of salt!

Instead, I would like to give a shout out to Guljit who arranged guests, drinks and food on less than 24 hour notice! According to me – if anyone can pull this off in the outstanding manner he did — he (or she) is entitled to be anointed an Event Guru!!
Guljit himself was adorned in a very regal outfit — a royal ensemble with an emblem on his Indian coat that would have made the Maharaja of Patiala blush!
His house is decorated in very good taste, matched only with the taste and rare class of whiskies he served to all his guests!
I knew GS quite well in school years — especially since my family knew his — and remember visiting his house in Simla during summer break with my mother.
Then, no contact, never saw him — maybe once in 6 decades!!
Thank you, Guljit, for being such a gracious and generous host!
It was a Fun party!! Proof is attached!
You d’ Event Guru!
Ken

[Karanjit Singh – BCS Lefroy 1958-1963]

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In Photos below…
There were just 4 of us from BCS. Others were friends of Guljit’s daughter and a couple of Guljit’s friends (couples).

  1. Guljit Kochhar, middle is outsider Mrs Tara Singh, right is my wife Eera Singh (in red and white blouse).
  2. Outsider, Me, Rakesh Chopra, Anupam Sachdev (Pompei).
  3. Pompei, my wife Eera, Guljit Kochhar, and Rocky Chopra.

[for larger photos: click on]