Jaipur

Subodh was born in Alwar, and educated in Jaipur, Delhi, and Cambridge, USA. He taught economics for one year at Rajasthan University, Jaipur, and now teaches at American University, Washington, D.C. He was an independent consultant for nearly two decades. He lives with his wife, Anuradha Deolalikar, and two children in a suburb of Washington, D.C. In his spare time, he is an avid gardener, and the editor of this website.

I got my first bicycle in 1960 when I was about 10 years old. More accurately, Ashok, my older brother, and I got our first shared bicycle at that time.

It's a story that sticks in my mind, and also of some other family members. Our other older brothers - Prakash, Kailash and Subhash - already had a cycle each. I don't know how much of a blessing it was for Subhash to have a bicycle, as he often had to lug his two younger brothers, Ashok and me, on his cycle all the way to our school (St. Xavier's, Jaipur) in the evenings for a swim!

Well, Ashok and I wanted our own ‘wheels' - with them would come freedom to roam and grown-up status.

A.H. Somjee received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the London School of Economics. He is a charter member of the Simon Fraser University, Canada, where he is also an Emeritus Professor of Political Science. He has taught at the University of Baroda, the London School of Economics, University of Durham, and the National University of Singapore. He was also appointed as an Associate Fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, and was invited to Harvard University, several times, as a Visiting Scholar.

Editor's note:

This article was written at the request of Prof. P C Mathur, a student and colleague of Prof. S P Varma at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, who believes that Prof. Varma brought about a major change in the field of Political Science in India, and wants Prof. Varma to be remembered

S P Varma retired in 1973 as the Head, Department of Political Science, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. He took his D.Phil. degree from Agra University. He was required to teach civics and politics during the British Rule, and he did a magnificent job of it. He deeply reflected on the nature of Indian democratic politics and produced a number of very useful books on the subject. He was widely regarded as a great teacher who produced a number of good students.

Subhash Mathur is a resident of Jaipur after superannuation from Indian Revenue Service in 2007. Presently, Subhash is engaged in social and charitable work in rural areas. Subhash is also Editor of http://www.inourdays.org/, an online portal for preserving work related memories.

My late father, Khem Chand Ji (1911 -2004) joined the Indian Administrative Service soon after Independence. He, along with a few others, was selected through a special recruitment process. He was the first Collector and District Magistrate of the newly formed Alwar district after Independence, which became part of United States of Matysa, and then was merged into Rajasthan

Khem Chand, my father. Circa late 1990s. Jaipur. He was about 85 years old at that time.

My father was tall and handsome. Every inch an imposing personality. He exuded the St. Stephen's confidence (see his college photos here) with a camouflaged snootiness. He was widely read and up-to-date on all matters.

He not only spoke impeccably and but also wrote sharply. He surprised most with his fluency in Urdu and Farsi. In fact, he made all his personal jottings in Urdu and Farsi.

Narendra Vashisth grew up in Jaipur. He got his medical degree from SMS Medical College, Jaipur. As a doctor, he worked in TB control, Pulse Polio immunisation, and rural health programs. He retired in 2011 as Senior Specialist (Medicine) and Principal Medical Officer, Jaipuria Hospital, Jaipur, and is now in private practice. He played cricket in school and college, and was a member of his college swimming team. He lives in Jaipur with his wife.

I joined St. Xavier High School, Jaipur in 1957 in Class Prep B, and left in 1966 with the Indian School Certificate high school graduate degree. The school Principal all these years was  Reverend Father R. J. Pereira, S.J. (Society of Jesus.

I enjoyed my school days thoroughly.

Narendra Vashisth - from a school magazine. 1966.
ISC - studied for Indian School Certificate degree
N.C.C. - participated in National Cadet Corps activities
Social Service - participated in activities to help poor people
Dial M - School production of Dial M for Murder
First. Div. All India Gen. Knowledge - high score in national general knowledge test
Passed Jr. Air certificate exams - a typo\; did not do this

One part of the fun was playing handball - American handball, one-wall style.

Subhash Mathur is a resident of Jaipur after superannuation from Indian Revenue Service in 2007. Presently, Subhash is engaged in social and charitable work in rural areas. Subhash is also Editor of http://www.inourdays.org/, an online portal for preserving work related memories.

My wife and I were visiting our son Gaurav and his family at Ahmedabad in 2012 for a few weeks. One fine Sunday morning, out of the blue, I announced that I needed a haircut.

Before anyone else could react, our DIL (daughter-in-law) Poonam took control of the situation. She immediately suggested "Papa, why don't you soak in some new experience?"

Reflexively I shot back: "Like what?"

"There's a new hair spa in town. L'Oréal. Why don't you give it a go? The ambience is amazing."

"Have you been there?" I asked

"Not personally but a few of my friends have spoken glowingly.

It's swanky. It's shiny. Fancy gizmos. New hair wash sys. Lovingly perfumed. The works!"

I went into a reverie.

When I was growing up in the 1960s, the family barber Sohan Lal would visit our home at B-87 Ganesh Marg once a month on a Sunday morning, generally in the middle of the month.

Before breakfast time.

We were eight male members to be tackled. Daddy, Chachaji, and six brothers. And the fiat of the household was that everyone had to submit to this discipline.

Introduction

Subodh Mathur writes:

I completed my high school from St. Xavier's School, Jaipur in 1966. In those days, the school offered two different final examinations. One was the Indian School Certificates (I.S.C), which was a descendant of the older Senior Cambridge examination conducted by Cambridge University, England. The other was All-India Higher Secondary (A.I.H.S.), which was a national examination conducted by an Indian government agency.

Regardless of whether you took the I.S.C or A.I.H.S. examination, life in Standard XI - the final year - was focused heavily on doing well in the final examination.

Standard X was different. You were senior enough in the school, which gave you some freedom. And, the academic pressure was not so high. Every year, one of the activities of Standard X students was to stage a full-length play, under the supervision of a teacher.

As was the norm in those days, our school was for boys only. No girls. So, how could they choose a play that had a woman in it? There was simply no way that a Standard X boy would do a woman's role. Not in Jaipur in 1965. Anyhow, our teacher did solve this problem - read about it below.

The school used to publish a year book called The Blue and Gold. It included the photos and brief bios of all the students in the graduating class. I am using those photos - they show us as we were then.

Subhash Mathur is a resident of Jaipur after superannuation from Indian Revenue Service in 2007. Presently, Subhash is engaged in social and charitable work in rural areas. Subhash is also Editor of http://www.inourdays.org/, an online portal for preserving work related memories.

11^th January 1966 began as a cold overcast day in Jaipur.  For me, it was going to be like any other cold day of January in those days. Soon, a pitter patter rain started hitting the window panes, and the cold conditions consolidated. Mild surface winds added to the chill.

I was in my first year in Rajasthan College, Jaipur. And gearing up for exams around the corner.

Just then, the news filtered in via a phone call that Indian Prime Minister Shastri had died in the wee hours of the night at Tashkent. Shastri was in Tashkent to attend a summit with Pakistan to settle the issues arising out of Indo-Pak conflict of September 1965 under the aegis of USSR Premier Kosygin.

Those days, landline telephones and word of mouth were the only means of spreading the news far and wide. Once the news spread, largely via telephonic talks, our home (B-87 Ganesh Marg, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur)  started filling up to discuss the aftermath.  Mostly friends of Bhai Sahib (eldest brother P C Mathur) from the Rajasthan University started trickling in.

Mira Kathuria Purohit had her early education in Presentation Convent, Delhi, MGD, Jaipur and Hindu College, Delhi. She is a Pediatrician, having pursued her medical studies in SMS Medical College, Jaipur. She served in Rajasthan Government devoting her working career to treating children and teaching budding doctors to treat kids. She retired as a Professor, and now leads a retired life in Jaipur.

My mother, Savitri Hooja Kathuria, was a teacher. Well all parents are teachers-the first teachers a child has, before the schoolteachers step in. But my mother WAS a teacher - a real one - not only mine, but a teacher by profession - and a strict one at that! Born in the early part of the twentieth century [1918], to Shri Govardhan and Lajjawati Hooja, both of whom belonged to Arya Samaj families and were educationists, it was natural that she would be educated, even though female education was rare in India at that time.

Subhash Mathur,who studied at St. Xavier’s School, Jaipur, is a resident of Jaipur after superannuation from Indian Revenue Service in 2007. Presently, Subhash is engaged in social and charitable work in rural areas. Subhash is also Editor of http://www.inourdays.org/, an online portal for preserving work related memories.

Many a school student has a to ‘Sir with Love' figure from the school faculty. Unlike the movie, such reverence dawns upon the student much later when he reflects upon his journey in life. For that, he takes off his tinted glasses and Eureka! His world view undergoes a huge paradigm shift.

In this sea change of altered prism, a devilish teacher begins to appear as benign and the one who shaped your Destiny. The hated one becomes the loved one. You suddenly begin to realise that the qualities of a hard task master and a perfectionist have become your cherished values also.

My world view changed somewhat along the ‘To Sir with Love' scenario when I came of age in my profession.

And this is the story of our toughie English Teacher Rev. Father D. Pinto S.J.

Rev. Father D. Pinto, S. J. St. Xavier's School, Jaipur. Mid-1960s.