Tag Archives: R.S. Sodhi

Happy birthday, Mr Goss – 94th 

May 3rd 2023

My dear Mr Goss,

Warm and sincere wishes on this your 94th (Ninety Fourth) birthday. My friends, I and our respective families wish you a wonderful day. May the years ahead, and may there be many, many more, continue to bring you good health, great happiness and tons of laughter.

Looking back and from my collection, I am sending as attachments to this mail a few photographs of the way we still remember you. The change, which has surely occurred over these long years, does not register in our mind’s eye. You are still the spritely young man we knew who walked in briskly into the class and went about the assignment without much ado. What was enormously enjoyable was your introducing us to Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Those class sessions were inevitably the most enjoyable and certainly the most remembered. It certainly did inculcate the reading habit in so many of us. Sometimes I wish we had started with P G Wodehouse though Conan Doyle is a class apart in an entirely different genre. In those mostly quiet corridors, peals of laughter generated by a Jeeves incident may have had other consequences, I suspect !!

I will not recount your fearful and stern marking record but I think it was all well-meant. No blemishes ever attached to us but it was a good inkling, a warning lesson, perhaps, of how tough life can be. It all began with red ink in the classroom !!

Thank you, Mr Goss.

With great warmth and affectionate wishes from us all, once again

Vijay

Vijay Khurana


My dear Mr Goss,

A very Happy Birthday to you.
I recall our Geography lessons, 39 Steps,  and your being our Housemaster !
Many Happy Returns !
Our best regards to your family.

Govinder Singh
Ibbetson 1952-1963


Hi Mr Goss: I wish you a very happy birthday. May all your wishes come true. Best regards also to your charming wife.
Joe Joshi 1
Rivaz 1954 – 1963
Commercial airline / combat pilot and war correspondent in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Senior editor of print and broadcast news with worldwide experience.

Joe Joshi


Dear Mr. Goss,
Wishing you a most wonderful and a very happy birthday with all my heart.
Respectfully yours,
NP Pawa


Dear Mr.Goss
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday.
May God give you good health and happiness.Warm regards to Mrs Goss.
With lots of love.
K.Vijay Singh
Lefroy.1958-’66.


Update – people we knew. Message from Mr Goss

Dear All,

I received the following message from Mr Ronald Goss

I regret to inform you. that Mr. Das Gupta‘s daughter phoned me several months ago to inform me that he had died.  I was sorry to get the news, although it came as no surprise – he sounded very feeble the last time he spoke to me.  He was my neighbour in Remove my first two years in BCS, and we met a couple of times in Toronto.  He was a gentle man and a gifted artist   We spoke on the phone at least once a year, as was the case with Desmond and Colleen deYoung.  Mrs. Maud Williams informed me that they had both passed away but gave no details

I am forwarding two photographs from RS Sodhi’s collection sent as attachments to this mail which be of interest to those who remember them.

Warmly

Vijay
Vijay Khurana

Curzon House photos : 1954 & 1962

Dear All,

RS Sodhi has been kind enough to loan me photo album and I am now forwarding for your records, the Curzon House photographs for the for the years 1954 (Amar Singh Gill as House Captain) and the one for 1962 when RS was House Captain. Incidentally Amar Singh Gill became a commercial pilot.

His collection of pictures are in good condition permitting me to replace prints that were faded or defaced. I feel better now !!

Warmly

Vijay

Vijay Khurana

[Click for a full view]

“REUNIONS”

Came across this poem…. Thought I’d share it..

The heartthrob of the school,

is a man grim and sombre.

That lanky little girl,

is now a weightlifter.

The topper of the class,

is a happy homemaker.

Back bencher of the lot,

is an entrepreneur.

The flamboyant fashionista,

became a dreaded lawyer.

Oft ignored average Joe,

turned a well-known writer.

The one who failed math paper,

is a fashion designer,

And one who often got to stand outside the class, is a respected army officer.

The reunion taught me how,

people came with many layers,

and tell me why should we never,

judge a book by its cover.

Comment: We have seen our fair share of such situations.

Bittu Sahgal become an authority on animal conservation, especially the tiger, though he first started by selling Milton buckets and then entered the printing business!

R S Sodhi became a judge after he could no longer fly planes for the IAF !!

Brandy Gill a corporate honcho who brought Gillette to India (an interesting story there). Tennis, his BCS back ground and his qualifications as a chartered accountant got him there with the aid of a few good women!!

B M Singh, Chairman of the Central Board of Taxes, and his ability to handle people and situations – brilliantly !!

Rajive Sawhney, an ace lawyer he was determined to be. He wanted nothing else and he tore his heart out debating whenever he could. It began early.

CM Kohli, a real estate magnate and smoked every one else out of business !

SM Singh, a brilliant entrepreneur who otherwise was the quietest guy around

N K Akers, a hospitality expert and that affable temperament that fit perfectly. He resides in Cairo and has been there for over 30 years now.

Vinod Pawa, a university professor. Actually that capability would have fit anywhere and done exceptionally well.

Param Inder Singh, vastly successful inventor and entrepreneur in the field medical devices business while he first set out to become an aeronautical engineer

Guljit Kochhar, an expert in the plastic moulding business expanded into plastic products. He currently employs 700 people !! He got into the game only because a programme coordinator suggest he take a trip to see some other parts of the US during a college break !!

Mohit Goyal, became an IT entrepreneur when he flipped a job advertisement page that his father sent him and was attracted to what IBM had to offer on the other side of the sheet !!

Also remember those with warmth and feeling who never really entered life or reached their full potential. Shiv Raj Singh, who died of an anaphylactic shock from an injection straight after school or Ashok Dina Nath in a tragic road accident. May they rest in peace. In a lot of other cases Fate just did not carry them to the destiny that may have awaited them !!

There are so many more. The names listed above are suggestive based on a spontaneous listing and certainly not exhaustive.

Warmly
Vijay [Khurana], BCS class of 1962.

OCA India report 2017-2019

OCA INDIA REPORT : 2017-19  (as on 31st March, 2019)

When the OCA India Committee, under the able guidance of its President Justice R.S.Sodhi (Retd.), took over charge of the Association w.e.f. 1st of April 2017, we all were very enthusiastic of lifting the OCA to a new heights by implementing some new ideas and projects to meet the objectives of our association. Some of the highlights of our team’s working in last two years are as follows :-

  1. In the initial phase, around May 2017, we were able to initiate the commissioning of an OCA Application for iphones and androids for the OCs to be on a common social platform with other Old students. The App was solely funded by the Batch of 1983 and was run on trial basis for some months to ensure its smooth operation and to get rid of unwanted glitches, if any. By beginning February 2018 we had successfully tested and launched the said App. on both platforms of Mobile phones. Which is being constantly upgraded with the help of a designated technical team.
  2. OCA India provided its full support to OC Capt. Sandeep Mansukhani who became the first Old Cottonian to scale the Mount Everest in his Second Attempt on 21st May 2018. Our heartiest congratulations to him and his family! I humbly take this opportunity to also state that OCA India had donated Rs.1,00,000/- in his first attempt in 2015 and Rs.50,000/- in 2018, for this noble cause.
  3. Meanwhile, our President had a vision of dedicating a ‘Wall of Honour’ in the War memorial at BCS to honour those Cottonians who had sacrificed ‘their today for our tomorrow’ while defending the nation. Justice Sodhi went out of his way to convince the Board of Governors and School management to implement the said Project. He also provided the necessary funds from his personal account to have the associated job-works done which were timely completed before the OC week began. On 27th September 2018 during OC week, the said ‘Brass Plaque’ (3X2 ft.) as donated by Justice R.S.Sodhi (retd.), was commemorated by the mother of One martyred OC ‘Capt. Sanjay Dogra’ of 1st Maratha Light Infantry, in Presence of the Headmaster, students, & entire staff whilst the School Band played harmoniously. A contingent comprising of an Officer and two Soldiers from Pune of 1st Maratha Light Infantry had been especially deputed by the Unit CO to present a Brass Plaque in the name and in honour of Capt. Sanjay Dogra’s sacrifice. Both the Plaques were duly installed on the Front wall (Left Side) of the War memorial.
  4. On the administrative front most of our general affairs were quite well managed by the entire team but our Association was served a Show-cause notice dated 08.07.2017 by FCRA deptt. in lieu of not filing the concerned account returns since the Sesqui-centennial celebration year 2009 ended. It was during this year such a Foreign Contribution account A/c No. 00131100913359 was opened in Punjab & Sind Bank, H Block, Connaught Place, New Delhi by OCA India. Nevertheless, an effective reply to such notice was duly submitted on 12.09.2017 together with FC3, FC4, C.A.’s certificates and all audited financial statements from 2009 onwards till date. All the requirements to the said notice were complied for and sent to the  department. The said Bank account was then closed by OCA as it was not purposefully used since so many years and the balance money was then transferred to OCA India Account, Delhi Chapter.
  1. Early this year Our president had also envisaged that the Canada Chapter be formed, as the country always had a lot of representation of OCs. Therefore, a due process was initiated in the month of April 2018 by the OCA Secretary who approached a dynamic OC Gerald Godinho (1983 batch +2) based in Toronto to get the OCs together and after his lot of persuasion and efforts an ‘OCA Canada Chapter” was formed successfully over a Lunch meeting on June 3rd 2018 with following as its members. Jerry (Gerald Godinho) deserves a special mention here who has been organising such Lunch/ Dinner events since last 20 years;

Gerald Godinho (Lefroy 1982) – President,

Gautam Salwan (1989) – Vice-President

Jasraj Dhanjal (Ibbetson 2009) – Secretary

Sanjay Chadha – Treasurer

Sameer Sodhi – Astt. Treasurer

Tanvir Sodhi – Class Representative & Member

  1. Buoyed up by the success of Canada chapter the president also requested the Secretary to initiate the process of forming an Australian Chapter, if possible. Currently the said project is still at a nascent stage under talks with an enthusiastic OC named Puneet Sachdeva based at Sydney.
  2. Under the OCA India banner the OCA HP chapter was duly able to form their Committee after many years upon conducting a due Process in September 2018 and after their General body duly approving the extension of existing President’s (HP Chapter) tenure by another 2 years. Now it comprises of the Following OC members ;

Narinder Chauhan – President

Preetinder Singh – Vice President

Vinayak Jishtu – Secretary

Ankur Chauhan – Jt. Secretary

Ashish Chauhan – Treasurer   

  1. The OCA Mumbai Chapter Lunch was successfully conducted on the 20th January 2019 at the ‘Gymkhana Club’, Mumbai and had a good participation of 25 OCs and 10 OC Wives. Simultaneously on that day, under the guidance its Hony. Secretary (Mumbai Chapter) Suneel Bandhu who deserves kudos here for the hardwork he has put in last 5 years of his tenure, the said process of Committee formation was duly conducted in Presence of Secretary & Vice President of OCA India. The members present duly approved the appointment of a New Committee comprising of the Following office bearers ;

Shiv Kapur – President

Yadvendra Sharma – Secretary

Sanjesh Bhatia – Jt. Secretary

Mohnish Sharma – Treasurer   

  1. Another project we had undertaken was the compilation and editing of a centralized data of all Old Cottonians worldwide. A senior OC Himmat Singh (Rivaz 1962) was entrusted to carry out a detailed compilation which he is still carrying out selflessly. Currently our records are scattered all over the chapters and with individuals but the same have not been compiled together at all. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to computerise all that into a verified list excel format in order to know more about our fraternity worldwide and also it has become necessary for our Association to have an effective means of networking amongst ourselves for both on professional and personal grounds which is also a must to keep the OC spirit alive.
  2. Last but not the least OCA India had been working since a long time in finding a solution to some suitable education programme for BCS students which could help them in choosing a career according to his aptitude and learning capabilities. Thereby after a long research about the same, an Onsite-online Career Education Programme, which connects their learning to work, an Independent agency providing such software was introduced to the Headmaster. If implemented by the school then the takeaways for students will be :

Discover and identify Interest, Strengths and abilities;

Explore and select Career Options;

Choose Majors/ Courses and Colleges;

Create Meaningful connections with peers.

The software also has dashboards for parents, a School Facilitator and the Headmaster to provide them info on students journey. Thereafter, it is left to  the Headmaster and Board of Governors whether to implement the said software programme or not.

Apart from the above, with the help of entire OCA team we successfully hosted the OCA India Annual reunion Lunches of 2018 & 19 at New Delhi, both of which had large attendance of 200+ people at each event. Also, the OC weeks of September 2018 & 19 at BCS were celebrated with much enthusiasm and vigour during our tenure. I would hereby like to thank the entire staff of BCS and especially the HM Mr. R.C.Robinson for extending his full support and co-operation to OCA India to conduct such events in School timely & effectively.

I take this opportunity to thank our President Justice R.S.Sodhi without whose fantastic organisational skills & guidance it would not have possible to achieve whatever little we could in the last 2 yrs. I am extremely grateful to our treasurer Mr. N.K.Mehra for extending his valuable services & advice towards managing OCA finances. I would especially extend my heartiest gratitude to our very able Webmaster Mr. Anil Advani who has been successfully handling the OCA Website from the time of its inception and till date selflessly & tirelessly. Lastly our entire Committee deserves Kudos for being always present on time whenever called upon by our President..

Wishing Mr. D.S.Jaaj – Hony. President & his new team (w.e.f. 01.04.19) all the very best for their future endeavours and I am sure OCA India would touch greater heights under its new torch bearers who shall keep the OC spirit alive amongst all of us.

Au-revoir …..!

Ash. Virk

Secretary – OCA India

9810194724


OCA Mobile App launched

Launch of Mobile App of OCA.

Dear OCs,

It gives me an immense pleasure to state hereby that in pursuit of our constant endeavour to establish more elaborately a bond of union among the Old boys of BCS, I hereby officially announce the Launch of a Mobile App ‘OCA’ for our fraternity all across the world. It is available on both IOS & Android Platforms on Apple & Google stores.

I would also take this opportunity to thank the entire ‘Batch of 1983’ to provide the necessary sponsorship for the said initiative of OCA India. OCs Rajesh Bhalla & Mohnish Sharma of 1983 batch deserve a special mention here.

OCA India would also be grateful to its own Secretary Ashwani Singh Virk, for taking up the challenge of developing the said Project and without whose selfless service this Application would not have been made possible.

Justice (Retd.) R.S. Sodhi (President, OCA India)

Links to the App:

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/oca/id1281952427?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1281952427?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instappy.oca
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.creaters.oca&hl=en_IN


OCA Webmaster update 12th Nov 2019:

We notice that the “App Support” link at https://apps.apple.com/in/app/oca/id1281952427 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.creaters.oca&hl=en_IN connects to the “CONTACT” page at OCA Website and the “PRIVACY POLICY” page at OCA Website. This is absolutely incorrect [oldcottonians.org webmaster is not the developer or tech support of this app] – and have informed OCA India to get this corrected immediately since they and the developer of the app are responsible for support and tech issues related to this said OCA APP. All tech support requests should be sent directly toocaindiadelhi@gmail.comoldcottonianassociation@yahoo.com 

Message from President OCA India – Justice (Retd) R.S. Sodhi – 20/1/2018

Dear Friends and Fellow Cottonians !….Greetings of a great Year ahead ..!!
It is worthwhile to mention hereby that Bishop Cotton School has been producing meritorious students par excellence in almost every field particularly our Armed Services. Highly decorated War Officers namely :

  • Air Chief Marshal P.C.Lal – PadmaVibhushan, DFCCAS,
  • Lt. Gen. Dewan Prem Chand – PVSM ,
  • Lt. Gen. N.C.Rawlley – PVSM, AVSM, MC, VCOAS,
  • Lt. Gen. M.N. Batra – PVSM, OBE,
  • Lt. Gen. I.S.Gill – PVSM, AVSM, GOC in C,
  • Lt. Gen. K.S.Randhawa – PVSM, AVSM,
  • Lt. Gen. Baljit Singh – AVSM, VSM,
  • Lt. Gen, H.R.S. Kalkat – PVSM, AVSM GOC in C,
  • Vice Adm. R.N.Batra – PVSM,
  • Vice Adm. Harinder Singh – PVSM, AVSM, FOC in C,
  • AVM H.P.S.Sidhu,
  • Maj. Gen. P.C.Gupta – MC,
  • Maj. Gen. K.C.Khanna,
  • Maj. Gen. J. Mayadas – VSM,
  • Maj. Gen. S.Varma – VSM, Mention in Dispatch,
  • Maj. Gen. Lalji D.Singh,
  • Maj. Gen. S.K.Batra,
  • Maj. S.P.Bhatia – VSM,
  • Maj. Gen. C.S.Panag – YSM, VSM,
  • Maj. Gen. R.Pandit – AVSM, SM,
  • Maj. Gen. H.M.Singh,
  •  Brig. Lalit Malhotra,VSM
  • Rear Adm. R.Chopra – VSM, Mention in Dispatch,
  • Brig. P.O.Myers –MC, BAR,
  • Brig. Nadirshaw – VRC,
  • Brig. H.Chukerbuti – 5 Blues in IMA,
  • Brig. R.S.S.Kohli,
  • Brig. P.K.H.Chand,
  • Brig. H.K.Dhawan,
  • Brig. J.N.Rudra,
  • Brig. J.S.Bhullar,
  • Brig. S.Dutt – VSM,
  • Brig. Madhusudan,
  • Brig. Arun Kochar,
  • Brig. R.S.Brar,
  • Adm. Bahl,
  • Brig. H.S.Nagra,
  • Brig. G.S.Padda,
  • Brig. M.M.Badshah
  • …and many others have served our country with great valour.

Its been my longstanding wish to honour those gallant Officers Posthumously, who have lost their lives in line of their duty though a meagre effort, by putting up a Memorial Plaque of their name/s on a Wall of the War Memorial at BCS, Shimla. Since we do have a herculean task of finding out the names of such brave Officers, therefore, it is my humble appeal and request to all Old Cottonians worldwide that if they have any information regarding any of their batch-mates, whether Juniors or Seniors in School, who went on to join Army and sacrificed their lives in any Indo/China/Pak wars, please send information to the Webmaster/ editor@oldcottonians.org or to the OCA India Secretary – ocaindia@yahoo.com

Forwarded on behalf of Hony. President Justice R.S. Sodhi

Ashwani Singh Virk – 9810194724
(Secretary OCA INDIA)

Welcome message from OCA India President

TO ALL MY FELLOW OLD COTTONIANS:
‘It is with great honour and privilege, I wish to inform you that I, Justice Rupinder Singh Sodhi (Retd.) of BCS Batch – 1962, House – Curzon, have taken over as President of the ‘Old Cottonians Association – India’ w.e.f. 1st April 2017 alongwith my new team members as below :-
S.NO.
NAME
1. Mr. Ashwani Singh Virk – Secretary, Mob. 9810194724
2. Neel Kamal Mehra – Treasurer, Mob. 9810784441
3. Mr. Vivek Bhasin – Jt. Secretary, Mob. 9899561236
4. Mr. Himmat Singh, Mob. 9828383183
5. Col. Uppi Gill, Mob. 9417801853
6. Dr. Ravi Toor, Mob. 9888890788
7. Mr. K.Vijay Singh, Mob. 9811056361
8. Mr. Suneel Bandhu, Mob. 9223349090
9. Mr. Mohnish Sharma, Mob. 9930992094

I also hereby appeal to all of you to enthusiastically take part in activities organised by any chapter of OCA(India) and show your true Cottonian spirit to support our fraternity worldwide.
Sincerely looking forward to a healthy co-operation and association from all old cottonians.
R.S.Sodhi