GHOST STORIES OF LOVEDALE

 

GHOST STORIES OF LOVEDALE 

The last three posts were part of a new series on Old Lawrencians who were In The Spotlight.  Today, we go back to general stuff. 

A quote from the famous writer, Ruskin Bond set me reminiscing. He said, "Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them! " In Lovedale, I don't think we had to go looking for ghosts as ghost stories were never in short supply.  We didn't have to find them, they found us!! 

They found us in a chilly, misty afternoon as you wandered in the area near Cem looking for "hill guavas", berries, or anything remotely edible. We could swear we saw wispy shadowy figures slink past. They found us as we came down from Nilgiri House to use the loo downstairs in the middle of the night, shivering in the cold- to shiver even more on hearing loud creaks as someone walked up the wooden steps leading up to Large Hall. 

In short, they found us in many places, most of all in our minds! 

                                        Picture Courtesy: OL Sangeetha Jairam

Being in Nilgiri House in the 1960s, our dormitory was the closest to the grand piano in the Large Hall. Boys swore that in the early hours of the morning they could hear someone play the piano. Not so loudly as to wake up everyone but so softly, so persistently, and yet so dramatically that the experience stayed with you for life. Some believed the nocturnal pianist was the ghost of an old piano master who had passed away on the job.Died in harness, as it were. Others believed it was no less than the gaunt, angular Sir Henry Lawrence stepping out of his impressive portrait that hung in the Large Hall. 

In our Junior School days, in an outbound camp, the late Mr M "Trout" Mukherjee scared the daylights out of us with such a gripping ghost story that I remember every detail of it even to this day. And, that was recounted 60 years ago!! For months after the camp, there were rumoured sightings of the main character of the story, a man who had one real leg and a peg-leg. 

Lawrencians, across generations have seen ghosts or have talked of/heard of ghosts that haunted certain areas of the school. Many stories centred around the cemetery in our campus, known simply as "Cem". This has been cleaned up a lot in recent times but in the 60s and 70s was largely unkempt. 

                                                    Pic Courtesy: OL Vinod Jayachandra

                                                   Picture Courtesy: School Archives

In our times, there were stories of the legendary "Sargie" Nicholls seen walking up or down the 67s, his dogs trailing behind him. His quarters were in the present Junior School and much of his work was in the Senior School, which made this story plausible. Such stories were so widely prevalent that they were even mentioned by the Headmaster Mr K I Thomas in one of his speeches. 

Ghost stories were not the exclusive privilege of the Boys’ School. The Girl’s School was built in 1911 and must have had its fair share of ghosts. 

Sita Bali wrote in The Lawrencian of July,1976.

 

"The girls school Chief Ghost (which is quite a post of honour) wears anklets, a silk saree, and carries a walking stick! would you believe that? The main job of this ghost is parading up and down the corridors, mind you, without waking the ayah who sleeps in the corridor, but terrifying the girls in the dorms. Its side job is to stop the girls who are trying to get to the toilet with menacing waves of its walking stick!!

Another ghost who did the rounds of the staff quarters near the Junior School was the ‘Lady in White’. Knocks on the door late at night revealed a beautiful lady in white. Interestingly, she would be soaked to the skin if it was not raining and be perfectly dry on a rainy night when it was pouring outside!

                                         Picture Courtesy:  OL Vinod Jayachandra

Ramanand, VIN 1970 has an interesting story in his blog. This is shared here with his permission.

 "My own Lovedale ghost story dates back to one evening nearly thirty years after I left school. I had gone to pick up my daughter, then in class eight, for the term break. We set out from Girls School well after dark in the midst of very heavy drizzle. Our destination was the Wellington Gymkhana Club for an overnight stay before we headed home to Hyderabad. We drove past the Flagstaff onto Bellie Gowder bridge over Lovedale station and thence onto Grant Duff road (it still goes by the same name).

By now the rain had picked up and it was pouring in sheets. The mountain mist made visibility very low reducing our speed to almost a crawl. Somewhere near Lena school where the road was at its narrowest with deep ruts on either side of the road I saw a lady dressed in a sari walking towards the car from the opposite direction. She would have been some thirty yards away and was walking right in the middle of the road. I further reduced my speed to almost a halt and waited for the lady to get off the road. Instead she continued walking in the middle of the road towards the car in a very defiant manner and showing no signs of making way for me. I got a good look at her and noticed that she was not using an umbrella and her clothes did not look as rain soaked as they should have been that evening. As she got closer I figured she had no intentions of getting off the road and she appeared to be walking straight into the car. And when she was just a few yards from the car I got a good look at her face. I felt her large saucer like eyes piercing through me in a kind of a glare that only an angry woman can give as if to say “You are trespassing in my territory".

And then the strangest thing happened. She took a few more steps and walked into the car and vanished or in sci-fi jargon she just dematerialised. My first instinct which I followed was to drive on as the road was now clear. As I engaged the gear started moving it dawned on me that I had seen something out of the ordinary – I turned my head around and saw nothing. By now I was sweating and my only thought was to make a quick escape before anything untoward happened- I did not know what. I made my way as quickly as I could and mercifully my mind was diverted as I had to concentrate on the difficult drive and did not stop till I reached the Ooty- Coimbatore highway .

My wife who was in the co- passenger’s seat admits that she saw the woman walking towards the car and she also confirmed the angry look but does not remember where she went or anything thereafter. She dismissed the whole incident as a figment of my imagination. My daughter claimed that she was dozing in the back seat and saw nothing. But when I told her what I saw she dismissed it and said “What’s the big deal? I have seen her before. She was an ayah in the Girls School kitchen and often visits the kitchen. She was murdered by her husband 100 years ago and is now looking to kill him!’

And so to this day I am wondering whether my wife dismissed the whole incident as a figment ofmy imagination to reassure me or even herself . And whether a thirteen year old school girl has the ability to so glibly spin a yarn or was she simply stating a fact. Or did my schoolboy ghost memories get the better of my imagination ? I will never know but I choose to believe that this was the closest I ever got to seeing one of the many resident ghosts of Lovedale."

Thanks, Ramanand, for sharing your story. 

For the rest of you, keep your eyes peeled and your wits about you when you next drive near Lovedale on a rainy day!! 

If you have a story to share, write in to us at: olalovedale@gmail.com with "For Team Glimpses" in the subject line. 

WHAT'S IN A NAME? THE MANY SIR HENRYS

 WHAT'S IN A NAME? THE MANY SIR HENRYS  

Like trends in fashion for clothes, there seem to be trends in names too! In the old days, many Hindu men and women in India were given the names of Gods and Goddesses. Virtually, every family had a Saraswathi or a Lakshmi, a Ram or a Lakshman!   These days a name is not considered au courant unless it starts with the alphabet A. Names like Aryaan, Ayushmaan, Aadhish, and Aadanya abound from Amritsar to Alappuzha! One parent smugly told me that a child gets more attention in class with a name starting with A. Much more, she pointed out, than one whose name starts with Y who probably languishes in the last row. 

Be that as it may, for every person his or her name is important. William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, summed it up with his " What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet” in Romeo and Juliet.

At one time. Henry was an immensely popular name in England. Its roots can be traced back to meaning "the ruler of the home" in old Frankish and Common Germanic. Indeed, there were as many as eight Kings of Britain by that name, the last of whom King Henry VIII ruled in the 16th century.

More relevant to us Old Lawrencians is that our school was named in the memory of a Henry : Major General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, KCB (1806-1857). 

 Picture Courtesy: OL Farrokh Chothia

Squeezing in a bit of  history, it is interesting to note that from 1857 till date,  4 out 7 Barons Lawrence of Lucknow were named Henry-  obviously  after him. 

To honour Sir Henry, a Baronetcy was created after his death in 1857. Please note that there are seven Baronetcies created after persons called Lawrence! Our interest is in the Lawrence of Lucknow baronetcy. The last word on the British aristocracy is Debrett's as readers of P G Wodehouse would know so well.

Sir Henry's eldest son, Sir Alexander Hutchinson Lawrence (1838-1864) was created 1^st Baron Lawrence of Lucknow.

In 1864, he was succeeded by his son, Sir Henry Hayes Lawrence who became the 2nd Baron. He lived till 1898 but as he did not have any male heir, on his demise, the Baronetcy passed on to his uncle Sir Henry Waldemar Lawrence (1845-1908) who became the 3^rd Baron Lawrence.

 

With the demise of Sir Henry Waldemar Lawrence in 1908, the title passed on to his son, Sir Alexander Waldemar Lawrence (1874 to 1939) who became the 4^th Baron Lawrence.

 

Sir Alexander, in turn, was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Henry Eustace Waldemar  Lawrence (1905-1967) as the 5^th Baron Lawrence. This Sir Henry was not married so on his demise in 1967, his younger brother, Sir John Waldemar Lawrence (1907-1999) became the 6^th Baron Lawrence.

 

The 6^th Baron did not have any son while his younger brother George Alexander Lawrence (1910-1999) did. The title therefore passed to- the current Sir Henry-  his nephew Sir Henry Peter Lawrence (b. 1952) who became the 7^th Baron Lawrence of Lucknow! 

Coming back to names, in the United States, naming the son after the father is fairly common as exemplified by John F Kennedy Jr. When the child has the same name as his father and grandfather he becomes XYZ III as in John D Rockefeller III. I read that in the United States there is no law against naming any number of children with the same name- it causes confusion but is not illegal.

The famous boxer, George Edward "Big George" Foreman  named all five of his sons George Edward Foreman.  Not satisfied with this, one of his daughters was named Georgetta!  In apparently another variation of the naming convention, his eldest son became George Jr, and the next few- George Edward Foreman III, IV, V, and VI respectively!!!

In his case, George is his given name or Christian name and Foreman is his surname or family name. Amongst the Christians in Kerala, I have come across boys having the same Christian name and surname! My friend, "Geech" Koshy Koshy, NIL, Class of 1965 springs to mind.  In my life time, I have also come across  Mammen C Mammen, George K George. and Ittiyera G Ittiyera -names in the Jerome K Jerome mode. There must be some explanation for this phenomenon. This blog post by Rocksea says names are repeated due to a convention where the eldest son/daughter is named after the paternal grandfather/grandmother, the second child is named after the maternal grandfather/grandmother and so on. The authors of this blog post say that only around 25 names for males and 10 for girls are in common use.

As the English writer Charles Caleb Colton wrote long ago, "The inheritance of a distinguished and noble name is a proud inheritance to him who lives worthy of it." 

Here's wishing all of you and your families a Happy and Healthy New Year! 

SIR HENRY LAWRENCE: AN APPRECIATION

 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE: AN APPRECIATION 

I was in Lovedale from 1959 to 1967. During my years in the Prep and Junior Schools, I can't recall hearing anything about Sir Henry Lawrence, in whose memory our School was founded in 1858. It was only when I entered the Senior School that one came across Sir Henry, through his portrait in the Large Hall and through a sculpture on the front lawns made of him by our Sculpture Master, the highly talented Mr P E "Pet" Thomas. 

Photo courtesy: Farrokh Chothia, ARA 1982. 

It was in this time that we read in our History class about the "Indian Mutiny" of 1857. We had a text book the name of which I still remember, more than 50 years after I last read it: " The Advanced History of India" by R C Majumdar, H C Raychaudhary, and K Datta. It described the mutiny in units of the East India Company's Bengal Army, which had far reaching consequences. In modern day India, the uprising of 1857 is referred to as The First War of Independence or The Indian Rebellion. 

Sir Henry Lawrence was then the Chief Commissioner for Oudh, stationed at Lucknow. He died defending the Residency in July 1857 where he exhorted his men to " Never Give In". This became- and continues to be- the motto of The Lawrence Schools. 

 In 1858, the British Government formally took over the governing of the provinces managed by the The East India Company . Two decades later, Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India in 1877.  Clearly, the British had come a long way since they first made their appearance by starting a trading station at Surat in Gujarat in 1608. Thereafter they continued to rule India till we got Independence in August 1947.  

In Book 1 of " Glimpses of a Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale" we have covered Sir Henry and his life in considerable detail. His love for Honoria Marshall who became his wife and their life together featured in the Valentine's Day Special of the OL Assembly in February, 2021. 

Amongst the Old Lawrencian community of today, Wing Commander Joseph Thomas, VM, Indian Air Force (Retd) , Aravalli House, 1957, was, to the best of our knowledge,  the first to show serious interest in Sir Henry.

He wrote two detailed articles about Sir Henry Lawrence and The Lawrence Schools, in the popular website Guftagu in 2014 which you can read using the links given: 

• "Sir Henry Lawrence" by Joseph Thomas
• "The Lawrence Schools" by Joseph Thomas 

Recently, I had the pleasure of conversing with him about Sir Henry in a podcast titled:

• Sir Henry Lawrence, An Appreciation: Conversation with Wg Cdr Joseph Thomas, VM, IAF (Retd). 

As I write this, I recognize that Sir Henry lived, worked and died in a world very different from ours today. His life -and the events that took place in 1857 -have been extensively written about in innumerable books. Needless to say, there  are different points of view while looking at historical events. 

 For those interested in more detailed reading :- 

• "Lawrence of Lucknow, 1808-1857: Being The Life of Sir Henry Lawrence Retold From His Private and Public Papers" by J L Morrison,. G Bell & Sons, London, 1934
• " The Life of Sir Henry Lawrence" by Major General Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes & Herman Merivale ( In 2 Volumes), Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1872.
• "History of The Indian Mutiny, 1857-59" John Kaye & G B Malleson, first published 1897

Prem Rao

NIL 1967 

SIR HENRY, LADY LAWRENCE & THE LAWRENCE ASYLUMS

 SIR HENRY, LADY LAWRENCE & THE LAWRENCE ASYLUMS 

Honoria Lawrence's role in shaping the character and temperament of Henry Lawrence was immense as also her contributions to his literary and philanthropic work. This of course included establishing the Lawrence Aslyums for the children, especially orphans, of British soldiers posted in India. 

The Lawrences first thought about setting up asylums for the children of British soldiers in India when Henry was the Resident in Nepal from 1843. 

An interesting fact is that Lady Lawrence was probably the first white woman to step into the remote kingdom of Nepal. 

Frederick Gibbon wrote, "As Major Lawrence and his wife sat in their balcony at Khatmandu, drinking in the pure bracing air and rejoicing in the beauty around them, their hearts went out to the little ones in the plains, the children of the European soldiers who were being dragged about from cantonment to cantonment , their strength and energy sapped by the sun, wasted by fever, sickening in the stifling night time; and their desire to benefit and safeguard the children now began to take definite shape " Source:  "The Lawrences Of The Punjab",by Frederick Gibbon,: published by J M Dent & Co, 1908. 

                                                         Henry Lawrence (1806-1857)

                                                 Honoria Lawrence ( 1808-1854) 

They developed the idea and saw their dream come true with the establishment of the first Lawrence Asylum in Sanawar in 1847. Naturally, this got the most attention from Sir Henry and Lady Lawrence as it was planned and built in their lifetime.  

Sir Henry and Lady Honoria were largely instrumental in framing the rules for this asylum, including determining the priority list for admission covered in the previous blog post.

Ed: While we refer to them as Sir Henry and Lady Honoria, for convenience, it must be clarified that he was actually knighted in 1848

The Lawrence Asylum at Sanawar was formally inaugurated by Lord Hardinge, the Governor General and Viceroy of India on October 28, 1848 . Sir Henry was closely involved in its management till his death in 1857. This, the oldest of The Lawrence Asylums, continues till this day as the Lawrence School, Sanawar.

 Sir Henry moved to then Rajputana as The Governor General's Agent in 1853. He and his wife actively oversaw the establishment of The Lawrence Asylum at Mount Aboo (present day: Mount Abu) till tragedy struck in January 1854. Lady Honoria Lawrence passed away on January 15, aged 45. The Asylum was formally inaugurated on December 12, 1854, almost as a memorial to her. It was the smallest of The Lawrence Asylums and finally closed down in December 1950. 

His next assignment saw Sir Henry move to Lucknow as the Chief Commissioner of the Oudh province. It was here that he died in 1857. The Asylum in Ootacamund established in 1858 was the first to be set up in his memory. He had always wished that an asylum be set up in the Nilgiri Hills in South India similar to the ones set up in Sanawar and Mount Abu. This, today, is Our School- The Lawrence School, Lovedale. 

The fourth Lawrence Asylum in British India was established in Ghora Gali near Murree in 1860, again in the memory of Sir Henry Lawrence. This went to Pakistan following the Partition of India in 1947. It continues till today as  The Lawrence College. 

Sir John William Kayne wrote about Sir Henry: " There is a monument to his memory in the great metropolitan cathedral of St Paul; but the grandest monument of all is to be found in the Asylums which bear his name."

Source:  “Lives of Indian Officers: Major D’Arcy Todd; Sir Henry Lawrence; General Neill; General John Nicholson” by Sir John William Kayne; published by David Bogue, 1880 

The monument referred to by Sir John is the one made by J G Lough in St Paul's Cathedral, London. It shows Sir Henry and Lady Lawrence welcoming orphan children with open arms. 

This picture is from The Victorian Web: Literature, History, and Culture in the Age of Victoria. published with the kind permission and courtesy of Dr Jaqueline Banerjee. 

 

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 150^th 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 60^th and 50^th 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. 

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