STOCK TAKE AND REVIEW OF THE OLA-GLIMPSES BLOG

 STOCK TAKE AND REVIEW OF THE OLA-GLIMPSES BLOG 

The other day when my wife asked me to complete some chore, I said I would do it later as I was busy with the OLA Glimpses Blog. When she asked me again some hours later, I gave her the same answer. On the third occasion, I was about to give her the same answer parrot-like when she said with some exasperation, " Do people read that blog at all?." Discretion being the better part of valour ( and besides we have been married for 45 years), I shut down what I was doing and did what she had asked me to do.

But that set me thinking. How well, or otherwise, is the blog doing? I remembered I had planned to do an annual stock take on October, 1, 2022 - as we started the blog on September 30, 2021- but somehow it got lost amongst the many things on my plate.

Going with the theme of "Better Late Than Never", I sat down to share my stock take and review with you:-

1. Our thanks to OL Beena Belliappa,  DEO, 1970, President of the Old Lawrencians Association (OLA) and the OLA Committee for all the encouragement and support we have received for the "Glimpses Initiative" - now in the form of a video show, a blog and on the OLA website. 

2.  It is most gratifying for us to see this Blog appear in the School Notice Boards. We hope through this the current students at Lovedale will get glimpses of days long gone by. I recognise it adds to our responsibility in terms of the content that appears here. 

In a lighter vein, OL Air Commodore T T Job AVSM, VSM, IAF retd NIL 1960 told me half-jokingly that this was the first time his picture had come up on the School Notice Board- only 62 years after he left school!  

This issue also had  "Red Post Box" by  Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil AVSM, NM, Indian Navy (retd) SUM 1982.

3. We have posted a link in the "Quick Links" of the blog to take you to the videos  in the "Glimpses of a Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale Show" on  the OLA YouTube channel. These are published roughly once in 6-8 weeks. 

4. I have pulled out some numbers for the period from September 30, 2021 to November 29, 2022 - for the statistically inclined! 

• There have been 31 posts and we have maintained ( touch wood! ) the target of two posts per month
• The total number of "hits" or "page views" is 17,164 as on date
• The single biggest platform for referrals is- not unsurprisingly- Facebook with 13 %
• The largest viewership is naturally from India- 56%, followed by the USA 17 %, and the UK 8 %.

5. The top 5 posts in terms of views, over the last 14 months are:--

1. "Pothe: A Tribute to Pratap Pothen (1952-2002) : July 2022 
2. "Early Years of The Lawrence Asylum" : January 2022
3. "On Tigers At Lovedale": September 2022
4. "Mr I D N Sahi, ICS -A Tribute":July 2022
5. "On Battlers and Blazers": September 2022

6. This is my personal take by way of a review. Please feel free to offer your comments/opinions.

* Posting links on the various WhatsApp Groups has given the blog the desired momentum as has posting links in appropriate Fb Pages. Thanks to Reventh Noel of the OLA for all his help. 

* The activity by way of "Comments" has been rather disappointing. The only one who kept commenting was my old friend, Joe Thomas ( Wg Cdr Joseph Thomas IAF Retd ARA 1957) but his enthu. too may have got dampened at finding no/little response.

* On the flip side, some posts got discussed at considerable length in the WhatsApp Groups, which was good news! 

* Likewise, another disappointment has been the contributions of posts from OLs. There has been only one post - by Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil AVSM, NM, Indian Navy (retd) SUM 1982. Being an optimist, I am sure there will be many more who will follow his example.

* In terms of content we have, by and large, reached the 1950s in "Glimpses". We therefore have many OLs who are very much alive and kicking in our midst in different parts of the world. This should trigger more activity as compared to posts about the period prior to 1947.  

If you wish to contribute a blog post or have any ideas for the blog, please do write in to: olalovedale@gmail.com with " For OLA Glimpses Blog" in the subject line. 

Listen, I must sign off now! Someone is calling out to me!! 

PRIME MINISTER NEHRU VISITS LOVEDALE

 PRIME MINISTER NEHRU VISITS LOVEDALE 

During the British Raj, Lovedale played host to many Governors of the Madras Presidency and even to Viceroys and Governors- General. 

Post-Independence, the biggest event to happen in Lovedale till then was the visit to the School on June 5, 1959 by the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964). To the best of our knowledge this remains the only visit to the School by a Prime Minister in office till this day

OL Mr Denzil Prince who studied in Lovedale from 1944 to 1954 and served as Band Master from 1958 till the early 1970s shared his recollections of that momentous day. He remembers the girls in the School Orchestra invited the Prime Minister to the School when he thanked them for playing at the Arranmore Palace in Ooty. Mrs Indira Gandhi led the Prime Minister to where the guests were waiting for dinner. A short while later an ADC informed Mr Prince that the Prime Minister would spend about an hour at Lovedale starting at 9.00 am on his way to Kundah. The boys and girls of the orchestra were jubilant and played with renewed vigour and elan. 

At 11.00 pm they reached Lovedale and drove straight to the Headmaster's Bungalow where they told him the good news! Mr Thomas telephoned the Bursar, the Senior Master, the Estate  Manager and other senior staff. Preparations for the visit then went on till nearly 6.00 am. It was a matter of great honour for the School and the Headmaster wanted the visit of his distinguished guests to go off without any hitch. On his arrival at 9.00 am, Mr Nehru and the other dignitaries were  escorted to the Large Hall by the Headmaster. 

Accompanying Mr Nehru were the Governor of Madras (as the State was known in those days) Mr Bishnuram Medhi, the Chief Minister of Madras, Mr K Kamaraj, and Mr Nehru's daughter,Mrs Indira Gandhi, then the President of the Congress Party. 

Prime Minister Nehru at the Special Assembly at Lovedale. With him is the  Governor of Madras, Mr Bishnuram Medhi.

Picture courtesy: Mr Denzil Prince- also seen in the picture!

The Special Assembly at Large Hall began with the School Song. Welcoming the Prime Minister the Headmaster , Mr K I Thomas said :

 

"This occasion marks the fulfillment of a wish I have cherished for many years, namely a visit to the school by Pandit Nehru. This occasion is significant for another reason too. Where I failed my children have succeeded. A month ago I wrote to the Prime Minister inviting him to spend some time with us during his visit to the Nilgiris. I got a prompt reply from him, but it was an equally polite but negative answer. However, when  our Orchestra played at Arranmore Palace at a banquet in honour of Pandit Nehru, the boys and girls of the Orchestra talked him into coming here."

Here's an extract from Prime Minister Nehru's talk to the students: "we have different languages and we have different religions in this country. We have different climates and sometimes the food we eat is also somewhat different.  So there is such tremendous variety in India. Now, is that a good thing or bad? I think this is a very good thing, but it is only good, if in spite of this variety, there are also strong bonds unifying us. You must have both unity and variety. And while we like this variety, we must always remember that we belong to one large family, the family of India. "

The Assembly concluded with staff and students singing the National Anthem. Mr Nehru then had tea with some Preppers ( called there for the occasion) and went through the School corridors and down the 67 steps to what is now the Junior School. Here he visited the Art Room, presided over by the very talented Art Master, Mr Sushil Mukherjee.

Mr K I Thomas, Prime Minister Nehru, Mrs Indira Gandhi. 

Picture courtesy: OL Salim Thomas. 

About this famous  picture, Mr Prince recalls that KIT was in a very good mood as evident from the rare broad smile. He was not known to smile often and was nicknamed "Stiffy" in those days! 

 

The Lovedale girls bid farewell to the Prime Minster near the Art Room. 

Picture courtesy: OL Indra Gill 

The Prime Minister's party drove off to Kundah from the Junior School bringing to an end their short but memorable visit to Lovedale. 

We thank Mr Denzil Prince for sharing his recollections of that visit with us.

               Mr Denzil Prince in 2021

Picture courtesy: OL Rohan Shetty