Sunday, October 31, 2021

THE NILGIRIS : CHOSEN AS THE LOCATION FOR THE THIRD LAWRENCE ASYLUM

 THE NILGIRIS : CHOSEN AS THE LOCATION FOR THE THIRD LAWRENCE ASYLUM 

In his lifetime, Sir Henry Lawrence, aided by his wife, Lady Honoria Lawrence, established The Lawrence Asylums at Sanawar and Mount Abu.

The third Lawrence Asylum, and the first in South India, was established in Ootacamund on September 6, 1858 in his memory. 

We have tried out a new experiment in this blog post. We have a podcast on the relevant extract from "Glimpses Of A Glorious Past". Do listen to this, and let us know if you would like more extracts from Glimpses as audio podcasts.

It would be great if more OLs come forward to read extracts from "Glimpses.." as podcasts.  If you are interested, please write to us at; olalovedale@gmail.com 

The bicentenary of the Nilgiris was celebrated in 2019.


For those interested, the Facebook Page of The Tourist Information Centre of the Nilgiris  has some wonderful pictures of Ootacamund in the days of the 19th century. These old black and white pictures were taken by Sam Bourne, who was one the most popular of official photographers during the British Raj.

Here's another picture of the unspoiled Ooty dating back to 1880. 



Wednesday, October 13, 2021

PROLOGUE & INTRODUCTION TO "GLIMPSES"

 PROLOGUE & INTRODUCTION TO "GLIMPSES...." ( Published in May 2017) 


The Gods have been kind. It’s a perfect day in May 2016 and the visitors who have thronged to the Nilgiri Hills for the 158th Founder’s Day of The Lawrence School, Lovedale bask in the mild sunshine. They breathe in the clean mountain air with the unforgettable scent of the eucalyptus and the pines. Covering a small fraction of the sprawling 750 acres, perhaps the largest space available to any school in India, the red-brick main School buildings stand as firm as they did when they were first erected in 1869. Soaring 130 feet into the air, the iconic clock tower looks majestic in the background of clear azure blue skies. The green lawns are impeccable and the flowers, yellow, red and blue, add to the feast of colour.




A young gentleman takes in the scene. He is as excited as only a proud parent coming up for Founder’s for the first time can be. He smiles at the grizzled old man wearing the School tie. He simply has to share his excitement with someone, “My first time here for Founder’s. Kids joined the school this year. Lovely place. Long history, over 150 years I am told. Was it always like this, I wonder?”

“There have been many changes over the years but the soul of the school remains the same,” replies the older man.

“Do you come here often?” asks the parent politely. The parent does not know that the man he is talking to has been part of Lovedale lore for long.
“I have been here for the better part of my life,” replies the 82 year old Denzil Prince. “I started here as a snotty kid way back in 1944 and was the Head Boy in 1954.”
“How interesting! An honour for me to meet someone like you. The parade this morning was most impressive. I especially enjoyed the bands playing so beautifully. Do you sometimes remember your school days?”
“Oh, yes, I do!  Since you spoke of the band, I was the bandmaster here for nearly twenty years. After a few stints elsewhere, I am now back in Lovedale, the place I love more than any other in the world. Word went around the Old Lawrencian community, 'The Prince of Lovedale' is back where he belongs!” Prince says with a laugh.
Seizing what he saw was a great opportunity, the eager parent asks, “My boy is 11 years old and new here. What would you advise him to do? I am so keen he should be happy here and shine in his future career.”
Prince tells him with a half-smile playing on his face, “Tell him not to sing the School Song by rote but to imbibe its true spirit.”
Seeing the perplexed expression on his listener’s face, Prince keeps aside his rich baritone and recites softly,
“At the dawn of life’s endeavor
With our hopes held high we stand
In our childhood’s home which ever Spreads wide her bounteous hand
Here a glorious inspiration From our founder we’ll surely win
And with strong determination
Play the game and “Never Give In”
“That’s it. Ask him to absorb the glorious traditions of his alma mater. Ask him, as is expected of every Lawrencian, to play the game and 'Never Give In'”.

As is well known The Lawrence School, Lovedale was founded in 1858 in memory of Major-General Sir Henry Lawrence, KCB, (1806-1857). 





Our endeavour, an informal history of the School, we believe differs significantly from other books about the School. We find it inexplicable though that no book was written about the School, not even in the heydays of the British Raj. 

It was only in 1983, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the School that travel writers Hugh and Colleen Gantzer, not OLs themselves but parents of an OL wrote, “Never Give In." This slim volume was based on extracts from the school archives and the school magazine, "The Lawrencian." 

 A few years later, in 1988, another book was published and a very different one at that. Max Cocker (Class of ‘39) wrote “Lovedale: The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, South India: A Personal Account”.  This was wholly based on his personal reminiscences, during his period at Lovedale from 1931-1939.

To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the School, in 2008, Ashok John Koshy, (Class of '67), an internationally renowned photographer, was commissioned to develop a coffee table book on the School.

In 2013, Nitya Cherian Matthai, (Class of '77) (and more about him later) with his collaborator on the Lawrence School Staff, Mr. Thomas George, got privately published a colourful book on the School titled, “At the Dawn..."

We are not aware of any other publication. 

Nitya Matthai's association with the School is unique. After nine years in School, (Class of '77) he did MA and returned to his alma mater in 1983 to teach History & Social Sciences for the next 33 years. He was also the School Archivist which placed him in the best position to research material for a book about the School. 

This project has been a long time in the making. During Founder's 2010, Wing Commander Joseph Thomas, VM, IAF (Retd) (Class of ’57) and Beena Belliappa, nee Elizabeth Tharakan (Class of '70, and a former Secretary of the OLA) came to know that Nitya was working on a book about the school along with Mr Thomas George, who taught English in the School. They felt the OLA should pursue this project to reach a wider audience. 

In 2014, Prem Rao, Class of '67 decided to write a book on the history of the School based on reminiscences of OLs. He wanted this to be ready by 2017. He started a Facebook Group called, " Glimpses of a Glorious Past" as the first step towards this initiative. 

Joseph and Beena, invited Prem to meet with Nitya in May 2015 to discuss the "School Book Project" after which Nitya and Thomas sent across the material they had put together to  Prem. The team then obtained contributions from OLs and their family members, apart from Prem's extensive research on published material, to produce this book. 


 How is this book different from the others on the School? 
1) It is based on archived material supplemented by reminiscences of a number of Old Lawrencians (or simply OLs as they are generally called)  from across the world. We trace historical events that took place over the decades supplemented by anecdotes and period photographs.
We have tried all through the book, to the extent we could, to enable you the reader to see The School through the eyes of those who experienced “Lovedale”, as the School is often simply called, as students, staff and parents. This is neither an authoritative tome on the school nor is it a picture filled coffee table book. “The picture alone, without the written word leaves half the story untold,” said James Lafferty the American TV actor, director and producer.  

2) This book is not designed to be read at one go. Indeed, it should not! In an age where everyone is strapped for time, it is for the OL to dip into and read a few pages from time to time at their convenience. We trust it will arouse in them a sense of nostalgia and pride for their alma mater.

3) Our approach of posting this on the website of the Old Lawrencians Association enables you to read it on-line whenever you want to do so, wherever you are in the world. This approach is more current and lends itself to the contents being modified in the future in a highly cost effective manner.

We are indebted to Nitya Cherian Matthai, an Old Lawrencian himself and a former teacher and Archivist at the School, and Thomas George, of the School’s Dept. of English for sharing their material which forms the foundation of this informal history. This material is made up of extracts from the School Archives and from the School Magazine, “The Lawrencian”.
 We are grateful to the authorities of The Lawrence School, Lovedale and, in particular to the Headmistress, Ms. Sangita Chima,  for supporting this venture and permitting us to use material from the School Archives and The Lawrencian.

Also to Rukhmini Reddy Krishnan, (Class of ’61) President of the Old Lawrencians Association for her push to enable this project to see the light of day. 
To Wing Commander Joseph Thomas (Class of '57) for dreaming of this project and making it come true. 

To Prem Rao (Class of ’67) for editing the mountains of material and giving shape to the story.

(For the statistically inclined, "Glimpses " in all three Volumes has about 216,252 words in 808 pages! Book 1 is in 91 pages with 27444 words; Book 2 in 212 pages with 57262 words; and Book 3 in 505 pages with 131, 546 words!!) 

They could not have asked for anything more to celebrate their 60th and 50th anniversary of leaving School during Founder's 2017.

Last but not the least, we are grateful to Old Lawrencians from across the world, cutting across different generations for their support.  OLs who made significant contributions are Moira Breen (Class of ’39), Norman Minus ( in Lovedale from 1936-42: through his daughter, Sharman ), Peter Forkgen (Class of ’46), and Kevin Phillips ( Class of ’56) 
We live today in 2017 in a world vastly different from that of 1858. While many things have changed beyond description we would like to think that some things have, in essence, remained the same.
The spirit of Lovedale and being an Old Lawrencian, is one amongst them.
An earlier reference to our Founder, Major- General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, KCB and the School Motto, “Never Give In” provides us with the most appropriate way to begin our story….




Updated Notes:

1. Since the book was aimed to be published in 2017, the Prologue was set in Founder's 2016 
2. Mrs Beena Belliappa is currently the Vice President of the Old Lawrencians Association 
3. Our world of 2021 as this is updated is so very different even from the one of 2017 because of the COVID 19 pandemic. But the spirit of being OLs remains stronger than before. 


Tuesday, October 12, 2021

THE LAUNCH OF "GLIMPSES OF A GLORIOUS PAST"

 THE LAUNCH OF "GLIMPSES OF A GLORIOUS PAST" 


"Glimpses...." was formally launched by Rukhmini Reddy Krishnan, President of the Old Lawrencians Association during the AGM held on May 22, 2017.

Pictures on this page are through the courtesy of : Wg Cdr Joseph Thomas (Retd) 


Rukhmini Krishnan and other senior OLs before the start of the AGM 

We present below the relevant extracts :-

Minutes of the Old Lawrencian Association Annual General Body Meeting, held at 2:30pm on 22nd. May 2017 at the Prep Hall, Junior School, The Lawrence School, Lovedale

11) OLA President’s address –

The School history book ‐ “Glimpses of the past” was the brain child of Nithya Mathai (1977), and Mr. Thomas George. Both were teaching staff at the time; Mr. George still is. They researched and sought material from the school archives and the “Lawrencian”magazines. It was for them a passion and though painstaking work, in addition to their teaching responsibilities, the material was collected and sent to Prem Rao (1967). Prem collated the masses of material, rearranged and edited it, adding considerable supplementary material. Joseph Thomas (1957) stepped in and was instrumental in contributing researched information on Sir Henry Lawrence, on which subject he is an expert. JT dreamt that this project see the light of day; today his dream and that of the team will be fulfilled.  Beena Belliappa (1970) encouraged the team and motivated them to carry on, when they were about to give up. 

Then it was the turn of the OLA to assist and we suggested the book be uploaded the OLAwebsite. So, almost ten years later, the first 50 years of “Glimpses of the past” is to be launched. In a little while we will launch the book


12) Book Launch – “Glimpses of the Past.”Nitya Cherian Mathai (1977) presented a brief introduction to the book and thanked all theindividuals who were instrumental in bringing the project to fruition.The book was launched by Joseph Thomas (1957), who gave an overview. Currently, only Part 1 of the book has been hosted on the OLA website. The other parts are to be hosted in due course. At the end of this book launch, Nitya Mathai was made a Honorary Member of the OLA bythe OLA President.



Thomas George, Nitya C Matthai and Joseph Thomas 

17) Vote of Thanks – Paul Sabapathy – 1957 thanked all attending OLs and wished them the very best. 




Sunday, October 10, 2021

THE JOURNEY OF "GLIMPSES..."

 THE JOURNEY OF "GLIMPSES..."  

From the time of its launch during Founder's of May 2017 by Ms Rukmini Reddy Krishnan, the then President of the Old Lawrencians Association (OLA) ,  " Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale " found a home in the website of the OLA in the form of a ebook.

In keeping with the changing times, we now present to you,  "Glimpses..." (or "GGP" as it is popularly called by my younger friends) in the blog format.

We see these advantages in the new format :-

  1. Now and over time, we can add hyperlinks, videos, podcasts  and images to enhance the reading/viewing experience for our audience. 
  2. This format leads itself more easily for updating, editing and revising the text of the e-book
  3. Likewise, we expect more engagement in this mode from the Old Lawrencian community through their comments on the blog posts and their contributing their own blog posts. 
It is common for a series of blog posts to be combined and made into a book. Our challenge here is to present a book in a series of blog posts! We will not therefore publish the book in its entirety in the form of blog posts but will publish interesting extracts from time to time. 

For the convenience of those who prefer to read the book in it's current form, we have Book 1 (1858-1908), Book 2 (1908-1958) and Book 3 (1958 to 2017) as pdfs for your easy reading. These are in three separate posts here in this blog. 

Since May 2020 the OLA has organized the "OL Assembly", a monthly Virtual Entertainment Show by the OLs for the OLs broadcasted over YouTube and Facebook on the second Saturday of each month.  It was decided to use the OL Assembly as a platform to present "Glimpses..."in November 2020. 

Since then in every OL Assembly there has been a segment devoted to "Glimpses...". In this we have traced the history of the School since it was founded in 1858, in memory of Major General Sir Henry Lawrence KCB. 

Effective October 2021, "Glimpses..." is being spun off from the OL Assembly and will be broadcast in YouTube and Facebook as a separate show.  

The Journey of "Glimpses..."! :

How " Glimpses..." came to be written is covered in the OL Assembly of November 14, 2020.
Here, Wing Commander Joseph Thomas, Retd, (ex ARV 1957);  Prem Rao, (ex- NIL 1967; Nitya Cherian Matthai, ( ex-Sum1977) and Mr Thomas George of The Lawrence School, Lovedale's Dept of English explain how the project was initiated and completed. 


2010: Wg Cdr Joseph Thomas & Mrs Beena Belliappa nee Elizabeth Tharakan (EX- DEO 1970)  met Mr Nitya Cherian Matthai during Founder's. They learnt that he and his colleague, Mr Thomas George had prepared a manuscript of material about the School sourced from the Archives and issues of The Lawrencian dating back to 1911.





2014 : Prem Rao planned a book on the School hopefully to be ready for the 50th year of his batch in 2017. In April 2014, he started a Facebook Group called "Glimpses of a Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale". This group currently has over 850 members. 

2015: J T and Beena arranged a meeting with Nitya and Prem in May 2015, and that's where the project began. NCM and TG shared the material they had put together with Prem. 

The team then got contributions from many OLs across the ages (including JT himself, Kevin Phillips, Peter Forkgen, Moira Breen, to name a few) and "Glimpses..." was put together in book form by Prem after he added material that he had researched. 




2017: :Glimpses..." was released as a ebook in 3 volumes by OLA Presiden, Rukhmini Reddy Krishnan, (Head Girl, 1961) during Founder's 2017. Book 1 was released on May 22, 2017 and the other two some time later.



2020: "Glimpses......" appeared for the first time in the OL Assembly in November 2020

2021:  OLA's Glimpses Blog created in October 2021
          "Glimpses" spun off from OL Assembly as a stand alone show on social media in October 2021

Monday, October 4, 2021

Book 3- 1958 to 2008: "Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale"

 

Book 3- 1958 to 2008: "Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale"

The School celebrated the Centenary Year in 1958. By now it was being recognized as being one of the leading public schools in India. 

In Book 3, the last of three volumes, we cover the 50 years from 1958 to 2008. 

Here's the link to Book 3 in pdf mode. 



Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw takes the salute. Headmaster L A Vyas looks on. 

Book 1-1858 to 1908 : "Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale"

 

Book 1-1858 to 1908; "Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale"


The first 50 years of the School, then called The Lawrence Asylum, is covered in the first of three volumes that make up, " Glimpses Of A Glorious Past....". 


During these years, the School was administered by Principals who were, without exception, ordained clergy of the Church of England. It had the bearings of a military asylum set up primarily for the orphans and children of British soldiers who died in service in India. 

Here's the link to Book 1 - 1858 to 1908 in pdf format.



The main buildings of the School were designed by the renowned architect Robert Chisholm and were built in the 19th century. Largely completed in 1871. The Lawrence Asylum then shifted from Ootacamund to the new campus at Lovedale. 



FAREWELL, DEAR MOIRA!

 FAREWELL, DEAR MOIRA! A little after a month past her 100th birthday, OL Dr Moira Breen Ph.D passed away on January 26, 2024 at  Libertyvil...