I enjoy reading all the contributions to this blog but I have to say, I really enjoyed ‘Down Memory Lane’. I couldn’t recognise the faces but everyone looked so familiar. We may not know each other but we have so much in common!
Let me attempt to share the 2007 GMS sports day with you… I have in the past found that ‘going back’ is usually a difficult experience because things are never the same and usually I have perceived a deterioration. However, this was not the case in ‘going back’ to the 2007 Sports Day. It was fantastic. We must remember that GMS now goes to Class 10, so the boys are younger than we were in the ‘old days’ - as a result, records are slower and distances are also further… It was still a great event with all the special features. Have a close look at the program.
The enduring records have got to be classified as ‘great’. Foremost among those is the name K.Wallace. It was so fantastic to see him do a lap of honour – still looking so fit and well – a great athlete and a great person.
I would like to draw your attention to another name which may go unnoticed - A.Gazi – a very special friend of mine. We were in class together and then did our B.Com together at St.Xaviers in Kolkata. I used to often ride over to his place on my bicycle and ring the bell and his mother would then announce “Bablooo, Richard has arrived…”. The name stuck and I will always know him as ‘Babs’. We spent some very special times together pre and post the 2007 reunion.
In those earlier days I don’t think I ever realised the importance of those relationships – friends… My ‘baton message’ will be something along those lines … And yet, we seem to leave the learning about relationships to chance. There is a good argument to attend to in the school curriculum … but then we would want to test it in an exam … maybe… Maybe, we need to model it in our own lives. I don’t feel comfortable saying that ... I feel I’m still learning…
So, sometime in the 80’s I remember feeling at home and yet so far away from home … I bemoaned my lack of contacts back in India. I remember thinking about all those people who meant so much to me at school and yet, I was not in contact with them. So, I had a fad – I put an advertisement in the Kolkata Statesman: "Arun Gazi, Goethals Memorial School 1963, please contact Richard Johnson ….". Mita, Babs’s wife tells me that she happened to be reading the paper and the name caught her eye… Isn’t it amazing. I visited Kolkata in the 90's and caught up with Babs, his wife and his young son and daughter. I am the ‘godfather’ of his daughter whom I met again in ’07, a young woman now, just graduated and his son, a young career guy with all ahead of him… I can’t describe the joy or put a value on the whole experience. These lasting relationships are priceless.
Please note (Sorry, but the scanned image appers somewhat blurred) that Arun (Babs) Gazi’s record still stands in the 110 m Hurdles! Here’s a picture of me in very good athletic company – on the left Arun (Babs) Gazi and on the right Brother Martin (Freddy)Fernandes
Then, there’s Pon Mei Son, not surprisingly, he still holds the record for the A Division 110 m Hurdles – 15.0 sec… Do you remember him? He was a silky smooth mover – poetry in motion…
Here’s a picture of the 1962 prefects. Pon Mei Son is in the back row, third from the left. Let’s try the other names … please correct me if I’m wrong… Front row: Rai (great full Back), Rath, Bro. Ponise, Gupta, Conroy – Back row: Singh, Johnson, Pon Mei Son, Sarkar.
1 comment:
Your photograph brings back many many memories
Pon Mei Son: I remember one of the goals he scored in one very important match, I don't remember which.He chested the ball, allowed it to drop, turned around and shot the ball into the goal.
Practising for the annuanl sports in ictoria. He used to run across the two upper fields through the garden. We used to measure our step againt his during the run and gauze in awe.
P Rath: His throw-in of the ball from the line would land right plum in front of the goal for his team players to head in.
K B Rai: He was really like a bull defending the goal in the bckline.
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