"Pothe!" A Tribute To Pratap Pothen (1952-2022)

 

"Pothe!" A Tribute To Pratap Pothen (1952-2022) 

The world lost a talented film actor and director- and I a dear old friend-  with the passing away of OL Pratap Pothen,  Class of 1968, on July 15, 2022. 

There have been many tributes paid to him praising his acting and directorial skills. The aim is not to list all of them but two stayed in my mind: I liked Anand Kochukudy'a article calling him the "Original Hippy of Malayalam Cinema" and Suhasini Maniratnam's straight from the heart personal tribute , "Farewell My Dear Friend Prathap" in The Hindu. She describes him as an "adorable eccentric" in this tribute to him on India Ahead. 

 It was my good fortune to have known him well since 1959 when I joined The Lawrence School, Lovedale, in the 3rd Std in Prep School. At age 7, leaving home and going to stay alone in a school far away was a totally new experience for me. Pratap, already a boarding school veteran having joined in the 1st Std took me under his wings and we remained close friends ever since.

He was one of the most creative persons I have known. I think he exhibited this trait all through his schooldays (1957-68) at Lovedale.

In 1961, when we were in the 5th in Mr K C Jacob's Kailas House, our Housemaster "Jakes" asked us to put up an entertainment show with performances of different kinds. Pratap directed and acted in a skit propounding the benefits of the well known Eno Fruit Salt. When he shouted, "Oh no!" he, S N Mohanty and I - who made up the cast- had to hold our guts, moan, and make a sick face, as if in agony. This was repeated a few times till the audience too must have got sick of it. On the shout of "Eno!" we had to be magically transformed as the fizzy Eno did its trick, and become happiness personified.

After being together in Prep School and Kailas House, we went different ways for 6th and 7th - he to South Block and Siwalik, I to North Block and Himalaya. 

We were re-united in the 8th in Mr W J "Mac" McMahon's Nilgiri House. 

Older OLs of the 60s and 70s may remember that in the mid 60s, Hindustan Lever brought out an innovative toothpaste called "Signal" with its distinctive red stripes. Mr Mohammed Naeem ( known far and wide naturally as "Neem") was teaching us Health Science. He held forth at great length about Rana tigrina ( the common frog). Male staff in Lovedale in those days taught in suits. The one that Neem wore that day was quite natty- a dark black- grey with thin pin stripes in red. 

As was the custom those days, Pothe (as he was called affectionately by us) raised his hand to ask a question. "Yes, Pothen? What's your doubt?" asked Mr. Naeem.

With a most innocent look the skilled actor that he was even in those days, Pothe asked, (pointing at Mr Naeem's suit) , " Sir, those red stripes!! Do they contain hexachlorophene?" 

In our school days, we used to write home every week. Our letters- almost universally - went along the lines of, " My Dear Father, How are you? I am well and happy here!" 

                                              

                                                       Nilgiri House ISC 1968 with Mac

Our House Master, "Mac" insisted that we maintain this habit during the holidays and write to him every week! One year on our return to school, Mac addressed us, " I received letters every week from all of you. Some of them were quite interesting! The most interesting of them all was from Pothen. He wrote to me on June 28 and said, " How are you, Sir.? I am waiting to see you in three days. I hope you received my letters of June 21, June 14, and June 7! " I must say, Pothen, you have demonstrated the skilful use of the calendar.!" 

Lovedale and the school were always close to his heart. He was an integral part of the Class of '68 and took part in most of their re-unions. This picture of their 50th Year Reuinon at Lovedale- like the others in this post- is through the kind courtesy of Viju Parameshwar, also of the Class of '68 and also of Nilgiri House. 

Pothe was fun loving, creative, and lived life ( as he famously sang) "In My Way"! 

I know you will want us to laugh with you all the time, Pothe! Stay blessed wherever you are, old friend. 

MR.I D N SAHI, ICS- FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS: A TRIBUTE

 MR.I D N SAHI, ICS- FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS: A TRIBUTE

It's been our endeavour in the OLA Glimpses Team to seek out contributions about the School and people associated with it from beyond our small group of contributors.

I was therefore delighted to hear from Mr Sushil Sahi, who writes about his father the late Mr I D N Sahi, ICS. The pictures used were also sent by him.  

Mr Sahi, a distinguished Civil Servant was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of our School from 1972 to 1974 -when he was the Secretary, Ministry of Education of the Government of India.

 Mr Indra Deva Narain Sahi  was born on 27th September, 1916.  He joined the ICS in 1940 as Sub Collector, Tinnevelly in erstwhile Madras Presidency. In 1947, he was sent back to his home state, Uttar Pradesh, and posted to Saharanpur. After serving in various capacities, his final posting was as Secretary, Ministry of Education,( later known as HRD Ministry), from 1972 - 1974. On his retirement, Mr Sahi settled down in "Sunnybank" his home in Lovedale. He passed away on 20th November, 1986.

Sushil Sahi writes, " He had given a formal and legal identity to The Lawrence School, Lovedale, by saving the vibrant 750 acre estate for the School.  The formal identity of the School is Nature, which continues to attract OLs back to Lovedale, and helps to make the children future ready in this time of climate change, habitat loss and biodiversity destruction.  The detail of the interaction within the regional and Central Govts for the legal identity of the School is given below

The Land Ceiling Act of 15th February, 1970, applied to agricultural and religious land.  Amar Farms was established by/ and in memory of Lt. Gen Dev, who had long standing connections with the School.  About the year 1972 or 1973, then TN Govt. Collector of Nilgiris decided that 750 acres belonging to The Lawrence School, Lovedale was far in excess of the 30 acres permitted under above law

If I am not mistaken, bull dozers appeared in the premises of Prep School to bring down the building.  According to the 30 acre rule, this fell outside the limit of 30 acres, apart from other areas of the School grounds

Mr Vyas, the Headmaster, rushed to Delhi to meet Mr Sahi, to seek his help in preserving the land for the School.  Mr Sahi then had quite a few meetings with the officials of the Ministry of Defence and Law Ministry.  It was imperative to preserve the heritage and all the land belonging to the School.  At the end of these deliberations, a solution was found - The Ministry of Defence would own the entire estate and would lease the land of 750 acres with the School buildings to the Education Ministry ( now HRD Ministry ) at the rate of Re.1/- per annum.  The lease is to run for 99 years.  This procedure then saved the land from being taken over by the TN Govt

Once, during the tenure of Mr Vyas as Headmaster another problem had arisen. This was the time of Sri Lankan Tamils seeking refuge in India.  They came in large numbers.  Many of them travelled to the Nilgiris to seek shelter.  The District Administration decided that Lawrence School land, toward Dhobi Ghat would be an ideal place to relocate all refugees coming to the Nilgiris from Sri Lanka.  Understandably, Mr Vyas was most concerned about the safety of the children, mainly and of course School property.  He had to again seek the help of the Ministry of Defence, as also the District Administration to resettle the Sri Lankan refugees elsewhere. They were finally shifted in Valley View, Lovedale.

I do hope you will incorporate this write up in the ebook.  As I mentioned, the Chairman was the serving Education Secretary in my Father's time.  This made it possible to obtain the good offices of the other Ministries in finalising the legal identity of The Lawrence School. Lovedale. "

         Mr I D N Sahi as the Chief Guest, Founder's Parade, 1970s

Sushil Sahi studied briefly in Lovedale from 1974 to 1976 then went to the Doon School where he did his ISC. He has taught in many Schools including The Lawrence Schools at Lovedale, and Sanawar. He was the Principal of the Riverside Public School in Kotagiri. 

By a happy co-incidence, Father's Day was celebrated last month. I would like to think this is a small yet meaningful tribute by a son to his illustrious father! 

Like Sushil Sahi, if you wish to send in a piece relating to The Lawrence School, Lovedale and people associated with it, please do contact us at: olalovedale@gmail.com with the subject line: "For Consideration: Contribution to Glimpses"

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