x cathedralite 2015

8/15/2019 X Cathedralite 2015

1/76

The Cathedral & John Connon Alumni Magazine

The

2015

www.catalumni.com

KitchenUnconfdentia

◆ SPOTLIGHTZoravar Gill

◆ NOSTALGIA Founder T. A. Savag

Michael Anderson

◆ EVENTS Amish Tripathi andAshwin Sanghi

exchange notes

◆ CLASS NOTES

Catching up withbatchmates

Cat alumni serving up success storie


2/76


3/76

ContentsPresident’s Report 2015 2

Principal’s Message 5

Cover story

Kitchen Unconfidential 10

Spotlight

Zoravar Gill 19 Lyla and Jamsheed Mehta 21

Nostalgia

Michael Anderson 23

.A. Savage 25

Out of the Box

Jamshyd Cooper 27

First Citizen

rishya Screwvala 29

Events

Founders’ Day 2014 30

Ronnie Screwvala’s book launch 32 History remastered with Amish ripathi 34

Special Project

Digital Archives 38

Teacher Updates

From the Staff Room 41

Reunions 43

Class Notes 49

EditorUdita Jhunjhunwala (ICSE 1984)

Editorial teamShyla Boga Patel (ISC 1969)Mitali Anand Kalra (ISC 1989)

Anang Agarwalla (ISC 2005)

BusinessRohita Chaganlal Doshi (ISC 1975)

Amit Advani (ISC 1994)

Editorial Support, Design and PrintingSpenta Multimedia Pvt. Ltd.

Anaita Vazifdar-Davar, Cyrus H. Merchant, Nikunj Parikh

On the cover (in alphabetical order): Aditya Parikh, Gaurav Goenka,

Neha Arya Sethi, Ranbir Batra, Tarini Mohindar, Urvaksh Hoyvoy,

Yohaan Dattoobhai, Zahir Goghavala a.k.a. NicoCover shoot location: courtesy Café Zoe, Mumbai

Photographer: Dhiman Chatterjee

This magazine is not for sale and is intended for internal circulation only. Any

material from this magazine may not be reproduced in part or whole without

written consent. Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the

individual authors and not necessarily those of the Publishers. The final decision

on all editorial content remains with the magazine editorial committee.

Published by The Cathedral and John Connon Alumni Association, 6, P.T. Marg,

Mumbai 400 001 and printed at Spenta Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., Peninsula Spenta,

Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013.

www.spentamultimedia.com

Do write in with your feedback and ideas to [email protected]

10

23 29

3834

47

30


4/76

2 Te X-Cathedralite 2015

o my fellow alumni,

A

s I sit down to mull over my fifth report as

President, it is with a deep sigh. With both

kids now having flown the Cathedral coop,I feel strangely orphaned. I realise that the umbilical

cord has finally been severed. Tat is the nature of

the strong bond and hold School has over us. Tere

is something adhesive about the need to remain

connected as parents or alumni. Being an active part of

Catalumni not only reassures me as I stay abreast with

our alma mater but it allows me the luxury of basking

in the successes of the ex-Cathedralite universe.

And there have been many opportunities. We were

lucky to be able to host two book events this year.

Members of the Executive Committee 2015-16

Gautam Shewakramani, Sundeep Ahuja, Rohita Chaganlal Doshi,

Mitali Anand Kalra, Mukeeta Jhaveri, Shyla Boga Patel, Chitra Rajkumar, Anang Agarwalla

Ronnie Screwvala (1972) with Dream with Your

Eyes Open took us through the highs and lows of

his entrepreneurial journey in the worlds of media,V, Bollywood, online shopping and kabaddi. Ten

Ashwin Sanghi (1985) coaxed Amish ripathi

(1990) to take us on another journey through their

world of mythology and morality, fiction, fantasy

and philosophy via the latter's latest novel Scion of

Ikshvaku. It is ironic that neither author had any

literary ambitions initially, yet had the confidence to

explore, conquer and then share with us new domains.

You will see as you turn these pages many other stories

being scripted in unusual — even alien — spaces.

President’s Report 2015


5/76

2015 Te X-Cathedral

The Executive Committee looks forward to

your active involvement with the Association.

Please do contact us on the Cathedral

Alumni Helpline (99305 77120) or through

our website www.catalumni.com. You can

reconnect with us by registering/updating your

details at www.catalumni.com

Executive Committee

(2015 – 16)

President

Mukeeta Jhaveri

(ISC ’83, Savage)

Co-Vice Presidents

Gautam Shewakramani

(ISC ’01, Savage)

Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen

(ISC ’97, Barham)

Treasurer

Sundeep Ahuja

(ICSE ’77, Palmer)

Co-Treasurer

Shonar Lala Chinoy

(ISC ’90, Palmer)

Secretary

Mitali Anand Kalra

(ISC ’89, Wilson)

Committee Members

Mrs. Meera Isaacs

(ex-ofcio)

Viral Doshi

(ISC ’75, Palmer)

Shyla Boga Patel

(ISC ’69, Savage)

Chitra Rajkumar(ISC ’56, Savage)

Rohita Chaganlal Doshi

(ISC ’75, Wilson)

Udita Jhunjhunwala

(ICSE ’84, Barham)

Amit Advani

(ISC ’94, Palmer)

Prakash Thadani

(ISC ’69, Savage)

Pragni Kapadia

(ISC ’94, Palmer)

Anang Agarwalla

(co-opted)

(ISC '05, Barham)

After 13 energetic frenetic sell-out years, the annual Manori

Summer School took a hiatus. We look forward to it in its new

blockbuster avatar next year, courtesy the indefatigable Shyla BogaPatel. Te eachers’ Medical Benefit Scheme is now five years old and

going strong under the care of Bibhash Asar and Shyla, benefitting

53 immensely grateful teachers and staff. Please do continue to

donate generously.

Our 154th Founders’ Day 2014 was hectic. In the prettily decorated

pews of St. Tomas’ Cathedral sat the reunion classes of 1954 and

’64 with eyes moist and lumps in their throats as they savoured the

memories and camaraderie. Tis was followed by a raucous coffee

morning in the Middle School, or the Girls’ School as it still stubbornlyis to some. Tey returned with the latest issue of Te X-Cathedralite,

another well-earned feather in the cap of Udita Jhunjhunwala

and team.

Meanwhile, out on the (Hindu Gym) maidan while palm shadows

lengthened, sadly the Old Boys lost in the last over despite a valiant

opening partnership of 90 runs by Dinesh Advani and Rushab Vora. On

the Willingdon Club greens this year, 24 teed off with Jamsheed Mehta

and Behram Gamadia taking pole positions. A big thank you to the

organisers of both eagerly awaited fixtures.It gives me great joy and pride to announce that the Cathedral

Digital Archive we have been working on with Head Librarian Malti

Tiagarajan and Nadish Naoroji (1969) has made great progress.

We owe them and Mrs. Isaacs a deep debt of gratitude for steering

and supporting this herculean endeavour, Gautam Shewakramani for

his tech ammo and ringleader Shyla for ferreting out treasures from

all over the world. We now count on all of you to continually feed and

enrich the archive by sharing material and tagging photographs.

Tank you, my Executive Committee, for all that you do with suchenthusiasm and grace through the year to support me personally and

all the Association’s initiatives: magazine, website, Medical Benefit

Scheme, events, accounts, fund raising, the whole smorgasbord that

keeps Catalumni going.

~ Mukeeta Jhaveri née Kataria

(ISC 1983)


6/76


7/76

2015 Te X-Cathedral

Principal’s Message

Shri Devendra Fadnavis,Honourable Chief Minister,Maharashtra, and Mrs.

Fadnavis, members of the Board ofGovernors, parents, grandparents,

boys and girls, welcome to our 155th Annual Day, where we celebratethe performance of the School inall its myriad avatars and applaudthe achievements of our youthfulgame changers. Again, the Schoolhas been ranked first in Mumbaiand Maharashtra and second in thecountry. We need to change the latter.

Tis is the time to acknowledgethe many people who contributeto the well-being of our students

and the excellence of our School.Foremost among them is our Boardof Governors and our Chairman,Mr. . Tomas. We are blessed bytheir wisdom, goodwill, progressiveoutlook and vision.

Te end of term rolls around withits share of change and farewells.Mrs. Gangrade from the Seniorsection retires after 12 years. She willbe missed for her motherly and gentlepresence and her ability to enliven her

Hindi classes.Te second person who has madea difference to thousands of lives isMrs. Komalam Kumar. She is quiteliterally a one-woman phenomenon,who has worked as the right-handwoman of all Vice-Principals since1980. Her knowledge of the Boardand School exams, admissionregisters, rules, regulations andtimetables is unbelievable. Her soundcommon sense has stood the School

Annual Speech Day —2014-15

Mrs. Meera Isaacs, Principal

in good stead. She also conjures up amean Malayali meal! Both these goodladies go surrounded by a lifetime ofaffection, good wishes and prayers.

We also remember those who have

had to leave us for other reasonsduring the course of the year.

A former Head Girl said ratheremotionally in her Farewell Speech:“Tere is a driving spirit within thesewalls that pushes you to reach forthe stars and to believe that theyare yours to take.” We see this beliefsystem in operation at the BoardExaminations. Of the 143 candidateswho appeared for the ICSE exam, 99students got 90 per cent and above,

34 between 81 and 89 per cent and10 between 70 and 79 per cent. Atthe ISC, of the 107 candidates whoappeared, 52 attained 90 per cent andabove, 42 got between 81 and 89 percent, 12 between 70 and 79 per cent.

Our students who aspire to wingtheir way to universities abroadcontinue to maintain high SAscores, with a mean SA Reasoningscore of around 2000 out of amaximum of 2400; a good 700

points above the worldwide mean ofapproximately 1488.I move on to the Advanced

Placement (AP) Courses: Currently,we offer 17 AP courses at our School;145 students appeared for 234 APexaminations in May 2014; 50 percent achieved the perfect score of 5.

Of the 111 students who appearedfor their ISC Examinations thisyear, 65 have their sights set oninstitutions of higher education

overseas, the majority to theundimmed effulgence of the US,while 44 opted more thriftily forundergraduate degrees in India.

Tanks to our Career Counsellor

Mrs. Sudarshana Shukla’sunrelenting industry.

Te excellence of our ArtDepartment, headed by Mr. N. Das,in his suitably bohemian shirts,is well-recognised, with a numberof prestigious Art and DesignSchools not only visiting us butalso wooing our students withbeguiling scholarships. In fact, wehave just concluded the formalitiesof a Summer Course with the Arts

University Bournemouth.Each section of the School,from the Pre-Primary onwards,is carefully calibrated to be thescaffolding for the next until finallythe students erupt into the blazeof opportunities that is the SeniorSchool. So, while I may dwell mostlyon the achievements of the Seniorsection, I cannot emphasise enoughthe meticulous labour of love thatgoes into polishing and refining ouryoungsters into the kind of peoplethat we, as a school, value.

Let me begin with theopportunities given in Scienceand Mathematics. Our teamsparticipated in a week-long residentialprogramme at the Sunburst BrainCamp conducted by the NationalUniversity of Singapore, wherethey presented a research paperon “Memory and Learning”; fiveStd. 12 students represented India


8/76


9/76

2015 Te X-Cathedral

Our girl athletes gave a newmeaning to the word ‘Girl power’by taking up the challenge to be arich source of inspiration to othersat the Inter-school AISM AthleticsCompetition. Teir prowess saw thembeing selected to compete at theNational level. Te Karate firmamentcontinues to glow with many stars.Te total medal tally for the year fromvarious championships stands at 63Gold, 57 Silver and 63 Bronze.

We are conscious of the fact that ourchildren have practically all that theymay wish for and more, while many inour country have next to nothing.

At the core of the School’sactivities is the Community Service

programme, which is ably run by theInteract Club at the Senior School andsubstantially supported by the IAYPand Nature Club. Every section of theSchool subscribes to what MotherTeresa said: “At the end of life, wewill be judged by ‘I was hungry andyou gave me something to eat, I wasnaked and you clothed me’.”

Te Junior and Middle Schoolstake this initiative further. Tis year,the Juniors had a superb project

on Values, which was an effort thatimpressively integrated every aspectof the Junior School through aMultiple Intelligence Skills Map. Anumber of disadvantaged childrenwere helped through NGOs such asHamara Foundation, Muktangan,Seva Sadan, Oscar Foundation, DoorStep School and Magic Bus.

Te Middlers have been especiallyopen-hearted this year. Te Door StepSchool visits them every Tursday

to spend one afternoon of fun andsharing. Te children voluntarilycollected almost four and a halflakhs, which they decided to allot toHelpAge India, Salaam Baalak, AlertIndia, Indian Cancer Society andDignity Foundation.

Te Senior School, under the ablestewardship of Mrs. Latha Balaji,drives Community Service to anotherlevel altogether by not only collectingfunds but by contributing time and

effort on a weekly basis throughoutthe school year. In ilangwadi districtof rural Maharashtra, they made andlaid bricks for three village homes.

Tis year, the first-ever residentialcamp of the Interact Club waslaunched. From December 18 to 21,the students stayed at Govardhan Eco

Village and helped build a securityoutpost from scratch. Members ofthe Interact Club planned, designed

and built this outpost. Te youngmembers embodied the Club’s spiritof adventure by willingly churningeven cow dung.

Te Club also received a citationfrom the Rotary Club for providingexemplary monetary support ofR21 lakhs to the victims of thehorrific floods in Kashmir. In fact, amember told me that our children hadshamed many Rotarians into delvinginto their own deep pockets. Several

fundraisers were organised for acidattack victims, the erry Fox Run andother deserving causes.

Te Red Cross is in the processof building two schools in flood-devastated Uttarakhand in the nameof the Cathedral School, using fundscontributed by our students in theform of a whole school donation ofR45 lakhs.

ogether with all the superb workthat the Art Department does, it also

has a splendid exhibition of the Artstudents’ work — both canvases andcontemporary thought-provokinginstallations. Te students raised thesubstantial sum of R1,67,000, whichwill be disbursed for a worthwhilecause of their choice.

While the Reach CambridgeSummer programme has nowbecome an old staple for the School,where senior students get the

opportunity to study a wide rangeof subjects at the fabled Britishuniversity town, other perennials arethe Sunburst Youth Camp culturalexchange in Singapore, and Eumindwith the Netherlands.

Tis year, we added three more toour already overflowing kitty:1. Te School signed a Memorandum

of Understanding with theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania.Both parties intend to focus on

higher education collaboration,which will become the foundationfor future more formalpartnerships between a selectnumber of institutions of highereducation. Tis is a privilegelimited exclusively to our Schoolin India.

2. We were again the only schoolfrom India to be invited by theUnited Nations InternationalSchool (UNIS) to attend the 39th

Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Honourable Chief Minister, Maharashtra, chief guest at Speech Day


10/76



11/76

2015 Te X-Cathedral

Spotlight

Annual UNIS-UN Conference,held in March in the UN General

Assembly in New York. We hadthe unique privilege of listeningto the UN Secretary-General BanKi-moon’s opening address inthe historic precincts of the UNGeneral Assembly.

3. Te Japanese Government hasinvited 20 of our children who arescience- and technology-inclinedfor an eight-day, all-expenses-paidvisit to Japanese universities.More important than all this

is the fact that a long-cherisheddream is finally coming to fruition.Te Diploma Programme of theInternational Baccalaureate will be

rolled out in June 2015 with its firstcohort of students.

Te teachers have been engagedin IB workshops and training,curriculum planning, after-schoolteaching presentations so that theycan deliver the programme with thesurety of experienced professionals. Iknow that the toll has been heavy, butCathedral teachers are always morethan up to challenges. Tis was clearlyproved by the verification team who

were delighted by, and I quote, our“clarity of vision, sincerity of purposeand readiness of execution”. Teyfurther commented, “It was a privilegeto visit your school and an extremelyenjoyable experience. We have notvisited a more deserving school!”

I would like to make a specialmention of our Senior SchoolLibrarian, Mrs. Mila Chakrabarty,who realising what the DP wouldentail, even before I suggested

it, enrolled herself for an onlineprofessional development workshop,“Inquiry and the Librarian”, organisedby the International Baccalaureate.

At the same time, over the pasttwo years, Mrs. Malti Tiagarajan, ourHead Librarian, has been as busy as abeaver digitally archiving our 155-year-old history with meticulous precisionand joyful enthusiasm. I thank our

Vice-Principals, Mrs. J. Mayadas andMrs. N. Samuel, our Headmistresses,

Mrs. D. Bhattacharya, Mrs. S. Ganguly,Mrs. S. Lele and Mrs. R. alpade, our

Administrative Staff headed by ourdiminutive Bursar, Mrs. G. Malkani,and a special mention to Mrs. SandraDe Souza, my patient and loyalPersonal Assistant. Tey keep thegiant cogs of this School movingeffortlessly, with their efficiency,grace and willingness to give ofthemselves so tirelessly.

What can I say about our PA?Tank you to an absolutely superb,fun-loving and enthusiastic groupof young ladies and the lone,brave gentleman of the ExecutiveCommittee. Our alumni arealways a tremendous source of

support. Te Manori SummerSchool, a great success year afteryear, is the brainchild of ShylaBoga. Dr. Gokani, Barham HouseCaptain and Prefect of 1974, isconsidered a veritable rockstarwith the Std. 12s, who clamour forhis Leadership and CommunityService Camps.

Make the most of the years ahead;have the courage to strike out intounfamiliar territory, and createa life “that reflects your highestvalues, your deepest beliefs and yourgreatest dreams.”

(Tis speech has been edited due tospace constraints.)

In harmony with the spirit of tradition and enterprise, our 155-year-old institution is proud to offer the International BaccalaureateDiploma Programme (IBDP). Tis much-awaited two-year

programme was launched early this year with a batch of 25 students and22 teachers.

All stakeholders have quickly embraced the freedom and rigour thatthe programme affords. In addition to core subjects such as Teory of

Knowledge and Creativity, Activity and Service, the School is pleasedto offer a range of subjects under different groups — English Languageand Literature; Second Language options of French ab initio, Spanishab initio and Hindi B; History, Geography, Psychology, Economics andBusiness and Management; Biology, Physics, Chemistry; ComputerScience; Mathematics and Visual Arts. Subjects are offered at Higher andStandard Level. Students may also opt for Mathematics Studies.

Te staff comprises an IBDP coordinator, who comes with many yearsof IB experience, and a group of committed teachers from a backgroundin IB, ISC and other professional training courses. eam teaching ispractised in many subjects, further improving the teacher-student ratioas well as adding a new dynamic to classroom interaction.

Classrooms and laboratories, currently in the Senior School building,are well equipped with the requirements of this progressive curriculum.With regular professional training subject workshops, technologyseminars and a newly furbished e-library having a wealth of resourcesliterally at your fingertips, the transition into the new curriculum hasbeen exciting yet smooth.

With plans to move to a new location, not too far from the hallowedcorridors of this beautiful edifice, the air of enthusiasm and expectationis palpable.

~ Gauri MukhiHead of English Department

IB at Cathedral

Principal’s Message


12/76

E x-Cathedralites can be foundin all parts of the world andacross all fields. Te restaurant

industry in Mumbai is no differentand many ex-Cathedralites havecontributed to revolutionising thisspace. Each of the restaurateursinterviewed had a unique story and,surprisingly, only one has had anyculinary training. Teir love for food

Cover story

Kitchen UnconfdentialThese ex-Cathedralites are cooking up a storm

brought them into this line and thispassion has helped them create theirown niche and revel in the successthey currently enjoy. Here, we focuson those who have a hands-on, dailyinvolvement with their restaurants,from conception to menu design,cooking and day-to-day operations.

Jay Singh (JSM Corp), KarlKothavala (Universal Kebab Kona) and

Rohan alwar (Ellipsis) are just a fewof the ex-Cathedralite restaurateurs wewere unable to contact. Te 13 formerstudents featured in this special storywere happy to share their experiences,lessons, frustrations and the joysof running a restaurant. Tey werealso delighted to have a mini reunionduring a photo shoot at Café Zoe,Mumbai.


D h i m a n C h a t t e r j e e

From L to R: Aditya Parikh,Urvaksh Hoyvoy, Neha Arya Sethi,Yohaan Dattoobhai, Zahir Goghavala a.k.a. Nico,Ranbir Batra, Gaurav Goenka, Tarini Mohindar


13/76

Cover story

Aditya Parikh (ISC 1999, Savage)Director at Aqaba, Paninaro and Pronto

Frustrated with the lack of healthy,non-messy and inexpensive foodoptions in Mumbai, Aditya Parikhdecided to start the food chainPaninaro and then take over Pronto.He had recently returned to Mumbaiafter giving up his banking career andculinary exploits in New York andbelieved he could make a mark on the food industry inMumbai with offerings that are easy to eat and delicious.“Part was love and a part of it was necessity,” Aditya statesof his foray into this space.

Most recently, he opened Aqaba at Peninsula BusinessPark, Lower Parel, which offers an expansive menu thatincludes Mediterranean delights at the affordable price

point that the restaurant has set. It is one of the fewrestaurants that not only has separate vegetarian andnon-vegetarian cooking spaces but completely separatekitchens. Aditya manages the marketing, strategy andfinance in addition to his operational responsibilities. Hehas discovered the importance of being open to learningfrom those around him and accepting that every daycomes with new lessons.

Aditya says he is a “fussy eater” whose biggest fear is“having the same food daily”; it was his love and passionfor good food that led him toward the success he currentlyenjoys. While eating at other establishments, Aditya finds

himself critical on pricing but more sympathetic than hepreviously was towards the staff.

AD Singh (ISC 1976, Wilson) Managing Director, Olive Bar and Kitchen

Few would be aware that restaurant pioneer ADSingh has no culinary training but, instead, adegree in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College,Pennsylvania. He gives credit to destiny for his success inthe restaurant business, which he stumbled into throughhis love and craving for great desserts. Just Desserts(1990) was his first venture, which served desserts by theslice with an accompaniment of jazz music.

oday, AD has a number of iconic restaurants includingOlive Bar and Kitchen and Soul Fry; he has been involvedin the gastropub Monkey Bar andTe Fatty Bao. His newest restaurantchain, SodaBottleOpenerWala, has justopened a branch in Mumbai. AD’s rolehas changed over the years from being

hands-on to giving strategic directionand focusing his attention on his newventures or on any issues that need tobe addressed across his spectrum ofestablishments.

“Success is 99 per cent perspirationand 1 per cent inspiration,” says

AD, whose biggest challenge hasbeen navigating the existing bureaucratic structure thatrestaurateurs face in India. He states that restaurateursare not the best company to dine with, as they tend to beoverly critical; however, he is appreciative when he eats out,

as he knows firsthand how difficult it is to run a successfulrestaurant. AD has also learned that people are not lookingfor the latest trend and fad when it comes to food; they maytry the newest place to see what the fuss is about but willeventually go back only to places that have delicious food.

Gaurav Goenka (ICSE 1997, Barham) Managing Director, Mirah Group

W hile pursuing a Business degree at theUniversity of Wales, Gaurav Goenkawas exposed to a plethora of restaurants andbecame aware of the vacuum that existed inthe food space back home. While Mumbai atthat time had classic restaurants, expensive

restaurants in 5-star hotels and generic coffeeshops, there were few concept places andGaurav decided that he wanted to make hismark by establishing something “new andbuzzing.” He had previously gained experiencein hospitality while working with his family’s hotel chain,Citrus Check Inns.

With this under his belt, Gaurav moved back to Mumbaiand entered the restaurant space with Rajdhani. His visionwas based on creating a scalable model with a focus onthe perfect packaging. Tis included the concept, style,staff and, of course, great food. Te Mirah Group has now

expanded to include Falafel’s, Café Mangii, MadOver Donuts, Masala Library and Te UnitedSports Bar and Grill and has an associationwith Smoke House Deli and Social. Gaurav’sresponsibilities include location scouting,conceptualising and business development. He

finds that keeping his team motivated is crucial,as his employees are his brand ambassadors.

“Always be on the move and never becomplacent,” says Gaurav, while explaining thatone of the biggest challenges of his industry

is pre-empting the customer’s ever-changing tastes. Heloves eating out and is able to enjoy the vibe at a goodrestaurant without being comparative. Despite beliefs tothe contrary, Gaurav explains that the restaurant businessis not glamorous, nor are all restaurateurs good chefs,and, most important, “Mad Over Donuts’ donuts arenot fattening!”

2015 Te X-Cathedralit


14/76


www.vsdf.org

VinodSaryuDoshiFoundation

The ‘Vinod & Saryu Doshi Foundation’ is a non - profit, charity trustthat promotes and supports Art, Culture, Education and Community

“Within 5 years, the Vinod

Doshi Theatre festival

has come to be recognised as

the litmus test for

first-grade theatre.”

DR. GIRISH KARNAD, PLAYWRIGHT

“The Vinod Doshi TheatreFestival has revived theexperimental theatremovement in Maharashtra;it is of great value to youngplaywrights, directors andother rangkarmis.”

DR.MOHAN AGASHE, ACTOR

“One day, I will

be a professionalbasketball

player.”

MOHAMMED SHAN,5-YEAR-OLD PARTICIPANT AT A CHIP SUMMER CAMP

SUPPORTED BY THE VINOD & SARYU DOSHI

FOUNDATION

“I am the first girl in

my family to go to an

engineering college. After

completing a degree in

Computer Engineering, Iwill pursue my Master’s

from a U.S. University.

The Vinod & Saryu Doshi

Foundation gave me a

chance to dream big.” CHITRA WATWANI,

VINOD DOSHI-COEP MERIT SCHOLAR


15/76

Cover story

Gauri Devidayal (ISC 1999, Savage)Te able

W hen Gauri Devidayal and her husband first toyed with the idea of opening a restaurantin 2008, Gauri had little experience in the field “except for eating”, she says with alaugh. In fact, she had a Law degree from the University of London and had worked forPricewaterhouseCoopers for five years. Te restaurant was originally her husband’s idea. Afterspending 15 years in San Francisco, he was sure of one thing — bringing a bite of that city andits culinary experience back home to Mumbai.

With her background in law and finance, Gauri oversees most of the back office work ofaccounting and administration. However, what she enjoys most is interacting with the guests; infact, her greatest learning has been to be open to their views.

For those who glamorise the world of dining, here’s a sombre thought — Gauri finds it hardto relax and enjoy a meal anywhere now; she finds herself overly critical. And this extends to Teable as well. “It is not all just glamour and fun. It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life.”

Javed Murad (ISC 1999, Wilson) andKunjan Chikhlikar (ISC 1999, Palmer) Managing Partners, Te White Owl

Javed Murad(right) and KunjanChikhlikar’s friendshipand easy rapport datesback to their Cathedraldays. Tey both livedin the United Stateswhile completing theirundergraduate and MBA degrees and eventually foundthemselves back in Mumbai. Having travelled and lived

abroad, they developed a good sense of what the customer islooking for in a restaurant and were attracted to the idea ofcraft beer. Teir venture, Te White Owl, is a microbrewerywhere they manufacture their own beer and serve italongside a multitude of delicious food items.

While Javed and Kunjan were both hands-on duringconceptualisation, set-up and the initial operations, theynow have a team that has learned their objectives, leavingthem to focus on developing their brand and beer. Teirgreatest challenges have been the bureaucracy that existsin the restaurant business in India along with the manylevels of permissions and players involved. Tey have also

learned how to understand customers and their needs andsource the right talent to make their business a success.

Kunjan says he is easy to please when dining atother establishments but finds poor service upsetting,while Javed finds himself observing how others dealwith commonly faced problems. While the restaurantbusiness is an interesting place to be, they say it is neitherglamorous nor easy. “Bureaucracy in India is a challenge,especially for the restaurant business. Particularly afterliving abroad, it is not easy to navigate through,” explainsJaved. It is very hands-on and a great deal of time andcommitment is required to succeed.

Neha Arya Sethi (ISC 2003, Barham)Founder and CEO, Sweetish House Mafia

A fter obtaining an undergraduate degree in Financefrom the Wharton School of Business and workingas an investment banker, Neha Arya Sethi was sure ofone thing: she did not want to work in finance. She wasexploring entrepreneurial opportunities and baking as ahobby when her friends urged her to share her deliciouscookies. She felt it too risky to start a bakeshop but sentout some cookies in her Nano, with the encouragementof a friend who promised to use social media to get 20strangers to buy Neha’s cookies.

Neha received such a positive response that she found

herself spending more than eight hours in the kitchenthrice a week. She would send out only one type ofcookie and use social media to share the Nano’s location.Unconventionally, shechose not to revealwho she was, nor didshe take orders, whichhelped her succeed onher own terms. Shenow has two stores inMumbai and a kiosk atInox, Nariman Point.

Neha’s Sweetish House Mafia stores are a reflectionof her vision, which focuses on being comforting andwholesome, but not necessarily pretty. She serves sevenstandard cookies and one rotational one, as she is aproponent of the belief that people are more satisfied withtheir choices when they have fewer options. While Nehahas no formal culinary training, she remains in charge ofthe raw materials, R&D and social media. Her greatestchallenge? “Overcoming the expectation that I should bein a corporate job instead of making a career out of baking,which was once a hobby.”



16/76



17/76

Nikhil Chib (ISC 1990, Palmer) Busaba and BusaGo

“I like working with my hands; I could probably have even been a bricklayerin a construction company or a masseur on a California beach!” saysNikhil Chib. At an early age, travelling with his mother on her work tripsexposed him to cuisines from around the world; it was no surprise that incollege he was flipping burgers and selling crêpes from his dorm room!

It was street food that totally captivated Nikhil. “It epitomises the tastebuds of the people. Good food can be had anywhere, be it in a home in Kerala,off a houseboat on the Mekong Delta, a soi in Bangkok or a Michelin restaurantin Paris.” Tus was born BusaGo (with three branches currently) — “a quick,healthy, inexpensive way to enjoy the authentic flavours of Asia.”

What is not his responsibility at the restaurant? We realise quickly that hebelieves in being a part of every nitty-gritty detail in that khowsuey! And hasit been a learning experience, a challenging one? Of course, nothing is easy, and ego has no place inthis business. Nikhil has waited hours for licences from the BMC, dished out food and taken orderswhen his staff hasn’t turned up. It’s a 365-day business.

Ranbir Batra (ISC 2003, Wilson) New Yorkers, Mumbai; Frisco, Pune

“Being a fourth-generation restaurateur, I guess it was in my genes,” saysRanbir Batra, who grew up in his family’s establishments. After pursuinga Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Sciences at Kendall College, Ranbir workedfor many prestigious chefs and eateries in Chicago but finally came home anddecided to take the existing family restaurant, New Yorkers, Mumbai, to newlevels and open a couple of his own. Te task is two-fold — with New Yorkers,Mumbai, it’s about replication and consistency and with Frisco, Pune, he’stried a new twist with comfort food.

With his global experience, Ranbir muses that India has people with diversetaste buds and his challenge has been to appeal to all of them. When we askhim about myths in the industry, he throws us a curve ball — All low-fat foodis not healthy and quit fooling yourself that “margarine is a healthy option tobutter; it is not!”

arini Mohindar (ISC 1993, Wilson)Café Zoe

How did this lovely lady happen upon the restaurant business? “Purechance!” laughs arini Mohindar. When she and her partner, JeremieHorowitz, stumbled upon the space in Lower Parel that’s now Café Zoe, theyknew it had to be converted into “a café where people can feel at home andenjoy quality food at reasonable prices in a beautiful environment.” arinialso envisioned “a cultural hub and a place for community with a calendar ofinteresting events.”

“en years of the advertising industry and a lot of common sense” hasserved arini well. Teir endeavour has always been to uphold internationalstandards and arini and her partners make sure they’re involved witheverything at the restaurant “from clearing tables to arranging flowers totasting wines and managing the accounts.” Attention to detail is what she cites as her motto andthis proves to be the challenge as well, as her biggest grouse is that it’s difficult to find people whodon’t have a chalta hai attitude to their work.

Cover story




18/76


Urvaksh Hoyvoy(Left in Std. 8. 1984, Wilson)Parsi-da-Dhaba

F

ood is often nostalgic and Urvaksh Hoyvoy expressesthis sentiment as he cites the mission behind

Parsi-da-Dhaba — to cook traditional Parsi and Iranirecipes the way he ate them as a child. He wanted othersto experience this unique blend of Persian, Indian,Portuguese and French cuisines. His training came in theform of recipes passed down through the generations.His great-grandmother sold tiffins and his grandfatherwas the founder of the famous Parsi Dairy Farm. Infact, initially after returning from college in the U.S.A.,Urvaksh worked with Parsi Dairy Farm. One of his firstbusiness ventures was Te Green Grocer. “Long beforedotcoms delivered vegetables at doorsteps, we were doing it in 1995,” he says.

Te restaurant is located on National Highway 8 at Varwada, as Urvaksh

wanted to give travellers a space where they could “rest, rejuvenate and revelin comfort food before returning home.” He ensures high standards aremaintained by making sure recipes are adhered to and his team is happy. Afterall, “what happens in the kitchen doesn’t stay in the kitchen — one can tastehappiness in food.”

Yohaan Dattoobhai(ISC 1998, Wilson)Founder, Kaboom!

Y ohaan Dattoobhai’s innate interest lies in solving

big problems and, after living in London and New York and enjoying the plentiful healthy food optionsthere, he was able to recognise that one of the biggestdaily conundrums for those who eat out in Mumbai isdeciding what to eat and eating well. Kaboom! was hiseventual answer to solving this social and commercialproblem while coming up with a business that has goodfundamentals, healthy food, affordable prices and is “farmto fork with quick service.”

Yohaan credits his wife, Kunali, for the food andmenu, but has remained in charge of the managementand marketing. As someone who is generally a “pickycustomer”, he focuses on ensuring that the customer experience is truly great.Kaboom! sources from artisans and local producers who have great products,but Yohaan chose not to market this fact when it opened. Te food quality hasspoken for itself and they often get inquiries about where they source theirdelicious and fresh raw materials. “Te customers are a lot more astute than wegive them credit for and are ready for a really good product in the health foodspace,” he explains.

Having worked in media and marketing in the past, Yohaan’s experiencewith the creative process was one he did not imagine having to use in therestaurant business. However, he has learned that cooking is as much of acreative process as any form of art. Yohaan and Kunali are also the creators ofthe ice cream brand Sucres des erres.

Zahir Goghavala a.k.a. Nico(ICSE 1995, Palmer)Formerly Nico Bombay; new venture:Farmer and Sons

Nico has always loved his finecuisine and spirits, but beyond

that, what he loves about running arestaurant is the camaraderie, warmthand laughter that resonates withinfour walls. “I have witnessed marriageproposals, beautiful 50-year weddinganniversaries, school reunions — tobe able to be a part of these is prettyspecial.” Nicoelaborates on hisvision — “to createa beautiful space in

which like-mindedpeople can shareplates and a glassof wine in a relaxedenvironment ata price point thatdoesn’t hurt thepocket.”

Nico had manyout-of-the-box career aspirations,from horse training to filmmaking,but the restaurant business drew him

in. He has known no other life fromthe age of 17, when he began withwashing dishes in a restaurant inLondon. “Since then, I have managed,promoted, bartended, cleaned andcooked in every restaurant I havebeen a part of.”

Tere are many challenges inthis business and Nico has learnedto take them with a pinch of salt.“Just like in life, when things arelooking up, everyone loves you.

Have a bad season and they are allgone. Te difficulty in this businessis the perception. We are currentlyworking on a perception reset.” Tishas made him sympathetic to otherestablishments when he’s had to waitfor over an hour for a meal.

~ Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen(ISC 1997) and

anya Khubchandani Vatsa(ICSE 2002)

Cover story



19/76


Cover story

Aditya Parikh: Alhambra, London; Del Frisco’s,

New York; Chipotle, worldwide

Gaurav Goenka: Dishoom, London

Gauri Devidayal: Gary Danko, San Francisco

Javed Murad: All the sushi places in New York City

Kunjan Chikhlikar: Yauatcha, London and India; Chipotle, worldwide

Neha Arya Sethi: Any Italian place (particularly in Italy)

Nikhil Chib: Le Relais de Venise, a small French bistro

Ranbir Batra: Alinea, Chicago

arini Mohindar: No favourites but loved all she ate in San Sebastián,

Spain, with the highest number of Michelin stars per square metreUrvaksh Hoyvoy : Café Zoe, Tai Pavilion, pav bhaji

at Sukh Sagar, all in Mumbai

Yohaan Dattoobhai: Waffles & Dinges,

New York and Pizza Moto, New York

Zahir Goghavala: La Notizia,

Naples and Schwartz’s, Montreal

T h e

w o r l d o n t h e i r

p l a

t e

Where our restaurateurs dine



20/76


21/76


Why did you choose a pathnot commonly associated withCathedralites?St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, had beena dream for a while. Its reputation,academic rigour and alumniappealed, so I never considered

other options. Te major challengewas clearing their cut-off. Whilemany in my family have careersin the services, I truly developeda passion for government and thedesire to contribute during myStephen’s years. I spent time withmany Stephanian senior bureaucratsand ministers and got a differentperspective on important nationalissues. Politics is passionatelydebated on campus, with a numberof students taking the Civil Servicesentrance exam after graduating. Soit’s hard not to get sucked in.

From A.. Kearney to the lessglamorous world of regionalgovernment — was it planned orserendipity?Despite having the desire to workwith government, I wasn’t clear how,as there is no structured path besidesthe Civil Services. Meanwhile, I

Spotlight

was recruited by A.. Kearney oncampus. I thoroughly enjoyed workingas a consultant — the work wasstimulating and the ‘glamour’ aspectis exciting, especially when you’refresh out of college. When our presentHonourable CM was sworn in, his

team got a lot of coverage. Some inkey positions were 30-somethingprofessionals who had worked withhim in the past. Te prospect ofworking for a young, dynamic ChiefMinister was appealing. I reachedout to his Officer on Special Duty(OSD), who also had a consultingbackground. After a round ofinterviews, I received an offer.

What exactly is your role? As part of the CMO, I report tothe OSD for echnology andInfrastructure. We work on creatinginstitutions that didn’t exist inearlier administrations but can addsignificant value. wo such projectsare the CM’s War Room, which is aunique team within the CMO enablingproject delivery, and Aaple Sarkar ,the State’s online grievance redressalinfrastructure. We also play the roleof facilitators on projects requiring

coordination among multiplegovernment agencies, e.g. MumbaiNext, an initiative to turn Mumbaiinto an international financial,commercial and entertainment hub.

Share some surprises or lessonsyou’ve learnt.One of the privileges of this role isthe opportunity to see things througha different lens. Te perception that

bureaucrats are laid-back couldn’tbe further from the truth. Tey areextremely hardworking and dedicatedto the State’s cause. I see the punishingschedule that our CM has on a dailybasis, yet he is always full of energy.

I can appreciate the challengesin execution. Our War Room teamtracks the weekly progress of a hostof key projects and ensures speedydecision-making. I now understandhow each project has thousands of

stakeholders involving complex andtime-consuming legalities. Also,with overly active anti-corruptionwatchdogs such as the CVC and ACB,senior bureaucrats take precautions toprotect themselves from any sort ofsubsequent witch-hunt, which is onlyfair but sometimes extends deadlines.On the flip side, the government couldbe more tech-savvy. Most officersdon’t check their email and the systemof file signing — wherein a physical

file gets circulated across offices too —is archaic and inefficient. Digitisationis an area we’re trying to address,although convention and the size ofthe system make it a tough challenge.I’m enjoying my role and intend tostay here until I do my MBA. I hopeto continue making a difference afterthat too.

~ Mukeeta Jhaveri née Kataria(ISC 1983)

Taking the road less travelledA Commerce stream topper in Maharashtra, Zoravar Gill (ISC 2010) now works

in the ofce of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.


22/76


23/76


Spotlight

Working togetherfor wellnessA Cathedral couple turns their quest for good health

into a successful business.

Lyla Mehta (née Patel) and

Jamsheed Mehta are partnersat home and beyond. Tehusband-wife duo, both ex-Cathedralites, are founders of afirst-of-its-kind wellness spa inMumbai called ‘Salt Escape’, whichuses salt therapy to offer relief fromseveral skin and respiratory ailments,besides boosting overall health andimmunity.

Te couple met in Cathedral,graduating in 1995. Although they

knew each other in school, it wasonly during their college yearsthat they grew close. Jamsheedheaded to the U.S.A. to pursue adegree in Engineering while Lylastayed in Mumbai to complete aB.Com from Sydenham College.

After Jamsheed returned to India,like Lyla, he started working in hisfamily business. Tey married in2006 and have two children, bothCathedralites.

School holds a special place in

their hearts. It conjures up manymemories — lifelong friendships, theenergy and passion of inter-Houseevents, the fun they had duringextracurricular activities. “We arelucky to have met many of our schoolfriends again through our children,”says Lyla. “Being back at Cathedralwith the kids is wonderful. I’m sureonce the inter-House activities start,it will be fun, as Jamsheed was inBarham and I was in Savage. Te

friends you make at Cathedral arefriends for life.” Jamsheed is quick toagree. “We went to Junior School fora talk held for parents and I hadn’tbeen there in about 30 years! I feltquite nostalgic. It was lovely to seethe monkey bars and my mind racedto when we used to climb those barsand ropes and play in the gym area.”

Moving away from their familybusinesses to start a salt spa wasn’tan easy decision. Te motivation

was personal and came from within.Te inability to find a drug-free cureto Jamsheed’s chronic respiratorycondition, rhinitis, led them to seek adifferent therapy that was completelynatural, non-invasive and drug-free.Tey also wanted to reach out toparents desperately seeking relief fortheir children’s respiratory ailments.

Te Mehtas spent a considerableamount of time on research. Afterseeing all the success stories andexperiencing salt therapy sessionsfirsthand, they chose a companybased in the UK. “We had a fewhiccups along the way and somedelays, but we made it!” saysJamsheed. He adds that he would

not have been able to bring theproject to life without Lyla. “It’sa passion project with a businessprospect. It’s about making peoplefeel better.”

Te work at the spa takes up mostof their day, but both still manageto contribute to their other callings.Jamsheed helps run his 100-year-old family business and fulfils hisrole as a father. Lyla spends hertime overseeing the spa activities

and nurturing her children and alsosupports two NGOs in her capacityas a board member.

Despite their hectic schedules,they try to integrate their fitnessand wellness beliefs into theirroutine. Lyla loves yoga, Pilatesand swimming. She says, “In a citylike Mumbai, we all want a placeto go to put our minds at ease. Ibelieve health is wealth.” Jamsheedsays, “I’m not a fitness freak, but I

think that if everything is done inmoderation, one should be alright. Ilove this quote: ‘Live in joy and sleepin peace’. It implies that one shouldbe happy at all times. I’m trying hardto make myself as positive a personas I can be because I’ve seen howa good attitude can make so muchdifference in one’s life.”

~ Priyanka Zutshi(ISC 1998)


24/76


25/76


I was at Cathedral for four or fiveyears until I left in 1966, myISC year, and I still have many

clear memories from that time. Iwas never very good at sports and,in particular, remember how ourP master, Mr. Morecroft, tried hishardest to change that but failedcompletely, I am afraid to say.

He insisted I box, which Idefinitely did not want to do, and

put me in the ring with a pugnaciousclassmate half my size. I held him atbay with my longer reach (I was oversix feet tall at age 14) and carried onarguing with the master.

My opponent got very frustratedwith this and took a run at me and Iinadvertently gave him a black eye.So, for weeks afterwards, all I heardwas: Arre, pick on someone your ownsize, yaar! He overcame the black eye,became a consultant rheumatologist

in London, and we are now friends.In my last year, I played in a

band with three of my classmatesat several school socials, murderingthe pop songs of the day. For me, itwas the start of a lifetime of playingmusic (guitar and bass), which I stilldo today.

Looking back, I believe the schoolgave me as good an education asI would have received anywhereand any shortcomings were mostly

mine — with the possible exceptionof our Art teacher, whose onlyinstruction that has stayed with mewas to outline everything in black!

Some of them were realcharacters. Our Geography teacherwas from South America and veryproud of his physique; so, if thelesson was particularly boring, welearned to divert him by asking himto show us his muscles, which hewould do at the drop of a hat. I had

Nostalgia

the unfortunate habit of popping outof school in the afternoon for a coffeeor Coke and on one of these occasionsbumped into our French teacher, whowas from Mauritius and had a goodsense of humour. On this occasion,he frowned at me before speaking.“You know, I am obliged to report anystudent I see outside during schoolhours,” he said, and paused while Iquaked, thinking of the consequences.

“You are very lucky that I didn’tsee you,” he continued, smiled, andwalked off. I will always rememberhim fondly for that.

Ten all at once it was time toleave to go to University. I ended upin London, where I have lived eversince, and managed to get a B.A.(Hons.) in Medieval History there.

After that, I drifted into accountancy

and eventually went freelance in 1986until I retired in 2012.

My lovely parents and growing upin Mumbai are two major influencesthat formed the adult I became,but I feel it is only fair to add mytime at Cathedral to that list. I havebeen writing on and off for manyyears and have two books of shortstories on Amazon — Gardeningby Moonlight and Nighthawks. I

had always wanted to write aboutMumbai and finally last year theideas I had floating around in myhead came together and I wrote anovel titled Heaven’s Above, aboutthe people in an apartment buildingin Mumbai. I am proud that Indianpublishing house Jaico has taken itup and it is out now. It seems likecoming full circle, somehow.

The reluctant pugilistMichael Anderson (ISC 1966) looks back on good times, odd instructions and

interesting educators.


26/76



27/76


homas Arthur Savage wasknown for his love of literatureand books, a passion passed

down within his family and still aliveand well among his descendants onthe other side of the world. Very fewof his actual books remain with thefamily now, but there is one examplethat has survived the years and thetransition across continents. Keats’Poetical Works, from Tomas Arthur's

library in the Cathedral School,Bombay, is bound in red leather withgold lettering and a marbled insidecover. It is now in the collection of agreat granddaughter in New Zealandand still carries Tomas Arthur'sunique Ex Libris illustrated plate.

Perhaps its black and white plate

was printed to his own design. Recteis written in large letters and meansto be “right or done correctly” andis accompanied by a large downwardfacing arrow — even at such adistance this word seems to carrymuch of the character and industryof the venerable headmaster.Perhaps it was a personal motto?Maybe there are other books stillin existence within the school thatcarry this same distinctive plate

or memories within the schoolcommunity that could explain someof the enigmatic images in the scene?

Also still in the family are his typedand hand-annotated plays, perhapsperformed by staff or students.

Tomas Arthur was 64 years old(born in Nashik in 1853) and stillthe headmaster of the School whenhe died in 1918. He had lost two ofhis sons and one son-in-law prior

to and during the World War I yearsand had seen many of his youngerschoolmasters leave to join thefighting. At the time of his death,Tomas Arthur’s two surviving sonswere well established in their owncareers in the Indian Army, but,

within a year of his passing, his wife,

their widowed daughter and her onlychild decided to leave India and maketheir home in England.

Tomas Arthur's oldest grandchildremembered this event in her 2003memoir where she described a time ofpolitical and social unrest, a suddendecision to leave the country and ahurried taxi trip out to make a finalvisit to Tomas Arthur’s grave “fivemiles outside Bombay” (believed to beSewri Cemetery, but the family hasn’t

yet visited it to locate the grave).She also stated that her grandfatherhad an extensive library with a finecollection of books and that themajority had to be sold at the time oftheir departure from India.

Tomas Arthur’s beloved collectiondid not survive this move out of

their apartments in the School. Hismiddle son, Philip, was not presentduring this rushed departure as hewas stationed in Northern India withthe Indian Medical Service, but it washe who somehow came to own thislittle book.

Philip eventually left India uponretirement in 1945 and immigrated toNew Zealand with his wife and eightchildren. Perhaps he had borrowedthe little book of poignant poems

from his father on one of his visitshome to the School and kept it withhim during the intervening decadesbefore taking it on the family’smove to a new country, making thewell-worn book of poems a personallink across time, place and downthe generations.

~ Deirdre Savage,aupo, New Zealand

Great granddaughter of Tomas Arthur Savage.

A love of books...... from Founder T.A. Savage and The Cathedral School

to his descendants in New Zealand.

Nostalgia


28/76

India's Premier Indoor Play Center

& Birthday Party Venue for Kids

Mumbai • Bengaluru • Surat • Pune


29/76


Out of the box

Doggy dabbawalla“Every morning is like a MasterChef Challenge. I have to get the meals ready

before the Gandhi-topied dabbawalla arrives punctually at 9.30.”

~ Jamshyd Cooper (ICSE 2003)

Jamshyd Cooper, a freelanceveterinarian, supplies 12 doggyparents with food for their

pets every day. On the menu arecustomised meals made with chickenbreast, rice, barley and vegetables.No tomato, grapes, onion or avocado!

Jamshyd only does non-vegetarian meals and hasn’t yetventured into diets for obese dogsor those with allergies. If a dog isill and needs a special meal, he willhappily serve up some curd-rice.If they have skin problems, theprescription says no barley andlots of egg. Interestingly, manystrict vegetarians order his non-vegetarian meals for their dogs —it’s acceptable as long as it comesfrom someone else’s kitchen. Youcan order just lunch or lunch anddinner from Jamshyd. All packed

neatly and dropped to your door byour marvellous dabbawallas.

“I was always interested in foodand, when I saw my mother cookingfor our two dogs, I decided tolessen her load and do it myself,”he says. “Soon, I thought I could doit for other dog parents. How canreadymade dog food be healthy foryour pets in the long term? Tis isa Western concept thrust on us byMNCs. Tis dry food has a shelf life

of a year and is made from meatby-products and animal waste (hoofand hair from poultry farms) aftera process called ‘rendering’. I knowthis because I went to these poultryfarms while I was studying. Does thisbecome biologically-viable protein?Does it get absorbed? No. If we eatfresh food, why shouldn’t our pets?It (dry food) is fine occasionally orwhen travelling, but not every day.”In his practice, Jamshyd has seen

that an increasing number of dogs

fed commercially-made dog food haveurinary calculi at a very young age.

Jamshyd always knew he wantedto be a vet, but his school marksin Science and Maths didn’t makethe grade. At Jai Hind College, hestruggled with these subjects again,but this didn’t deter him. Afterdoing the Maharashtra CE, he gotinto veterinary college in Jaipurbefore getting a transfer to Mumbai.“It’s only when I left Mumbai that

I realised what the ‘real’ India wasabout,” he says. “Tis city doesn’trepresent our country. Te exposurewas a game changer. Although Jaipuris the capital of Rajasthan, it is justnot a city like Mumbai.”

Jamshyd is baffled by the emphasison academics. “Tere is nothing thatsays that if you are a bad student, youcan’t make it!” he exclaims. “So manystudents with poor grades have goneon to professional courses in great

colleges. We tend to focus on ‘making

the grade’. Why does everyonehave to be a topper? Why can’tsomeone pass with 50 per cent andbe accepted?” After a couple of years,Jamshyd hopes to go to America toobtain internationally recognisedclinical skills and return to India toraise the bar.

What is his USP? No gimmickry,simple honesty. It’s food as dog foodshould be and the dog’s parents knowexactly what their dog is eating.

Every meal needs a sweet ending,so what are his doggy desserts? Sadly,none. Tat will be on the menu afterJamshyd starts his gourmet kitchenfor his furry friends.

Jamshyd can be contacted at [email protected]. Te cost of his ‘Integrity’brand of doggy meals is R470 per kilo.

~ Shyla Boga Patel(ISC 1969)


30/76



31/76


“Everybody needs a mentor,”says rishya Screwvala.“I’ve had different ones at

different stages of my life.” Growingup, the Royal Academy of Dance-

trained ballet dancer was influencedby the formidable ballerina ushnaDallas, who “taught me a lot, not justin terms of ballet”, and her parents,ex-Cathedralites Manjula Nanavati(ISC 1973) and Ronnie Screwvala(ISC 1972).

It is this need for a guiding forcein a child’s life that led rishya toset up Te Lighthouse Project (LP),which brings volunteers togetherto provide one-on-one mentoring

to urban youth in under-resourcedcommunities.LP started in 2013 with 30

volunteers mentoring 30 children.In its second year, there were 100volunteers and 100 children. Now,LP has 220 volunteers (many ofthem ex-Cathedralites) and 220 kids.“We’ve had some great mentors,”states rishya proudly. “Many havecontinued with the same child, whichis wonderful, as it builds a bond.”

First Citizen

Te project urges: Change one lifeand it will change yours. “It’s an equalrelationship,” says rishya. “Mentorssay they’ve learnt more from thekids than they’ve given them.” Te

statistics are encouraging — 60per cent of LP’s children are moremotivated to complete Std. 10 as aresult of having a mentor; 80 percent have demonstrated improvedself-esteem; 73 per cent have learnt tobetter manage their emotions.

rishya admits she hadn’t donemuch volunteering before this(“I did a little in school, throughPavement Club”) and was lookingfor volunteering opportunities.

Te graduate of Te Universityof Southern California’s Schoolof Cinematic Arts had twodocumentaries under her belt andwanted the next to be about a socialissue. “Film as a medium has thepotential to tackle social issues.More than to bring about awareness,I wanted to provide a direct courseof action. People will watch a film,share it, ‘like’ it, but I wanted to givethem the next step — how they can

help. Tere are so many people whohave skills to share but don’t knowhow to do so. Te Lighthouse Projectis a flexible, accessible platformfor volunteering.”

LP has three NGO partners,Salaam Baalak rust, Apne AapWomen’s Collective and AkankshaFoundation, who take care of theeducation of the children TeLighthouse Project mentors. “Te kidsare extremely bright, but need some

hand-holding,” explains rishya.“We have role models all

around us, but most of thesechildren are first-generationlearners; they’ve grown up ina community where kids skip

school or drop out in order towork. Personal attention and the

ability to be guided is what they lack.”Tat is where LP comes

in. Volunteers (mostly youngprofessionals) are required to commita mere four hours a month for eightmonths. Te kids mentored are fromStd. 7 (when the drop-out rate startsgoing up, says rishya) to Std. 12.If you can’t commit to such a longperiod, there’s even a “Mentor for a

day” option.Te urge to help has also led

rishya to volunteer at New Acropolis, an organisation at whichshe is pursuing a philosophy courseand undergoing teacher training.Te swimming enthusiast (perhapsit’s in her genes — her mother wasCathedral Swimming Captain) alsogoes diving as often as she can. “Myfirst dive was in the Galapagos,” shesays. “It was a magical experience and

I was hooked.”But her heart lies in LP. “If each ofus can empower one child, it means(we’ll have) millions of empoweredchildren,” says rishya. Put likethat, how can one not want to makea difference.

For more details and to volunteer,visit www.lighthouseproject.in.

~ Anaita Vazifdar-Davar(ICSE 1996)

Guiding lightDancer, diver and documentary lmmaker

Trishya Screwvala (ICSE 2002) provides opportunities

for mentoring through The Lighthouse Project.


32/76

he morning began with our traditional serene churchservice. An angelic looking choir filled the St. Tomas’

Cathedral with their beautiful voices while the alumnigot teary-eyed with nostalgia. Ten, we all trooped intothe Junior School, where coffee, snacks and even dancingawaited us.

Te cricket match was closely contested and went down to thewire till the last over. wo balls to go and one run needed andthe School team was able to cross the line. Te Old Boys eamhad a good opening partnership of 90 runs between Dinesh

Advani and Rushab Vora, who went on to make a splendid halfcentury. Sahil Vora also made a brisk 23 runs. Eventually, theyput up a competitive total of 156 runs and were all out in 23overs. It was an enjoyable morning and a game played in good

spirit. A big thank you to Sanjay Shah for organising it all.

For those who didn’t swing a bat, there was golf the followingday. wenty-four golfers teed off under idyllic conditions at theWillingdon Club on Saturday, November 15, 2014. It was aneagerly awaited annual Founders’ Week tradition with winnersall, guessing from the post-match camaraderie by the poolside.Barham House took the podium. Mukeeta Jhaveri gave awaythe prizes. Tank you, eam Golf — Akshay Kilachand, Meher

Amersey, Pushpa Bhatia and Shivas Nath — for puttingtogether a wonderful day.

Events

Founder s’ Da y 2014



33/76



34/76


35/76


Screwball Ronnie“When I moved to Cathedral fromDunne’s Institute, I knew I couldn’tgo through the ragging all over againwith ‘Screwie’, ‘Screwball’…I brokethe ice with corny jokes about my last

name. It worked. Te girls thought itwas funny and cute (I think!) and ittook the sting out of it for the boys by

joking at my own expense.”

Te end of the worldRonnie was candid about being agood student in school but thenfailing in college and how that was aturning point for him. “My ego andself-confidence had taken a whacking,but I was determined to get past the

failure and learn from it. I wanted todo something on my own and, fromthat point on, I learnt never to takeanything for granted.”

ipping the scale“I find scale a huge challenge inIndia. Often, the inability to shatterthe glass ceiling of scale results indiversification, which could meana loss of focus.” Ronnie says thatinflection points must be sought

door you are looking at too early. Youhave to go forward.”

Failure — plan for itRonnie shared an interesting anecdotefrom “Parliamentary Quiz” wherethe question Who is the showboy of theIndian National Congress? resulted inan uproar in Parliament, when, in theabsence of rewind or replay, it becameWho is the playboy...? “In the aftermath,the financial loss from cancellingthe show almost bankrupted us.But taking the whole company intoconfidence in a minuscule boardroomand communicating with themhonestly helped. Encouraging laughterin the room and seeking voluntary

salary deferrals saved the company.Tat was the day the culture of thecompany was formed for the next 20years. At that stage, 35 people tookfull ownership of the company. Agratifying moment.”

Te consummate dealmaker(Disney, Murdoch, Mallya, WarburgPincus) has an interesting view onnegotiation. “I guarantee you can geta 20 per cent better valuation on thebuy side than on the sell side on yourown at the risk of being wrong or being

booed at. Tis was an early lessonI learned.”

“Staying the course” was the reasonhe came to be sitting among us. In hiswords, he is “the cat with a veritable20, not 9, lives.”

~ Mukeeta Jhaveri née Kataria(ISC 1983)

out. In his case, it was launchingcable V in 1979/80. “We knockedon 2,000 doors between 9:00 and10:30 p.m. and we were all electricians,wiremen, cablewallas; we had to goin and demonstrate.” Ten, by tyingup with hotels and now-defunct Vmanufacturers Bush and NELCO, theymanaged to scale up from 10,000 inthe first year to 100,000.

Another inflection point camewhen Ronnie was approached byglobal soap king P&G to provide aHindi soap airing 216 episodes inthree months with 20 non-existentdirectors and a disciplined cast ofcharacters to work from 7 to 7 daily,mugging bound scripts six days a

week. Enter Mandira Bedi as Shanti,albeit an inhibited one. (At this stage,Mandira in the audience pipes up,“She’s a Cathedralite. She doesn’tknow Hindi.”) So, for the next fourdays, “she was thrown into the deepend” by letting her loose on the streetand filming her reactions and thenplaying them back for her. A yearlater, another inflection point inCannes resulted in taking the Indiansoap to 40 countries. A moment of

scale. By 1996, “a sea of humanity”awaited “Shanti” in Colombo as shealit from an aeroplane.

Plan B“In Business School, it is alwaysgood, but when you hit the troughs,I believe you don’t want a Plan B. It’sa distraction you don’t want or an exit


36/76


Historyremastered

July 8, 2015: In the chic CaféZoe, ex-Cathedralites eagerlyawait a meet and greet with two

of India’s frontrunners in the fictionwriting space — Amish ripathi (TeImmortals of Meluha, Scion of Ikshvaku)

and Ashwin Sanghi (Chanakya’sChant, Te Krishna Key).

In a masterful display of howeffective hosting can contribute toan enterprising venture, Ashwin (AS)charted out an engaging discussionwith bestselling author Amish (A).

A carefully prepared repertoire ofprobing questions, refreshingly opendialogue and a rapt audience made fora great evening. Excerpts:

A: I graduated in Mathematics,

the primary reason being thatthere were no practicals in that, soI had more time for extracurricularactivities. After the ICSE exam, mytwin brother Ashish and I took ourcopies of Julius Caesar to the kitchenand set fire to them. It was cathartic.I did get marks in English, but I can’tsay I liked the subject.

AS: Cathedral, IIM, a boringbanking job (for 14 years)... one fineday, you decide you want to write. Ihave a similar story, because I was abaniya businessman. What made yourealise you didn’t want to be in the ratrace anymore?

A: Once a rat, always a rat. Itdoesn’t always have to be an either-or. One can do both. When I startedwriting, I didn’t really wonder wherethis would go; I didn’t even wonderwhether it would be published. It was

just something I loved. AS: Where was the germ of the idea?

not to look at each other as evileven though their pantheons weredifferent? And if neither was evil,then what is evil? Tat’s where thediscussion began; that’s how the‘Shiva’ trilogy began.

Tat was the first step — it gotconverted into an adventure. Tat wasquite a challenge because in schoolI had never done anything creativeat all. I’d never written fiction. I wasa lead singer in my band at IIM, buteven there, I only sang what someoneelse created.

AS: Tat explains you drummingaway at book launches these days.

A: Yes, it’s good fun! Anyway, thereare these self-help books that claim

they can make a writer out of you, soI read them. I was told I should makecharacter sketches, so I did that; I wastold I should make a chapter-wisesummary, so I made that too. I was toldwithout planning nothing else couldhappen, so I used Microsoft Excel. I wastold to make a date-wise schedule —how many hours I would write.

AS: Was it colour-coded? A: It was colour-coded! Te daily

word target had a red flag if I didn’tmake it. It was a super flop. When Iwrote the story, except for Lord Shiva,nobody seemed to be following theircharacter sketch. From the guys whowere good, there were some whostarted showing disturbing signs ofgrey. Tere were guys who were badwho started being quite noble. Whathelped was advice from my wife. Shesaid: “Don’t write with the arroganceof a creator; write with the humilityof a witness.”

Snapshots from ascintillating evening

with two bestselling

ex-Cathedralite novelists.

Events

A: It began with a conversationwith my family. We discoveredsomething interesting on V. Weall know that for Indians, Gods arecalled Devas and demons are Asuras,but for the Zoroastrian Persians,the pantheon is the opposite. Tedemons are called Devas and Indra,the King of the Gods among theIndians, is actually one of the chiefdemons in Zoroastrian Persia. Tistriggered a discussion — if ancientIndians and ancient Persians hadmet, would we be calling each otherevil? No, because both cultures inancient times were great and liberaland interacted with each other,learnt from each other. But theywere just different. Could it be thatthere were just different ways oflife and they were mature enough


37/76


AS: You were an atheist and thenyou became a Shiv-bhakt. Explain thattransition.

A: My grandfather was a punditand my family is deeply religious. Iturned into an atheist in the early’90s. Our city went through a phaseof insanity at that time. Most ofour college gang in Xavier’s thoughtreligion was the cause of all theviolence. My dad did try to talk to me,but you know how teenagers are —they don’t listen to their parents. Mydad used to say there always comes atime in a man’s life when he grows upand realises maybe his dad wasn’t suchan idiot after all. Writing the bookkind of brought me slowly back — you

can say it was a return to faith. I amnaturally a rebellious person. LordShiva is my natural God because heis the God of the rebels, he is a rule-breaker, he treats his wife with loveand respect, he dances brilliantly andhe plays music. One of my youngerreaders described him as “the dude ofthe Gods”. I had to be brought back tofaith and he was the best God to do it.

AS: Religion is about answersthat can never be questioned and

philosophy is about questions thatcan never be answered. Are you moreof a philosopher or religious believer?

A: Tere doesn’t have to be acontradiction between the two. Inthe ancient Vedas, philosophy wasn’ta subject that was reduced to theHumanities stream. Philosophy wasthe first subject that everyone studied.Te art of living one’s life. Te love ofwisdom. Tere is no Sanskrit wordfor the English word ‘blasphemy’

because the concept doesn’t exist.Faith comes in when you askquestions beyond your understandingand you are troubled by it. Faithgives you peace. Your objective is tokeep questioning and pushing theboundaries of your knowledge andreducing the boundaries of your faithand your ultimate destination wouldbe that your knowledge expands tosuch a degree that you become God;that’s moksh.

AS: Tere is a quip by SamuelJohnson that your manuscript isgood and original, but the part that isgood isn’t original and the part thatis original isn’t good. ell us aboutrejection.

A: I stopped counting after 20. Ihave been told the Indian publishingindustry is fractious. If you put 10publishers in a room, you will get11 opinions. But in the case of mymanuscript, there was unanimity —every publisher it was sent to hated it.One guy gave me detailed feedback:“Your book is on a religious topic; themain market today is the youth andthe main point is that the youth is notinterested, so they are not going to

buy your book. You have a differenttake on religion, which means that theolder religious people may also not likeyour books; you may eliminate thatsegment as well.” Tere was a thirdsegment — the literati, the guys wholove British Raj-era English. But I writein modern Indian English. So he toldme: “You alienated that segment aswell. Who are you trying to sell to?” Itold him I didn’t do market researchbefore writing the book, I just wrote

it! In some ways, I am the better forit. For me, the story was essentially aphilosophy I wanted to convey. I think

Amish ripathi (Class of 1990) is most recently the author of Scion ofIkshvaku, the first in his Ram Chandra series. Te Immortals of Meluha,the first book of the ‘Shiva’ trilogy, is a No. 1 national bestseller.

Ashwin Sanghi (Class of 1985) wrote his first book, Te Rozabal Line,under the pseudonym Shawn Haigins, an anagram of his full name. In2014, he collaborated with James Patterson to write Private India.

there was a positive impact in termsof the marketing side, because I finallyself-published the book. And the factthat no mainstream publisher wasbacking it ended up being a blessingin disguise. I didn’t have any publishertelling me, “We can’t do this becausethe industry has never tried somethinglike this before.” We did a lot ofinnovative things, which have neverbeen tried before in the publishingindustry and which worked well for us.For example, the trailer.

AS: Tis great marketing eventuallyresulted in the fastest selling seriesin Indian publishing and if I look atthat number, it’s 2.5 million plusand growing. When you got down

to writing the Ram Chandra series,were you scared? Sometimes, successcreates its own fear.

A: When I am writing, I don’treally think about what anyone elsethinks. I write for myself, what feelsright to me. I’m on very good termswith my former boss and I told him ifthe book goes south, I’ll come back tohim. But yes, when the book is overand the marketing phase starts, then Iget nervous.

~ Compiled by Sundeep Goswami(ISC 2011)


38/76


39/76


40/76


DIGITAL ARCHIVESPAST PERFECT

Te School and Te Alumni Association are pleased to launchPhase 1 of the Cathedral Digital

Archive Project. We hope it will bea valuable resource to documentthe history and culture of what isuniquely Cathedral. Few institutions


Special ProjectCOBA Rugger Rats have a“ball”, 1938

Before selfies

Time before Titan, beforeiWatch, before digital time

Cathedra parties atTown Ha

PrincipalsJacob and Newton watchwhile Coach Nepali tugs

Field tripto the Taj

Wally Abraham star ofCross Country

Mrs. Devand MiddleSchoolTeachers(1980s)

SchoolSoccer, 1974

Rajit Kapur strikes an early pose


41/76

2015 Te X-Cathedralit2015 Te X-Cathedralit

When cabaretswere kosher

PrincipalGunnery shoots

from the hip

Remember AIR,Vividh Bharati andRadio Ceylon?

Real boys boxed

Principal Jacob and Junior School Teachers (1973) Moms pass the hat at Brabourne Stadium

Cock House (early 2000s)

Lady Temple inher studio

can boast of a 155-year legacy and be uniquely positioned to face thechallenges of an exciting and uncertain future head-on. Under the stewardshipof Malti Tiagarajan, the Head Librarian, Nadish Naoroji (ISC 1969) andGautam Shewakramani (ISC 2001) as well as the guidance of Principal Isaacs,the archive has been supported by generous alumni from all over the world. Wehope more of you will actively engage with and contribute to further enrichingthe archive.

Please send all original material to:

Mrs. Malti Tiagarajan, Librarian, Cathedral & John

Connon Middle School, 4, Maharshi Dadhichi Marg,

Mumbai 400 001. INDIA. el.: +91-22-2207-1015

[email protected]

Please provide your name and a return address. Your

material will be returned to you within a month.


42/76



43/76


44/76


45/76


46/76


47/76


Class of 1987/89When it comes to school reunions, you

might cringe at the thought of facingall those people you thought you’d

never see again: your nemeses, yourfrenemies, your teenage crushes. Or youcould totally opt out. It ’s incredible how

families, careers and life in foreign landsbecome such handy excuses.

Our classmates fell into both camps.When Maleeka Lala reached out to

a core group to form Te PlanningCommittee for our 25th reunion, shewas greeted with a lukewarm response,

to say the least. But Maleeka has neverbeen one to take “no” for an answer.

So, despite the initial whining fromher lacklustre buddies, she whipped

Reunions

us into submission in a manner that

exemplified true leadership. And weremain forever grateful…planning theevent and recruiting our classmates to

attend proved to be a critical bondingexperience in itself.

o provide a snapshot of one ofthe most memorable evenings of our

middle-aged years (much as we mighttry to deny it, that’s where we are!) is

particularly challenging as I am naturally

inclined to delve into the antics playedout by various personalities thatevening. Suffice it to say we had more

than 100 classmates travel from nearand far to attend the spectacular party at

the Palladium Hotel, Mumbai.Te evening was topped off with a

presentation of silly awards as well assome raunchy ones such as ‘HottestGuy and Girl 25 Years Later’. Te ’80s

music on the dance floor was insane! A throwback to the parties of our

pubescent best...and school trips likeSaswad and Uttarkashi.

~ Reenita Malhotra Hora

T w e n t y F i f t h

R e u n i o n


48/76


49/76


Class of 1992/94Te Class of 1992/94 celebrated their

20th year reunion on December 19,2014 at the 212 Bar & Grill Restaurant,Mumbai. It was a task that six of us

bravely undertook. Te PlanningCommittee comprised Amit Advani,

Amrita Kilachand, Shalini Amersey,

T w e n t i e

t h R e u n

i o n

Harshad Daswani, Pragni Kapadia and

Kirti Vij Makhijani.o trace 152 batchmates was not easy,

but by the end of it, we were thrilledwith the response — especially to have

people planning their holidays around

this event! Batchmates flew down fromNew York, Washington, D. C., Europe

and all over India. Te chaotic fun thatwas a prelude to the event included

last-minute passes being distributed, thedécor (themed around our School colours)

being planned, setting up a photo boothand making sure our beautifully designedsouvenirs reached the venue.

Harshad kicked off the event witha wonderful welcome speech: “I made

friends for a lifetime at Cathedral —most of us second- and third-generation

legacies. So tonight really is about reliving

all those wonderful memories from20 years ago and acknowledging that

Cathedral is a part of our history and willcontinue to mean a lot to us all. I would

like to ask everyone to raise their glasses

to an old friend, Akshay Dixit, who is notwith us anymore. He is missed tonight.”

Te evening continued with a slide-show of old photographs and dancing. We

even celebrated the wedding anniversaryof a couple who dated since Std. 9!

Richard Bach said: “Don’t be dismayedat goodbyes. A farewell is necessarybefore you can meet again. And meeting

again, after moments or lifetimes, iscertain for those who are friends.”

~Kirti Vij Makhijani

Reunions


50/76


51/76


52/76


after working for years in the field of

conservation. He even had a coffee farmin Costa Rica. He has revelled in doing

what he wanted, when he wanted to, or just not doing it at all! A professional

volunteer, he keeps busy and enjoys his

four children and seven grandchildren.He has fond memories of his years at

Cathedral (some of them as a boarder).

1954

Dave Haskell (Barham) left tocomplete his schooling in the U.K. inStd. 9. He studied agriculture and wasa tobacco farmer in what was then

Rhodesia. He moved to Israel in 1976and continued to work in agriculture

as a kibbutz member. He has been the

kibbutz security officer for many yearsand has retired from other work. Hismajor pastime is golf. Married withthree children and four grandchildren,

he recently wrote a book about a trip hemade across the Sahara from the U.K. to

Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1962.

1956

Deena B. Motiwalla née Mullamarried Bomi D. Motiwalla in 1970

and moved to Dubai thereafter. Tey

have two children. Deena is activelyinvolved in gardening and formed Te

Dubai Gardening Group in 2000. She

also does a lot of social service and was

the Co-Chairperson of Children's Hope

Foundation from 2000 to 2011, when it

closed its office in Dubai.

1957

om Frank Peters (Palmer) leftCathedral a few months before his class

graduated and went to school in Zurich.

He subsequently studied Architectureat the EH Zurich and then worked for

several years in Copenhagen and Zurich

before becoming a eaching Assistant

(at the EH) and writing a Ph.D. He then

taught Architectural Construction, and

researched and taught Construction

History at UC Berkeley, Cornell, and

Lehigh in the U.S.A. He became Chairman

and Chair Professor of Architecture for

two years (1998-2000) at the Chinese

University of Hong Kong and retired in

2008 to the southern Swiss Alps, where

he continues to research and write.

1958

Dr. Kamal Gupta (Barham) is

currently the Chairman of Lala LajpatraiGroup of Educational Institutes in

Mumbai, which offers Undergraduate

degrees in Commerce and Post-graduate

M.B.A. degree courses.

1959

Armeane M. Choksi (Wilson) iscurrently Chairman and Managing

Partner of Option 3 Ventures LLC, a cyber

security investment firm and business

accelerator.

Jacob Matthan (Savage) obtained aB.Sc. from St. Ste

x cathedralite 2015

Documents