FOUNDER'S, MAY 2023

 FOUNDER'S, MAY 2023

This year's Founder's Celebrations at School from May 18 to May 20, 2023 were by all accounts a great success. For the record, this was the 165th Founder's. The Chief Guest was Padma Bhushan Mr Nandan Nilekani, Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited and Founding Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).  

Old Lawrencians who attended will have their own stories to tell  of their visit to our alma mater but for the benefit of many of us who did not, here's an informal, personal account from OL Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil, IN  (Retd), Class of 1982. Philipose, as you will no doubt know, is the current Vice President of the Old Lawrencians Association (OLA). Over to you, Philipose!! 

-Prem Rao, NIL, 1967, Editor. 

Three days of frenetic activity. The previous Founders Day was held in Sep 22 thanks to the Headmaster wanting to ensure that the 12 th batch doesn’t miss out on their Founders.Incidentally the actual Founders Day of LSL is on the 6 th Sep.

This year it was back to conducting Founders in May which saw huge attendance, especially from the reunion batches. The T shirts and hats have become a veritable fashion statement of sorts. Innovative designs like the Hawaiian shirts or the 70 batch that replicated the Lovedale station board in Tamil,Hindi, English and the elevation of Lovedale in black with a yellow background on their green T shirts!

The Class of 70 were here in huge numbers,with spouses too actively participating in all events. They provided moral support to their classmate Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa , President OLA at the AGM. The previous President Mr Johnny Paul is also from this batch.

L to R : Johnny Paul, ex President OLA; Elizabeth Beena Belliappa, President OLA; R Adm Philipose GP, Vice President OLA 

The standard of all events were exceptional from the Equestrian display to the PT Display, School Play and Variety Entertainment.

The Horse Power. Worthy of mention.

“Bring me a wheel of oaken wood

A rein of polished leather

A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky Brewing heavy weather.’ 

As lamented Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in his timeless classic, ‘ Heavy Horses.’

The school boasts of 22 fine horses who reside in a truly stable environment thanks to the efforts of my batch (1982) Head Boy a true thoroughbred Kudrai, Pradeep Reddy alias Krishnadev Rao ,the artiste formerly known as Prince.

Incidentally, riding is compulsory for class 5 kids. A fantastic initiative I think. The kids who are interested continue to ride beyond class 5, with many winning national awards. The 15 horses on parade were truly impressive. Mane stay - We witnessed the horses getting their manes plaited the previous day, akin to Bob Marley”s dreadlocks.Reggae Soul & Rock n Roll all the way!

The Large Hall looked resplendent and the plays /dance dramas were really amazing. The hall was packed and the events were livestreamed on a massive I HD screen on the adjacent lawns.

The PT Display had a melange of activities ranging from Yoga to Dance, Taekwondo, fire drill to the grand finale featuring the band. Yoga – ‘Oh God give me patience but make it fast’, saw children demonstrate complex Asanas under the watchful eye of Baby Ramdev aka Sangeetha Jairam . Taekwondo – Crash course in Korean along with mind and body control and the mass destruction of 25 tiles by tiny Ninjas screaming like Banshees. The Dance thing with gals in red skirts was super well coordinated as they moved to popular teeny bop songs… Oops I did it again! Britney Spares no one!!

The torch drill was exceptional . Multi colored torches lit up as the floodlights were switched off. The kids did a series of movements and patterns culminating with NEVER GIVE IN enscribed with torches. The band guys had their arms and legs lit up as they marched in with the lights switched off. They treated us to robo cop kind of movements whilst playing popular marching tunes .

The Parade was excellent and it was an honour to have Padma Bhushan Nandan Nilekani as Chief Guest. His speech was truly inspiring.

                                                Chief Guest: Mr Nandan Nilekani 

The Parade Commander had exceptional drill and word of Command. All kids were well turned out, with smart drill movements and marching. The School Colour (NOT Colours) and National Flag bearers and escorts were outstanding .

              Head Girl and Head Boy, Founder's 2023

Girls once again broke several glass ceilings and joined the Bugle band for the first time for instance. The Girl Guards were noticeably more disciplined with hardly any movement prior to the March Past. The 3 rd (Girls) Guard, was adjudged the Best Guard by a panel comprising Cmde VZ Job, Col Samar Chouhan and yours truly,  R Adm Philipose PG.

Too many kids walked off the parade ground due to the heat. This needs to be addressed. Glucose prior to the parade plus the age old Capt Abdul Khader (may his soul RIP) formula of curling and uncurling ones toes, slowly raising and lowering ones heels etc. Besides having an indomitable will to stand on parade no matter what.

The OLs March past was nice however in my view we need to restrict it to the reunion batches 20, 25, 30, 40, 50. Now it’s a free for all with all of us jostling for space in the line up. The event is for the students and the Passing out class in particular. We shouldn’t steal their thunder in my humble opinion.

In our time Capt Khader single handedly took charge of us on parade. Currently 4 MRC Instructors help the Military Training instructor take charge of the 600 Gen Zee kids. Apparently it’s a generation thing ��

Beating Retreat (not Beating The Retreat) was a treat as always. Maj Gen Vijay Singh OL 83 was the Chief Guest. His brother Maj Gen Vikram Singh OL 82 was the Chief Guest last year They belong to a 5 th Generation armed forces family. Their father Brig Hamir Singh Vir Chakra was a POW during the 71 war. Both brothers were Vice Head Boy and Prefect respectively and were the best in Games in their respective years. They personify all that is Honourable and all that is good in our fine school. May their tribe increase.

The Head Boy carried the School Flag to the parade ground along with the Nishaan Toli, escorted by a blindfolded drummer who did a perfect job a’la Houdini! Continuity Drill by 18 students, including 4 girls for the very first time was amazing. They looked smart in their shiny new uniforms with their impeccable drill movements. This is the only such silent drill troupe with women, anywhere in the world. The leader of the Air Force Drill team Leading Aircraftsman Chinnathambi trained our troupe for ten days.

Fortunately it didn’t rain during any of the events!

19 May had a series of events for OLs commencing with the Cross Country race conducted by Sangeetha Jairam the OL Coordinator, Past Vs Present Matches by Yohaan Chacko followed by Lunch hosted by the Headmaster. The AGM was conducted in the afternoon.

The past vs present sports events and cross country were keenly contested. The usual suspects Deepika Medappa, Samar Chauhan, Yohaan Chacko etc came, saw and conquered.

The school kitchen worked over time to ensure we were plied with a non stop supply of delectable cookies, cakes, samosas etc. LSL now had a centralised state of the art kitchen which functions from Junior school with food being supplied to the other dining halls by cute auto rickshaws. They have chapati makers, idli and Dosa machines, potato cutters etc.. I was astounded to see mounds of uneaten cookies on trays at tea time! That’s the way the cookie crumbles. We demolished all food within arms length like Chengiz Khan’s hordes.

“Old Golfers never die, they only lose their balls.“ The Golf tournament was keenly contested with all participants enjoying the event thoroughly. The winners were Akhil Handa and Rahul Rao with Sundharam Ramasamy and Abhijeet Dhar as runners up. The event was well attended by over 30 OLs with world class Golf gear sponsored by 8 OLs for the participants.

Sangeetha Jairam the OL coordinator, coordinated all activities with finesse. The Cross Country, race was conducted and sponsored by her including the catchy red Shirts (with the slogan "I ran, I walked, I crawled and completed") as well as the Medals ! As was the impressive Yoga demo at the PT Display.

The OLA under the able leadership of Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa, Class of 1970, did a great job with lots of groundwork done by Reventh OL 13 the Lovedale based OLA Administrator par excellence and the local Committee members Prashant Menon and Tini who pitched in readily. Yohaan conducted the past vs present events with elan as did Gaurav Sharma the OL Golf Tournament.

Rohan Shetty and Shyam Nair the super efficient tech wizards conducted the Learning and Development programme under the aegis of OL Nation very well. The speakers Dr Uttara Vidyasagar, Dr Kul Ranjan Singh, and  Mr Rohan Rao were really good and Shyam was the perfect moderator. The session was well received and Class XII A was packed with a mix of enthusiastic parents, students and OLs. We had to turn away folks due to space limitations and will work on a larger venue next year. Mrs Jayshree Balasubramaniam was unwell and sadly couldn’t attend. She will be drafted in for another OL Nation online session at a later date. This session was recorded and will be broadcast on the OLA social media channels.

Jim Tharayil pitched in with advice on fund collection /utilisation. He has regularly jetted in and out from UAE for all our events.

Karishma Sushilkumar the super spirited Secretary steered the AGM with her customary efficiency and Sergeant Major like control. Beena Ma’m apprised us of the achievements of the past year and our future plans. Mr Johnny Paul OL 70 briefed us on the newly constituted OL Charitable Trust that would facilitate painless donations to the corpus including from expat OLs.

The OL Dinner Dance was conducted at Fernhill Hotel on 20 th night. The event was well attended. Mr and Mrs Prabhakar graced the occasion. Mrs Elizabeth Beena Belliappa thanked the outgoing HM for his stellar contribution, welcomed him into the OLA and presented him OLA memorabilia.

This was my first Founders as the Weepy (VP OLA). None of my batch mates came for Founders as they were at a classmates daughters engagement. Hence I took on important tasks like putting up posters for the LDM programme lifting cartons and setting up and helping run the merchandise stall.

The arrangements by the school were very good. From the parking plan for parents and OLs to the metalling of approach roads to Pichees flats and the SBI Ground. The registration process was done at multiple locations. Lunch was served at the cemented basket ball courts next to Top Flats as well as at the Tea Counter lawns and dining hall. The campus looked spotless with an efficient garbage disposal system in place. Kudos to Col Karthik the Bursar who assumed charge just 4 months ago. This was Mr Prabhakar’s last Founders Day as the Headmaster. Over the past 5 years he endeared himself to students, Parents and OLs alike by his sheer simplicity, smiling countenance, super efficiency and love for the school We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

So it’s curtains for another beautiful Founders Day. Each of us has headed back to our day jobs /retirement routine, re charged with an adrenaline shot of Never Give In. The lure of the Blue Mountains and the old school tie will bring us back year after year. Our deep values that set us apart were forged in these 700 acres of hallowed ground. A visit to Lovedale is akin to a pilgrimage where you renew your commitment to stand up for what is right and choose the harder right always.

NEVER GIVE IN.

PGP (OL 82

Thank you, Philipose for sending in your post and pictures. 

THE RED POST BOX

 THE RED POST BOX 

Editor's Note:

"Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company" wrote Lord Byron. For every Lawrencian the weekly letter home and receiving letters from home were events that triggered different emotions. This particularly in bygone days when letters were the only medium of communication and the telephone was used only in dire emergencies! 

The author of today's blog post is Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil, AVSM, NM, Indian Navy (Retd) SUM 1982, the current Vice President of The Old Lawrencians Association. This is an updated version of an article he wrote a few years ago:-

A Red Post Box hanging forlornly on a wall screaming for a long overdue paint job seems unlikely to kick up a flurry of emotions. It was sad to note that the 'Next Clearance'  timing slot was empty - did this imply that 'snail mail'  was officially dead? I discovered this Post Box during a 3 hour walk around The Lawrence School, Lovedale, my Alma Mater. I once declared all teary eyed at the end of a speech, "Whatever I am today, is because  of The Lawrence School, Lovedale."  To which a collective shout rang out from a bunch of classmates, "You can't blame just one institution".'!!!

The art of letter writing for us began in the tiny classroom in the 4th Grade under the watchful eyes of Mrs V ENOS, English teacher par excellence.  She taught over 4 decades of Lawrencians their Ps and Qs including Arundhati Roy and several other greats in their chosen vocations. Every Monday afternoon was our letter writing session conducted by Mrs Enos. 

A diminutive figure in a dress,  hair perfectly combed, the picture of an English teacher of yore. Each kid suggested a point for inclusion in our missives to our folks.  The points that were selected were written on the blackboard in her amazing handwriting.   Then 30 kids in each section put pen to Inland letter and scrawled all the points. These included the weather, food,  games,  events of the week etc. The last paragraph was left to us for personal stuff... the  "How's my dog / cycle / kid sister?" etc..  She glanced through each letter to ensure it was neat and made sense.  If parents exchanged notes they would have seen that all kids wrote identical letters...  Akin to the painful forwards we receive on each WhatsApp group today.

In the 5th grade you were on our own.  Mrs Enos wasn't there to guide us through our letter writing.  She had taught us well and we went on though 5th grade.. and through our lives thereafter...  Writing good, polite letters through our lives.  There is a bit of Mrs Enos in our writing in each of us wherever we are.....  In fancy boardrooms,   operation theaters,  academic institutions,  the Bridges of Destroyers,  Sukhoi 30 cockpits,  T 90 tanks. She gave us Good and Bad marks for jobs well done and mess ups. Tiny  Blue and Red stars in her register that we craved for and feared respectively.  Swearing called for washing our mouths with soap. Even decades later the taste of Hamam soap is fresh in my mouth!  She gave equal importance to diction,  sentence formation, using the appropriate word etc.   The frantic request of a kid with a full tank , "Can I leave the class?" was answered with a caustic, "You can, but you may not!" 

                                               Mrs Enos at 101. Picture courtesy: Sangeetha Jairam, OL 1987.

 Each of our letters were taken in large bundles and faithfully posted in this tiny red post box below Prep School.  The Pin Code 643003 is etched in our minds from the countless times we wrote it on the reverse side of the blue Inland letters handed to us each week. Many years later I found ALL the letters my elder brother, sister and I wrote home carefully tagged year wise and stored away by our Mom.  

Receiving letters was a huge high in Boarding Schools.  Every couple of days the House Master would come in with a bunch of letters into our dormitory and some 50 of us would crowd around him, praying for our names to be called out as he handed out letters.   Letters seem as archaic and passe as hieroglyphics in King Tuts tomb.  Replaced quite abruptly by the epidemic of instant messaging.  What's app, kik, snap chat, line with their inane lexicon... LOL, OMG,  BRB and whatever.  

Mrs Enos is 101 years old now. She has undoubtedly seen these changes pan out before her  bespectacled eyes.  The joy of receiving a beautiful birthday card far outweighs the 100 msgs on various apps... Mostly forwards /copied lines.  

Goodbye,  Red Post Box. You served us well. Stand there bravely, as you have over the past half century. A silent reminder of the forgotten art of letter writing.  And yes, I promise to give you a fresh coat of paint on my next visit.

                                   Rear Admiral P G Pynumootil,  AVSM, NM, Indian Navy (Retd) 

                                       Picture courtesy: Philipose G Pynumootil, OL 1982. 

Editor's Note:

Admiral Pynumootil, a Seaking pilot, is an alumnus of The Lawrence School, Lovedale and the 67 Course, National Defence Academy. He has commanded INAS 330 and was the commissioning CO of INS Shikra. His surface tenures include command of Nashak, Kirpan and Brahmaputra, besides doing a tenure as Executive Officer, INS Delhi. He has undergone the Staff Course, Higher Air Command Course and the Royal College of Defence Studies course in London where he obtained a MA (International Studies) from Kings College. He was the Flag Officer Naval Aviation & Goa Area at the time of his retirement in April 2022.

Thanks Philipose for your post, and we look forward to more from you. I loved your use of the red post box as a prompt for this charming post! 

I would like to think the "Red Post Box" can trigger many more posts from OLs. Often, it's the little things in life that remain in our memories for years to come. What will provoke the next blog post in some OL somewhere? "Nattukais"? "Boys School Bananas", " Pichis" , "Cem", "Clock Tower", ?? ??

Should any OL wish to contribute a blog post, please write in to : olalovedale@gmail.com with "OLA-Glimpses Blog" in the Subject Line. Don't forget to mention your House and Year of Passing.