The REUNON has begun

The cyclone warning in Mumbai after a continuous unseasonal downpour had us all in a tailspin(I do not know the nautical term for this!). But Captain Vijay Shivdasani kept the course of our boat steady, calming many nerves. He has been a wonderful Captain to serve under (A Captain is senior to a Commander!)

I set of early morning to get hold of Gita Simoes as I had to get some papers from her. That done, it was off to Colaba Causeway to meet the boss of Leopold, who is almost the same age as us (65) and was also a kid on Colaba Causeway when we used to listen to the jukebox in the cafe! I had a cup of tea, there, exchanged a few pleasantries with the owner, when he told me the jukebox had been removed in 1964.

Then to the CCI where I met Malathi and her colleague, and then tea with 64ers Rajiv Ved and Deepak Deshpande and their staff member, Richard Smith. Richard had not been there when we 59ers were there.

They asked me to bring the staff members attending our reunion to theirs, which I promised to do.

Then to the school to pay my respects to the Principal, Mrs. Meera Isaacs. She was on the steps of the school entrance seeing an orderly dispatch of the students home as the cyclone warning had meant closure of all schools, colleges and government establishments in Mumbai. I was surprised she knew of me when I introduced myself! We exchanged a few pleasantries and I was quickly off after inviting her to the "Evening with the Findians". She was courteous enough to ask me join her for a cup of tea, but I knew she was busy.

I walked in the rain to Akbarally's and bought myself an umbrella. Then to a Xerox centre to try and print something. Total failure and on top of that I left behind my new umbrella. Dementia has set in!!

Home to have lunch with Annikki and Mika, a rest and then get ready for our do. I got Annikki the medicines for her bronchitis and sinusitus, en route, prescribed by Ashok Khembhai, the selfless doctor of Dharavi!

The cyclone warning was still showing on TV with all people advised to stay at home after 5 pm. But our Captain knew better as he already had info that the cyclone had DIED!!!

Annikki and I reached the Middle School already by 18:05 for the "Breaking of Ice" to find Rivca Elias, Suchita Shivdasani and Jangoo Moos there. We pitched in to help. Got the silver memento, the much discussed keychain. It is beautiful. Changed my name tag from Jacob to "Dead Chicken".

The others started to roll in and the atmosphere was electric. What a wonderful feeling as we hugged each other. In a short time the gym was humming with a noise level of several decibels. The Reunion had begun and everyone knew that now it was for real. My concern - Would they GEL? I did not have to wait long for the answer - they did! The samosas were forgotten as the people spent time talking rather than eating. I had two samosas. Great.

From the Canada, US, England, Mauritius - and of course Finland. But we knew that from Australia, Germany, Canada, US, UK, Israel, people were with us in spirit, as was evident from the three typical messages that Shivi read out. Thank you Sigrun, Mark, Narsys, Sudhir for your wonderful words, which were shared with those assembled.

I was surprised to hear that over the years there had been 4952 messages exchanged by email between our classmates, but Shivi has had many many more! (GREATEST OFFENDER IS ME!)

David had some wonderful photographs from the past - Oh, I would like to get my hands on some of them. David was so thoughtful that he had brought me a book in which my dad is mentioned. Thank you David.

Several seemed to believe that I was instrumental in making this reunion happen. All my protestations were ignored - so I decided to keep quiet till I had MY opportunity to speak at our event.

As promised, with the help of Vijay Nayar's car, I quickly sped William Shiri and his wife, Pushpa, and John Billington, to the reunion of the 64ers at the Royal Yatch Club. There I met Mr. J. P. D.Souza and his wife and also the 64ers that had assembled. Billy Kapur and his wife were there and he promised to drop in at our evening function.

Despite much protestions, I whipped my care back to our reunion, hosted by Ooky and Rivca and Viney and Purnima, but not before they had had a wonderful time renewing contacts with another great batch of Cathedralites and also talking to another staff member many many miles away. Thank you Deepak, Rajiv, Rustom - you are doing a great job.

Back to the Bombay Gym where I noticed the usual Indian Purdah system had set in. The men at the drinks while the women sat in groups. I went from table to table, meeting many whom I did not know, especially the girls. I was just so happy to be there and meet many classmates that I had not known at school. I felt it was time to focus on those I had not had the opportunity to know in our younger days. I felt sad that I had not known them earlier. I loved them all.

But we missed many and tears were in my eyes when I met up with Madhu. She is so wonderful and brave. Everyone in our class loves her as much as we had and still love Ashok. His presence was amongst us as we laughed and joked.

My mind kept going back, not only to Bala Parasuraman, Dossu Pagdiwalla, Jaswsant Ghatge, Michael Colaco, Murli Balani, Pradeep Bhakle, Prem Goel, Virat Gidwani, Jacob Eapen, Flicky Shroff, who had not option and could not be with us, but the others who could have been here for some reason had not been able to make it. That was MY failure!

The food was excellent and I indulged in many gulab jamuuns, which I should not have. As I saw people leave, I was surprised they came to thank ME, also!?

I knew all of them were looking forward to today, where Vijay Nayar and his wife, Meera, will be our hosts.

Thank you Piloo and Vijay and Suchita, who have done such a stupendous job. Thank you ooky and Rivca and Viney and Purnima for the wonderful start to OUR Reunion.

We are going to have several more funfilled days ahead. Many surprises in store - so stay tuned.

PS: AS I look out of my window over the sea, the air is thick with cloud, but it is DRY. The green grass of the garden in front of me looks just perfect. I do hope Gita's roof garden grass is dry and strong, as that will make the best venue for Friday.