Obituary: My oldest professiinsl Friend / Tragic news

A few hours ago I received the  tragic news of the passing away my oldest professional friend who was dear to both Annikki and me - Mohammad Noorani of Mumbai.

Mohammad (far right) and me (second from left) at a party
in Mohammad’s house in Leverkusen, Germany, in 1964

In 1964, when I went to Leverkusen in Germany to do my internship at the Farbenfabriken Bayer Rubber Research centre, I was greeted by an Indian, Mohammad Noorani, who was assigned to take care of my programme. 

Mohammad was a leather technologist who had shifted to the field of Rubber Chemicals. 

MRF Ltd. was one of the largest buyers of Rubber Chemicals in India. My uncle, K. M. Mammen Mappillai, Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Ltd.  thought it appropriate for me to be trained in Bayer for my professional life in India. 

I had just completed a year at the National College of Rubber Technology in London and needed to be exposed to the ins and outs of industrial rubber processing and research.

It was a training that changed my life in many ways, being supervised by Mohammad, as he took care of both my education and my social life and also ensured I could play hockey with the Bayer Leverkusen hockey team. He also took time to teach me German.

Mohammad was not a complete stranger because, as a student, I had been an addict to the writings of his brilliant journalist elder brother, A. G. Noorani, who wrote a powerful political column in The Indian Express. 

I was greatly moved to meet and become a friend of the younger brother of my favourite Indian journalist.

On my return to India in 1969, our friendship continued as Mohammad was given the responsibility of looking after MRF Ltd. as a customer. 

As soon as he landed in Madras, he would make a beeline to our house with small gifts for Annikki and the children. 

Later, during his visits, we would always have a private dinner.

When Nirlon launched its nylon fabric for tyre reinforcement, it was Mohammad who made sure that MRF Ltd. was given the topmost priority amongst the tyre producers in India. He set up private meetings with the Directors of Nirlon so I had all the information at my fingertips which I was able to communicate with the purchase and technical team in MRF. 

In 1973, my father was stricken by pancreatitis which took him to the doorstep of death. I had flown in from Madras for the final farewell.  

I told Mohammad the situation. 

Mohammad told me that Bayer had developed a new drug for pancreatitis and he would bring it immediately from Germany for my father. 

My father recovered from this very dire situation.

Later, I introduced my old school friend, Viney Sethi to Mohammad and they became fast friends. 

Mohammad's wife, Sartaj, is the daughter of a Hyderabaadi Nawab, who worked for the Indian Railwdys. He was also a professional dog breeder who trained Doberman Pinschers as guard dogs for the railway yards. One dog could do the work of 10 people! 

Sartaj was a classmate of my sister. Elizabeth in Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay.

Sartaj'a elder brother, Zafar Hai, was one year my senior in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He is a film and art director. Zafar went on to be the best short film director in India, producing films for Air India and other leading companies. 

Through Mohammad I also got to know another of his brothers, Mushtaq, who was managing a leading hotel in Bangalore. 

After a distinguished career in Bayer India as the Head of the Rubber Chemicals Division, he became the Editor and Publisher of the Indian Rubber Journal. Mohammad made the publishing of rubber news something which is his legacy to India.  

Photograph by Farzana Contractor

I was fortunate to speak with Mohammad a few weeks ago when he was discharged from hospital after a severe illness. He sounded terrible on the phone. His ever prevalent love still came through the phone lines. 

Ever since I have been saying a prayer for this dear friend.

Mohammad and Sartaj have been very private people.

I did come across one artcle, A Royal Repast,  by Farzana Contractor in a magazine called The Upper Crust, which defines what a wonderful, accomplished and distinguished couple Sartaj and Mohammad have been. 

I had my treasured photograph with Mohammad in Germany from 1964 (which graces the top of this obituary), but had no subsequent photos of him in my extensive photo archives.

Mohammad has been the finest example of a gentleman that has ever crossed my path. He was a fun person with an enormous sense of humour. He was always smiling and was an extremely loving caring personality.

Mohammad: 25th June 2023
Photo courtesy Viney Sethi

I will miss Mohammad deep in my heart. 

Our deepest condolences to his entire family.

I hope our Lord will bring comfort to his family members, his wife, Sartaj and their two children, Aida and Tabrez.

May our dear Mohammad rest in peace.

Hindu Astrology - Author: Late Dr. Anthony Stone

This blog entry is in two parts, the first on the book "Hindu Astrology" by my late friend Dr. Anthony Stone (Tony) and the second part of the blog is the inauguration of the Ram Mandir Temple in Ayodhya by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22nd January 2024.

The first part is being cross-posted on all my major blogs while the second part is only being posted on my main blog - Jacob’s Blog.

Late Dr. Anthony Stone

Tony was my teacher of Mathematics in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and my good friend. His book on Hindu astrology is to be shortly released as a paperback and I wanted to give you a look into the facts behind Indophile, Tony, and our relationship pre the release oif the paperback edition.

I was sent the details of this book by the publisher, another dear friend and alumni of St. Stephen’s College, Professor Prabhu Guptara.  

Tony was the teacher of Mathematics in St. Stephen’s College in 1962-63, my final year. He took over the duties of Principal S. C. Sircar in the Mathematics Department and joined Professors S.R. Nagpaul, S. B. Mathur,  and Ranjit Bhatia (Rhodes Scholar and of Indian Olympic fame) in the college Mathematics Department.

I lost touch with Tony till he turned up on my Kooler Talk Blog in the late 1990s. We established a close  relationship. When his wife Bertha was hospitalised and he had a short holiday in 2000, as he was then caring for Bertha, he decided to visit Annikki and me in Oulu, Finland. He stayed with us for a week and we had wonderful reunion, and discussed many of his projects.

He was well versed in Indian culture and he was working on a few projects, one of which was Hindu Astrology.

He was also working on a special area of mathematical research which coincided with the interest of a Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, friend of mine, Bhupinder Singh Anand (Bhupi).

Bhupi was a couple of years senior to me but stayed on in School to do the 12th standard HSC qualification. He was also from Savage House and in our final year, he was the Head Boy of the school while I was the Savage House Captain.  

Bhupi, the School Captain is sitting third from the left, while I am sitting second from the right.

I did keep in touch with Bhupi as he joined my “Seventh Heaven” Cathedralite Heaven Google Group although he was not technically a 59er. I had great respect for dear Bhupi as he was a sincere individual and a true Cathedralite.

The publisher of this book on Hindu astrology is Professor. Prabhu Guptara, from St. Stephen’s College, junior to me but also a good friend now living in Cambridge in the UK.

Prabhu had done an chapter in the book "Malayali Diaspora" several years ago about the oldest Malayali in Continental Europe (not the UK), which was about me. 

Frank Raj was the editor of "The International Indian till 2017".

Frank Raj (Picture from LinkedIn)

This was later published in his magazine with pictures of us and our family in the Dubai publication “The Indian International” edited by Frank Raj.

In 2014, when for several reason, I was stranded in New Delhi, which is explained in Annikki and my book “The Titanic Called India”, Prabhu put me in touch with Ivan and Silvia Kostka.

Ivan and Dr.Silvia Kostka (Picture from LinkedIN)

I had the pleasure of dining with them and a couple of friends. Just a couple of months after they were harassed by the Hindutava faction because they were practicing Christians devoting their their life to uplifting the OBC Community. They were raided by the Delhi Police in October 2014 for supposedly saying derogatory statements about Goddess Durga. Their publication FORWARD Press was being targeted by the Hindutava faction of Narendra Modi’s BJP/RSS wing claiming that Ivan and Silvia were converting Indians to Christianity.

Here I must make a point that I went to Christian schools in Mysore, Bangalore and Mumbai. In my class in Mumbai we were just 4 Christian’s while the rest of the students were Hindus, Jews, Muslims Parsi, Sindhis and Sikhs, from all parts of the world, not just India. I did not even know or even care, what religion the students in my class were.

60 years later, I am still the fulcrum of keeping the surviving classmates together and there is not one single student who has changed his/her religion. They all subscribe too a secular education which has broadened their attitude to life and there is no discrimination on any grounds whatsoever. 

Christians lead by example of the two principles laid down by Christ. . 

There is only one God (different names: Jehovah, Allah, Brahma). Secondly, we must love our neighbour as ourselves. 

All the other laws are man-made derivatives of these two fundamental principles.

Thefollowing year, I had the good fortune to get an email from Silvia (a noted plastic surgeon) that she and Ivan were likely to transit through Helsinki and they were likely to be delayed in their return trip to India. She was interested in meeting up with me.

I did offer to put them up in one of the apartments that Annikki and I had in Helsinki during their stay but we lost contact after that.

Ivan was the Founding Editor of FORWARD Press and it was likely to be shut down by the intolerant society which had spread its wings under Narendra Modi. Silvia had told me then that the last edition of FORWARD Press was likely to be in March of that year (2015).

However, FORWARD Press has survived and is thriving even today under Anil Varghese who is the current editor-in-chief.

So that is my personal background to the book on Hindu Astrology penned by Tony.

Until a few years ago, interest in astrology was widespread - but thin. 

Now the astrology market is growing by leaps and bounds.

In the US, over the four years to 2019, revenue from the top 10 astrology apps market saw an astonishing  compound growth rate of 72.8 percent per year! In India, ten astrology firms in 2021 raised INR 1300  million -300% the combined amount raised by ALL such start-ups over the previous five years!!

No figures for the UK are available, but here is a BBC report:

 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210205-why-astrology-is-so-popular-now

Into this burgeoning international demand, Prabhu Guptara’s “Pippa Rann Books” imprint is publishing the paperback version of Tony’s book, Hindu Astrology.

The hardback came out some decades ago, but only in India.

The author, late Tony, was an Oxford PhD in Mathematics who went as a university teacher to India, where he was so intrigued at finding most highly-educated people allowing their lives to be ruled by astrology that he learned Sanskrit for the specific purpose of reading the texts in the original language, and writing an adequate history of Indian astrology as well as evaluation of it. 

Brief information on the book is attached below, in form of the full cover the book.

But of course the field is highly contested!  

The honourable Supreme Court of India proclaimed in 2004 that astrology is a SCIENCE.

On the other hand, Madhavankutty Pillai argued in OPEN magazine (2011) that astrology is a HOAX - 

openthemagazine.com/features/living/the-scientific-case-against-astrology/

In a 2018 article in The Guardian, “I was an astrologer”, Felicity Carter concludes that astrology is a form of ENTERTAINMENT.

And here is a recent article arguing that astrology is a SCAM: Digital ‘Vedic Astrology’: The $40 Billion Scam | Madras Courier

Naturally not with reference to the articles mentioned immediately above but, in general, Tony concludes: “…it is a pity that many critics of astrology argue at a very superficial level. My purpose in this book is to shed some genuine light on the subject.  I hope the book will stimulate serious discussion about astrology.”

Do we need to start more knowledgeable debates and discussions on astrology?

Read the book and come to your own conclusions.

Remembering our loved ones

 Dateline 28th November 2023

(Posted on Jacob's Blog, Seventh Heaven Blog for Cathedralites and Kooler Talk (Web Version) Blog for St. Stephen's College alumni.

Cathedral & John Connon School 59ers have lost many of our ones in the last few years. 

Here is a partial list of those from our 2969class who have passed on. 

(I do not have any information about our lady classmates except dear Farhana. I hope someone will update me on this.)

Ashok Ruia

Bala Parasursman

Dossu Pagdiwalla

Fali Dhondy

Farhana (Kably) Poonawala

Farukh Kanga

Flicky Shroff

Hasnain Chinwala

Indrajit Shah

Jacob Eapen 

Jack Haskell

 Jaswant Ghatge

Kurshed Balsata

Michael Colaco

Murali Balani

Naubir Mohindar

Pradeep Bhakar

Prem Goel

Ramesh Mirchandani

Virat Gidwani

Trevor Newnes

I have deliberately left out from this list, one of our dearest, who was tragically lost  15 years ago, Ashok Kapur.

59erGolden Reunion Directory

Our Mumbai 59ers met as a memoriam to Ashok

At our 2009 Golden  Reunion of 59ers,  Annikki and I dedicated our Reunion Directory to Ashok with these pages:

But besides Ashok, we lost many others during those fateful days, which has been brought to mind by Rajiv Bhatia on his Facebook page.

26/11

Remembering the late - Ajit & Monica Chhabria, Sunil & Reshma Parikh, Sanjay & Rita Agarwal, Rohinton Maloo, Mohit Harjani, Lavina Harjani, Anand Bhatt, Pankaj Shah, Vishnidas-Nilam-Gunjan Narang, Neeti-Uday-Samar-Kang, Rupinder Randhawa, Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Tukaram Omble

I also remember one of my other alumni from St. Stephen’s College with this post from our alumni Facebook page. 

None other than the heroic Ashok Kamte:

Ashish Joshi , the Moderator of our alumni Facebook   page posted this.

LEST WE FORGET

This is what my friend & college senior, Gary (Justice Anupinder Grewal), wrote in the memory of late Ashok Kamte (Gary's batchmate) a brilliant police officer who attained martyrdom on 26/11. Late Kamte was a friend & one year senior to me in the College .

ASHOK KAMTE

I have been attending the annual St. Stephen's College, Reunion very frequently ever since I passed out of college in 1987. However, this year on 14th December, it was drastically different as it turned into memorial service for Ashok Kamte and I was entrusted the painful task of paying tribute to Ashok. 

It was a tragic personal loss as besides being my classmate in college and a friend, I had the privilege of living with Ashok and his family at his mother’s Flat in Hira Mahal on the Amrita Shergill Marg for about year while studying law. 

Ashok had joined us at St. Stephen's College for his Post Graduation after he had Graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. What stood him apart from the rest of the Stephanians was the enormity of his physical stature, which alongwith his quest for academic excellence was a rather unique combination. What surprised many was why is the National Power Lifting Champion pursuing Post Graduation at St. Stephen's. There is no preference for sports persons for admission in M.A. Little did they realize then that Ashok always strove for excellence, whether in the classroom or the playing field. He had single minded commitment to succeed. He was very happy when he was selected to the I.P.S. He used to say that he was meant for action and disliked other civil services for their bureaucratic file work.

While training for the Power Lifting Championship, he would not compromise on his diet. As his mother would not allow him to have more than two eggs, due to its high cholesterol content he would buy a dozen eggs from the market, cook and eat them at his neighbour's house. He had broken three national records in Power Lifting and won half a dozen Gold and Silver Medals. He had also won the Bronze Medal in Junior World Power Lifting Championship. Power Lifting is one of the toughest sport and Ashok would train for hours in complete solitude. Despite his powerful build, he was extremely agile and could sprint quite fast. Besides his love for swimming and squash he would generate amazing pace and bounce while bowling on the rather placid College Cricket pitch at Morigate. He had played an important role in the victory of our team. 

Ashok was proud of the fact that he had the blood of two Martial Races the Maratha’s and the Sikhs. While his father is a retired Colonel settled in Pune, his grand-father was in the Imperial Police. His mother Mrs. Paramjit Kamte,, who now lives in Gulmohar Park is from the well known Bawa Family of Goindwal Sahib and is grand-daughter of Late Bawa Budh Singh of the Indian Service of Engineers. Bawa Budh Singh was the 14th descendent of the Third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Dass. When I called on Mrs. Kamte, she said that though she is proud of the fact that Ashok has become a National Hero yet at times she cannot comprehend that he is no more. He was the only male member in the family whom she could look forward in times of need. He had perhaps inherited his very fair features from his maternal grandmother Mrs.Surinder Bawa (maiden name Violet) an English Lady. His sister, Sharmila, a well known model and a ballet dancer, now runs her famous Dance Academy in Dubai. His wife, Vinita, stays at Pune alongwith his sons, Rahul and Arjun. Besides serving the U.N. Force in Bosnia, Ashok had also trained in Punjab for some time. 

Ashok was known for his high integrity and efficiency which was evident in his earlier stints in Maharashtra especially in Solapur, where he had brought an inflammable communal situation under control within a few hours. I had spoken to Ashok sometime back when as Commissioner of Police, Solapur, was in the news for bringing to book the local M.L.A who was flouting the law for noise pollution. Ashok had personally gone and arrested the M.L.A. from his residence at mid-night after the M.L.A. had earlier roughed up police officials. I had asked him whether he had really beaten up the M.L.A. He replied that if he had done so, the man would not have survived as though he no longer competed in power lifting but maintained regular exercise regime. It was his conscientiousness, patriotism and devotion to duty which made him the target of the terrorist attack at Mumbai. He was the Additional Commissioner, (East) and even though the area around the Cama Hospital(South) did not fall within his jurisdiction, he had reached there as he had undergone specialized training to handle terrorism and hostage situation. He would lead from the front and was not the kind to send subordinates to do risky jobs. He lived for others and had a proactive approach. He made the supreme sacrifice and attained martyrdom in the battle field and made his family, friends and the nation proud. "

Anupinder Grewal

Additional Advocate General, Punjab (Now Judge, Punjab High Court)

Let us each keep a moment’s silence, wherever we are, to honour of all our alumni. Founder’s Day for the school was November 14th. That for our college is 7th December. 

May all these dear ones friends 

Rest In Peace.

Cathedralites - Say “Goodbye Bill”

I have posted details of the funeral on our Seventh Heaven Blog

Annikki and I would like to say our fond farewell to our dear friend, my physics teacher from my days in Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay (Mumbai).

Bill passed away yesterday at the age of 98. His wife, Pushpa was with him.

Bill introduced me to physics and the basics he taught me, starting with the first experiment on measuring specific gravity, stood me in good stead especially when I had to master the subject of Polymer Physics.

Bill was on the staff of the school and introduced us to Physics.

Boys' School Staff 1958

Bill was the Assistant House Master of Wilson House which was Cock House in 1956

Bill was a powerful singer and sang as tenor in the St. Thomas Cathedral Choir where I was also privileged to sing under late Charles Velu.

The portal of the St. Thomas Cathedral church.

Bill also sang the lead in the school annual musical operas.

He and his wife, Pushpa, took part in our 2009 Golden Jubilee Reunion of the Class of 59 in Bombay. He also visited the reunion of the 1964ers Reunion, with me and 59er class teacher John Billington, held the same year.

Bill in the group photo of the 59ers after the Founders Day Service

Our contact with Bill and Pushpa was kept alive by the late Hasnain Chinwala (Chinnie), our dear classmate, who also lived in Toronto, Canada, and visited Bill and Pushpa as often as they would have him.

This photo album below with inputs from late Chinnie, compiled by me, shows how dear Bill and Pushpa were to us 59ers. 

Family photo of Bill and Pushpa

We celebrated Bill's 85th birthday via late Chinnie.

We were also there, in spirit, for Bill's 90th birthday, thanks to late Chinnie.

Bill, Pushpa and late Chinnie with Viney

Bill, Viney and late Chinnie

Pushpa lays out the dinner table for Viney

Bill, Viney and Pushpa

Their doors were always open for us 59ers. 59er Viney Sethi from California and late Chinnie visited him in Toronto and they called me on the phone from there.

59er Dr. Narsys Irani, who was also his student, living in Toronto also visited Bill.

We will miss our dear Bill. 

I am greatly indebted to 54er Gracie Hayeem for updating me of this news. Pushpa had informed me of the situation, after 64er Basil Colaco had informed me that Bill was slowly fading.

I attended the Annual General Meeting of our school alumni today and informed the participants of the passing of Bill. Shyla Boga Patel said she would carry this news on our Cathedral School website.

May Bill rest in peace. 

May our Lord bring peace to Pushpa and their family at this time, knowing he was greatly loved by all of us. 

Condolences from every single 59er who have loved Bill from our first interaction in 1954 (70 years ago).