Tag Archives: memorabilia

BCS Etchings / Jal Boga

Dear All,

Ms Meher Boga was kind enough to send a memento gifted to her father, Jal Boga, to my younger brother, Ajay Bhumitra (Maxy) who has sent it on to me. Thank you, again, Meher.

The memento is a reproduction of pen and ink sketches of different parts of the School, titled “A Unique Collection of Etchings on Bishop Cotton School” with a write up describing the history of each of these heritage structures. These sketches were then put to print. It is truly a keepsake and a lovely reminder of the architectural elegance that dots the campus. They have a history as well that certainly needs to be preserved when the byword is “modernisation” these days.

The whole series of sketches and their printing was sponsored by:

Subhash Goyal (Ibbetson), IS Bawa, HS Bawa and DS Bawa (Rivaz), Sukhinder Singh (Lefroy), KS Bhaia(Concord Travels). It would appear that this extravagantly printed piece was produced around 1986. I recall Jal Boga visiting India for an OCA lunch around that time. I had the privilege of collecting him from the airport !!

The entire presentation has been scanned into a PDF file and accompanies this mail as an attachment. The original piece is being couriered to Ms Deepa Kennedy for safe keeping since she is currently in charge of OCA matters at School.

Warmly

Vijay

Vijay Khurana

Etchings – Jal Boga collection

Gurmit S. Sehmbey’s 1950-61 BCS photo archive

Sending you some pics from 1950 something to 1961 my Dads pics [Gurmit Singh Sehmbey]… more will send later. I think one of them is a wedding at Woodville palace

Sukhminder S. Sehmbey

The photos are from a personal collection, sent by Sukhminder via Arun Sawhney but without details of the year in which taken or the people who appear in these photos. Anyone who can help identify, please leave a comment below [please indicate the photo number so we can add the details/caption to the appropriate pic. Many thanks! OCA Webmaster]. Click the photos below for a larger view. There are 8 separate “gallery” sections:

Down memory lane: Mr. Tuli / Mr & Mrs. Shankar / Mr & Mrs. Roshan Lal

BCS Founder’s Day
Year Unknown [between 1964~1976?]

Dr. Y. S. Parmar [first CM of Himachal Pradesh] meeting BCS Staff.

Seen in the photo [left to right]:
Dr. Parmar – Mr. Anil Chaudhary – Mrs. Chaudhary – Mr. Roshan Lal Vashisht – Mrs. Roshan Lal – Mr. Gauri Shankar [shaking hands with Dr. Parmar] – Mrs. Shankar – Mr. L.C. Tuli.

Photo sent by Rajiv Shankar -1962-1974 Curzon – [Mr. Gauri Shankar’s son]

Mike King: Another precious letter

Attached is a letter from Mike King’s father, Charles King, to his youngest brother Noel who left BCS in 1934 to move to England with his parents. He was a Captain in the British Airborne Forces and saw action at the Battle of Arnhem and was actually present at the Japanese surrender in Rangoon in 1945.

Love, terrible Wars…

and then Peace….

Finally a Servant of the Almighty

Amen

Vivek Bhasin

Lefroy 1961-1970

[click for full view]

The Mike King letters [Mike King : the Son of “A son of BCS”]

Mike King a very dear friend of mine based in the UK is a die-hard fanatic of BCS! Even though he could not go to BCS his Father and Uncles did.

Mike regularly attends the OCA (UK) reunions and stays in touch with me regularly, sending snippets of excellent news and information strongly focused on BCS which I enjoy thoroughly. It is Mike and his present family who managed to , over the years retrieve these fantastic gems of letters his Father and Uncles wrote to their parents whilst residing as Boarders in BCS.

Mike King now 70 last April, was educated at Durham School England.

He Served with the City of London Police (UK) before transferring to the Toronto Police in 1975. Specialising in organised crime investigations, his work was featured in several books. He spent two years with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) before entering the private sector and then spent 25 years engaged in commercial investigations around the world. He took part in film documentaries about organised crime and acted as a consultant in two separate productions. He contributed a chapter to noted Indian author Shrabani Basu’s book entitled India Revisited in which he wrote about his ancestor’s lives in India and his father’s respect for the great contribution of the Indian Forces in two world wars – never to be forgotten.

As for languages, Mike is modest, and speaks a little French, German, Spanish and Cantonese.

The following boys (all Cottonians) were the sons of Mr. WH King MBE FRGS who was, himself, born and brought up in India. He was a renowned engineer who built the telegraph line from Gyantse to Lhasa in 1922 which linked Tibet to the outside world.

William King (Uncle of Mike King) – born in Gilgit. Graduated in Agriculture at the University of Alberta, Canada. Lt. Col. British Army – killed in action on Normandy landings 1944.

Charles King (Father of Mike King) – born in Bhatinda. School Captain BCS 1928. Graduated in Theology at the University of Cambridge. Wartime Chaplain to the Forces. Prisoner of War in Poland and Germany 1940-1945. Died in Church service in 1972. ( some fantastic letters/postcard follow)!

John King (Uncle of Mike King) – born in Poona died in 1984 aged 65. Fl. Lt. RAF – WW2 escaper from Crete and member of the elite Caterpillar Club (RAF Escaping Society).

Hereward King (uncle of Mike) – born in Mussoorie. Served in the Royal Navy in WW2. Advertising executive. Died 1976.

Capt. Vivek C Bhasin

Norra Strandgatan-2

SE 652 24 Karlstad

Sweden

The following attachments can clicked to be opened in a full view page:

Vivek,

More letters and postcards from my father and his brother to their parents sent from BCS. It was nearly 100 years ago!

Best regards,

Mike.

These invaluable letters bring a sense of the greatest elation in me and that I was one of the privileged sons like all my fellow Cottonians of BCS.

Best wishes

Vivek [Bhasin]

Treasure trove of Photographs!

We have received a treasure trove of photographs [around 680]. This precious collection has been built by Kanwarjit Singh [Partap] Grewal over the years by photos he has in his collection, by those received from various OCs and some that he came across. Partap’s message and the gallery to his DropBox folders appear via this LINK

ENJOY!

Sesquicentennial memorabilia etc

Dear OCs,

OCA (India) regrets that sufficient supply of the coffee-table book was not available at Shimla during the Sesquicentennial celebrations. We have now received adequate stocks and the same are available for sale at Trekkers Point, Mezzanine floor, PVR Plaza Cinema Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi, at Rs. 2500/- per copy.
You may contact Ms. Harpreet Kaur at cell no. 09911898097 or email eagle.trekkerspoint@yahoo.co.in
Payment can be given in cash at Trekkers Point or by account payee cheque payable to “Old Cottonians Association ( India) ” . You can also order the book to be sent by courier to you within India.

We also have limited stocks of Audio Visual in the form of DVD, sesquicentennial ties, and Golf caps.

Best Regards,

Jaspal S. Sawhney

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