The
2012

The Cathedral & John Connon Alumni Magazine

Founders’ Day Brunch 2011

EVENTS

Rumble in the Jungle

OFF THE SHELF

Amish Tripathi and Akash Shah

OUT OF THE BOX

Dhanya Pilo

Contents
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President’s Message Events Founders’ Day 2011 Rumble in the Jungle Memories and Mayhem School Update Summer School Spotlight Keshav Desiraju Sudha Shah Off the Shelf Amish Tripathi and Akash Shah Out of the Box Vijaya Pastala Dhanya Pilo Nostalgia Reunions First Citizen In Memoriam Mrs. Irene Saldanha Mr. Anthony Dias Class Notes The Quiz
2 5 7 9 10 13 15 17 18 21 22 25 27 29 31 33 36 68

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Editorial Team
Udita Jhunjhunwala (ICSE 1984) Miel Sahgal (ISC 1989) Shyla Boga Patel (ISC 1969) Mukeeta Jhaveri (ISC 1983) Mitali Anand Kalra (ISC 1989)

Business
Rohita Chaganlal Doshi (ISC 1975)

Editorial support, Design and Printing

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Kirtana Shetty Minaal Pednekar and Nikunj Parikh Spenta Multimedia
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. Published by The Cathedral and John Connon Alumni Association, 6, P.T. Marg, Mumbai 400 001 and printed at Spenta Multimedia, Peninsula Spenta, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013. www.spentamultimedia.com

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Special thanks to the following donors for their generous contribution: Rajeev Sahney, Ashwin Ramesh, Basanti Singh, Gaurav Talwar, Mukeeta P. Jhaveri

PreSidenT’S MeSSAge
To my fellow alumni, s I write this, I see dark clouds casting luminescent shadows on the Arabian Sea outside. They bring back fond Cathedral School memories. After years of organising an evening event, last year the Association experimented with a Sunday brunch at Blue Sea to mark Founders’ Day. We were rewarded with a large turn-out, including many retired teachers who find night functions challenging. Much revelry was well fuelled by the generous support of Rajeev Samant of Sula Vineyards, ensuring that Blue Sea had to literally throw us out. In other Founders’ Week events, 31 golfers teed off at the Willingdon Club courtesy alums Akshay Kilachand, Meher Amersey and Pushpa Bhatia. Out on the maidan while palm shadows lengthened the Old Boys won the annual cricket match organised by Sanjay Shah. The traditional Old Girls’ Middle School post-Church Service Tea too was held and attended by stalwarts and visiting alumni. The editorial team under the leadership of Miel Sahgal and Udita Jhunjhunwala did a sterling job with The X-Cathedralite magazine. When sourcing content, it was enthusing to see how well our alumni

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are fairing in the myriad waters they choose to navigate. The new look received great feedback as did the web version. In a bid to take our members outdoors, be more active, involve families and give back to the community, Miel Sahgal and her team of naturalists from Sanctuary organised a wonderful Nature Trail and shramdhaan to clean up Borivali National Park. For us SoBo slickers, the early Sunday morning sojourn into the “lungs” of what has become an abominable concrete jungle was delightful and surprisingly accessible. Under Shyla’s passionate and painstaking planning and God-lies-in-the details execution, the 11th Annual Cathedral Summer School was a resounding success. The day we visited, we were treated to awesome fish curry, gallery-grade artwork and some really cool hi-tech kites. Seeing both sets of children in the relaxed magical setting of Manori beach letting their hair down and creative juices flow was so rewarding. Our mid-year event this time around was hosted by Tarini Mohindar the generous dynamo from the Class of 1993 at the new mid-town bistro Café Zoe. What started off as an intimate gathering slowly

Committee 2011-2012: From left to right: Sundeep Ahuja, Udita Jhunjhunwala, Anuskha Shivdasani Rovshen, Vikram Kothari, Shyla Boga Patel, Mukeeta Jhaveri, Miel Sahgal, Chitra Rajkumar, Viral Doshi

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morphed into a raucous take-over of the restaurant by a 100 pan generation Cathedralites. Many I suspect had never stepped into the new nightlife district of ‘Upper Worli’ before. Our retired Teachers Medical Benefit Scheme is now well established thanks to Bibash and Shyla. Please do continue to donate generously to support the premiums for over 45 beneficiaries covered. Sadly, this year we lost three members of staff Mrs. Irene Saldanha, Mr. Anthony Dias and Mrs. Shobha Chainani. The large turn-out and the moist eyes at Mrs. Saldanha’s funeral mass were testimony to the love and high regard with which she will be remembered by “her children”. Our new www.catalumni.com website is up and running thanks to our web-master Gautam Shewakramani. We welcome and invite your feedback. Thank you my Executive Committtee for taking ownership for the various endeavors of the Association all through the year. A great team effort all around. By Mukeeta Jhaveri nee Kataria
(ISC 1983)

Executive Committee (2012-2013)
President Mukeeta Jhaveri
(ISC 1983, Savage)

Vice-Presidents rohita Chaganlal doshi
(ISC 1975, Wilson)

(ICSE 1986, Palmer)

Bibhash Asar

Co-Treasurers Sundeep Ahuja
(ICSE 1977, Palmer) (ISC 1974, Palmer)

Vikram Kothari

Secretary Mitali Anand Kalra
(ISC 1989, Wilson)

Committee Members (ex-officio) Principal Mrs. Meera isaacs Committee Members Amit Advani
(ISC 1994, Palmer) (ISC 1969, Savage)

Shyla Boga Patel Viral doshi
(ISC 1975, Palmer)

Udita Jhunjhunwala
(ICSE 1984, Barham)

Pragni Kapadia
(ISC 1994, Palmer) (ISC 1990, Palmer)
Photo credits: Sundeep Bhatia (ICSE 1985)

Shonar Lala

Chitra rajkumar
(ISC 1956, Savage)

gautam Shewakramani
(ISC 2001, Savage)

Anushka Shivdasani rovshen
(ISC 1997, Barham) (ISC 1969, Savage)

Prakash Thadani

Prakash Thadani, Pragni Kapadia, Gautam Shewakramani. Missing from the committee pictures are Rohita Doshi, Amit Advani, Bibhash Asar and Mitali Anand Kalra

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

Founders’ Day 2011
Brunch at Blue Sea

eVenTS

Golf tournament

Church service

2012 The X-Cathedralite 5

eVenTS

Rumble in the jungle
THE TRAILBLAZERS We went on the nature trail with our three-year-old daughter Sharanya who was thrilled at the thought of going to a ‘jungle’. She yanked us out of bed, and chattered excitedly through the journey about all the cobras, pythons and cheetahs she was hoping to see and she really enjoyed herself. We saw a scorpion, some monkeys, poked around in a tree hollow for cobwebs and—the highlight of the trip—ate flowers and fruit of the karonda tree. She’s now told all her friends that she went to the jungle, made friends with the monkeys and ate karondas with them (she’s clearly taken artistic license)! So we’re all excitedly waiting for the next Nature Trail.

n Sunday March 18, 2012, 45 enthusiastic participants assembled bright and early at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the Alumni Association’s Nature Trail and shramdhaan. The group of alumni and their families walked along the Kanheri Cave trail led by naturalists and the Sanctuary Asia team, marvelling at the treasures of the forest along the way. Avian sightings included the Crested Serpent Eagle, Shikra and Blackheaded Oriole and the forest floor revealed spider webs, termite mounds, and, in an exciting turn of events, a tiny scorpion. The children were particularly intrigued by the sounds of cicadas and barbets, the smells of

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flowers, the feel of different plants and, of course, climbing onto low lying tree branches. Scrambling up the top of the hill to see the beautiful ‘ghost trees’, the group encountered a busy troop of Hanuman langurs foraging for breakfast. After the trail, the group, including little toddlers, moved to the Kanheri Cave complex for a shramdhaan where they successfully collected over 15 bags of litter, contributing to the Forest Department’s clean up efforts. The event was included in the Earth Day Network’s ‘Billion Acts of Green’ campaign and the Association is delighted with the members’ involvement in its very own ‘Act of Green’.

Priyanka Kheruka nee Todi (ISC 2000)

Photo credits: Arun Janardhan and Mayank Tejura

The trail was a resplendent morning in the lap of nature; well organised, informative, invigorating and fun for all ages. We are all so swayed by technology that we often forget the miracles of nature and ecology. The shramdhaan was very thoughtful and invoked in us a sense of consciousness towards our environment. I look forward to more.

Mayank Tejura (ICSE 1987)

An excellent fun morning. More events like this would be welcome.

Pereena Lamba (ICSE 1988)
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eVenTS

MeMORIeS and MAYHeM
On July 18, 2012, on a wet Wednesday, Café Zoe in Mumbai’s Lower Parel area saw ex-Cathedralites — young and old — troop in to the cosy, warm and welcoming café. Thanks to Tarini Mohindar (class of 1993), one of the partners at Zoe, there was an array of delicious snacks and excellently priced beverages. Near the bar, one batch boasted of having the maximum numbers from their class. In another corner, a young entrepreneur and an established professional exchanged numbers. After a few drinks people grabbed tables and proceeded to have dinner. It was a long, leisurely evening, as the rain pattered outside and conversation continued inside. At closing time, we could still feel the warmth of old friendships and shared history.

Photo credits: Sundeep Bhatia (ICSE 1985)

2012 The X-Cathedralite 9

SCHooL UPdATe

A message from the Principal,
Mrs. Meera Isaacs he School year was tumultuous with the juggling of academic schedules, sporting events and cultural jamborees and, as usual, the children came through with flying colours. The School’s philosophy is that we must give our pupils a rich and varied experience with ‘challenge’ being a key ingredient. Academic achievement is only one part of the whole. Examination Results As usual, the Board examination results were outstanding. At the ICSE 2011 Examinations, Raahil Shah ranked 1st in Maharashtra with 98.60%, followed by Evangeline Samuel at 97.20%. Ninety candidates got 90% and above; 48 in the 80s, seven in the 70s and one fell in the 60% bracket. At the ISC, Arjav Jain came 1st with 97.50%. Out of the 90 candidates who appeared, 54 got above 90%, 34 stood in the 80s and five, in the 70s. The results of the 2011 Advanced Placement Programme were quite exceptional as were the College Board results and SAT Reasoning Scores. From the graduating ISC class of 91 students, 59 applied to institutions of higher education overseas to the US, UK, Canada and Singapore. The latter is increasingly gaining in popularity – but the US, despite everything, continues to be the under-grad El-Dorado. Beyond the Classroom Our students have received international accolades in various events from creative writing competitions to science and mathematic Olympiads to the Cathedral Model United Nations. Prowess on the sportsfield is equally prized by the School;
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Sporting activities are encouraged as a vital facet of healthy growth. Discipline, leadership qualities as well as subjugating the individual self to the team are important lessons that children learn. Basketball saw its fair share of success, Football has seen an overall growth in skill, finesse and ratings as our teams have been upgraded to the ‘A’ Category, and Cathedral was judged the best School in Karate for the year 2011-12. At the DSO and Zonal Under-13 Swimming Championship we placed 1st in the Medley and 2nd in the Freestyle Relays. The various school tabletennis teams had successful runs with two teams placing 1st and 2nd and third in the MSSA and DSO. Lawn Tennis also had our Under-13 Boys team claiming first place and qualifying for the Zonals. The DSO Athletics Meet saw our Under-13 Girls bagging 1st place in the 4 x 100 metres relay, and 3rd place in the Zonals. The Senior Girls’ Badminton team took second place at the District Level and was selected for the Zonal trials; the boys’ team bagged the 3rd position and was selected for the State trials. Chess and Squash too saw stellar performances this year. The story on the boys’ cricket front continues to be dismal. It was left to the fledgling girls’ team to salvage our pride which they did spectacularly by taking first place in the Mumbai Cricket Association tournament. The Arts Our students were very fortunate to meet and paint with inspirational artists Sunil Padwal, Raza and Jitish Kallat. The yearly Art exhibition at the Tao Art Gallery fattened the Interact kitty by Rs.1,60,000/- which was donated to various causes

pin-pointed by the young artists themselves. The School Artists’ Organisation of UK printed eight posters painted by our students in the World Student Artists’ Book and at the International Youth Festival on art and culture, 16 of our Art students received Certificates of Merit for their posters. The Institute of Career Studies, Lucknow, published paintings of two of our young artists in their Silver Jubilee calendar; while La Salle Art College Singapore selected three of our students for their outstanding performance in Art studies, and has applauded the School’s Art Department as being one of the best in India for aspiring young artists. Art has become a viable career option with a good number of our graduating class going on to study at Parsons in the UK, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the prestigious National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Community Service The Interact Club is the magical spider’s web that weaves school activities with community service. The substantial monies raised through student efforts are used to bring comfort to sick children, the differently-abled and the elderly. Tata Memorial Hospital, the Cancer Survivor’s V Care Foundation, Yuva, VOICE, Apnalaya, Goonj, the Akanksha Centres, the Sadhana School and Om Creations, the Door-Step School and Seva Sadan, St. Xavier’s College and the National Association for the Blind are some of the institutions with which we are strongly linked. The Nature Club has forged strong links with Sanctuary and the inimitable Bittu Sahgal. References to understanding and saving the

SCHooL UPdATe world’s environment and biodiversity – especially our national icon – the tiger – are strewn through the project work. The Infant School project was so outstanding that it was aired on television by Sahara Mumbai. The Club endeavours to spread this message through talks by conservationists, quizzes, presentations, field trips, art work and photography workshops. Leadership Skills Our young people are strategicallyplaced to become the leaders of tomorrow. They are bright, creative, imaginative, well-informed and progressive-minded and will in time be, I presume, the movers and shakers of the world …and we hope, underpin what they do with a strong sense of right and wrong. Training in ethics begins at the three-year level and is one of the lynchpins of the School. Through value education, counselling sessions, films, stories and assembly programmes the lessons of evolving into right thinking, principled human beings is emphasised. The Ethical Leadership Programme that the School subscribes to is a step towards consciously helping our students have the courage to make the right choices. Our Teachers There has been a constant endeavour to better teaching and inter-personal skills through workshops and seminars. Curricula is fine-tuned and audited so that the teaching learning process is challenging, stimulating and enjoyable. Mrs. J. Mayadas, our Vice-Principal, had the opportunity to attend the International School Leadership Summit 2011 in Iowa. Mrs. Sudarshana Shukla further enhanced her skills at a 10-day-certificate course on Career Counselling in Bangalore Four of our teaching faculty, Mrs. Kamakshi Tewari, Mrs. Vaishali Bafna and Sarah Varghese of the Senior School appeared successfully for their Bachelor of Education Examination. Mr. Nanda Das our creative and much-loved wizard of the Art Department had two of his paintings exhibited at none other than the Guggenheim at New York. Farewells have, of necessity, to be made. We bid a reluctant au revoir to Miss Jennifer Vaz, Headmistress of the Middle School for 15 years. We thank her for her many years of dedicated and loyal service to the School and wish her a lifetime of blessings. Other teachers who retire after a long and fruitful innings with us are Mrs. Lakshmi Ramani, Co-ordinator of Mathematics at the Senior level who has been with us for 13 years, and Mrs. Rita Fernandes, Art Teacher of the Junior School who has clocked close to 21 years. Mrs. Namita Prasad, Mrs. Piyali Pant, Mrs. Nivedita Jaiswal, Mrs. Tanvi Banerjee are others who left during the course of the year. They all go with our good wishes, gratitude and affection for having been an integral part of the School community and for gilding so many lives with value. It is with personal sadness that I say goodbye to Mrs. Jean Pereira, the feisty lady all of you meet when you come to the Principal’s Office. I would also like to formally welcome all new members of staff. It is particularly gratifying that a slowly but steadily increasing number of former Cathedralites are opting to give back to their alma mater by taking on the mantle of teachers. I trust that they will have a long and rewarding tenure with the School Thank You Our Vice-Principals, Mrs. Jyotsna Mayadas and Mrs. Nalini Samuel, our Headmistresses, Miss J. Vaz, Mrs. S. Ganguly, Mrs. Z. Shroff, Mrs. R. Talpade, Mrs. Gehna Malkani our Bursar, our Administrative Staff and our entire teaching faculty you have always walked the extra mile and have carried out your duties with grace, finesse and good humour. Thank you for being such an incredible team and for sharing the slog and the joy of taking our School along its journey to excellence. To all the members of the PTA – led by the generous-spirited Mrs. Mayuri Bhasin (Chairperson) and her cohorts, Mrs. Sangeeta Kapoor (Vice-Chairperson), Mrs. Alka Samant (Secretary), Mrs. Sapna Vaid (Assistant Secretary) and Ayesha Soonawalla (Treasurer), incredibly creative, efficient and energetic young ladies. There is much appreciation and admiration for your never-say-die attitude and for genuinely seeming to like what you do for the School! To the members of the alumni association who support the School in various ways, and especially to Anand Gokani, doctor on perpetual call and motivational leader to our Std.12s, many, many grateful thanks. I would like to thank our Board of Governors , led by Mr. T. Thomas, for their wisdom and vision. They have, as is their wont, spent considerable time and effort in guiding the policies of the School. We are truly blessed to have the goodwill, support and patience of people of such high calibre – each a stalwart in his field. It is a tremendous privilege for me to head a School such as ours. The young people we deal with are undoubtedly children of paradise.. If, as a School, we have helped our students discover and develop themselves, to inculcate qualities of sportsmanship, leadership and team spirit, to be grateful for their many advantages and to be able to accept all their achievements with humility and grace, to value and respect one another, to be kind and compassionate, to be able to reach out in help to someone in need – in other words, to let the heart have its way – then we have succeeded in our mission.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 11

www.ravalgaon.in

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SUMMer SCHooL

The Cathedral SuMMeR SCHOOl
A circular went out eleven years ago to the children of the Middle School. It said: Would you like to Dance? Gaze at the stars? Paint a wall? Kick a ball? Craft a pot? Laugh a lot? Act? Sing? Plant a tree? Fly a kite? Play Housie at night?

Of course, they would. The response was overwhelming and so, since 2002 the Summer School has become an integral part of the School Calendar. By December each year we have a waiting-list of hopefuls. As soon as the School vacations start so does the Summer School. It is held at Manoribel in Manori village. The idea, besides having a lot of fun, is for the 45 children from the Middle School to integrate with 25 children from the village who take part in all the activities alongside the Cathedral children, The Manori children are sponsored by

the Association. The Summer School was conceptualised in 2002 by Shyla Boga Patel (1969) and has been meticulously organised by her for the last eleven years. It is at all times accompanied by five staff members of the school who take excellent care of the children. The accommodation at Manoribel is superb and the food tends to vanish quite fast! We take the entire hotel so that there are no outside guests, or security concerns. The workshops are run by men and women known for their excellence. Art: Nanda Das,

Environment: Anish Andheria, Theatre: Rajit Kapoor, Pottery: Abbas and Yusuf Galwani, Robotics: Asha Sundararajan, Dance: Shiamak’s troupe, to name a few. Of course, over the years, a whole host of other disciplines have also been covered. The main aim of the Summer School is integration of the rural and the urban. The Mumbai children visit the local farm houses, temple and church, learn how toddy is tapped and rice is grown. On the other hand, the Manori children get the opportunity to learn astronomy, pottery, dance and robotics. Another aim is to learn outside the confines of a school…both mentally and physically. The Summer School receives a donation of Rs. one lakh from the Alumni Association. One visit to the Summer School at Manoribel and you will see that the sheer electricity and joy in the air certainly make it money well donated.
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SPoTLigHT

A SenSe of Service
Keshav Desiraju (1970) joined the IAS in 1978. He is currently Special Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In the 34 years since Keshav joined the IAS, he has only known three other Cathedralites in the civil service
Tell us about the sector in which you currently work. My work in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare covers a wide range of health policy issues including the prevention, treatment and management of non-communicable disease, issues in medical education, strengthening health human resource development and matters related to the WHO. In our federal system, the responsibility for the delivery of health care rests with the state governments who are also free to frame their own policies. In practice, however, major policy initiatives in recent years, such as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), have come from the Government of India. Among the many things I learnt from Cathedral, was a sense of service and while we have known alumni play prominent roles in public service, working for the Government has not been an option that Cathedralites have readily looked at. What are the key problems? As we look to the 12th Five Year Plan, 2012-2017, the big issue is universal access to health. Some readers would be familiar with the remarkable achievements made by Cuba and Thailand in providing universal access. The task is more difficult in a country of our size. Finding the resources is one problem, but a much more difficult problem is finding the right people. India faces an alarming shortage of qualified professionals at the locations where they are needed. This covers the entire range from health workers and midwives in the villages to specialists and super specialists at tertiary care centres. You have said “Public health has to be a public responsibility”. Please comment The question of qualified human resources is linked closely to the question of private provisioning of health services. There is no denying the contribution to healthcare delivery of the private sector and the services provided by private hospitals. However, for the vast bulk of India’s people, healthcare needs to be provided easily, locally and inexpensively. Where do the challenges and opportunities lie? We need to invest much more substantially in health research, with a view towards new and improved treatment for both communicable and non-communicable diseases. We have seen remarkable success in addressing the challenge of polio, but malaria and other communicable diseases remain a challenge. India is a large producer of inexpensive generic drugs. Our challenge is to maintain our competitive edge while also seeking a greater share of the world market. Infant mortality remains unacceptably high; at the same time Indians are living longer and we need to be able to address the problems of old age, not all of which have medical solutions. What are the perceptions of the government and the civil services in a changing polity? The print and television media does not hold the government in any great regard, and the IAS in particular is an object of scorn. Certainly it could be said that the civil servants have failed to maintain the standards for which their community was known and which were so much in evidence in the early years of India’s independence. But to my mind, and it surprises me that I should have taken so long to realise this, there is so much that can be done in this government. While I may have entered the government service somewhat shakily, there is now nowhere else I would rather be. By Mukeeta Jhaveri nee

Kataria (ISC 1983)

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SPoTLigHT

ROAD to Mandalay

Amitav Ghosh’s novel ‘The Glass Palace’ was the inspiration for Sudha Shah’s first book on Burma
“[It] heralds the arrival of a writer of non-fiction who is both uncommonly talented and exceptionally diligent... One of the great merits of [the book] is that it is completely free of jargon and theorising. It is in essence a family story, centred on five women whose lives were waylaid by history.” The book was shortlisted for the prestigious Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, and was on The Asian Age bestseller list. Says Sudha, “Although my parents were very liberal and both were avid readers of literature and history, as many of my generation I was pressured to do a more ‘practical’ subject— in my case, science. Science was never my interest and my much-better-thanexpected ISC results astonished no one more than me! In college I majored in economics—another ‘practical’ subject. It was only recently that I found my passion, and this book is a result of it.” She adds, “My mother, Sheila Malkani (nee Advani) went to Cathedral and so did my son Karan. My mother often talked about how much she valued the education she got at Cathedral, a sentiment my son and I also share. That, and the enduring friendships we all made, make for very special memories of a very special school.”

The King in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family of Burma (HarperCollins, 2012) is the moving biography of a fascinating family — the last king of Burma, King Thibaw, his two queens, and his four daughters. The book describes King Thibaw’s seven-year rule from the resplendent Golden Palace in Mandalay, and the loss of his throne to the British. It recounts the adjustments the king and his family had to make as state prisoners during their long exile in Ratnagiri, India. And it details the life of the family once the exile ended after the king’s death, including the lives of each of the princesses who were suddenly thrown into a world that they had absolutely no knowledge of. Sudha Shah (nee Malkani), the author of the book, graduated from the Cathedral & John Connon

School in 1972 followed by Smith College, USA. She has spent the last seven years researching and writing this book. Her sources include in-depth interviews with King Thibaw’s descendants and others in Ratnagiri, Kalimpong, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mandalay, Yangon and Pyin Oo Lwin; libraries, newspaper records and government archives in Mumbai, New Delhi, London and Yangon. Her interest in the subject was sparked by Amitav Ghosh’s book, ‘The Glass Palace’. In his review of her book, Ghosh has written that it is ‘an absorbing read’. Exhaustively researched and gracefully written ‘The King in Exile’ tells a story of compelling human interest, filled with drama, pathos and tragedy.

By Rohita Doshi (ISC 1975)
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off THe SHeLf

Amish Tripathi and Akash Shah at Om Book Shop, Lower Parel

Turning the pages of HISTORY
Amish Tripathi (ICSE 1990) and Akash Shah (ISC 1992) who once went a few rounds with each other in the boxing ring, now occupy two sides in the same field— one is the bestselling author of The Shiva Trilogy, while the latter is a successful publisher of his family’s Jaico Publishing House. Over a light supper they reminisce about school and life thereafter
What are your memories of each other from your school days? Akash: We were in the same class but we weren’t part of the same gang. Both of us were into sports, but we trained with our respective houses. I remember Amish mainly in the context of boxing.
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Amish: I used to train with my twin brother Ashish; he was a very good boxer. But yes, Akash and I really got to know each other through sports. We both participated in boxing, gymnastics, cross country and rugby. In gym the pummel horse and rings were my apparatus.

Akash: The pummel horse was my favourite, too, but I broke my arm on the vaulting horse. Amish: That’s another thing we have in common! I broke my back on the vaulting horse. Akash: In boxing I remember Amish’s style was very unconventional. He came into the ring with this non-stop energy. I didn’t know what hit me. He was very aggressive right from the beginning. Amish: Akash was a technically very sound boxer and he had beaten me the previous year. I knew that if I hung around too long with him I would lose so I decided I was going to go aggressive and head-on.
What did you do after leaving school? Amish: I was in corporate insurance before I became a full-time writer. After school I went to Xavier’s and

Photo credit: Dhiman Chatterjee

then did my MBA. The only fiction I thought I was going to write were insurance company business plans! I always liked to achieve things and I tended to be pretty aggressive. That attitude has toned down since I started to write my books. In college I was an atheist, but in the last few years I have become deeply religious. When I was young my passion was history but I was practical enough to realise that I needed to do an MBA to get into banking. I made those choices then, but now I am lucky to be working on my passion. When I wrote the first two books (The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas) I was till working as the National Head Marketing Products and Service Quality at IDBI. I resigned only when my royalties were more than my salary. Akash: It was when I was in the 9th standard, and for the first time Ms. Hallegua wrote something very

travel and I am also very interested in photography. My last project was shooting the 36 Mumbai skywalks. Akash, have you read Amish’s books? Akash: I read them when he first sent me the manuscript when he was looking for a publisher. I thought the idea and concept were unique but then I did a stupid thing. Until then I had never worked with a friend, and we had decided that since we are friends we should not work together. We were not doing fiction at that time, so it was a block in my mind. We just started doing fiction earlier this year.

and name. The way he marketed his book has shaken up publishers with a conventional take on book marketing. How did you come up with these unique marketing ideas? Amish: In a way it helped that I didn’t have a publisher and selfpublished because otherwise I may not have had the freedom to do the things I wanted to do. Now by God’s grace, as the books have done well, the publisher listens to me. I was lucky because I have been in marketing but many of the ideas were from other people – I was just smart to listen to them. The idea of the first free chapter came from my wife. The idea of the trailer came from a friend. Akash: Amish is a very good example of someone who broke out and created his own life. I would like to get more creative with the books that are coming out of our publishing house but I think I need his advice on how to market these books! Amish, what do you think of Akash the publisher? Amish: His company does very well and is very strong in the market. I think everyone has their own model on life, as long as you are happy with what you are doing. I just want to know from him, when we can expect Robin Sharma’s next book? Are you in touch with other school friends? Akash: We are a small close group that has kept in touch. Amish: Regrettably not, but I am getting back in touch now. It’s good to talk about stuff that brings a smile to your face. When I meet old friends now their first reaction usually is how did you write a book!

encouraging on one of my essays that made me think that maybe I could be a writer. That was when my interest in literature suddenly came alive. I then graduated in English and Art History before going on to do my MBA at Columbia University. I always knew I would end up in publishing, but it worked out well because I was interested in literature and books. And I combined it with a business background as well. Besides work, I write a blog about

Amish: I sent the manuscript to him for advice. Working with friends can be complicated. Also it must have been a surprise to him because I had never shown a tendency to be creative, ever. I loved reading but I didn’t read to experience the beauty of language. I like to read because I like to learn new things. My writing is antithetical to how I have lived my life so far. Even when the manuscript was sent around, I was not as emotionally attached to success as I had been before. I genuinely did not care if the book succeeded or not. This was a new thought, for me. I just wanted to do the best I could. Akash: Amish’s success is definitely revolutionary. He’s done whatever he had to in order to establish his brand

By Udita Jhunjhunwala (ICSE 1984)
2012 The X-Cathedralite 19

oUT of THe Box

Queen Bee
Why is development professional Vijaya Pastala (ISC 1984) using bees to tackle poverty across Western India, and what has this got to do with your breakfast? The X-Cathedralite finds out development—possibly piqued by early exposure to “the real India” through DEAS camps —led to a string of assignments at the World Bank, The Aga Khan Foundation and the European Commission among others. Her trajectory was one of a successful development professional focussed on livelihoods and natural resource management. But something happened along the way. The Shift Pastala attributes the life-change to “being a late mom”. She explains, “I hesitantly embarked upon motherhood at 38, when my career was going very well. I soon discovered, however, that the joy and energy of parenting was something I was not experiencing through work. That’s when I started the questioning process.” Pastala researched opportunities in the fields of agriculture and rural development, looking for excitement, meaning and flexibility. She laughingly reminisces about Cathedral friends Naheed Carrimjee and Sophie Moochalla being at the receiving end of an endless barrage of ideas (both are on the board of her company today). The actual epiphany occurred in the apple orchards of Himachal Pradesh, where she discovered farmers bringing in bees at flowering time to help with pollination. The Bees “Of all natural cross pollinators, bees can be domesticated,” Pastala explains, pointing out that crop production could increase as much as 200% with bee boxes or artificial hives. She soon embarked on a venture —funded by her own savings — to promote low cost beekeeping as a way to increase agricultural productivity and provide additional income for farmers. Once the bees came, honey was a natural next step. With her Cathedral and Mount Holyoke network, ideas rolled into action and she was soon retailing her own brand of fair-trade, single flora, organic honey, Under the Mango Tree (UTMT). Pastala is quick to point out that she uses indigenous honeybee species, and no antibiotics. She also guarantees market access and surplus honey to farmers, making UTMT a unique enterprise with both for-profit and non-profit divisions. The Future Pastala, whose son Yohan is in Junior School (a Wilsonite, she happily notes), finds the challenge of the work-life balancing act exciting and “what keeps me going”. Before parting she speaks emphatically of her desire to influence government agricultural policy with respect to honey, to directly influence the lives of 20,000 farmers, and to expand the urban beekeeping programme in Mumbai. It all seems likely in the foreseeable future since Vijaya Pastala, whose semi-official designation at UTMT is Queen Bee, can probably do anything that she sets her mind to.
Photo credits: Priyam Dhar and Charlotte Anderson

V

ijaya Pastala bounds into our meeting at the end of a working day exuding energy. Dropping onto the sofa, she thrusts forward a sheaf of papers, “Come on Sunday! Bring the kids!” The event is a swimming gala during Joy of Giving Week, and she is pushing her cause Bees for Poverty Reduction. Pastala was instrumental in this swimathon, conducted along the lines of the popular Mumbai Marathon. Her rationale: “I don’t run, I swim. So if runners can fundraise for causes, why can’t swimmers do it too?” The same ‘just do it’ attitude seems to pervade the rest of Pastala’s life. Entrepreneur, mother, homemaker, social activist, the 45-year-old fills all roles with drive and enthusiasm. The Early Years After Cathedral, Pastala studied International Relations and Women’s Studies at Mount Holyoke College, followed by Regional Planning at MIT. An interest in rural

By Miel Sahgal (ISC 1989)
2012 The X-Cathedralite 21

oUT of THe Box

Wall to WAll ART
Filmmaker, designer and visual artist, Dhanya Pilo (ICSE 1996) is also the founder of India’s only self-sustaining public art project, The Wall Project (India). Here she talks about the importance of public art in urban life
According to you, what defines public art? Public art falls between the realms of art and urban planning. It brightens up an area, adds context and story while intriguing and motivating, and simply humanises the built environment. The effectiveness of public art is in achieving more convivial urban environments while retaining the idea that imagining the urban future is as much part of a democratic society as using public space. It provides an intersection between past, present and future, between disciplines, and between ideas. Public art is freely accessible, it reflects our current society.
22 The X-Cathedralite 2012

In my ideal, the best public art contributes just as much to the public good as it does to the history of art; a relatively unobtrusive installation that ends up beautifying and popularising functional urban space rather than interfering with it. For example, a road in Drachten, The Netherlands, is painted blue to symbolise the water. It is 1,000 metres long and eight metres wide. It was created to form an urban river and recreate the path of a waterway that used to be where the road currently runs. Look at any of the Anish Kapoor stainless steel installations in London’s public spaces — they motivate every passerby to interact and have fun with them.

How has public art failed or succeeded in Mumbai? The only public art that has survived in India are historical statues and fountains, which are reflective of a bygone era. In Mumbai, the painting of the map on Lion Gate at Regal is reflective of that area. R.K. Laxman’s common man enjoying the breeze at Worli Sea Face is aptly made and installed and can be comprehended by the old and young equally. On the other hand, a huge sculpture of a woman holding a baby with the quote ‘A child gives birth to a mother’ under the Bandra flyover might be sincere in concept, but the execution is distant from the idea itself and would not have worked without the quote. The sculpture could be self-explanatory.

to their city and to be proactive in a creative way. Discuss any piece of public art in Mumbai and what it has achieved The Tulsi Pipe Road project was to write all the letters of the Hindi alphabet on each wall and each painter had to pick one letter and visualise a word starting with that letter, e.g. S for Superman. The alphabet project was a simple mural concept which, when painted, would form a word learning wall for all those who passed by it, like a school text book on the wall. The paintings by the Bandra project, the Wall Project and other travelling artists has made the lanes of Bandra a charming place to cycle or walk around exploring the paintings. One such is the painting of the little boy eating bhel (see image on left), so if any other person buys bhel, he or she can sit next to the boy and eat. What do you think is the future of public art in the world and in India? The production and consumption of public art encapsulates the tensions that existed between different visions of the city over the years. It’s also about the playfulness and joy that can be brought to our public spaces. Unsuccessful public art installations are usually the end result of giving an artist a creative role that is too prescriptive, unrealistically high expectations, a mediocre artist who won’t “offend”,

limited funds, or an insistence that “everything is approved by everyone.” Using public art can actually transform schools, offices, public utility spaces, public spaces, colleges or hospitals into extremely positive and inspiring spaces. Art, design and technology are separated by a thin line, but need to be ingrained into the planning and execution of all our cities — current and future. What inspired The Wall Project? How has it evolved? The Wall Project came out of a need to have a creative canvas beyond the scope of establishments. With the Wall Project we were able to reclaim various spaces to be public spaces — by painting on the walls and including every curious passerby. It has also made people want to do more for their city, neighbourhood and themselves. Basically, it’s a widely accessible canvas. It started with a wall in Bazaar Road, Bandra, an old fishing village with so much character yet somehow the house walls seemed unkempt. On seeing one painted wall the neighbours and other artists got interested and offered their walls, and that started a chain reaction. We are in the process of creating a Public Art Centre which will serve as a body to motivate, mediate, research and execute many public art projects, workshops, etc. in India.

The Wall Project has succeeded as a movement all over Mumbai, as well as spread to other cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Goa, etc. More societies and colonies want to adopt this practice. The BMC, as well as the government, have shown support in the past but it will always be a work in progress. Painting walls at Tulsi Pipe Road, the Bandra villages, Colaba and Andheri, with the support of locals and the municipality has been achieved in a collaborative way. More than 800 people have been part of the Wall Project — painting public walls in their cities. Why? I say for self-satisfaction, to contribute

Photo credits: Nishant Desai credit: Nishant Desai

By Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen (ISC 1997)
Photos courtesy: The Wall Project

2012 The X-Cathedralite 23

noSTALgiA

geography leSSOnS

Born in Bombay in 1940, Adil Jussawalla is the author of three books of poems —Land’s End, Missing Person and Trying to Say Goodbye. He also edited the influential anthology New Writing in India

While visiting Pakistan, Adil Jussawalla (1955) is transported back to the classroom

I

nvited to Lahore in 1993, I booked a flight through an agency called The Great Escape. There was some irony, entirely unintentional, in my choice of agency, as my trip wasn’t meant to be a great escape at all. I was going to Lahore on business, as one of the three judges who had to select two books for The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Choosing two books out of more than 50 is a lot of business. As it turned out, the trip was sheer pleasure. At one stage we found ourselves in the mountains beyond Murree, looking out over a valley through which a line of water ran. The line twisted in its tracks like a trapped snake, bright silver in the mornings, an exhausted grey by evening. The mountains held us and the line in thrall. We shall not be moved, they seemed to say. Do your worst. We’re here to stay. Living among mountains, even for a little while, you begin to learn why they engender so many myths and why they are the objects of so much worship. Their faces blacken as clouds pass over them, they blaze white hot under snow and they shield you from the fierce sun. They have moods which they let you know of in no uncertain terms. We had been taken to Nathia Galli, a hill-town close to Pakistan’s border with Kashmir. There was our host, the novelist Bapsi Sidhwa, Lyn Innes from the University of Canterbury, England, and myself. From that hill-town we ranged the

world in our reading. The novels took us to Western America of the last century, to New Zealand and to the Andaman Islands. They took us into the minds of the very young and the very old, through worlds radiantly whole or hopelessly disconnected. We journeyed without maps, occasionally losing our way, but however far we travelled we came back to the mount under our feet, its rocks and slopes. We came back, in fact, to a map, its security, and what we had learned at school: how to draw maps with a mapping pen and India ink, rivers’ names in italics, borders in broken lines, big cities’ names in caps. An atlas may not be literature but learning to read it at school was like getting to know a masterpiece. What work went into the making of these wonderful maps, what wealth of detail, gathered from millions of cubic metres of earth, air, water and sky, was finally reduced in scale to a few square centimetres so that it was possible for even the most timid of schoolchildren to look earth in the face and say, you don’t scare me any more. Below our feet in NathyaGalli were the ever-widening contour lines our geography teachers had taught us to draw. Since maps stablise an unstable world, however temporarily, those teachers made the world a safe place to live in. But the world didn’t turn out to be a safe place for them. All the geography teachers who taught me in Bombay left India

for places where they led cramped and impoverished lives. All of them are dead. They conjured up foreign lands for us but found those lands inhospitable when they got there. It’s as though they were outricked by their own profession, the maps that forever hovered in front of their eyes. Perhaps history taught them what geography couldn’t—that the world is a dangerous place, after all, that it’s flat, and that if you travel too far along its surface, you can slip off it into a monster’s jaws. Perhaps they should have spent their years of retirement in India, travelling only by the atlases through which they once taught us and which brought the world to our doorsteps. One of those teachers, Alan Glynne-Howell, lost sight in one eye in his late years. All the same, he wrote a novel set in India. No British publisher touched it so he sent the novel to Bombay through one of his ex-students. I’d like to think that the words from an atlas came back to him during his final years, that, on certain evenings, the walls of a room in a small English town heard strange sounds being repeated. “We’re crossing the Jhelum,” Bapsi said on the flight to Rawalpindi. The words came back to me in slow motion: “Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej.” And, again, “Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej.” Mr. Howell stood by his desk in the Geography Room opening and shutting his mouth. It was his voice that I heard.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 25

26 The X-Cathedralite 2012

reUnionS

30 Years Class of 1981/83

I

25 Years Class of 1986/88

ow! Another reunion of the class (family) of 1981/83 has gone by. On 30 December, 2011, we brought back many great memories of our school days, truly memories to treasure! Once again, a big thank you to Shapoor for hosting our reunion at his lovely home on Walkeshwar Road, Mumbai. After several rounds of drinks and delicious food on the lawn, I am sure our loud laughter could be heard a mile away! It was fun making so much noise in front of our teachers and it was great to catch up on everyone’s stories, hearing about spouses and children, career choices, hobbies and lifestyles.It was great to meet old friends and see familiar faces, especially since many of our batch-mates have moved to different parts of India and the world. The next evening saw a gathering of 10A at the Bombay Gymkhana. With some 10A classmates who could not attend Shapoor’s also present, and a school visit for a few lucky 10Aites. Overall, it was an eventful reunion, one we shall always cherish. A big thank you to Rajiv and all the organisers. I look forward to seeing you in 2016 for our 35th reunion! Till then adieu!

W

t began months earlier with a trickle of e-mails. Could it really be 25 years since our ICSE? The trickle slowly became a flood, as the excitement grew and the RSVPs came in thick and fast. And then, quite suddenly, it was the night of January 7, 2011. All roads led to Worli, where the Class of 1986 gathered to bask in the glow of old times – all enthusiastically wearing their House colours. Arvind and Tanya Dubash graciously offered their beautiful home and hosted the event (and even more more graciously cleaned up the mountain of bottles afterwards). The turnout was beyond everyone’s expectations. Thanks Nisha Khattau Mahadevia for leading the reunion planning and tracking down so many people! Classmates came from around the country and the world. For those who live in Mumbai, it was another chance to get together and party, while for those coming from out of town it was like coming back to the school social. Cries of “Oh my God, hiii…you look just the same...!” were heard everywhere, as people

hugged and slapped backs. Nicknames that hadn’t been used for years were shouted enthusiastically, and long-buried tall tales from class folklore were discussed and dissected, having lost none of their spice with the passage of time. There’s nothing quite like old school ties, and it was so good that night to reconnect and remember. Play up School! And here’s to our next reunion!

By Sunil Gupta

By Sonali Bhagwat Rao

2012 The X-Cathedralite 27

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firST CiTiZen

A Towering eFFORT
Dilnar Chichgar (ISC 1972) and Rohita Doshi (ISC 1975) are active members of Indians For Safe Environments, an initiative against dangerous levels of cell tower radiation arly this year, we observed that 18 cell phone transmitters had sprung up on a building in our area. With the knowledge of tragic events at another neighbouring building where cell towers were suspected to have caused grievous harm, a small group of us got together to remove these silent hazards in our midst. We were certain that our pleas and explanations would work, especially with a school being affected, but the building’s society stood firm. The towers, with all the income attached, were going to stay. We sought information through the RTI Act and discovered that the majority of the towers in our city are illegal. We soon realised that government policies urgently needed to be changed if we were to benefit from mobile technology without the incumbent health hazards which range from headaches and sleep disorders to tumours and cancer. At that point, our campaign also changed from a localised neighbourhood conflict into a nationwide initiative. Initially, we found people sceptical or unaware. The media was tightlipped and it was a struggle to get any report in the press. There was a great sense of fear when it came to confronting the powerful telecom industry . Our group, IFSE (Indians For Safe Environments), organised rallies, talks and discussions involving experts like IIT Professor Girish Kumar, Dr. Anand Gokani and celebrity Juhi Chawla. We held signature campaigns, contacted

E

associations and the media, sent appeals and met with the state and local ministries. “Non-Ionizing Radiation, as is emitted by cell towers and cell phones, is the harbinger of a new set of diseases which will overtake a large unsuspecting population that doesn’t heed preliminary warnings of this invisible danger. Stringent moderation and controlled use of this technological tool is the only way we can enjoy its

benefits yet stay free of its harmful effects,” said Dr. Gokani (ISC 1974). The WHO has classified cell tower radiation as a Class 2B carcinogen. Experts believe that the ICNIRP guideline, our earlier norm, did not sufficiently protect us from long term exposure. Further, there seemed to be no regulations on distances, heights or numbers of antennae. MP Milind Deora had said, “We wouldn’t want that 20 years down the line we have an entire population of young children, young adults and old suffering from serious health effects due to our negligence, our inaction or our ignorance.” So, along with Professor Kumar who has done research in this field, Mr. Kasliwal, whose family has been a victim of tower radiation, and

activist Prakash Munshi, we took the opportunity to make a presentation to Milind Deora, the Hon. Minister of State (C& IT), and to the Dept. of Telecommunications in New Delhi. We appealed for stringent regulations with regard to the location, heights, distances and the number of antennae permissible in a single cluster of towers and to significantly reduce the power output from each antenna. We sent a letter to the Hon. Prime Minister with a thousand signatures. The Hon. Prime Minister had recently ordered the Dept. of Science &Technology to appoint an Expert Committee to address radiation. On September 1, 2012, the C&IT Ministry announced the maximum permissible limits of radiation density be reduced to one tenth of the previous limit, bringing some relief. We have seen an explosion of public awareness, an awakening of the media and some encouraging response from the Government. However, those who are currently forced to live in close proximity to towers and children in neighbouring schools require much more protection. We will continue our effort to secure adequate safety measures and look forward to working with other citizens, associations, NGOs, the telecom industry and local, state and central governments to create a safe environment.

By Dilnar Chichgar (ISC 1972) and Rohita Doshi (ISC 1975) For more information, visit www.controlradiation.org
2012 The X-Cathedralite 29

in MeMoriAM

Mrs. Irene Saldanha

C

athedral School lost Mrs. Irene Saldanha on July 17, 2012, just a few weeks shy of her 70th birthday. In a beautiful mass at Holy Name Church, Mumbai, her loved ones paid their respects to a lady who, in the hearts and memories of her Cathedral family, will always remain larger than life. Mrs. Saldanha began her career at Cathedral as a P.E. teacher in Junior School, taught 3M and ended her tenure after a nine-year stint as Headmistress of Junior School. The first thing most people noticed about Mrs. Saldanha was her imposing height (5 feet 11 inches) and her booming voice. As an educator, Mrs. Saldanha was respected and loved for her

dedication to School, and her commitment to her children. It was during her stint as headmistress that the Junior School camps started. She was always the go-to person for first aid and soothed her patients with her healing touch and practical sense. Upon Mrs. Saldanha’s retirement Mrs. Isaacs wrote, “She brought to her work a robust common sense, an unusual flair for organisation, an ability to see the humour in trying situations, an undoubted love for her little wards, respect for her colleagues and, above all, an unflinching loyalty to the school.” Jennifer Fernandes, formerly Junior School secretary, fondly recalls, “She always took such personal interest in each one of us

and shared all our family problems.” Ms. Vaz, former Headmistress of Middle School, adds, “Despite being a strict disciplinarian, Irene was always playing pranks on us. Mr. Dias, Mr. Thomas and she would send us on wild goose chases, once telling me I was summoned to Mrs. Dev’s office!” Mrs. Saldanha loved to cook and dance. Her chicken curries and sannas were legendary. “She loved to dance be it the bhangra, cha-cha-cha, the square dance or the reel!”, shares Mrs. Khullar. Mrs. Saldanha’s strength, love and resounding voice will be dearly missed.

By Maleeka Lala (ISC 1989) and Shonar Lala Chinoy (ISC 1990)

Mrs. Irene Saldanha (centre) with her family

A Tribute to Mum (excerpts from the funeral service): “Our mother was larger than life, in more than stature. Although to us, her sons, she was downright petite and adorable, we could never keep up with her persona. She was the kind of person who swept into a room, turned it upside down, and left with a flourish... It would be wrong, then, not to acknowledge that her personality and presence, were nurtured, encouraged, and indeed, instigated by her partner of over 50 years . Today, while it comes to the two of us to write in celebration of our mother, we have long been happily resigned to the fact that while she had two sons, she had many, many children. All Cathedralites, her ‘children,’ were always incredibly important to her —and they will always remain her ‘children’, even when they return to Cathedral with children of their own. In addition, she prized her relationships with her fellow teachers and parents at The Cathedral & John Connon, some of whom became her closest friends and confidantes. Thank you for your love and warmth and support, in sharing our grief as well as for joining us in this celebration of how our mother, Irene Saldanha, touched so many lives.” By Colin (ISC 1984) and Kenneth Saldanha (ISC 1989)
2012 The X-Cathedralite 31

in MeMoriAM

Mr. Anthony Dias
r. Anthony Dias, Hindi and Marathi teacher and one of the stalwarts of the Middle School, passed away on September 29th, 2012. He taught at the School for 23 years, retiring in 1990. “Mr. Dias was a very good colleague with an excellent sense of humour,” says Mr. Mehta, fellow Hindi teacher. Miss Vaz fondly recounts Mr. Dias’ love for pranks and jokes. “When I joined Cathedral, I didn’t speak a word of Marathi. Mr. Dias (in cahoots with Mrs. Saldanha) actually convinced me it was compulsory for me to address the Assembly in Marathi once a week. He even wrote a paragraph which he said I would have to read out myself which I promptly started mugging! He was a great friend to have.” Mr. Dias was a kind-hearted person who made learning fun,” says Mrs. Pereira.

M

His children, ex-Cathedralites Salome (ICSE 1981), Troy (ICSE 1985) and Jason (ICSE 1986), remember their father for his zest for life. “Dad was the perpetual entertainer who delighted everyone around him with his jokes, singing and dancing. He was patient, kind and generous —always willing to help those in need. Despite modest beginnings, through sheer hard work and determination he achieved recognition in the field of drama and was well-respected as a writer and teacher. We will sorely miss him.” Even in his retirement, Mr. Dias remained attached to Cathedral School and was often spotted in the School even though he was then teaching at New Activity and J. B. Petit schools. He also directed plays and composed hymns for the church and often travelled abroad often to

Mr. Dias, top row second from the left

meet his children and grandchildren. Sadly, in his latter years, he suffered from Alzheimer’s which progressively became more severe. Mr. Dias, your kindness, patience, and good humour will be sorely missed, not just by your children, but by your entire Cathedral family

By Shonar Lala Chinoy
(ISC 1990)

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2012 The X-Cathedralite 33

CLASS noTeS

Class of 1961
Jamini Morarji (Barham) lives in Mumbai and is a costume-jewellery designer. In addition she is the Creative Director of her daughter Maithili Ahluwalia’s (also a Cathedralite) furniture store Bungalow Eight. She has no plans to retire any time soon! Ranjini Chinappa Kalappa (Palmer) is an architect, currently residing in Bangalore. Hilloo Avasia Damkevala (Barham) worked with Amersey Bros. Pvt. Ltd., followed by Tata Sons Ltd. from 1971 to 2005 from where she retired as Deputy Manager. She is currently involved in social work and spends many happy hours being a grandma. Gita Mukerji Cueppers (Palmer) studied at a language school in Munich from 1962-65 and became a translator and interpreter. Back in Mumbai she worked at the German Consulate General before returning to Germany in 1971. She worked as a high school teacher, has now retired and spends time travelling. Ajita Advani Tolani (Palmer) lives in Los Angeles and is working as the General Manager of a beauty supply distribution company. She is all set to retire soon. Suchita Assomull Shivdasani (Savage) lived in Hong Kong from 1985-95, where she worked with the HK Tatler; she compiled the first 100 Best HK Restaurants guide. Now, back in Mumbai, she designs pearl jewellery and plays Mahjong.

Barham: Purnima Muzumdar Sethi, Mumbai/ LA/Goa Sartaj Abdul Hai Noorani, Mumbai Anjali Nath Khosla, Mumbai Kanta Malkani Manglani, Chicago Wilson: Veena Thadani, USA Naheed Ahmed Khan, Pune/Paris R.I.P. Monica Mirchandani Sahoo (Barham) Rehana Hussein Amarjeet (Palmer) Moyna Mukherjee Rajadhaksh (Barham) Meher Guzdar Titania (Palmer) Jyoti Kurma Baswan (Palmer)
By Suchita Assomull Shivdasani

Class of 1962
Adil Gandhy (Palmer) joined his family business, ‘Chemould’, which is into contemporary art and picture framing. He ran the factory manufacturing operations until 2006. He now runs Chemould’s retail picture framing shop in Mumbai. His son and daughter are settled in the U.S. adilgandhy@gmail.com Ali Merchant (Savage) co-founded the national advertising agency, Triton two decades ago. His wife, Sandra, owns a boutique corporate publishing company; his daughter is with Diageo NYC and his two entrepreneur sons are in mineral trading and real estate. He loves to serve “ghar ka biryani” and kebabs —especially to Cathedralites! almerch@gmail.com Arun Chopra finished his Std.10 and Std. 11 from Bishop Cottons, Bangalore, B.Com. from St. Xavier’s, Calcutta, and C.A. from Delhi. He is pleasantly retired in Bangalore, where he plays golf six days a week and if lucky, bridge thrice a week. Note: His wife and daughter go to work! arunandbindu@gmail.com

Savage: Mumtaz Siddique, Mumbai Aruna Hiranandani Jehangir, Mumbai/Goa Ratan Lalvani Ramani, New Delhi Mohini Joshi, Pune Shameem Botawala, Mumbai Palmer: Binnie Bhatia, Kolkata Rajkumari Ramchandani Advani, Mumbai Saroj Kimatrai Chanrai, London Asma Tyabji Shah, Mumbai
36 The X-Cathedralite 2012

Aruna Jagtiani, née Dialdas (Wilson) did a stint at Elphinstone College and K. C. College for a post graduate in Journalism. She went on to work in The Indian Express, Orient Longman and All India Radio. She married Suresh in 1971 and they have two children, Aditi and Savitar, both of whom were in Cathedral. Counting her school years as being among her best years, she felt great connecting again and working for the Cathedral PTA where she was Chairperson for two years. Alongside, she has worked more than 40 years in the Maharashtra State Women’s Council—a welfare organisation for underprivileged women and children. Having been on the Board of the Sindhu Resettlement Corporation founded by her father, she is currently doing real estate consultancy work with Nagarwalla Estates. jagtiani@gmail.com Aruna Jehangir, née Hiranandani (Savage) is managing director of Meridian Holidays, a tour-operating company, and splits her time between Mumbai and Goa where she has recently launched a new Ayurveda centre with vacation rooms in South Goa. jehangir.aruna@gmail.com Aruna Malik, née Gore (Wilson) married Preet Malik who was in the Foreign Service in 1967. Her interest in Bharat Natyam helped her to conduct classes wherever she was posted. The performances put up by the students helped to raise funds for local charities. They have been posted to Sikkim, Geneva, Bahrain, Cuba, New York, Malaysia and Myanmar, besides stints back home. Her husband is now retired and they live in Delhi. aruna.malik46@yahoo.co.in Dr. Ashok Kirpalani (Savage) became a Nephrologist from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York in 1977. He is an expert in Kidney

CLASS noTeS
Transplantation and Dialysis and is currently Professor & Head of Nephrology at the Bombay Hospital, Mumbai. He is Medical Director of The Taj Group of Hotels as well. He runs an NGO called the Marrow Donor Registry in India, which helps to find bone marrow donors for needy patients. dkirpalani@hotmail.com Darab Talyarkhan (Savage) qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the UK, after obtaining a B.Com. (Hons.) degree from Sydenham College. He returned to India, worked in the profession, then established his own business. He is presently Hon. Treasurer of the Bombay Gymkhana Ltd. darab.talyarkhan@yahoo.co.in Dev Ghosh (Wilson) was an aviator for 46 years as a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force, then as Senior Captain, followed by Operations Management with Air India for the past 26 years. He retired from active flying this year. Currently mentoring at the CAE Flight Training School in Bangalore, he has two sons, Pradip and Shondip, both Wilsonites. dkg47@yahoo.com Everard A. Elijah (Wilson) is currently involved in providing major financing for international projects. He retired as CFO of Westinghouse Power Generation Group in Florida, USA. Fudli Talyarkhan (Savage) was the managing partner of Ernst & Young, Muscat and Abu Dhabi till 2003. Retired and living in Muscat, he does some business advisory work and travels for pleasure. ftalyarkhan@yahoo.com Gitanjali Aiyar, née Ambegaokar (Barham) did a B.A. Hons. (English) from Loretto College, Calcutta, followed by a Diploma from the National School of Drama in 1971. A pioneer in presenting the English news on Doordarshan, she read the news for 31 years. She is the winner of several Best Anchor Person Awards, and was awarded the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for Outstanding Women in 1987. Having worked with the Taj Hotels, the British High Commission and heading PR companies, she is now a full-time Consultant with the WWF. Hutoshi Kotwal (Palmer) joined St. Xavier’s College for a Masters in English Literature and French, and then went to Davar’s College, securing a first-class first in Business Management Studies, which gave her an appointment as Assistant Director, Management Studies. She was also a Professor in English for 15 years. She worked with Air France for 18 years, and is now working at About France, the France Tourism Development Agency in India. She is a qualified third-degree black belt in karate, teaches the sport, has participated in karate demonstrations, both live and televised, and has qualified as India’s first recognised karate judge. In 1991, she was recognised as a National Referee, which is the highest level of competition judging. hutoshik@hotmail.com Krupa Srinivas (Wilson) completed an M.A. in English at Central College, Bangalore. He has been in the travel industry since 1972, and retired from Delta Air Lines in 2005 as Manager Reservation and Ticket Office, Mumbai. krupasrini@gmail.com La’ali’ Alzayani (Savage) left Cathedral School and Mumbai in 1958 at the age of 11, and competed her schooling at the American College for Girls in Cairo, and then did an M.A. degree in Education from the American University of Beirut. She started her career as an English language teacher in the Ministry of Education in Bahrain, then was Head of In Service Training for seven years, and retired as Director of Curricula in 2007. Presently, she and her husband are enjoying their grandchildren and travelling. zayyani@batelco.com.bh Nazreen Karimbhoy, née Assur (Wilson) is an advertising copywriter turned Montessori teacher and administrator. Semi-retired, she is currently a consultant in Curriculum Development and Teacher Training. Living in Toronto, Canada, she globe trots with her husband and never misses an opportunity to visit India. nkarimbhoy@rogers.com Percy N. Karanjia, MD. FRCP, says, “My life trip was given a good sixer at the wondrous Cathedral and John Connon Boy’s High School tossing me over the park to St. Xavier’s College and Grant Medical School where I completed the usual MBBS followed by the MD exam.” Dr N.H. Wadia, “the world’s finest neurologist”, inspired him to pursue a career in Neurology, which he did in the U.K. He specialised in strokes at the University of Pittsburgh, where an old friend persuaded him to move to the Mid-West to Marshfield Clinic, where he wrote papers and did Clinical Research in Stroke and Patient Care. He was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), which no one in the US knew anything about, particularly since his award was in Latin, which he, sadly, had not learned at Cathedral! karanjia.percy@marshfieldclinic.org Priscilla Clare, née Bebbington (Wilson) left India in 1957 and completed her schooling in England. Qualifying as a Primary School Teacher in 1967, she taught in London until December 1969. She emigrated with her husband as ‘10 pound poms’ to New South Wales, Australia, and has taught in New Zealand, Queensland and as a volunteer in Tonga. Since 1978, lives on their own small rural property in Far North Queensland, participating in community life. In charge of an adult literacy and numeracy training programme. pclare666@bigpond.com Roda Desai, née Billimoria (Barham) went on a field placement to Ahmedabad’s BM Institute for Mental Health after School, St. Xavier’s and a M.A. degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), where she was exposed to children, both ‘normal’ and those with ‘special needs’. This led her to pursue Integrated/ Inclusive Education, and studied at the University of Minneapolis. On her return to TISS for a Doctorate in Social Sciences, she helped the Spastics Society set up their research centre and
2012 The X-Cathedralite 37

CLASS noTeS joined the Special Care Centre for school dropouts as their Director. She went to the University of Uppsala on a Swedish Institute scholarship and got a Masters in Education. Returning to India, she joined S.N.D.T. University as a Reader in the Education department. She has, together with her family, established an educational foundation to promote integrated education, a charitable trust of which she is the Honorary Managing Trustee. ritestep@gmail.com Rohit Mehta (Palmer) did his B.Tech. from IIT Powai in 1968, completed a Master’s degree in USA, worked in the engineering field for a year, and then pursued a MBA degree. He worked for a management consulting firm for three years; returned to India in 1973 and worked for TCS (Mumbai) until 1976. He then went back to the USA and worked for the same consulting firm until 1979. Thereafter, he had a 26-year working career with the World Bank in Washington D.C. in financial analysis, IT systems and management of development projects in East European countries. Semi-retired, he now lives in the Washington D.C. area. 94romehta@gmail.com Salim Merchant (Wilson), graduated from Grant Medical College in June, 1970 and migrated to Melbourne, Australia, where he obtained Membership followed by Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists, Australia and New Zealand, in 1975. He is the Founding and Senior Partner of Radar Medical Imaging, a conglomerate of nine Diagnostic Specialist Medical Imaging Centres in Melbourne. He is now a full-time Consultant Radiologist to the largest publicly owned medical corporation in Australia, Primary Health. salimmerchant@hotmail.com Sara Manasseh (Savage) is an ethnomusicologist, performer and researcher in the musical traditions of the Jews of Iraq. She is the founderdirector of the musical ensemble, Rivers of Babylon (London, 1999). Following her schooling up to HSC (1964) at Cathedral School, Sara moved to London in 1966, where she gained diplomas in piano (LRAM) and in specialist music teaching, and degrees in music,
38 The X-Cathedralite 2012

including a PhD in ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths College (London). She was Head of Music at London Comprehensive schools for a number of years, Senior Lecturer in Music and Teacher Education at Kingston University (Surrey), and also lectured in Jewish Music at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, London). sara@manasseh.co.uk Sudhir Bhatt (Savage) retired from Hewlett Packard/ Agilent after 28 years in sales management. He currently runs Global Commercial Sales, a boutique brokerage firm focussed on hospitality and investment sales in the US. He also directs foreign investment to select commercial projects. Sudhir resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with his wife Margaret. sid@gcs2011.com Zaheeda Sahaya, née Hussain (Palmer), was born into a family of actors. She was the heroine of many successful films with superstars such as Dev Anand (Gambler, Prem Pujari), Sanjeev Kumar (Anokhi Raat) etc. Having done more than nine films, she bid goodbye to the film industry early in her career to settle down to marital bliss and motherhood. With two sons, Brajesh and Nilesh Sahaya, she is today content and totally devoted to Shree Sai Baba of Shirdi, and is running her late sister Shahida Hussain’s Sai Baba temple at Marine Drive. zeesahaya@gmail.com By Aruna Jagtiani

Class of 1967
Anita Sakraney Watumull (Savage) is the evergreen beauty of our class. Divorced from classmate Gulu Watumull, with whom she has two sons, she lives in California, and keeps busy with voluntary work, fitness, music, dance,

and travel to Mumbai to visit her father. Despite her svelte looks, she is a true chocoholic. Avan Kapadia Bhathena (Wilson) is a homemaker. Her husband Cyrus runs an automobile garage. Their only son, Naushad, is settled in New Zealand, and Avan enjoys her trips there to visit her grandchildren. Bindu Chadda Singh (Barham) lives in Bangalore along with her son and his family. She works as a relationship manager in exports. Dimple Uberoi (Wilson) is single and the founder/owner of Designer Holidays, an elite travel agency. This lady is born with wings and hard to pin down! A connoisseur of food and wine, she hails from a family of Cathedralites —her elder brother Ubi and elder sister Harmohina were Head Boy and Head Girl respectively, and there are several Cathedral children and grandchildren in her family. Erna Manekshaw Chandra (Palmer) married Sunil, a dashing Punjabi hotelier and is settled in Delhi. Apart from raising two kids, Erna assists her husband at Basil & Thyme, a gourmet restaurant in Delhi’s Santhushti Complex. Feroza Pocha Ginwalla (Savage) lives in Cardiff, Wales. Her husband Reyaze has retired from his post as Consultant Radiologist, and the two spend their time travelling. Hilla Dubash Mehta (Savage) is the ‘Mother Teresa’ of the class. Always one to lend a helping hand, visit and take care of the sick and ailing, whether family or friends. Hilla is deeply religious and regularly visits agiaries. She spends her time in social work, and lives with her confectioner daughter Asheesh. Homai Madon Maier (Palmer) is a realtor, licensed in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Newly married to Adam Maier, Homai enjoys pets, walking and exercise. Dr. Jesmin Uranwala Mitra (Wilson) lives in New Jersey, USA. A practising gynaecologist and obstetrician, Jesmin just cannot keep still when the music plays. Jesmin enjoys hiking, dancing and travelling when time permits, along with her husband, Amit and son, Avir, who are also doctors. Jogesh Singh Mittal (Palmer) lives in Mumbai and teaches accent and

CLASS noTeS singing, as well as playing the sitar. Sheela and her husband Jayant, take leisurely holidays to exotic locales. Shirin Shivdasani (Barham) was in charge of the diamond department of the Tribhovandas Bhimji Jewellery showroom. After her father passed away, Shirin devoted years tending to her ill mother, who recently expired. Deeply religious and spiritual, she loves to catch up with friends. Shobha Agarwal Jhunjhunwala (Savage) is busy with social work. Helping out with an orphanage for abandoned children and a school for slum children, Shobha helps organise exhibitions to raise funds for these charities. Her husband, Arun, is a practising Chartered Accountant, and their sons Varun and Vaibhav (both Cathedral alumni) are both working. Siraj-Ayesha Sayani (Savage), ‘Pooh’ as she is called, made advertising commercials for 33 years and has now shifted to the wonderful world of celluloid, documentaries and feature films. Her children’s film Hungama Qaid Silk and her son Nihaal. While in Bombay, she taught in pre-school, developed a training programme for slum based pre-school teachers and worked in her family business. After moving to Canada, Taima developed an interest in the oral tradition of telling stories and she does this with groups. Tehmi Oomrigar Dastoor (Barham) lives in Virginia, USA. An interior designer by profession, Tehmi also gives ghazal concerts and teaches Indian vocal music, a passion she has cultivated from her school days. Her gastroenterologist husband, Firdaus, has recently retired, so Tehmi hopes to catch up on her travelling. Veena Khemka Bindal (Palmer) lives in Delhi with her husband, her son and his family and her daughter. Her eldest daughter is married and settled in Delhi. Veena is blessed with a caring family, and wonderful friends. Vesna Arsenijevic Vucic (Palmer) is our Yugoslavian beauty. Vesna lives in Beograd, Serbia, and is the Repartitions Assistant in UNHCR. Vesna loves motorcycles and travelling. We were thrilled when Vesna flew down for our class get together at Cathedral’s 150th celebrations. Vimla Malani Mintz-Carr (Wilson) lives in London and is married to Roy Carr, an author. Their only child, Leon, lives with them. Vimla enjoys gardening, reading and yoga. She makes frequent trips to Mumbai to visit her mother and sister. Zarine Kotval Bhedwar (Savage) was and will forever be our Head Girl. ‘Koti’ married Cathedral Head Boy Homi Bhedwar, and settled in Delaware, USA. A first rank holder throughout school, Zarine won the Jardine Medal and Lady Sykes Shield as well as a trophy for the most activities in her final year. She can spout poetry at the slightest prod, and the contagion has spread among the others in our class. With Homi’s transfer to Hyderabad for a few years, Zarine started an NGO and served on the executive committee of an expatriate organisation. Zarin Meherhomji Antia (Barham) was a bottle of champagne—uncorked. A former dental surgeon, Zarin later became a spiritual healer. Mother of two girls, Zarin sold off her Chennai house, to tend to her mother in Bombay. She
2012 The X-Cathedralite 39

Standing: Siraj-Ayesha Sayani, Shobha Agarwal Jhunjhunwala, Dr Jesmin Uranwala Mitra, Head Girl Zarine Kotwal Bhedwar, Jogesh Singh Mittal, Sheela Mehta Sanghani, Avan Kapadia Bhathena Sitting Middle: Dimple Uberoi, Anita Sakraney Watumull Sitting L – R: Vesna Arsenijevic Vucic, Prerna Shah Dange, (Late) Zarin Meherhomji Antia, Vimla Malani Carr

communication skills. Both she and her husband, Rajan, enjoy socialising, travelling and music. Her daughter, Muskan is married and working in Dubai, and her MBA son,Varun lives with his parents. Kavita Advani Jhanigani (Palmer) lives in Canada and is a practising Public Accountant with a host of business degrees behind her. Working in Exxon Mobil as Business Control Advisor, she and her husband Suresh have a wonderful life together. Madhu Nariman Talwar (Savage) married businessman Ravi. Madhu is a homemaker who loves gardening and cooking. A mother of three and a grandmother to boot, Madhu’s name is engraved in the School’s ISC list of ’67 toppers. Meher Golwalla Sattha (Savage) lives in Vernier, Switzerland with her advocate husband Aspi. Gentle and kindhearted, Meher is a housewife who loves the cinema and travel. Both her children study at the University of Geneva. Prerna Shah Dange (Barham) is a housewife living in Mumbai. She loves to socialise and catch up with friends. Accompanied by her husband Joginder (Jo), Prerna often travels overseas to meet her son and daughter. Shanta Chatterjee Tolat (Palmer) aka the brain of our class, lives in Ahmedabad, and works with abused women and children. Her retired husband has a passion for driving. This couple rarely catch a flight, however long the distance. Their home is rightly named ‘The Travellers’. Sheela Mehta Sanghani (Wilson) handles her family finances, and is a keen student of classical music and

Top Row: Ranjit Sinh, Roy David, Rajesh Bahl, Victor Macmull, Brian Samuel, Dr Rohit Deshpande, Rajesh V Mehta 2nd Row: Shahrook Munsiff, Dr Jehanbux Chichgar, Dori Schmetterling 1st Row: Veeranjan Nath, Ranjit Bhavnani, Farokh Guzder, Neville Mehta, Tony Singh, Manjit Sadarangani, Rustom Kanga, Allen Ashkenazi Bottom (Sitting): Ashok Kurien, Amit Shah with Partho Rakshit (leaning over Ashok)

Bombay Ishtyle with Pearl Padamsee, is a worthy watch. She lives life king-size, along with her confectioner daughter Aadore. Syloo Commissariat Mehta (Wilson) has shifted base to the South of Australia. Working alongside her surgeon husband, Keki, Syloo helps out at their Mehab Medical Centre. With three sons, a daughter, and their families, this lady finds little time to call her own. She comes to Mumbai regularly to be with her family. Taima Tyebjee (Wilson) lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband,

CLASS noTeS was another class ‘twinkle toes’, unable to stay off the dance floor. We grieve losing her on March 12, 2011. She is deeply missed. Zarine Mehta Oomrigar (Wilson) is a special education needs teacher living in London with her husband, Fali. A mother of three children, Zarine is fond of gardening and looking after her family. Allen Ashkenazi (Savage) lives in Los Angeles with his son and two daughters. With an Aeronautical degree from the Technion in Israel and an MBA from Pepperdine, California, Allen is in the software business, helping companies sell to the US Federal government and developing mobile apps. An exercise freak, Allen stays in touch with his friends around the globe. Allen helped the class start their website, to connect and interact regularly. Amit Shah (Savage) is a jeweller and a government-approved valuer for jewellery. Both his daughters are presently working and studying in Boston, USA. His wife Madhavi, also helps in his jewellery business. Arun Tolani (Palmer) lives in Menlo Park, CA, USA. An IIT graduate from Bombay, Arun is the Executive VicePresident, Strategic Business for Runa Inc. Married to Nisha, the couple enjoys golf, travelling, Latin jazz and social entrepreneurship. Ashok Kurien (Savage) was the boxing captain in school, and excelled at sports. He started ‘Ambience Advertising, a creative powerhouse in the Indian media. Later, Ashok partnered with Subhash Chandra of Zee TV, to set up India’s first satellite channel. For the last two years he has been building India.com, which is already in the Top 10 Indian media sites on line. Ashok’s dictum is “When you go for a fight, stand there and win, because there are no draws in boxing”. Brian Samuel (Palmer) is based in Kronberg, Germany. A friendly and happy-go-lucky person, Brian is a businessman, living with his physiotherapist wife, two teenage daughters and their dog. He is involved with a lot of charitable work, and looks forward to his infrequent trips to India. Carl Engineer (Palmer) lives in San Carlos, CA, USA. A telecom and IT

PREFECTS – Girls’ School 1967 Standing: Cheryl Ampherlaw (HSC), Taima Tyebjee, Hilla Mehta, Zarine Mehta, Tehmi Oomrigar, Pheroza Shroff (HSC), Antica Milos (Jr Prefect) Jesmin Uranwalla, Praveena (Jr Prefect) Sitting: Dimple Uberoi, Zarine Kotval (Head Girl), Mrs Cabral (Head Mistress of Girls’ school), Zarine Meherhomji, Kavita Advani

PREFECTS –Boys’ School 1967 Back row: Jehangir Guzder, Ananth Vidyasagar or Adi Vakil, Jamshyd Godrej, Abe Aboody Middle Row: Arun Tolani, Veerajan Nath, Jehangir (Tanko) Dadabhoy, David Long, Ashok Anthony, Shahrook Munsiff, Kavas Petigara, Neville Mehta Front row (seated): Deepak M, Bulbul Mukherjee, Dilip Kinra, Rev George Ridding (HeadMaster), R Srinivasan, Mantosh Dewan

Last Row: Manu Chotirmal, Poosie Sayani, Vimla Malani, Kavita Advani, Silloo Commissariat, Zarine Mehta 4th Row:Regina Sofer, Jean Sadgun, Madhu Nariman, Vesna Arsenijevic, Arlene Crawshaw 3rd Row: Talyarkhan, Jogesh Singh, Dimple Uberoi, Julie, Feroza Poncha, Hilla Mehta, Shobha Agarwal, Nirmala Agarwal 2nd Row: Zarin Meherhomji, Karen Shah, Esme Esmeralda, Zarine Kotval, Mrs. Downey, Shanta Chatterjee, Khursheed Antia, Khursheed Baltiwalla, Lila Ajgaonkar, Avan Kapadia Front Row (seated): Meher Golwalla, Sheela Mehta, Taima Tyebjee, Homai Madon, Wendy, Jesmin Uranwalla

40 The X-Cathedralite 2012

CLASS noTeS person, Carl and his paralegal wife Dina, love gardening, music and reading.Their daughter, Nisha, and son, Jehan, live with them. Cooverji Katrak (Barham) is a racehorse trainer, shuttling between Pune and Bombay. Cooji with his wife Teena tend to his racing fraternity and friends. His daughter Lyla, is married to Zubin Marker, and both Cooji and Teena dote on their granddaughter, Nicole. Dinesh Nayak (Palmer) is an MBA from Wharton. A bachelor, Dinesh is now retired and lives with his mother in Mumbai. Dinesh likes spending his leisure time at the CCI, indulging in a game or swimming a few laps, and catching up with his friends. Dori Schmetterling (Palmer) resides in London with his Tehran born wife, Fariba, and their son, Raphael. Dori is a consultant in pharmaceuticals and IT. He is the guardian of the Class of ’67 site, and if any of us slip up, Dori is our magical panacea. Farokh Guzder (Palmer) and his twin brother,Jehangir, were both part of our class. Farokh is into construction and repairs and power plant efficiency products. Married to Nawaz, a partner at Drewet Chowna, their son, Jamshed assists his dad in the family business. Jayant Sohonie (Wilson) is the hazel-eyed boy in the class. Married to Najoo, Jayant leads a retired life spending his time reading. Dr. Jehanbux Chichgar (Barham) is a Doctor of Medicine and Critical Care. Attached to most of the prestigious hospitals in Bombay, Jehan is blessed with a sharp memory, he can recount anecdotes of his friends and teachers in the most humourous detail. His wife, Dilnar, is also an alumnas. Father of Sharlene, Alia and Pheroze (all alumni), Jehan is fond of opera, and looks forward to his retirement. Jehangir Guzder (Palmer) is the other Guzder twin of our class. Presently based in Quebec, Canada, Jehangir works with his son, Rumi, a graduate in Electrical Engineering. Kavas Jehangir (Savage) is a bachelor. He is in the travel business, and organises and operates tours in India and overseas. Kavas enjoys the company of tame and wild animals. Playing the guitar is a stress-buster for him and he loves his quiet lifestyle. Kersi Homy Vachha (Savage) is a partner at Price Waterhouse. A Chartered Accountant from England and Wales, Kersi loves horse racing, and watching all the sports channels on TV. Manjit Sadrangani (Wilson) is based in Nigeria and travels all around the world, for his seafood business. His wife Deepa, accompanies him on most of his travels, especially when he visits Mumbai. Mantosh Dewan (Wilson) stays in Sycracuse, NY, USA. Mantosh is a psychiatrist, teaching at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Married to Anita, they have two children. Bearded, bespectacled and silver haired, this elegant man is one of the brains of our class. Neville Mehta (Wilson) primarily stays in Nashik, looking after his school. Neville is the CEO and Managing Trustee of Boys Town Public School. He enjoys golf, reading and music. Partho Rakshit (Wilson) was the true all-rounder of the class. He recently retired from his full-time job as South Asia Head of the Nielsen Company, though he is still associated with them in an advisory capacity. Partho loves his spare time and uses a lot of it going to obscure corners of India with his wife Panchali. Partho has two daughters, Meghna and Rhea. Rajesh Bahl (Wilson) calls himself a farmer or shetkari. His favourite haunt is his coconut plantation in Nandgaon, Mora, where he spends most of his leisure time, with his wife, Vanaja. Rajesh does Inspection of Commodities for a living, assisted by his son, Neel. Rajesh V. Mehta (Wilson) stays in Dubai with his family. His diamond business, the Super Gems group, keeps him busy. He enjoys books on philosophy, loves trekking and believes in water conservation. Rajesh and his wife, Asha, make frequent trips to Mumbai to catch up with family. Rajesh Shah (Barham) is the Chairman and MD of Mukund Ltd. Though his work keeps him very busy, Rajesh finds time for his annual holidays with his wife, Bansri, and his two children. Rajesh believes in paying back his dues by helping the less fortunate. Ranjit H. Bhavnani (Savage) is the Chairman and MD of Calibre Chemicals. His wife, Mala, works alongside him, as the Executive Director of the company. Ranjit and Mala share the same birthday – 2nd November, a lovely coincidence for this close-knit couple. Helpful by nature, Ranjit’s sons, Rikhil and Trivik, lend adequate support to their father in the office. Ranjit Sinh (Barham) and his lovely wife,Vandana, are both practising architects with their own firm Ranjit Sinh Associates. His two daughters are ex-students of the school too. This family works hard and then takes leisurely vacations, spending quality time together. Ravi Bhandari (Savage) grew up in a military environment, as his father was in the Armed Forces. Settled in Delhi, Ravi set up his own security systems company. In his spare time, Ravi loves to play Scrabble and catch up with his classmates on e-mail. He occasionally travels with his brother and enjoys the company of his grandchild. Dr. Rohit Deshpande (Palmer) is a Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School. This greying, tall and handsome Prof, exudes style and elegance in a room. His work takes him to different destinations, to meet up with a wide spectrum of people. His popularity in the college is legendary. Rohit never fails to keep his date with his 96-year-old dad, and schedules his plans so as to be in Mumbai for his father’s birthday. Roy David (Barham) helps classmate, Neville Mehta, in the Boys Town Boarding School at Nashik. His wife, Lakshmi, and teenage son, Rajan, keep Roy company at home. A total sports freak, Roy believes in and practises nature conservation. Dr. Rustom Kanga (Wilson) has gone Down Under, to Sydney, Australia. A happy-go-lucky nature and a very positive attitude keep his glass of spirits always half-full. Rustom’s name is engraved in the school’s ISC list of ’67 toppers. His artificial intelligence based surveillance company “iOmniscient” boasts of cameras, which are used globally in airports, museums and malls. Rustom writes poetry in his own unique Roald Dahl style (on the class website) keeping us in veritable splits. Marlene, his wife, runs her own company, and is the next President of Engineers, Australia. Their older son, Zubin, is
2012 The X-Cathedralite 41

CLASS noTeS now winning international acclaim as a pianist in London, whilst their younger son, Jehan, is completing a PhD. in Chemistry. Shahrook Munsiff (Savage) works with Lintas India Ltd. as their Finance Director. A regular at the racecourse, Shahrook enjoys surfing the sports channels in his free time, while enjoying a glass of wine with his wife, Anupam. Their children, Aliya and Cyrus, study overseas. Tony Singh (Wison) deals in women’s wear. Along with his wife, Sherry, he owns and runs Designer Studio, a boutique and spa in Mumbai. In his spare time, Tony enjoys music and reading. Their daughter, Tanya, is an architect, and son, Raoul, is a student in Toronto. Veerajan Nath (Savage) is the Proprietor of Naath Exim India, which imports and exports raw material for the steel industry. His wife, Radhika, makes garments for Mahindra & Mahindra. His son, Kaveesh, works with Boston Consultancy and his daughter, Shloka, works with Forbes International as a senior features writer. Victor Macmull (Palmer) is always game for meeting up with old friends, however short the notice. When a gang of girls from the class decided to go to Founder’s Day, Victor was the only guy who found time to come along. Proprietor of United Works Pvt. Ltd., he never misses a day of office, but refuses to let stress get the better of him. His wife, Rachel, recently retired as Cultural Attaché at the Israel Consulate, Mumbai. Their sons, Jeremy and Simon, stay overseas. Victor and Rachel have recently become proud grandparents. Victor’s smiling demeanour and warmth make him very popular with his classmates. Yogesh Shah lives in Ontario, Canada where he runs his own business. His wife, Shivani, is a home-maker, and both his sons, Akshay and Salil, study and work in Canada. Yogesh is a good singer and loves taking holidays with his family. He visits Mumbai to meet his family and friends. We have no news of some of our classmates—Khursheed Batliwala, Leela Ajgaonkar, Manju Malaney, Salwa el Moursi, and Vivian Pasgon. If any of our readers know of them or their whereabouts, please do let us know. There are 10 names in our Memorial List, of friends who left us much too soon. Among the boys: Abe Aboody, Roland Adie, Jehangir Dadabhoy (Tanko), Cyrus Ghasvala, Anil Hitkari, Haresh Kumar, Shiraz Rahimtoola, and Homi Reporter. The two girls who are no longer with us are Manu Chotirmal and Zarin Meherhomji Antia. The mischief, fun and joy we shared in our youth will keep their memories alive forever. By Shobha Jhunjhunwala

Our Teachers

T

his article would not be complete without a mention of our teachers, who influenced us immensely, and left their mark on our lives: The huge piano in the Junior school was for our music master Mr. Velu, who made us cup our fingers in front of our waists, stand erect, feet together and sing: “Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I heard a maid sing in the valley below; O don’t deceive me, O never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?” Then there was Mrs. Downey clad in long lungis, with her black frames atop her head, raising an accusing finger to ask, “Now which of you have hidden my glasses?” She struck fear in most of us. Mrs. Chacko with her typical Keralite accent, teaching us Math, there was the late Mrs. Nargolwalla, our Hindi teacher and Mrs. Navalkar, our Marathi teacher who all carved their places in our hearts. We cannot forget the firangi teachers like Mr. McArthur, Mrs. McDonald and Mrs. Das, who gave
42 The X-Cathedralite 2012

us a strong foundation in written and spoken English. And last but not the least, Miss Carlier (later Mrs. Patruni) who was our class teacher for two years in succession, and saw us through our final years at school. In the boys’ school, there was Mr. Jamdar, who targeted truant children with duster or chalk or whatever else he had in his hand.Mr. Timmins taught Mathematics, and would spank mischief-makers on their backside and then turn to tell the class —“He has an iron cutlet”. Mr. Swaminathan’s Chemistry class was fun and the boys actually learnt something. The Physics teacher, Mr. M.T. Kamath, was affectionately nicknamed “James Bond” for his antics and accent. Mr. David Elisha (History & Biology) and Mr. David Hawkey (Physics) were both brilliant teachers of our time. Lastly, Mr. Gunnery, our Principal into whose office the ‘naughty’ ones were sent for a caning. Mr. Gunnery would make the offenders turn to the wall and touch their toes, and then he would take a short run-up from the other end for the caning! It would be inappropriate not to mention Reverend Ridding, our Headmaster in ’67, and the architect of the school’s makeover to a co-

educational institution. Though reticent by nature, the Reverend’s vision was bang-on. Not only did he foresee that co-education would be good for students, allowing the girls and boys to imbibe the best of what the school had to offer, Rev. Ridding completely transformed the archaic Physics and Chemistry laboratory, had a new Biology laboratory constructed, as well as a much larger and betterstocked library. He struck a deal with The Bombay Gymkhana Club, which allowed the boys to use the playing fields of the Gym. He also tried getting the school a more permanent sports field in Colaba at the naval base, but that did not work out. In conclusion, we can proudly say that our class remains in touch with each other. Our class website, expertly managed by Allen (LA, USA) and Dori (London,UK) allows active networking, and keeps us happily connected. On the website, Zarine Koti’s poetry, as well as Rustom and Rohit’s verse, are applauded and appreciated by all of us. And it becomes an excuse to meet and party, if anyone from overseas visits Mumbai. By Shobha Jhunjhunwala (1967)

CLASS noTeS

Class of 1969
Afzal Assur (Wilson) has been with IBM for 29 years, and is currently the Vice-President of Business Development. Married with two children, he is now involved with mentoring and coaching local highschool students who come from challenging environments. He is fond of golf—though the enthusiasm for the sport is not reflective of the handicap! Amit Desai (Palmer) is a Psychiatrist in a private practice in Mumbai. He is also attached to Jaslok Hospital as a Consulting Psychiatrist. Ashok Raiji (Savage) is a Principal in the New York office of the global engineering firm Arup. He designs buildings and plans new cities all over the world. Ashok is also a Visiting Professor of Architecture at The Cooper Union in New York City and is on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects NY. He is an avid golfer and plays to a 5-handicap. Barbara Rossi (Palmer) left Bombay in 1971 and is currently a translator in Milan. Brian Ashkenazi (Savage) spent four years in Israel and speaks fluent Hebrew. He graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1979 from California State University, Sacramento, with a concentration in Direct Energy Conversion. He then worked in the fields of cutting tools, automated plastic reinforced composite products’ development, flexible coated/laminated fabrics product development/sales and high-power RF amplifiers. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California and is employed as a Commercial

Property Manager. In addition, he is an independent Energy Technology Developer/Inventor with several patents issued and pending. He volunteers a lot in coaching and refereeing of youth soccer and is currently involved in starting a new special-needs soccer programme for handicapped children, as one of his sons was severely injured in a pedestrian accident about five years ago. Geeta Antony (Savage) is a real estate broker and the President of Bankers Realty & Mortgage, located in Rancho, Santa Fe, USA. Contact: (858) 349-4844. Address: P.O. Box 8611, Rancho Santa Fe, Ca. 92067. Jal Bharucha (Savage) is Head of Compliance at NBAD’s Private Bank in the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. He has been in the UAE for nearly seven years with his wife Hutoxi. Both of them enjoy the expatriate lifestyle. He is an avid music lover and modestly collects modern art. E-mail: jaltoxib@emirates. net.ae. Address: NBAD Private Banking UAE, PO Box 4, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Kamal K. Kavarana (Savage) is still single and stays at the same place. Some things never change! E-mail: kamalkavarana@gmail.com. Kamal Parsram (Palmer) is an ENT Surgeon (M.S., FCPS, DORL) attached to Lilawati Hospital & Research Centre, Bandra, Raheja Fortis Hospital, Mahim, and the Ali Yavar Jung, National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped. Bandra. He lives on Pedder Road, Mumbai. E-mail: kamalparsram@gmail.com. Mita Chatterji Sujan (Wilson) would have loved to graduate with her Cathedral buddies from kindergarten but spent the last three years of school in Delhi. She is currently a Chaired

Professor in Marketing at Tulane University in the Big Easy (home of jazz, zydeco and jambalaya, also po-boys, fried oysters and Mardi Gras). Nadish Naoroji (Savage) worked in Mumbai until 1990 as an audio & acoustic consultant, professional photographer and audio-visual director and producer. He is currently living in Sydney, Australia, and is Director and CEO of leading imaging companies Multimatch Australia, Pixel Perfect Prolab and Asukabook Australia & New Zealand. Nilima Daga, nee Malani (Wilson) moved to Dubai in 1983 and has been there since, though she is looking to move back to India in the near future. She is blessed with three wonderful daughters. Nilima would like to get in touch with batch mates if they are based in, or travelling to Dubai. Mobile: 00971 50 7058625. Praveen Toshniwal (Savage) graduated from IIT Delhi in 1975. Since then, he is in the business of manufacturing and distributing Process Control Instruments. He lives in Indore. Ranjan Mitchell, nee Sukthankar (Savage) graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and the University of Reading, UK. She worked in marketing/ market research jobs in book publishing and as an editorial correspondent for the trade press in several countries. Now retired, she can be found either in Mumbai or Goa, India, or in Stamford, UK. Ravi Daryani (Palmer) is the CEO of Panar Group, Lagos, Nigeria which manufactures plastic pipes and packaging. He is married with three children and two grandchildren. Renee Maulik (Wilson) lives in London, is semi-retired and volunteers as a Justice of the Peace. E-mail: reneem@btinternet.com. Sheba Thomas, née Eapen (Palmer) returned to Mumbai after college in Bangalore. E-mail: shebatho@gmail.com. Shyla Boga Patel (Savage) lives with her husband Naushad Patel (Wilson) and their daughter Alisha, in Bombay. She works as Consulting Editor with Sanctuary magazine. E-mail: shylaboga@ gmail.com Sujit Chatterjee (Savage) was School Football and Boxing Captain and
2012 The X-Cathedralite 43

CLASS noTeS
Hockey Vice-Captain. Now, Dr. Sujit Chatterjee, he is a Gynaecologist and Oncologist but changed track and went into Hospital Design. He is the Chief Executive of a 240-bedded tertiary care hospital, the Chairman of the IMC Health vertical for 2012-13 and a member of the CII -National Health Committee. He is married to Caroline Holmes (Palmer House Captain), who is now a home-maker and the Captain of his ship. Zarine Khambatta Batliwalla (Barham) has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 35 years. She has been involved in all aspects of real estate along with her husband Neville. They refurbish, build and design homes, manage investment properties and help clients to purchase and sell their homes. Zarine has two daughters and is now enjoying her first granddaughter. She enjoys travelling and loves coming to Bombay. By Shyla Boga Patel 19 years old, who is about to read Business Studies in Birmingham. He was appointed Consultant Surgeon in Gastrointestinal Surgery in Guildford UK in 1994, founded the Hepato-PancreatoBiliary Unit for Surrey & Sussex in 2003, and was appointed Professor of HPB Surgery in 2007. Bharat Jog is a Marine Engineer by profession. He sailed in the Merchant Navy for 25 years, where he was Chief Engineer for 18 years. The last 10 years of his sailing career were with APL. He now works as a Technical Manager at Medallion Marine Pvt. Limited, looking after Technical Operations. Married to Anjali, who is a French teacher and does communications training with small firms and at a Marine engineering college, MANET, in Pune, their son, Varun, is pursuing his C.A. while their daughter, Sagari, is in her second year of her B.A. degree at Pune University. Ajay Shah completed his B. Tech. and a Master’s degree in Finance. Having worked for a long time at NOCIL, he is currently managing the chemical business of Reliance Industries Ltd. His wife, Punita, is a Class Teacher in the Cathedral Infant School. Both their children are exCathedralites: Shikha, a lawyer, and Sahil, a chartered accountant. Kurush Bilimoria says he has had a truly chequered life and career. Starting out in Accounts & Taxation, he moved on to Foreign Exchange Control, graduated to become a Corporate Banker with a couple of Foreign Banks for a few years, and ended up owning a company representing 17 international shipyards. In the interim, he has found time to re-educate himself three times over, get married, father a daughter, continuously circumvent the globe, sail occasionally, and play snooker most evenings. Anup Kapur (Savage) wonders how many of you remember him. He was in XI-C 1975 (Science), was the guy between Viral and Ramu in the class photo, and was a regular on the squash courts. He left Bombay after school, did a degree in Engineering at NIT, Srinagar, and a degree in Marine Enginering at DMET. After spending some time in the Merchant Navy, he settled in Delhi. He is currently with Steag Energy Services (a German company in the power sector). Married to Sunita, they have a son, Uday, who is studying journalism. Do catch up with him some time. Tel: 09871259557 Dinesh Mirchandani (Barham) is the President of the Indian operations of Boyden, a leading global executive search firm. His focus is on filling CEO and Board level positions for MNCs and large Indian companies globally. In 2008, Business Week nominated him as one of the top 50 headhunters in the world. Previously, he was also a Director on the Global Board of Boyden for eight years. His life can be summarised thus: from Head Boy to Headhunter. He is based in Mumbai. Sorab P. Engineer joined Sydenham College and appeared for

Class of 1974/75
Ernaz Sidhwa Irani (Barham) works and lives in Silicon Valley, CA, USA. Currently Director of Marketing & Alliances at Netfira, a B2B software company in San Jose, CA, USA, she trains for half marathons and runs for worthy causes such as the Lymphoma & Leukaemia Foundation. Married to Mahyar, they have three children. Sudhir Kumar (Barham) went to Elphinstone College and then to the USA to do his M.B.A., after which he set up a chemical manufacturing company, making pharmaceutical and herbicide intermediates in Bombay. He is married to Ayesha Singh (Wilson, 1978), who runs a design studio for larger-sized women in Colaba. They have two daughters, Mitali (Barham 2006), who is in the hospitality industry, and Sonali (Barham 2011), who is an undergraduate at Barnard College. Nariman Karanjia (Savage) did his undergraduate training at Guys Hospital, London, and his postgraduate surgical training at St. George’s Hospital, London. He is father to Rustam, 20 years old, who is reading Medicine at Imperial College, London, and to Delna,
44 The X-Cathedralite 2012

CLASS noTeS the examinations held by the Custom Commissionerate, Revenue Department, GOI to obtain a licence to carry on the family business of International Freight Forwarders and licensed Custom House Agents. Elected President of the Bombay Custom House Agents Association and to the Board of Trustees of the J.N. Port Trust and to the Board of Mumbai Port Trust (BPT), he is also on the Board of Advisors of BCHAA, on the IMC Ports & Shipping Committee, and is an Associate Member of the Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India. His sons, Noshir and Adil, were the third generation of students to study at our illustrious school. Kiran Tawadey (Savage) went to INSEAD with her husband after doing her M. Phil. degree from Gokhale Institute in Pune. After working with a Professor of M & A there, and then in London with a consulting firm, she started a tea-importing business in 1987, after which she launched a retail tea brand in the UK. She has two children, Rohan and Raoul. Ranjan Patwardhan (Palmer) went on to read Economics at Cambridge University and then entered the banking industry where he has been working for the past 25 years. During the course of his career he has worked in Bombay, Bahrain, Mexico City and Sao Paulo, and has now been in London for the last several years, where he lives with his wife, Aparajita, and their two teenaged children. In his spare time he pursues an interest in extreme sport, but is also a keen and amused observer, via email, of the various goings-on within the 1974/1975 Cathedralite community. Dina Wadia (Palmer) (mis)spent her time after leaving school on the parapets of Sydenham College and at the morning shows of every movie theatre in South Bombay. She then decided, for no apparent reason, that she would take to the Law, and spent more time at Government Law College, Mumbai, and Cambridge University, U.K. The law has had her ever since. She lives and works in Bombay, and is a Senior Partner of J. Sagar Associates. “It’s been wonderful re-connecting with our batch, and I occasionally spend some of my free time trying to steer them away from political correctness.” Ricky Lamba (Savage) is the founder & owner of The Raj Company (www. therajcompany.com), a business he is passionate about, that deals in antique, colonial & custom furniture. He is married to Laila, whom he was fortunate to have met in school, and with whom he has three children, Rohaan, Armaan, and a daughter, Imaan. He swims for recreation, is a collector of art, and lives in Mumbai. He thoroughly enjoys meeting his batch mates at their raucous get-togethers. Shantanu Khosla (Barham) went to IIT Mumbai and then IIM Calcutta, after which he joined P&G and has been with them ever since. Over the years, he has worked and lived in the UK, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia before coming back home to Mumbai about 10 years ago as CEO, P&G India, a role he continues to do. His wife, Latika, runs a design practice specialising in Color Trends for Industry, and a home store called Freedom Tree. His son, Rishabh, works for Bain in Boston. His daughter, Simran, is doing her Master’s degree in Journalism at NYU. Gauri Pohoomul, née Daftary (Palmer) heads Daftary Descon Engineering, and is a part of Sahachari Foundation, which supports deserving NGOs. Her daughter, Ashika, got married to Ronak Mehta (batchmates at Cathedral). Cyrus Mistry (Palmer) got a degree in Chemical Engineering, after which he went onto become an oil exploration geologist based in the Middle East and North Africa. He then spent three years in the family business in Bombay before returning to the UK, where he worked as a Eurobond Trader in the city of London. After that he set up several businesses in the UK over the years: import/export, marketing of energy-saving products, and was one of the first to introduce video streaming to the UK. He also does part-time consultancy work for a large utility company. He is single with two lovely children who are at university. Ila Raiji (Savage) has been living in Wellington, New Zealand since 1988. She has two children: Ritika (29) and Jay (17). She is a self-employed IT Programme/Project Manager currently consulting in the NZ Government sector. She enjoys karate, photography, and blogging. R.J. Gagrat (Savage) graduated with First Class Honours in Politics from Elphinstone College, before reading Law at Downing College, Cambridge University, and graduating with Honours. He qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and attended Harvard Law School. He is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and a Notary of the Union of India. A Senior Partner of Gagrats, Advocates and Solicitors, Bombay and Gagrat & Co., Advocates, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, and a director of public and private limited companies and mutual funds. His practice areas include Aviation Law, Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance Law and Energy & Infra-structure Law. Married to Lia, their son, Jeh, did his ICSE at Cathedral and is completing his schooling at Winchester College in England. Timmie Kumar (Wilson) is the Managing Trustee of ‘Help in Suffering’, a charity which works for the welfare of all street and captive animals. It is a 32-year-old charity which gives free medical aid and medicines to all street animals from birds to elephants. They also have a hospital for camels in a village named Bassi, en route to Agra from Jaipur . “When we had the Jaipur reunion the Cats of ‘75 had visited the shelter.”See www.his-india.in. He is always looking for supporters for the cause of animals. Abeezer Essabhoy (Savage) studied in London for a year and then completed college at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1977, and currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Palo Alto. He enjoys playing tennis and golf, and squeezes in some time to work, managing real estate. Ashok Jahagirdar (Barham), better known as “Juggy”, went on to IIT, Powai and subsequently to Bombay University to do a B.Sc. He has been in the IT (information technology) industry since 1985. Currently, he takes on diverse training contracts having an IT connection. Happily married to Surela, they have a 12-year-old son, Niranjanand, and live in Mahim, Mumbai. His mobile number is 9820817017. Rajul Parikh (Barham) runs a successful business that manufactures and markets UV- based water purification systems sold under the
2012 The X-Cathedralite 45

CLASS noTeS brand name “Alfa”. She is, currently, the Vice-Chairperson of the Water Quality Association Task Force in India. An active Rotarian, she enjoys classical Hindustani music, meditation and yoga. Living in Mumbai with spouse, Anand Parikh, she has two kids (both ex-Cathedralites) Ankur and Nupur, and thoroughly enjoys being a grandma to three grandchildren . Shephali Ruia (Palmer) studied Commerce, then joined her dad at his factory in Thana in the design department, and did a Diploma in Textile Designing from Sophia Polytechnic. She got married in 1985 and has two children. She then joined her husband’s family business in the administrative HRD department. Amita Sarwal Lovett (Barham)“Life has been pretty kind with me, as I narrate my journey so many years on with a soul-mate,the British Foreign Service, three kids, schools and now Olympics on this Isle. The Cathedral ‘75 cats group emails which keep making me smile and remind me—facebook, i-phones and e-life we did await..” Yasmine Stafford (Palmer) did her Bachelor’s in Sociology at St. Xavier’s College, followed by a Diploma course in Travel and Tourism and an IATA UFTAA travel consultant qualification. After landing her first job with Diners’ World Travel, she moved over to the clients’ side in the oil and gas industry, Wharton Williams Taylor, then Stena Offshore BV. She then moved to London, where she worked for a distributor of independent documentary films. The new millennium saw her return to Mumbai in time to help organise her batch’s 25th reunion. The FTII Film Appreciation course in Pune and a course in journalism followed. She has put together a couple of jazz festivals in the city, and has been freelancing in film production for international units. Vaidehi Mukhi ‘Buddy Dalal’ (Savage) has been all over the place after school, pursuing different fields: Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, for a major in Weaving, and the Fashion Institute of Technology, NY thereafter, for a major in fine art. Back in Mumbai, for a job in garment manufacture and exports for a couple of years, she switched fields, and worked in the family business of manufacture and exports of chemicals. And then once again jumped into the fitness business. She has been a fitness
46 The X-Cathedralite 2012

trainer since 1992. Somewhere in between, she got married and has one son, 20 years old, who (obviously!) went to the Cathedral. Vivek Hurry (Palmer) has become a C.A., got married to Kavita, had a daughter, Tania, started a software company, had a son, Aditya, launched India’s first website for legal information and a pioneering outsourcing company, retired, and started a financial advisory and wealth management company with his wife, which prospers and keeps him out of mischief. He is particularly proud of fathering two Prefects and House Captains, which should be reckoned as his contribution to the alma mater. He continues to like reading, jigsaws, crosswords, the blues and other people’s dogs and babies Rabindra Hazari (Wilson) attended St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, where he achieved the distinction of being suspended, rusticated and denied re-admission a total of four times for Student Union activities, finally finishing his B.A. under Court Orders; then did a M.A. and M.Phil. in History from JNU, followed by an L.L.B. from Delhi University. He started his law practice in 1986. After a six-year stint with Crawford Bayley, he set up his own law firm, Rabindra Hazari Associates in 1992, with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Verona, Italy. He is “happily divorced” and resides on Pedder Road with his “much beloved blond bitch”. Nitin Parekh (Wilson) moved to Europe from India, met his wife while working in Holland, and now lives in California with his wife Mariette, and two daughters, Jasmine and Malou. He is part of the founding team for a young company in the solar thermal space that is targeting India as its initial market ramp. Viral Doshi (Palmer) graduated in engineering from Cornell University after finishing his higher education in London. After a stint in banking in New York, he set up a super alloys manufacturing plant near Mumbai. Ten years ago he switched careers mid-stream and followed his passion of guiding and mentoring students on their careers. Viral Doshi Associates in Mumbai, helps young people access opportunities for higher learning and choose their optimal career paths. He now has offices in Dubai, London and New York. Viral is married to Sucheta,

and they have a son, Sudeep who works in New York City. Sharmilla Khanna, Roy Choudhury (Barham) is a luxury event organiser, has a branding and marketing company, and is on the organising committee of ARAAISH exhibition for Save The Children India Charity. Married for 27 years to ex-Cathedralite, Sandiip Khanna, a property builder and ‘Sorbet ‘ stores owner, they live in Mumbai with their daughter, Shaan. Cheryl Shaker née Holmes (Palmer) has been living in Auckland, New Zealand, for the past 17 years. She is keen to organise a class reunion in Auckland. Rahul Chatterji (Barham) left in Std. 10, to attend Highgate School (London, UK). Moving to the USA, he graduated from New York University (Stern School of Business) with a B.Sc. in IT (M.I.S). He worked as an IT consultant in New York City on several large-scale ‘cutting-edge’ IT corporate projects, and continued playing his guitar. Recently having returned to India, he currently resides in Pune where he pursues his ‘artistic’ side composing music, teaching guitar, performing in various venues, painting and doing voice-overs. Email: eatmusic@ gmail.com. By Rohita Doshi

Class of 1978/81
Lena Chaiwalla Mukhi (Savage) did her B.Com from Sydenham College. She is the owner of Cascades, a boutique retailing ladies’ garments located in Mumbai and is also a director in a luxury lifestyle and travel company Luxury Link India Pvt. Ltd. Anuradha Shankardass Grover (Barham) is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants, India. She has been a consultant with many start-up organisations, helping facilitate their launch into the Indian Market. She is currently working on a part-time basis. Yasmin Tyebjee (Wilson) has been in The Hague, Netherlands, working for the last 13 years for a United Nations Organization, The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons where she specialises in Operations and Logistics. She hopes to be moving to somewhere sunny in the near future!

CLASS noTeS
Nandini (Gajendrasinh) Narvekar (Barham) graduated from Sydenham College and went on to be trained as a Dental Ceramist in Philadelphia. She currently runs a dental laboratory in Mumbai. Rehaab Barodawalla Kamte (Wilson) graduated from Sydenham College and did a Le Cordon Bleu course for Patisserie in Paris. She catered for parties and personal orders but has now quit work to become a full-time mom to her three children. Monish Sahni (Wilson) completed a BA and an MBA from Cornell University, then spent several years at Citibank between New York, Hong Kong and London. He is now with CQS, a Londonbased multi-strategy hedge fund. Ashish Bajaj (Palmer) is currently in Hong Kong and works with Citibank as Regional Head of Financial Institutions. He has worked and stayed in five countries since leaving school, but is still in love with Mumbai. Ajay Kakar (Wilson) is currently CMO, Financial Services, for the Aditya Birla Group. Prior to that he worked at Reliance Capital, Ogilvy & Mather and SR Batliboi & Co. (an Ernst & Young associate company). Dr Maleeka Khurana Sachdev (Palmer) did her MBBS from TNMC Mumbai (1981-1987) and MD (Dermatology) from PGI Chandigarh. She has been practising as a Consultant Dermatologist and Cosmetologist in Chandigarh for the past 20 years. She has been a pioneer in dermatology lasers in North India. Subir Mehra (Savage) did his undergraduate degree from Wharton and his MBA from Kellogg. He spent several years in Consulting with KPMG and E&Y. Since 1999, he has been with HSBC in India, Hong Kong and London. He is currently the Global COO of the Commercial Banking business. He has been in London for nine months, and is enjoying the incredibly diverse culture of the city. Gaurang Muzumdar (Palmer) is a Consultant Dermatologist in Colaba, Mumbai. He graduated from T. N. Medical College, specialisng in Dermatology. After doing his residency at Nair Hospital, he has been in private practice since 1991. Riyad M.M.Mucadam, aka Riyaz Mistry (Savage) resides in Wellington, New Zealand. “Did what I wanted to: oceanography, science writing, trading outpost, hydrogeology, rural solar electrification, remote Pacific atoll life, children, women, fastest sailing canoes, hiking, volcanoes, enjoying positively the coolest capital city.” His current labour of love is a Ph.D in Applied Physics Bio-Nanoscience. Shakeel Durazi (Wilson) lives in Mumbai where he runs his own business. “Those Fantastic Golden Years!”, he recalls. Ramachandran “Ramu” Iyer (Barham) did a stint in Jai Hind College, after which he obtained a B.E. (Computer Science) from Regional Engineering College (Trichy), an MS degree (Washington State University) and an MBA (Northwestern University). Ramu is currently a Project Turnaround Consultant with Slalom Consulting in Seattle. Dina Mehta Golwalla (Savage) completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Sydenham College. She is married to ex- Cathedralite, Sharukh Golwalla, and they have a daughter, Zeena. Pankaj Wadhwa (Wilson) lives in Mumbai where, for the last 25 years, he managed and owned a packaging company. Having sold the company in January 2012, he is presently in “vacation” mode! a two-year Associates in an Applied Science Degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, after which he launched his own label in 1988. He is presently Director of Persha Design Pvt. Ltd., which manufactures and retails his own brand in Mumbai, New Delhi, London, Dubai and New York. Romi Lamba (Savage) is married to Sagiri Dayal (Wilson, 1978). They have lived in Hong Kong since 1994, before which they spent several years studying and working in Philadelphia. After a career in investment banking, Romi is Head of Market Development at the Hong Kong Exchange. Sagiri is involved in Indian Contemporary Art and is also a designer of semi-precious jewellery. Shaila Batra Sondhi (Barham) did a BA from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and worked in Lintas for three years. She lives in Delhi with her husband and daughter. She has learnt Chinese brush painting and now paints English watercolour landscapes. Mahesh Khubchandani aka Macy (Barham) studied Mechanical Engineering and did an MBA in Finance at UM, Ann Arbor. He is a Member of the Bombay and National Stock Exchange. He resides in London, UK, and has offices in Mumbai. Besides trading in the global securities markets, he enjoys cricket, tennis, travelling and comedy. Amit Bhargava (Barham) spent his undergraduate years at IIT Bombay. Since then he has lived in Boston, Washington DC, Seattle and now lives in Connecticut. He has worked at Motorola, McKinsey, Venture Capital and, most recently, he has been an Executive in the industrial sector—Danaher Corp. followed by United Technologies where he currently works. Anand Krishna (Savage) is a Marketing Director with Honeywell Int’l, working with acquired companies in the Netherlands and Germany. He shuttles between Delft and New Jersey, USA, where his wife, Sonali, and two daughters live. He worked at Siemens, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Lucent Technologies before Honeywell. Divya Bhatia (Wilson ) went to Oxford to read Law. She lives in London and practises as a Divorce Barrister at Coram Chambers. Pandu Nayak (Wilson) is married to Mala Sanghavi Nayak (Savage). They live in Palo Alto, California. Mala is
2012 The X-Cathedralite 47

Vinay Bijawat (Savage) did a BA (Economics & Statistics) from St. Xavier’s College, followed by an MBA at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai.He joined ANZ Grindlays and worked in Mumbai and Melbourne. He then joined Citigroup in 1993 in various roles in Singapore, Thailand and London until 2008. He bought out a firm along with some partners in 2008, which consults for banks in the emerging markets (www.banktandd.com). Shahab Durazi (Wilson) did his B.Com from Sydenham College and then proceeded to New York to complete

CLASS noTeS trained as a Psychiatrist and works at a community mental health clinic. Pandu is currently a Member of Technical Staff at Google, working on web search. They have two daughters. Anita D Paymaster (Savage) acquired a B.Com degree she did her LLB (Gen) and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants India. She worked with Deutsche Bank and Maersk India until 1994. Since then, she is a practicing C.A. with her own firm A.D. Paymaster & Co. which specialises in payroll management for companies. Sangeeta Gupta (Barham) lives in Cairns, Australia. She did a French basic cuisine course with the Cordon Bleu in Sydney. She is a food stylist and writes food articles for a local magazine. an OPD and Casualty-in-Charge. She then practiced as a Family Physician for six years, but has now quit her practise to be a full-time mom. She also teaches English at an NGO, potters with plants and bakes brownies and bread rolls! Navpreet Singh (Barham) graduated with a B.Com from Sydenham College. Thereafter, he was articled with Arthur Anderson and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Currently he is the Joint Managing Director and CFO of the Dolphin Offshore Group. Zaheda (Rangoonwala) Davies (Barham) lives in Wellington, NZ. She did a two-year stint at Nirmala Niketan followed by a BA at St. Xaviers’ College, worked with PanAm and Fourway’s Travel in Bombay before moving to Moscow for 10 years, where she worked with Lufthansa. Presently, she is a travel broker, running her home business. Mudit Jain (Savage) did his B.Com from Sydenham College, followed by an MBA from Wharton (1987). He has been working in his family business, DCW Limited, for the last 20 years looking after the day-to-day operations of the caustic soda division and manufacturing various chemicals. Poonam Batra (Palmer) did her pre -medical from Government College for Women, Chandigarh (1981). She then went on to King George Medical College, Lucknow for her graduation, internship and post graduation degree in Dental Surgery. She moved to New Delhi in 1990 to practise dentistry where she runs a multi-specialty dental clinic with six specialists. Maya Sharma Kharwar (Palmer) did her B.Com and M.Com from Sydenham, then BGL and ACS. She is working with her spouse Jayesh as Director Finance & Accounts in their own company, Natech Solutions (I) Pvt. Ltd. They have two sons, aged 13 and 18. maya.kharwar@natechindia.com. Maya Dhondy Putois (Barham) lives in Paris and teaches Cross Cultural Management at the Université de Dauphine. She did her MPhil and Doctorate in the same subject. After submitting her Doctorate, she went to an ashram in Orléans to do a teacher trainer course in yoga. She plans to teach yoga to children in underprivileged schools during her holidays. Rabindra Nath (Barham) did his B.S in Management followed by an MBA in Marketing at the Golden Gate University, San Francisco, PharmD - UC San Francisco. His marketing endeavours have been in the high-tech sector and subsequently in the biotech sector for Pfizer. Currently, he owns and operates real estate investments in Palm Springs. Rahul daCunha (Barham) did his BA in English Literature and Psychology. He has been directing, producing and writing plays since 1984, such as I’m Not Bajirao, Class of ‘84 and Pune Highway, under the banner RAGE. He also runs an advertising agency called daCunha Communications that creates the famous Amul hoardings. Dr. Darius Soonawalla (Savage) is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, practising in Mumbai. He is attached to Breach Candy, Jaslok and Saifee Hospitals. Married to Ayesha, they have two sons, both in Cathedral. Adil Bharucha (Savage) is a gastroenterologist, practicing at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He is married to Kashmira and has three daughters. Behram Ardeshir (Wilson) was born in Mumbai, lives in Mumbai and hopes to die in Mumbai! He did his B.Com from Sydenham College. He has various business interests in the automobile industry, real estate and consultancy, and is a contributing Editor to Auto India. His first novel will be published later this year. Jehangir Ginwalla (Wilson) did his B.Com from Sydenham College. He is currently manufacturing writing instruments for export at Crescent International Pvt. Ltd., and is also involved with interior design and civil work at Crescent Interior. Niranjan Deshpande (Wilson) did his B.Com at Sydenham College, Bachelor of Law at Government Law College, Mumbai, Chartered Accountancy (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) and Certified Practicing Accountant—CPA Australia. He worked in various roles in the accounting and banking professions,

She is also a Critic with the Wine and Food Society and judges wines at the annual Cairns Wine Awards. She has written a cookery book which is yet to be published. Salman Noorani (Palmer) did his B.Com from Sydenham College. He is currently the Managing Director of Zodiac Clothing Co. Ltd. Mumbai, a brand that designs, manufactures and retails men’s clothing. Vinay Gupta (Barham) is retired in Aotearoa (New Zealand). “Was lost for a while after leaving Cathedral... Did my MBA, worked in the family business, then had an epiphany and moved to New Zealand. Been here for the last 12 years and loving it.” Gopa Khandwala (Savage) achieved her lifelong ambition to be a full-time slacker. She divides her time between Pennington, NJ (annoying her spouse, child and dogs) and Mumbai (annoying her mother, staff and dogs). She is now contemplating what to give up next, on her journey to Buddhahood! Dr. Rajyashree (Tunia) Das Murdeshwar (Palmer) did her MBBS at Grant Medical College, Mumbai. She worked at Bhatia General Hospital as
48 The X-Cathedralite 2012

CLASS noTeS and is currently a Partner and Director at LPA Partners, a CPA practice in Melbourne, Australia. Vijendra Jain (Barham) graduated from DMET (Marine Engineering) and sailed for a few years before joining Lloyds Register of Shipping as a Ship Surveyor. He has been self-employed for the last 15 years and runs a marinerelated business in Mumbai. Ravi Cunha (Palmer) did his B.Com from Sydenham College and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is currently a director of a stockbroking company in Mumbai. Simultaneously, he followed by an undergraduate degree and MBA from Cornell University. He also did an MBA in between in Belgium at the Katholieke Universiteit. He has worked with Barclays in Singapore and New York. He is currently with Oppenheimer Funds (16 years) as a Portfolio Manager, having launched and run their Developing Market and Global Fund. Vikram Jagtiani (Barham) lives in New York where he works as a business incubator/angel investor for entrepreneurial companies across multiple verticals. He assists start-ups in marketing efforts and networking activities to build strategic partnerships and improve access to VC funding with the goal of moving up the value chain. He is currently exploring opportunities in India in the fragmented 3PL space. Kavita Anand (Palmer) did her Master’s degree in International Relations, JNU, Delhi, followed by a web design course. She studied the Upanishads for 15 years with Swami Prabudhanada. Currently, she lives in Delhi and teaches web design, filmmaking, and ethics at Vasant Valley School. Soma Rao (Barham) did her MBBS from Christian Medical College, Vellore. She moved to the U.S. in 1989 and started working with animals. She is currently in Long Beach, California working as administrator at an animal hospital. “Living my childhood dream of caring for animals, hope to continue it in Bombay sometime in the future!” Geetika Aggarwal (Barham) did her B.Com from Sydenham College followed by a course in interior decoration and mass communication from Sophia Polytechnic. She lives in Mumbai and is currently working from her residence. Sharique Ansari (Bahram) did his B.Com from Sydenham, followed by a B.Sc in Newspaper Production Management at Rochester Institute of Technology. He worked at the family newspaper business for two years and returned to RIT for a Master’s Degree in Electronic Publishing. He is currently CEO at Chakra Communications (a graphic communication company in Buffalo, NY). Ashutosh Mankar (Palmer) did his B.Sc. from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, followed by a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Pune University. He currently lives in Princeton and works for Infosys. Married to Nandini Kholi, they have two daughters. Sanjay Mehra (Savage) did his HSC from Jai Hind College followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, a Master’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering and an MBA from the US. He is currently VP India, setting up business for his company (Wolverine World Wide) which has 16 (mostly lifestyle) brands in their portfolio. They have recently announced a JV with Tata to market their products in India. Pramit Jhaveri (Savage) is currently CEO of Citibank India. His wife, Mukeeta, is currently the President of the Cathedral Alumni Association and their children, Nynika and Prithvir, are hard-core Cathedralites. Vikram Utamsingh (Palmer) works at KPMG Mumbai in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He still loves Jim Morrison and the Doors! Sunando Guha (Palmer) did a B.Com from Sydenham College and moved to Kolkata where he did his C.A. and spent the next 20 years. Thereafter, he had a two-year stay in London before returning to Mumbai where he currently resides and practises as a management consultant. Abraham Tharakan (Savage) did his B.Com. from Sydenham College and has thereafter spent nearly three decades in the advertising and media industries in Mumbai, in organisations such as The Times Group, Sakal, Wizcraft and The Afternoon Despatch & Courier. He is currently practising as a consultant. Kumkum Jalan (Wilson) did a B.Com from Sydenham College followed by a teacher’s training course from Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai. She taught at the Birla Public School and the Cathedral Infant School. She moved to Delhi after getting married where she taught at the Delhi Public School and Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. She is currently a full-time mom and wife. By Anuradha Shankardass Grover
2012 The X-Cathedralite 49

is making plans to retire with his lively wife Erika, in his dream villa, by the sea in Istanbul. Atul Malik (Palmer) did his B.Tech from IIT, Mumbai, followed by an MBA from Rice University, Houston. He has worked with Citibank and Deutsche Bank in various roles across Asia. He is currently CEO of Maritime Bank, Vietnam. Rustom Kharegat (Palmer) graduated from the London School of Economics. He is a member of the ICAEW in England and Wales. Currently with KPMG , he is Global Head of the Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Group. Rustom loves hunting. Vijay Arora (Wilson) did his B.Com from Sydenham College, Mumbai followed by an MBA from Cornell University with a Major in Hotel Administration. He is currently a fashion designer for ethnic wear, men & women, having launched his own label. He has also launched Gelato Vinto —the first Italian ice-cream brand in India, which is rapidly growing with 40 outlets presently. Rajeev Bhaman (Barham) did his HSC from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai,

CLASS noTeS

Class of 1981/83
Monisha Jeet (Wilson) is better known as Nisha Dobberstein today. Recently moved back to Bombay after having lived in Kuala Lumpur for the last 15 years, her life has definitely come full circle! These days being a museum docent, helping in an NGO, travelling and reading voraciously keep her suitably occupied. Anna Varugis Khendry (Palmer) lives in Bangkok and has been there since her marriage 22 years ago. Her passion is theatre and music. She is currently the Chairperson of The Bangkok Community Theatre. Byram Dhalla (Savage) graduated from St. Xavier’s College in 1986, got an MBA in Mumbai, and has worked in the family logistics and transportation business since then.Married to Shehnaz in 1990, they have two children – a son, Jehaan (19). His other interests include running a Trust at School (Yuva Pratishthan) for the past seven years along with a bunch of other Cathedralites, running long distance (marathons etc.), keeping fit, crosscountry driving and trekking. Gautam ‘Smallie’ Mehra (Savage) started his own footwear business in 1989 and has been living in Delhi for the last 15 years. Apart from being a workaholic, he is passionate about travel and single malts. Rajiv Bhatia (Barham) married Devayani (nee Welinkar)in 1989. They have a son, Devavrat (Barham, 2008
50 The X-Cathedralite 2012

ICSE) and daughter, Maitreyi (Barham 2013 ISC). Rajiv runs management service companies, and a few foundations and trusts. His current passion is the development of the North East Region of India and he has set up a foundation for the purpose. He actively networks with Cathedralites on Facebook and enjoys meeting them as often as possible. He is the class leader for the 1981 ICSE 1983 ISC class. Ranjit Ahuja (Wilson) returned to India after spending his formative years in NYC. and appointed himself chief craftsperson, of his eponymous hometextile company based in Mumbai. He loves his work, travels and follows live sports events such as rugby, football and sailing. Rohan Jacob (Palmer) continues in the Strategic Advisory and Investment Banking business as he “still hasn’t quite figured out what he wants to do”; and so contemplates these and more mundane matters on the golf course. He has worked for large and small investment banks, and for himself along the way. Shireen Adenwalla (Palmer) runs her own food business called Truffles. Gayatri Puranik (Palmer) works and lives in Germany. She enjoys the challenges, the ups and downs of life and experiencing her two daughters growing into personalities. She loves coming back to India every now and then.

Sanjay Mirchandani (Barham) is currently based in Boston, working for EMC as CIO. He has been with them for six years after spending 11+ years with Microsoft. Sanjay returned to the US in 2009 after 15 years away in Dubai, India and Singapore, and is also an early investor in start-ups. He has two daughters – Pooja and Simran. Saloni Chand Jhaveri (Wilson) lives in Mumbai with her husband, Anand Jhaveri – also an exCathedralite, and their two children – Ishaan, (18) and Mana(14). Anand and Saloni started a software business that they have sold and they are now both happily retired. She pursues her passions namely reading, travelling and yoga, and has enjoyed the results of chasing her classmates for class notes. “It is great to know what you are all up to and I will surely be guided by some of the things that you are doing in the quest for my next adventure…” Sunil Jasani (Wilson) has been pursuing his passion interior designing, for the last 22 years, and would love to

fulfill his desire of being a restoration architect, by restoring all the old, dilapidated buildings of Mumbai. He enjoys travelling and playing poker (which he could do all day). Living in Mumbai with his wife, Jasma, and kids, Sachita, (14) and Dheer (11), he loves the company of family and friends. Rambhagat Kapoor (Savage) aka Ramu, Baggy and Blondie, has moved from being an engineer to MBA to copywriter to creative director to CEO;

CLASS noTeS
Bahai community, at both a national and international level. She is married to fellow Cathedralite and solicitor Bakhtiar Sunavala. When she finds the time, Djena enjoys cooking, travelling and spending time with friends. Sanjay Khiani (Wilson) exports fabrics from his factories in Mumbai to his US company. He studied finance and accounting at UT Austin, Textiles at Sasmira and ‘home-studied’ Technology with Masters books from UDCT. He lived in Los Angeles till 2008, where he was part of the fashion industry and loved its glamour; it was a driving force to work harder and excel. Madan Menon (Barham) is a career banker, now based in Singapore, where he is responsible for the Asia Pacific banking business of RBS. Passionate about his family, wife Ruma and their two girls, mother, brother, and sister, and his friends, he is now considering street biking as a hobby! years with The Indian Express Group, after which he has been a serial entrepreneur by setting up a range of companies across various verticals. He has been a Director, since 2003, at A La Concierge Services which offers holistic support services to employees of large corporations. He is also Managing Director of ValuAccess Services, a technology company that provides GiftCard & Loyalty Program Solutions to retailers in India. His wife is Shernaz, and he has a daughter, Leia. Shakir Ebrahim’s (Palmer) life philosophy was,to spend a million dollars in his youth and then to spend the rest of his life paying back the debt. He was successful in the first part but is now having a hard time with the next! “Hopefully my sugar daddy (real daddy) is loaded, so now looking to spend a couple of mill again.” In the middle of this ‘drama’, he runs a medical publishing business, family warehousing business, looks for plays in the stem cell sector, plays bridge and tennis, goes to the gym, and fights court cases to reclaim valuable ancestral property which will help him start the cycle all over again! Devika Misra, nee Dayal (Wilson) says that she has few ‘achievements’ to list. She is now based permanently in Singapore and sees herself as an “environmental immigrant”; that is, she lives there for its clean government, corruption-free bureaucracy, safety and cleanliness rather than its economic or political opportunities. She writes part time for the website www.bigkampung. com which caters to a middle aged audience having now been categorised as ‘a writer for the silver segment’! Before this she worked for Singapore’s only English news and talk radio station,
2012 The X-Cathedralite 51

and from Mumbai to Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore to Berkeley. He has gone from being single to married (to Indu Tandon ). His current avatar is that of Executive Director, Marketing and Digital Communications, University of California, Berkeley. Ardaman Kohli (Wilson) became an “old China hand”, through 20 years in Hong Kong and moved to Calgary

in Canada. Now, if only he could do something about the winters! As an authority on national-scale IT projects and technology marketing, Ardaman consults to governments and tech companies; there’s a fair chance that Zebra Digital Assets, a start-up he’s working on, will touch our future use of the Cloud. While enjoying the Rocky Mountains in the backyard, and the Himalayas near his Kathmandu office, Ardaman remains nostalgic about sailing and dragon-boat racing in Hong Kong. Sanjay Mehta (Barham) runs a Holograms & Security Labels Company, and enjoys reading, music and road travel. He lives in Mumbai with wife, Neeti, and children – Aditya (17) and Avantika (15).He loves watching all sports especially cricket, and does the occasional gym and yoga whenever not tempted to just relax instead! Djena Sunavala née Rowhani (Barham) became a very successful solicitor with a leading firm of solicitors in Mumbai. She is also actively involved with the property and legal affairs of the

Jasjiv Sawhney (Palmer) lives in Bangalore with three equestrian riders, Deepa, and their two boys, Maryk (20) who is now in Trinity College, Dublin, and Anantya (17). Pavan Kanwar (Savage) did not make it to the ICSE years, but was in the

Class of 1981. He has been living with his wife and two daughters in Prague for the last several years. They are in the process of moving to London at present. Zulfi Tyebjee (Savage) started his career by spending an interesting five

CLASS noTeS
93.8LIVE for about five years as a broadcast journalist, where she covered politics and contemporary social issues in the region. Since Cathedral, she has studied History at the post graduate level - India’s, and more broadly that of Asia’s, an interest she keeps up with as a member and docent of the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore. She is also actively involved with the Indian Women’s Association’s initiative to support injured and duped transient migrant workers to Singapore. Her two boys are now 20 and 17... Hurrah! Unfortunately for her she now has few reasons to visit Bombay as her parents live in Delhi, but she would love to be in touch with Cathedralites from her batch. Sandeep Lalwani (Barham) has spent a number of years in Hong Kong and Chicago and specialised in Banking Technology Software Products, after an initial stint with Arthur Andersen. Travelling has been his passion and he has managed to visit many countries and do projects in 45 of them! For now Bangalore is home where he runs the sales and business development for three software product companies. Anna Mathai (Barham) loves the city and the outdoors in the SF Bay Area. She works for IBM and hopes to write more than Facebook posts in the near future. Chinku Mahindra (Savage) is an entrepreneur and graphic designer, creating candles under her own label “Yuthica”. She lives in a Boston suburb with two teenage kids and two dogs, enjoying life, this new adventure and all that’s to come! Sunil Gupta (Barham) married Nilima née Aggarwal, Amritsar) in 1990. They have two sons Aditya (Barham, Class of 2006/2008) who graduated this year from UC Berkeley and is now employed in the Financial Markets in New York, and Madhav (Barham, currently in Std.10 at Cathedral). Besides running his auto components factories, he has pursued a Ph.D (Commerce), and is also actively involved in running a college in Mumbai as a trustee. Rukn Kizelbash (Wilson) is happily married with a gorgeous daughter who is five years old (yes, he started late!). He ventured into Media post college, and after various ‘mis’adventures including stints with ESPN, Star Sports new places, teaching, spending time with family, and giving people (often unsolicited) advice. He intends to write a book or two somewhere down the line and has been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for the last three years. Ashish Bhasin (Palmer) is Chairman, India & CEO, South East Asia for Aegis Media. His wife, Mayuri, just completed her term as Chairperson of the Cathedral P.T.A. He is active in several advertising and media industry bodies in India and South East Asia. Bharat Samant (Wilson) lives and works in Mumbai, and has two delightful sons (aged 10 and 8). He has recently discovered the joys of dispensing with shampoo, conditioners, hair-cutting folks and associated paraphernalia like combs, hair-dryers, etc. He would much prefer to be scuba diving in the Maldives than be cooped up in an office, and can’t do without his daily dose of yoga, which has been a life-changing activity. He tried his hand at some salsa last year, but would rather let others be the judge of the result. He has completed 15 years as a die-hard supporter of the Red Devils - that’s Manchester United, of course. Kishore Mehrotra (Barham) graduated from IIT Bombay 1988, and then did a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University in 1989. Married to Teresa, he has one daughter, Shimarah (21). He is currently employed with Marathon Oil Corporation in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa as Projects Manager. Hemanth Hegde (Barham) studied medicine, decided not to practice it, then started a dermatological company. He plays tennis, gyms regularly, goes on treks with family and works sometimes. His wife is a paediatric neurologist, and they have two boys (17 and 15) , and

& Ten Sports, is now running WWE’s (World Wrestling Entertainment) India operations, based out of BandraKurla, Mumbai. He tries to keep fit by playing tennis and squash. His fondest memories still remain those of getting bullied by Ranjit, Rajiv Doshi and Arun in Middle School! Ranjan Banerjee (Savage) followed the beaten track with an engineering degree from IIT and an MBA from IIM. After six years in corporate India, he broke the mould and built his own consulting firm out of Pune. Ten years down the line, he handed over his firm to a mentor, and finished a Ph.D in the US. Back in Pune, he mentors his old company, Renaissance, and is starting a new venture, Anvetion, with an IIM batchmate. He also teaches at top B-schools in and outside India. His wife, Anindita, is an expert on cross-cultural communication and diversity and they have two boys, Aditya and Uday. Both his boys intend to become car designers. His interests include reading, seeing

52 The X-Cathedralite 2012

CLASS noTeS

Class of 1991/1993
Alefiyah Sarma née Merchant (Savage) is Marketing Director at Diageo, North America. She has led marketing for Jose Cuervo, Baileys, Don Julio and Smirnoff in the US. Alefiyah lives in New York City, and in her spare time dabbles in triathlons and photography. Ambika Nehru (Wilson) quit advertising after 14 years and to start her own t-shirt business called Asya. Asya works with self-help groups in villages in U.P. using traditional Lucknow Chikankari embroidery in contemporary ways. The income generated empowers the village women, financially and otherwise. Anita Schiavi-Chowgule (Wilson) finished her schooling in Switzerland, from where she got her commercial degree. After 18 years in the German part of Switzerland, perfecting her skills in sales and logistics, she decided to perfect her French and moved to the French part where she now works in the internal technical sales department of a company selling industrial products and solutions. She is married to Fabrizio and lives in the Lausanne area. Angeli Pawar (Barham) has been living in the UK for the past 20 years. With an M.Sc in Speech and Language Pathology from University College, London, she currently runs a very successful private speech therapy practice and also practises as a Highly Specialist Speech Pathologist within the NHS, treating patients with communication disorders including verbal dyspraxia and cleft palate speech. Anjali Nangia Pollack (Palmer) attended St. Xavier’s College in Bombay and then FIT in New York. She never left New York and now lives on the Upper West Side with her husband Michael and two sons Damian (6) and Zachary (4). She is an interior designer and runs a boutique firm in NYC, Anjali Pollack Design. Bhavna Vazirani Vaidya (Palmer) graduated from Tufts University, after which she returned home to Mumbai. After a short stint with Tatas, she joined Unilever as part of the marketing team for Lakme Cosmetics. She is currently on a career break, enjoying quality time with her husband and two young children.

one daughter (10). He loves living in Mumbai with family and friends. Pankaj Kalra (Wilson) is currently with Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking Division in Mumbai where he is responsible for coverage of the Energy and Telecom sectors. He has been with Credit Suisse since October 2008, prior to which he spent 12 years with Merrill Lynch across Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Mumbai. Married to Mitali (also an ex-Cathedralite, Class of 1987/89), he moved back to Mumbai in 2006. They have two boys, Shiv (5)and Raghav (3). Rajiv Doshi (Wilson) studied Mechanical Engineering in Germany and returned to Mumbai, only to start a business in the diamond trade. Once the sparkle in the stones wore off, he moved

to Pune in 1998 and got involved in the outsourcing business. He currently runs a company that provides electronic and mechanical After-Market Solutions for the home appliances industry. He and his wife, Sonali, two daughters, Anika (18), and Anya (15) who is in her final year at school. “In my free time, I try my hand at classical guitar – many hours of practice to make up for lack of talent.” Sweta Kothari née Bhansali (Wilson) has been married for 26 years and is settled in Mumbai. She is a freelancer in the travel line and has a 21-year-old daughter. By Saloni Chand Jhaveri

Binita Bodani Putcha (Barham) completed her BA from Sophia College and then began her career in PR at Indian Public Affairs Network (A Hill & Knowlton Associate). In 1998, she founded ActiMedia, which today is a leading lifestyle PR agency. Binita has recently launched Funky Monkeys, Mumbai’s first indoor play centre for kids. Chandani Kapur (Palmer) studied psychology and sociology only to then pursue her first love, fashion design and garment construction at NIFT. She became a head designer at a store and now supplies stylised cotton garments to high-end stores. Fortunately, she also discovered her passion for teaching and has been teaching poetry and elocution to primary school children in Mumbai for the past 12 years. Darshita Thakkar Talim (Barham) is a general dentist and lives and works in Orange County, CA. She is also a fulltime mom to her son, dog and husband! Divya Rajani (Palmer) pursued a B.A. (Psychology) from Xavier’s College, followed by a Diploma in Early Childhood Education from Sophia Polytechnic, after which she taught for many years at pre-schools in the city. After an M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Columbia University, New York, she is now back at her alma mater and teaches at the Cathedral Infant School. Diya Ramachandran née Rajani (Wilson) worked in advertising for a decade in both London and Bombay, and is currently enjoying being a fulltime mum. Dr. Freya Javeri (Savage) joined St. Xavier’s College after school. She graduated from the Bombay Veterinary College in 1998 and completed her Master’s in Veterinary Clinical Studies from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 2001. She currently works as a consultant for Zydus Research Centre’s Canine Research Facility in Ahmedabad. Freya also has her own private practice. Gulshirin Dubash (Palmer) is an actor and theatre professor at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. She also works with a non-profit organisation called ‘Clowns without Borders’ that goes to refugee and war zones and disenfranchised areas of the world, clowning for children.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 53

CLASS noTeS
Kanupriya Agarwal Bajoria (Barham) presently lives in Kolkata. She is married to Anand and they have one daughter. Kanupriya runs a catering unit specialising in desserts and gourmet meals. She also runs a boutique for ladies garments in Chennai and Kolkata under the label, Moksh. Karishma Gupta (Barham) did textile designing from Sophia Polytechnic, specialising in screen printing and designing. She freelanced as a designer for a couple of years before getting actively involved in school activities as Class Representative for the Pre-Primary and Junior Schools respectively. Karishma currently resides in Mumbai. Khulood Noorani née Kably (Savage) is married to Awais Noorani (Palmer, 1991/93). After 15 years of marriage, our classmates still wonder how the ‘good girl’ in class wound up with the ‘class prankster’. She is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Cathedral School PTA. Kulsum Merchant (Wilson) returned to India in 2009 after spending nine years in Canada working in the book publishing industry, travelling, and finishing the first draft of her ‘inprogress’ novel. She currently manages public relations for the Indian operations of global consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. She is married to Sridhar Vedala, from New Delhi. Laila Naterwalla (Palmer) did a BA in Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a LL.B from KC Law College, Mumbai. She set up her own business in partnership to run a fitness health club in Bandra and managed the MIG Cricket Club fitness centre. After selling the business, she continued studying Health and Wellness in the UK, especially at the London School of Beauty and Make-Up, returning to Mumbai with a diploma in Body and Beauty Therapies. She has been working at the Jiva Grande Spa, Wellington Mews, Taj Hotels since 2007. Lulu Raghavan, nee Srinivasan (Savage) graduated from Davidson College with a degree in Economics and from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research with an MBA. Starting her career in brand consulting at Ogilvy in Bombay, she worked with Landor Associates in San Francisco. Married to Harsha Raghavan (Savage, 1988/90), she
54 The X-Cathedralite 2012

moved with Harsha and Landor to New York and London. She has been back in Bombay for five years now having set-up Landor, India, where she is Country Director. Mandira Koirala (Palmer) is married to Himanshu Koirala and lives in Gurgaon, Delhi with their two kids, JaiVeer, four and Nynaa, all of 20 months. Her company, The Koirala Group, has Ladybird Effect, a marketing/ branding, imaging/pr company that works with fashion and lifestyle, Stylemark International, which works with stylists in India and internationally, and a kids’ clothing line, Little People. She has her hands full and life is good with no complaints. Megha Shah Ralhan (Savage) lives in London and is currently taking a break from a career in finance to look after her “two under-two” kids. She worked at Citigroup (Consumer Division) in London & New York. Prior to that, she worked at Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis. Meghna Damani (Savage) is a documentary filmmaker and artist in Jersey City, NJ. Her autobiographical film, Hearts Suspended (www. heartsssupended.com), won critical acclaim and was instrumental in bringing to light the untold story of thousands of dependent spouses in the United States. While continuing to help women on the dependent visa rebuild their lives, she is working on her next film project and other artistic endeavors. Nairika Kotwal (Wilson) works for The Arts Council, Inc. in Gainesville, GA, which is an arts advocacy group

which presents a variety of worldclass performances, and engages in bringing the arts into schools in nine surrounding counties. Nairika’s pride and joy are her two boys Kamyaab and Shayaan. Natasha Nagpal Budhiraja (Barham) did a double major in History and Psychology from Jai Hind College and then a Masters in Tourism. She was with Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. for 10 years and as Head of Product Development & Contracting, has travelled the globe several times over. She joined the Government of New Zealand as the Regional Head, S.E.Asia for the New Zealand Tourism Board. She now runs her own travel consulting business while enjoying her 20-monthold happy, full of energy son, Vedant. Niharika Sagar Seth (Barham) finished her schooling at Modern School Vasant Vihar, Delhi and then graduated from Sriram College. She then worked at Ipan, a public relations consultancy company leaving only to enter her next role as that of a wife. This took her to Hamburg, Germany where she now lives with her two daughters. After training and working as a designer during her first six years in Germany, the birth of her daughter inspired her to start her own line of children’s accessories, Coocoobara. Nisha Mehta Bulchandani (Wilson) did a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, specialising in Interior Design in London. She returned to India and worked with Talati and Panthaki Associates Pvt. Ltd. for five years and with Phiroza Naterwala for four years.

CLASS noTeS
Currently, she is working as a freelance interior designer and is raising her kids, both of whom are studying at Cathedral. In her spare time, she pursues her hobbies of learning Kathak and painting. Niyati Nath née Mehta (Palmer) did her BA in English Literature from St. Xavier’s College, followed by a degree in Law. She is a partner at law firm, J. Sagar Associates in Bombay. Nymrata Advani Bickici (Wilson) went to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts to study Mathematics and Economics. She worked on Wall Street at Salomon Smith Barney, and later for Citigroup as a Director, Corporate Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions Group. After 11 years at Citi, she took a break for a few years to be a mother and now works as the CFO of Silver Slate Group in New York. Nymrata is married to Yunus Bickici and has two children, Anysa, five and Arman, two, who keep her on her toes! Pooja Sehgal (Savage) did a B.Com at HR College and an MBA from Sydenham Institute of Management. She worked in advertising in JWT and Lowe Lintas followed by a secondment at Unilever for a year. She then joined Marcio, working on a number of brands as a Senior Brand Manager and then joined Kellogg as a Marketing Manager. Pooja has been in England on a secondment to Kellogg UK for the past year. Preeti Sethi (Wilson) has been working in the areas of Direct Marketing and Loyalty Programme Management which includes eight years at Direxions Marketing Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. She is now married and settled in Delhi, and is currently a full-time mum. Purnima Singh née Thacker (Palmer) graduated from Sydenham and then from the Government Law College, Mumbai. After an LLM from the University of Sheffield, UK, she worked at Simmons & Simmons, London, for some time. Purnima is married to Dhananjay and enjoys juggling the life of an IP and Media Lawyer at Mulla & Mulla, Mumbai while being mum to her two-year old son, Veer. Rachna Mubayi (Wilson) did a B.A. (Hons) in History from St. Stephens College, Delhi and then spent a year with the UN Development Programme, before doing a Masters at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex, UK. Marriage came next, after which Jatin and she spent a few years in London and Hong Kong. Rachna worked there as a consultant with various international agencies in the field of Public Health and Education before moving back home to Delhi where she is enjoying being a full-time mom to Yuvaan, seven and Samaya, four. Rittika Chokhany née Budhiraja (Wilson) completed her B.Sc. Occupational Therapy from Seth GS Medical College (KEM Hospital). After working as an Occupational Therapist for a while, she realised that she hated getting to work every Monday morning. So she did a Diploma in Interior Design and is very happy with her new line of Simone Currim (Palmer) completed her Bachelors in Dentistry and Masters in Orthodontics from Nair Hospital Dental College. She then acquired the Diploma of National Board DNB and M.Orth from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Simone currently works as a Consultant Orthodontist at Jaslok Hospital and Saifee Hospital. She practises as a highly specialised orthodontist, treating patients with cleft lips and palates, craniofacial anomalies and cases requiring a combination of Orthodontics with surgery. Most importantly, she thoroughly enjoys her work and on most days gets out of work in a better mood than she comes in. Sonal Arora (Palmer) graduated from H.R. College (B.Com) with a major in advertising. Soon after she graduated she got married and started designing Indo-Western and Indian clothes for women under the brand, XOTICA. She set up her own boutique and holds exhibitions in Singapore and Mumbai. She is the proud mother of Tanya, 12, and Anika, seven, both at Cathedral. Tarini Mohindar (Wilson) lives in Mumbai and has recently turned restaurateur with her new venture, Café Zoe. Prior to that she spent a decade in advertising, working with numerous advertising agencies. She is married to fellow Cathedralite, Sundeep Bhatia (Barham, 1985/87). Abhishek Agarwal (Savage) worked for almost a decade at Microsoft, before starting S3Edge Software, an asset tracking company, with some other ‘Microsoftites’. He had hoped to retire by now, but that seems to him like a distant dream! Abhyudaya Morarka (Barham) has gone back and forth between the US and India so many times that he no longer knows which country he belongs to! It doesn’t help that his wife and two kids are Americans. He was lucky to be a part of the early 2000 ‘dot com bubble burst’ with his own online venture, and was then with CEB, a corporate education company. He now finally has his own digital media education venture in Mumbai, FX School. Aditya Kilachand (Barham) has a degree in finance from Boston College. He has been working in hospitality by co-founding one of Mumbai’s premier
2012 The X-Cathedralite 55

work. After taking a seven-year break to raise two beautiful children, she has recently started working again. Shaista Agboatwala-Gupta (Palmer) pursued Paediatric Medicine at the Grant Medical College & JJ group of Hospitals, as well as MGM and DY Patil Hospital. She is currently a Consultant Paediatrician in Mumbai at The Prince Aly Khan and Noor Hospitals. Married to Anand Gupta, they have a two-and-ahalf-year-old son, Vivaan. Shiru Awatramani (Wilson) went back to Infant School to teach from 1997-2007, and is now based in Shanghai. She has a two-year-old son, Ansh. Shonali Garud (Barham) did a B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and a Masters in Gender and International Relations from the University of Bristol, UK. She is married to Gautam Dhingra and moved to New York in 1999 where she has been since. She worked briefly at the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development and then took time off to raise two daughters, Mayanka and Annika. She is now a full-time mom and an active member of her kids’ school.

CLASS noTeS nightclubs (Prive) and fine-dining Japanese restaurant, Tetsuma. He is currently working on a new venture at the same location and is simultaneously involved in the development of a niche luxury real-estate project in Alibaug and Pawna, which should be on stream by early 2013. Arnav Sheth (Palmer) teaches finance at Saint Mary’s College of California and also (when asked nicely!) at the University of California, Berkeley. A financial mathematician by training, he published his first book in October 2011. He lives in San Francisco and was last seen swimming across the bay from Alcatraz (he made it!). Awais Noorani (Palmer) completed his MBA at IMD Switzerland. He currently works at Zodiac Clothing Company as Vice-President of Sourcing and International Sales, and is married to Khulood Noorani (Savage, 1991/93). Brijesh Bhatia (Savage) pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas. After graduating, he joined Microsoft Corp. and has been living in Seattle since. Carl Cooper (Savage) completed his B.Com from Jai Hind and his MBA from Ecole Nationale Des Ponts Et Chaussées (ENPC) with a major in Marketing. He worked at Compaq Computers and then was part of the start-up team at Tracmail, one of the first call centres in India. In 2005, he founded Safehouse Information Management Solutions which provides information management services and solutions. Carl is married to Geeta from Mauritius and they have a seven-year-old daughter—Zara. Chintan Gandhi (Palmer) graduated from Babson College in 1996, and has since worked in the pharmaceutical and infrastructure sectors in India. Living in Mumbai, he now manages Millennium Herbal Care, a research driven natural healthcare products company, making highly-effective and safe conditionspecific dietary supplements. Faisal Siddiqui (Barham) did a B.Com from H.R. College and then an MBA in Aviation from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He is now running the family business of travel and aviation services. Farokh Vakil (Barham) has postgraduated in Internal Medicine from Grant Medical College in Bombay, and is now attached full-time to Bombay
56 The X-Cathedralite 2012

Hospital as a Critical Care Specialist. His passion is supporting Liverpool Football Club and trying to catch as many football matches as is humanly possible! Feroz Dubash (Palmer) read Law at Cambridge and worked at Linklaters, a leading global law firm in London. He moved to Bombay in 2006 to help found Talwar Thakore & Associates, Linklaters’ ‘best friend’ law firm in India. Feroz is currently a partner at TT&A and is married to Perin Bharucha (Savage, 1998/2000), a fellow lawyer who is currently busy looking after their recently-arrived daughter, Anya. Gaurav Bhatia (Wilson) studied Economics and Film-Making from Middlebury College in the U.S., worked as an ad man on Madison Avenue and returned to Mumbai seven years ago. He is now Marketing Director at LVMH Moët Hennessy India and is sharing the magic of Champagne with India. He is married to Pratima, and has two boys Abeer, five and Adhiraj, who is one. Gautam Kakodkar (Wilson, Head Boy) lives in New York’s Upper West Side and works in Finance. After graduating from Dartmouth, he went on to receive his Master’s degrees from MIT and the Tuck School of Business. Harsh Seksaria (Barham) completed his graduation from Sydenham College, Mumbai and has since been involved in the family business. He loves playing golf, listening to music and catching up with friends. Harsh is married to Nalini, and they have two kids—Arnav and Aadyaa. Jaideep Kulkarni (Savage) is an Endocrinologist in Australia. After leaving school in 1991, he made it unscathed through two years at Jai Hind College, Mumbai. He then went on to get a Graduate and Post Graduate education in Internal Medicine from Grant Medical College, Mumbai. He currently loves his busy life as a professional and a dad. Jehangir Panthaki (Wilson) studied in the UK and moved back to Mumbai in early 2006. He runs his own information technology company, together with managing the family’s real estate portfolio. Married to Ooravis from New Zealand, they have two kids, Zahan and Ariyanne, who are both studying at Cathedral. Karan Khemka (Palmer) is Head of Parthenon Group in Asia. He is married to Heike Khemka and has a daughter, Emilia.

Karl Billimoria (Wilson) did a nine-year stint in the Middle East and is currently VP Contingency Risk, with HSBC Bank, India. Kedar Mehta (Wilson) lives in sunny Los Angeles with his wife Samantha and children, Nikhil, four, and Alekha, two. He completed his undergraduate degree in Engineering at NC State, and then worked in China, Japan and Michigan. After completing an MBA at the University of Southern California, Kedar worked with Strategy Consulting firms in Bombay and Dubai, and has now moved to Los Angeles where he makes dreams come true at ‘the happiest place on Earth’ as Director of Finance, Strategy and Planning for Disney’s Interactive Media Group. Mathew Abraham (Wilson) is still a physicist (perhaps the only geek left standing from our class!), working on stitching together atoms to make new materials. Much to his delight, he is able to collaborate with some professors at IIT-Mumbai, and so he gets to visit our great city of Mumbai a few times a year. Mridul Mehta (Palmer) spent a few years in academics (in Mathematics) and then moved to Finance. Earlier this year, he resigned from the hedge fund he worked with, and is now an entrepreneur, spending time between Boston, New York and London. Nikunj ‘Nik’ Sekseria (Barham) got his BA in Economics and BBA in Finance from UT Austin. After that he spent 14 years with Citigroup’s IB division in NY and London before moving back to Mumbai last year with Citi. Paritosh Khanna (Savage) got his MBBS and MD in Radiology from the University of Mumbai and two PostDoctoral Fellowships in Washington DC and Seattle. He has worked as Consulting Physician/Faculty Paediatric Neuroradiologist at Seattle and San Diego Children’s Hospitals and the Universities of Washington and California. Prashant Lamba (Savage) moved to Pune to do his B.Com and MBA. He then started his own software business under the name of Phonologies. ‘Lamba’ is currently based in Hyderabad with his wife Amrita, an ex-J.B’ite. Prateek ‘Poncho/Ponjo’ Mehta (Barham) studied at NYU’s Stern School of Business and then had a brief stint at BNP Paribas before joining the

CLASS noTeS family business. He is a Director at AEPI Designs and The Apple Tree, both garment and design companies working with leading fashion designers like Armani and Chloe. After successfully launching the ‘Rahul Mishra’ label, one of India’s upcoming and hottest designers, he is currently concentrating on launching some fashion brands for the Indian market. That would probably explain why he is still single! Rahul Agarwal (Barham) is Global Product Manager for High Frequency and Automated Foreign Exchange and CFD Trading systems at GFT UK in London. He previously worked at TD Ameritrade in New Jersey for seven years, followed by ETRADE in London and then Saxo Bank. Rahul is married to Reema and has one son, Rayaan. Ravi Bohra (Wilson) graduated with an Economics Degree and a Diploma in Interior Design, but ended up dabbling in movies and advertising. Ravi is currently a freelance copywriter/ photographer/graphic designer in Mumbai, hoping to start his first film in the coming year with his family production house, Bohrabros. Rutton Patel (Savage) currently lives in sunny London with his wife Kainaz Antia (Wilson, 1995/97) and his young son Jehan. After school, Rutton obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley, and then worked in San Francisco as a Management Consultant. Thereafter he obtained an MBA from the University of Chicago and joined Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking team in London. Currently he leads an engineering company focussed on Energy Distribution and Smart Grid Projects. Sachin Shah (Savage) runs his own Real Estate Private Equity firm, Samsara Capital, in Mumbai. Previously, Sachin lived in NYC, where he worked at Starwood Capital and Blackstone. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 2001. Sachin is married to Gayatri, and has a seven-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. Shiraz Chothia (Palmer) graduated in Economics and Accounting from the University of Bombay, and then completed an MBA. He spent the first few years of his career in Advertising, after which he moved into more challenging roles in Brand Management/ Marketing for companies in the lifestyle, retail and luxury space. He also spent two years in Australia as a consultant for an E-Learning portal and is currently Head of Marketing for a leading real estate company. Shirzad Khusrokhan (Bahram) is an artist and musician living in New York City with a freelance Technology Consulting job that pays the bills. Shonar Majmudar (Wilson) got Biochemical Engineering and Economics degrees from the University of Rochester, and then worked on Vaccines and Antibody Development in the Biologics group at Merck & Co., USA. He returned to India in 2004, and has worked in various roles including consulting for a US PE Fund on Life Science investments in India and setting up a design services start-up. Most recently, Shonar co-founded Serra Fine Chemicals, a producer of niche, specialty chemicals for flavour and fragrance. Vivek Sikri (Wilson) runs a camera design company based in Cambridge, MA. In his spare time, he has been going to music and arts festivals all over the USA and indulging himself with several mini-retirements. Dr. Vivek Tilwani (Palmer) pursued his MBBS, MS and LLB degrees. He is presently a practising Consultant Surgeon and Medico-legal Consultant in South Mumbai, in addition to being a university-recognised post-graduate medical teacher at the Grant Medical College, Mumbai. Zaheer Karanjia (Bahram) is currently a pilot with Emirates Airline on the Boeing 777. He left school to start flying in Florida, and moved to Dubai from Singapore earlier this year. Sheetal Savani (Savage) graduated from Sydenham College, became a fashion and jewellery designer, and presently exports resort wear to several countries. She is married to Kunal, and they have two kids Keisha, eight, and Amaira, five, both studying at Cathedral. Vishalakshi Rao (Palmer) graduated from Sydenham College and then pursued her passions. She trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, leading multiple High Altitude Treks. She simultaneously studied at Bihar School of Yoga, and has been teaching yoga for over 12 years. She is currently based out of the SF Bay Area, CA, and lives with her husband and their threeyear-old daughter. Prashant Salvi (Palmer) studied Architecture and worked in Mumbai before enrolling at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor as a Charles Moore graduate Fellow to specialise in Urban Design. He worked with Perkins Eastman Architects in Washington DC and recently moved to the firm’s Mumbai office as a Senior Associate. By Purnima Thacker Singh

Class of 1992/94
Amit Advani (Palmer) lives in Mumbai with his wife, Pooja, and children, Yuveer (three years) and Ayesha ( seven months). A first generation entrepreneur, he set up Swagelok in Mumbai in 1999, in association with Swagelok Company U.S.A, a world leader in the field of fluid system technologies, and is currently its Managing Director. He completed a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Owner-President Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Vivek Dujodwala (Savage) went to HR College, Mumbai and also joined the family business. He presently heads the business with diversified interests in chemicals and finance. Nirvaan Kirpalani (Savage) moved back to Mumbai in 2010 with his wife, Payal, and son, Sumehr, after living in New York for 12 years. He is an Executive Director with Direct Brands Inc., a direct marketing media company based in New York and also is the COO at Payal Singhal Inc., an Indian clothing fashion house based out of Mumbai and New York. Nirvaan shuttles between his two favourite cities every couple of months.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 57

CLASS noTeS
Gaurav Talwar (Barham) is currently Managing Director of Brilliant PolymersPvt. Ltd., a company that manufactures a wide range of specialty polymers. He is also on the board of his family investment company, Wham Investments Pvt. Ltd, which has investments in renewable energy and mutual fund brokerage, amongst others. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Priyanka, and their two children, Jaiveer (three and a half) and Raisa (nine months). Pragni Kapadia (Palmer) currently lives and works in Mumbai. She studied at HR College of Commerce and Economics and got her Bachelor’s in Commerce from the University of Mumbai. In 1998, she worked for a few months at the Chambers of Zia Mody prior to leaving for her LLB at the London School of Economics. In 2001, she completed her LLM from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and returned to Mumbai, where she worked with AZB & Partners until October 2007. She has been with Wadia Ghandy & Company since October 2007, where she specialises in corporate, intellectual property, food and pharmaceutical law. Sushma Kilachand (Palmer) currently lives in Toronto, Canada, and is the North American partner for DAGMAR Jewellery. She is currently in talks with Canada’s largest auction house, Waddingtons, in an effort to launch South Asian contemporary art in Canada, and is also in talks to work on a villa project in Alibaug. Shalini Amersey (Barham) went to Iowa State University to do a B.A. in Acting and Directing and a B.Sc. in Business Logistics. She then moved to New York and started a business, making uniforms for law enforcement agencies in the Tri State area. She simultaneously did her MBA from Pace University. Having lived in New York since 1994, she set up a Mumbai branch in 2010 and travels between the two cities frequently. Atiyah Curmally (Savage) lives in Washington DC where she works for the International Finance Corporation as an environmental specialist. By Amit Advani
58 The X-Cathedralite 2012

Class of 1994/96
Abhijit Nimbalkar (Palmer) pursued a Bachelor’s in Economics at Ohio Wesleyan University, followed by a Master’s in International Relations at Fletcher School, Tufts University. He now works as an international development practitioner with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. He recently visited Baghdad accompanied by body armour, helmets, armoured convoys and bodyguards! Abhishek Mehra (Wilson) went to HR College and then travelled across the globe for a bit. Following a PGDBM course at Xavier’s Institute of Management, he joined his father’s business manufacturing and importing office seating. Food is his passion; he dreams of owning a fine dining French/ Italian restaurant and is giving up bachelorhood and marrying Meetu. Abhishek Ray (Palmer) pursued architecture and design. Loves architecture and earned the Ashoka Lemelson Fellowship for social entrepreneurship in 2006. Currently heads an architecture design company engaged in the development of cultural spaces and museums across the country. Married to Sudatta, a pharmacist by profession and is settled in Mumbai. Aditee Ghate née Vyas (Savage) studied at Sophia College and TIFR. Following her PhD in Neurobiology from IGBMC, France, she returned to India and joined Piramal Healthcare as a Research Scientist and currently manages the Metabolic Disorder and Diabetes portfolio in the NCE unit. Married to Eki, they have two daughters, Meghana (a young Cathedralite) and Samiksha. Adeeti Sanghvi née Goyel (Palmer) did her B.Com from HR College followed by a diploma in Travel/IATA from Canada. Worked in Singapore Airlines for a while but found her true calling in Social Service. Started a school to help slum children in Colaba but had to shut it down. Married and has a son. Aditya Bhansali (Palmer) went to HR College, then did his GIA in New York and joined the family diamond business. He stares at the CNBC screen every day, dabbles a bit in stocks and shares, and is getting married to Pooja. Aditya Dhawan (Wilson) graduated

from Ohio Wesleyan University, moved to NYC to work in Private Equity and M&A Investment Banking, and then moved to London to join a hedge fund. Following an MBA from INSEAD, he now manages a hospitality group focusing on hotels. Married to Anaheeta, they have two lovely daughters Maya and Diya. Ajay Mathur (Palmer) went to live in Denmark after school and then did Software Engineering in the UK. He worked at IBM before leaving to get an MBA and is currently working on his second start-up! He lives in London with his wife and two children. Alokik Advani (Wilson) graduated from Ohio Wesleyan and worked with Merrill Lynch in Investment Banking in NYC. Following an MBA from INSEAD he joined Goldman Sachs, London. Now lives in Hong Kong with wife Shruti. He tries to play squash as often as he can, and indulges in travel which is centred around food! Amar Tidke (Wilson) graduated from Sydenham and got into Media by accident, working as a Creative Director in print, online, television, radio and mobile gaming in Mumbai and Shanghai for a few years. He is currently back in television at 9 Media Network and has recently applied for one of the most challenging jobs ever —fatherhood! Amrita Shahra (Wilson) did a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon and started her career in Marketing at Ruchi Soya, Mumbai, where she now heads Business Development. She loves to travel and has a new-found love for safaris, works closely in her family’s charitable trust and is getting married to Aakash later this year. Anisha Rakshit née Mehta (Barham) graduated from the George Washington University and then did her MBA. After working with Foster’s, she fumbled through parenthood the first time with daughter Mahika, only to find herself an expert a few years later with son Shourya. Married to Kunal Rakshit, her time is spent in “domestic goddess” duties. Anjali Bohlken née Thomas (Palmer) graduated from Dartmouth and after a three year stint in the corporate world went into academia. A Ph.D. in political science from NYU, she is now a Professor at UBC in beautiful (but rainy) Vancouver. Married to Craig, she

CLASS noTeS in Management of Information Systems. She worked as a Project Manager for various companies across NY/NJ, and lives in New Jersey with her husband Shadaan and their daughter. Dilip Raghavan (Savage) is an engineer by qualification. He now works as a journalist, heading an integrated publishing house called Colour Publications in Mumbai. Married to Anuradha for 10 years, they have a fiveyear-old son, Siddhartha. Enakshi Singh (Savage) left Cathedral after Std. 9 and moved to Brazil. After graduating from Cornell University, she worked at Salomon Smith Barney in NYC and then did her MBA at MIT Sloan, where she met her husband Kabeer. She lived in San Francisco, then Dubai and is now back in SF, managing a sovereign wealth fund focused on investing in technology. Freyan Crishna-Bieri (Savage) left for boarding school in Connecticut and then graduated in Political Science from Gettysburg. Following a course in interior architecture, she married and moved to Dubai, where she lives with her husband and very bouncy baby boy Kiyan. She has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Nisaba Godrej, and loves Tibet and travelling. Gaurav Nahar (Savage) went to HR College and then to NYU, earning a degree in Finance/Management. After taking a year off to travel, he returned to India to join the family business in diamonds, working mostly in the Middle East. He has a four-year-old son, Neev, who also goes to Cathedral. Gaurav Sarin (Palmer) forayed into Media Buying & Planning with Group M, followed by a career in telecom with Airtel and then Aircel. He has recently taken the entrepreneurial plunge, founding a company that focusses on Telecom Value Added Services and Behavioural Analytics. Married to Neha, they have a son, Nirvaan. Gautam Kulkarni (Savage) graduated from IIT Bombay and has a PhD from UCLA. He worked at Broadcom and Cisco, and now works for a start-up focussed on Data Center Networks in Silicon Valley. Outside of work, his interests include yoga and Crossfit. He is looking forward to his wedding to Kiran in Mumbai this December. Gautam Mago (Palmer) went to Sydenham and then to IIM Calcutta.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 59

is enjoying being mom to their two-yearold son Neev. Anoma Baste née Behal (Barham) did an HSE from Jai Hind College, after which she completed her Bachelor’s in Architecture from Mumbai University, and has worked across multiple projects and practices in Mumbai, Pune and Singapore. Currently lives in Singapore with husband Harsh where she loves to bake and have friends over. Anugraha Gopalakrishnan (Savage) left school in Std. 8 to live in Jeddah. A post-graduate from the London Film School, she worked on a movie with Mira Nair called Vanity Fair where she met her husband – Barney. Now proud mom to Yash, she is an editor at a TV Channel in London. Anupa Mathews née Kuruvilla (Palmer) went to Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art for her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (Visualisation). She worked with MTV & Vindia.com among various other media firms and then moved to advertising in Dubai where she met her husband Sujit. Her world now revolves around their two angels, Simone and Ethan. Anuri Mehta née Desai (Bahram) had her heart set on ‘marketing’ and has worked with Tata Infomedia and Bisleri . Now with Hindustan Unilever Limited, she is working on brands like Surf & Kissan. After becoming a mother to adorable Aryan, she is now brand manager for Swirls ice-cream. Arish Dastur (Barham) graduated in Neuroscience and Religion from Oberlin College and then from Columbia University’s School of Architecture, with a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning. He now works at the World Bank in Washington DC, travels to Asia and Europe, and works with national governments on policy, programmes and investment strategies for cities and metropolitan areas.

Arnab Chakravarti (Savage) went to Sydenham College and then worked at KPMG before completing his Chartered Accountancy. Since then, he has been working with ICICI Bank primarily in Market Risk. Married to Ina, they have a son, Aditya. Aryanish Kapadia (Savage) went to Sydenham College, then the University of Texas at Austin and earned her BBA and MPA degrees as well as a CPA license. Living in NYC, she looks into Healthcare Investment Banking, formerly with JP Morgan and now with Citigroup. She is marrying a fellow Cathedralite from the class of 1995. Avantikka Kilachand (Bahram) graduated in Economics and Political Science from St. Xavier’s College. Following a short stint at Hindustan Lever Limited, she moved on to become Beauty Editor and Contributing Editor for Seventeen Magazine and L’Officiel. Now works as Assistant Editor at HELLO! Married to Pramod, she is enjoying playing mommy to daughter Anasuya. Behram Dubash (Savage) went to Knox College in Illinois from where he majored in Political Science. After joining AIG as a consultant for shareholder litigation, he quit and moved to Los Angeles. He has just become a father and is doing what he loves —working as a screenwriter and developing TV shows with several production companies. Darshana Kanabar née Gokal (Bahram) graduated with an MBA and MA in Finance and worked as a Portfolio Manager before switching to set up a paint manufacturing unit in Kolkata. She has now moved back to Mumbai to work in her father’s garment export company. Deepna Mirchandani (Wilson) graduated from HR College and then went to the New Jersey Institute of Technology for her second Bachelor’s in Management, finishing with a Master’s

CLASS noTeS
Now a Venture Capitalist at Sequoia Capital, he has had previous stints at McKinsey and Arthur Andersen. Having lived largely in Bombay, briefly in NYC, he now lives in Bangalore with wife Anu. He travels like crazy and tries to squeeze in squash and poker when he can. Gayatri Patel (Barham) graduated from Smith College and then worked in New York in both Investment Banking and Education. Following an MBA at INSEAD, she worked in Private Equity at a start-up fund in Bombay until late last year, when beautiful Nainika was born to her and husband Vishal. Jamshed Engineer (Palmer) went to HR for his undergraduate degree and then to the University of Southern California for his MBA. He lives in NYC and worked at Goldman Sachs for three years in bond trading. For the last three years, he has been at a hedge fund managing a bond portfolio. Jhilmil Jain (Wilson) completed a B.E. in Computer Science from COEP India, M.S. in Software Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Human Computer Interaction from Auburn University USA. She joined Hewlett Packard Research Labs and then Microsoft, and is now at Google. She lives in the Silicon Valley with her husband, Manu, and their dog, Scruffy. Joy Larrosa née Badami (Savage) did her Bachelors in Business Administration and Culinary Arts in Switzerland, and has been in the Food & Beverage and Hotel Industry for the past 16 years. She currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida with her husband and son, Justin. Kaizad Dinshaw (Wilson) is happily unmarried! A lawyer by education, he is now the creative head of the Mumbaibased interior design firm, Nitido Interior Design, specialising in premium turn-key residential and commercial projects. Karan Singh (Savage) went to boarding school and then to Minnesota to get a BA in Geography/GIS followed by an MA in Urban Planning and Geography at Michigan State. He currently lives in Chicago in the great neighbourhood suburb of Glen Ellyn with wife Tanya and his two boys, Jonah and Krishtian, who have a ravenous appetite for mischief! Kiku Engineer née Mistry (Palmer) majored in Political Science and Psychology at Sophia College, and now lives with husband Jim and two daughters Zara and Alea, and an English bulldog, Winston, in Chicago. Having started a business called Spice Kitchen Catering specialising in Parsee and Asian fusion food, she aims to be the “Tanaaz Godiwala” of the West. Kshitej Bahl (Wilson) joined Jai Hind College, followed by a degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Mumbai. After a short break, he joined his family business in the Inspection and Testing of Commodities and has moved to Singapore. Married to Riddhima, they are the proud parents of two beautiful princesses, Amaira and Pranaya. Kshitij Karundia (Barham) went to Sydenham College and then to ISB for his MBA. An investment banker, he has worked with Andersen, Goldman Sachs and is now with Rothschild. He lives in Hong Kong with wife, Shruti, and son, Krish, and loves to cook when not working or parenting. Kshitij Morarka (Wilson) got his B.Com from Sydenham College and then a degree in Hotel Management from Ecole Les Roches, Switzerland. He has since worked in various capacities across the hospitality sector. Currently, he owns and operates ‘Mumbai Deli’, a café located at Lower Parel, Mumbai, and is also involved in real estate development across Mumbai. Kunal Madnani (Palmer) completed his B.Com. at HR College, and then an MBA in Finance. Starting with a variety of roles in Consulting and Corporate Banking at Citigroup in Mumbai and then in Singapore, he now works as an Investment Banker at Credit Suisse in Singapore. Married to Seema, they have a son Karan. Kunal Rakshit (Wilson) completed his undergraduate degree at Amherst College, followed by an MBA at IIM Bangalore, and started his career at HLL before trying his hand at entrepreneurship. Following that, he worked in Private Equity and is currently at a hedge fund in Mumbai. Married to Anisha Mehta, they have two kids, Mahika and Shourya. Kurrien John Kurien aka Che (Savage) moved to Bangalore in Std. 8, then to St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Lawrence University, Wisconsin, and then did the journalism program at NYU. Back in Mumbai, he started at the Indian Express and then Time Out Mumbai, followed by Reuters. Now Editor at GQ India, he is married to Antara with whom he has a precocious baby girl—Sayi. Lyla Muncherjee (Savage) graduated in Art History from Lawrence University, followed by a Masters in Arts Administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She moved back to Bombay during the Indian art boom and has since worked with many local and international art organisations. She lives in Delhi/ Gurgaon with her husband and adorable German Shepherd, Brix! Madhavi Batliboi née Tandon (Savage) graduated from Brandeis and

Gurpreet Jolly (Savage) went to KC College and then joined the Merchant Navy, sailing for 13 years with a Japanese firm (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines). Following a Master’s in Shipping in the UK, he now works as a Senior Marine Consultant on behalf of SHELL OIL, and a few other oil trading firms in Singapore. Married to Daman, they have a daughter, Tara. Hiren Daswani (Palmer) moved to China 10 years ago and now manufactures CCTV cameras amongst other trade. Working on launching www. standscan.com, he is getting married to Deepti. Hormuz Batliboi (Wilson) graduated in Art and Mathematics from Grinnell College, Iowa and did his Masters in Architecture from University of Pennsylvania. He worked between degrees in Washington DC and is now in New York at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Married to Madhavi Tandon, together they juggle work and parenting their two young sons, Zahaan and Cyrus. Hrushikesh Mehta (Wilson) went to HR College and then to Bryant University (Finance & Economics), after which he worked at Osram Sylvania in the US and then at CIBIL (a credit bureau) in India. Following an MBA at ISB, he tried his hand at various jobs before heading back to CIBIL. He is married to Rashi and plays golf once a week.
60 The X-Cathedralite 2012

CLASS noTeS started out as a business analyst before going to Columbia Law School. She works at Morrison and Forester in NYC and is married to Hormuz Batliboi, with whom she has two boys, Zahaan and Cyrus, who keep them on their toes! Mansi Kilachand née Mehta (Barham) graduated from Lafayette College in English and Economics and then did her MBA at the SP Jain Institute of Management. She worked as a private banker at Kotak Wealth Management, and then joined her family business as a fashion designer. Married to Tushar Kilachand, they have a son Yuvaan, also a Cathedralite. Menaka Kumari Shah (Savage) went to Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur, and then to Cambridge Arts & Sciences, followed by a BSc. (Hons) in Sociology at Bristol University. Joining the art industry, she has worked at Concern India Foundation, the British Museum and Christie’s. She has recently visited Macchu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands, her next destination being Burma. Mikhil Narang (Savage) was packed off to Mayo College in Std. 7 and then returned to Mumbai to attend HR College. He then went to Paris to work at Saint-Gobain & Imerys, followed by an MBA at INSEAD. Having lived in Shanghai for a brief period, he is now back in India, continuing his quest for minerals and himself! Mrinalini Nair (Palmer) went to Jai Hind College and then graduated from Government Dental College (Mumbai). After a stint as a general dentist for a UK corporate chain, she now works for the King’s College NHS Trust, London. She is married to Shankar, and is passionate about food from all over the world. Myrna Jivraj née Majmudar (Wilson) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and then worked for Appian, a technology consulting firm, in Washington DC, followed by BlackRock in New York and Hong Kong. She met her husband, Aleem, at Penn with whom she has two kids—Alina and Armaan. Her latest passion is studying wine! Naman Vidyarthi (Palmer) went to Jai Hind College and then did Engineering in Pune. He worked with BT in London and then did his MBA at IIM Ahmedabad. He advises banks and insurers, formerly with Ernst & Young, and now with Accenture in Mumbai. He is married to Shweta, who works in a news channel reviewing the latest cars in the market. Nisaba Godrej (Wilson) went to boarding school in England and then to Wharton for her undergraduate degree. After working in Mumbai for a bit, she then went to Harvard University for her MBA. She is currently heading Product Development and HR at Godrej. She is passionate about the development sector (education), horse riding and trekking (she has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with Freyan Crishna). Dr. Nitya Nathwani (Wilson) went to Jai Hind College, followed by Medicine at Nair Hospital in Bombay and then did his Residency and Fellowship in Haematology-Oncology at the University of Southern California. He now works at City of Hope, Los Angeles, doing bone marrow transplants, and is married to Ayesha, also an exCathedralite (Class of 2001). he joined the Stanford Financial Engineering Program and ventured into Financial Services and Investment Banking, recently foraying into real estate. Still single, he tries to make time for badminton. Pranati Mehta (Palmer) graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and then worked at a number of companies in Marketing, PR and Internal Communications. She then decided to leave the corporate world to freelance in Graphic Design, and did a course in Art Education and CELTA (TESOL). She currently teaches art at the Junior School! Prem Raheja (Savage) graduated from HR College and then did an MBA from the UK. He joined Jones Lang Lasalle, and then realised that his passion lies in Capital Markets. Branching out his family’s business into Capital Markets, he also heads an agricultural venture. Married to his college sweetheart Payal, a Std. 1 teacher at Cathedral Infant School, they have two daughters who are both at Cathedral. Rahul Anand (Palmer) went to St. Xavier’s College and then graduated in Engineering from the University of Michigan. Working in the US and then his family business in India, he married Tasmai. After an MBA at Harvard University, he joined Diapers.com in New York and is now back in Bombay launching an online kid’s apparel business. Dr. Rahul Doctor (Palmer) is an opthalmologist, currently running a nursing home in Mumbai called Bay View Clinic. His latest venture forays into health foods and he also runs a few wealth management boutiques. He recently got married to Chandeshwari. Ranjit Mittra (Wilson) went to Jai Hind College for his Bachelor’s Degree and then to Mumbai University for his MBA. Starting his career with BBC World India, he has since worked with Radio City, 9XM, Zoom in the role of Research and Strategy and is currently working with GroupM in Bombay. Married to Sreejata, they love travel, food and fun. Riddhesh Gandhi (Savage) graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and then started ‘YoungBuzz’ a company in the education space in India. Following an MBA from Harvard, he now works at Goldman Sachs as an
2012 The X-Cathedralite 61

Nupur Mubayi (Wilson) left after Std. 8 for Delhi. Following her B.Com, she did a course in Interiors and then set up an Interior Design practice, did a home makeover show on NDTV, wrote a column for Mint Lounge, conducted training programmes and led the Design Team at Samira Habitats. Married to Shahid, they live in Singapore. Omar Balsara (Palmer) graduated from HR College, and then started a business trading electronic components. Following an MBA from the University of Rochester, he now works in International Development, primarily in the field of Public Health. He lives in Dar-e-Salaam, Tanzania, with wife Zohra and two man cubs, and tries to get in a game of tennis or golf in between diaper changes! Polaad Dadyburjor (Barham) graduated from Jai Hind College and then went to the US to get an MS in Management, majoring in Information Systems. After working in IT services, software and a BPO consultancy,

CLASS noTeS
Executive Director in Mumbai. Married to Devna, they have a son—Aman. Rishi Dalal (Wilson) left after Std. 8 to go to boarding school in the US. Graduating with a BBA from Washington University in St. Louis, he worked in NYC and then moved back to India to work in his family business. He recently started a new design venture called www.megustaproducts.com. Married to Rachita, he loves cooking, golf and travelling. Rohan Pai transferred to boarding school at KIS for his IB and then went on to Northwestern University, Chicago. Having worked as a stock analyst in NYC at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, he is now at a reinsurance company in Bermuda, where he lives with his wife Simmi. In his free time, he coaches and plays badminton. Dr. Rohan Thakkar (Palmer) graduated from medical school and is a keen environmentalist, especially when it comes to water consumption. “Save water, drink beer” is his motto! Rohini Behl (Savage) armed with degrees in Psychology and Sociology, joined Hindustan Lever Limited and has been a slave to consumers, brands and marketing ever since. She is currently at Unilever HQs in London. Sails as much as she can but not as much as she’d like to, she still plays a bit of squash. Rohyt Belani (Barham) went to Jai Hind College and then to Carnegie Mellon University for his Master’s degree, after he which he moved to NYC. Starting out as a hacker, he has since co-founded two Cyber Security companies. Married to Vidula, they have a son Veer. Rosenyn Kapur née Nindrajog (Palmer) graduated from Cornell University, and joined her family printing business, followed by a stint in automobile dealerships. She now runs a business in Early Childhood Enrichment called Kidville in Mumbai, and has two children. Runit Shah’s (Wilson) entrepreneurial career spans industries such as manufacturing, real estate development, and technology. He is the founder of a tech-enabled ‘brick & click’ retail concept in the fine jewellery space. His wife, Anshuma is a Mathematics and Physics teacher at Cathedral Senior School and they have two boys, Vedant and Abhinav, both of whom study at Cathedral. Samantha Stevenson (Savage)
62 The X-Cathedralite 2012

studied Literature and Anthropology at Lawrence University, and moved to Chicago to work as a Producer and PostProduction Supervisor. After marrying filmmaker Ben Berkowitz, they moved to California to work on his feature film and now live and work between Cupertino, San Luis Obispo, and LA. Other passions are her dogs, travel and food and wine. Satvik Mohatta (Savage) went to H.R. College and then to Penn State University for his MBA. Back in India, he has set up a steel forging unit and looks after the family’s wire rope business. Married to Andrea, they have a daughter Maya. He still has an exotic selection of pets; a bulldog, rottweiler, Labrador, African grey parrots and an ostrich! Saudamini Nesargi (Wilson) spent two years at St. Xavier’s College, and then went on to study medicine with a specialisation in paediatrics. After moving to Bangalore to do a fellowship in Neonatology, she currently works at St. Johns Hospital, where, because it is a medical college, she not only gets to play with kids but also teach. Shaival Chandra (Barham) graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, and joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in New York. Returning to India as Director at Twincity Sunlife, focussing in the renewable energy space, his love for food led to the launch of a fast casual food concept called “Simply Potatoes”. Married to Anisha, they are expecting their first child at the end of this year. Shiva Kabra (Savage) went to Jai Hind and then Grinnell College, Iowa. He worked in NYC in Investment Banking and followed this up with a MBA degree from INSEAD. Now working in his family business of coding and marking, printing of variable data onto products, he is married to Nyana, and is a big foodie and traveller. Shivani Palat née Kumar (Palmer) went to Jai Hind College, the Academy of Architecture, and then to Texas A&M University, for a Masters in Architecture with a focus on Sustainable Architecture. Married to Sucheth, they lived in San Francisco and Dallas before backpacking in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and most of Western Europe. Now in Bangalore, they own an architecture design studio – StudioXS, and have a daughter Anaya. Shivani Somany née Agarwal (Barham) joined Sydenham College and

simultaneously did an Interior Design course at Sophia’s Polytechnic, and Kiran Patki Interior Architects. After getting married, she moved to London and then to Delhi, where she set up her own interior design firm. Now mum to Nirvaan and Sharanya, she has set up a clothing manufacturing unit, trying to revive the art of hand-block printing under the label ‘Threads’. Shraddha Thacker (Palmer) graduated from HR College, and then did an Early Years Course at Sophia Polytechnic. After teaching at nursery schools in Bombay, she then started her own class called “Bright Beginnings” with some friends. Married to Rajiv, she has since moved to Portugal, where she now teaches at CLIP, an international school. They have two beautiful boys, Ryan and Dylan. Siddharth Chhabria (Barham) completed his Bachelor’s degree from HR College and his Master’s degree from Sydenham College, followed by a brief stint in Advertising and then switched to Finance. He is currently at Goldman Sachs in Singapore, where he lives with his wife Aarti and daughter Ariana. Passionate about golf and soccer, he is also a big foodie ,always on the lookout for the next great meal/bottle of wine! Sid Juwarker (Wilson) moved to Singapore midway through Std. 11, and then to Drake University, from where he graduated in Environmental Science. He got an MBA degree at the University of Iowa, dabbled as a geologist and is now a Senior Project Manager at an Environmental Consulting firm, Barker Lemar Engineering. Besides serving on the Boards of the Environmental Professionals of Iowa, Leadership Iowa, Iowa Association of Business and Industry and The Des Moines Social Club, he also performs in local theatre and has written a comic book! Siddharth Mundra (Wilson) married Anjali (Class of 1993), with whom he has a daughter—Taara. Living in NYC, he currently works at Barclays, having worked before that at Lehman Brothers and Accenture in Mumbai. Siddharth Thacker (Palmer) graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai (LLB) and from NYU Law, New York (LLM), and then qualified as a solicitor in India, England & Wales and as an attorney in the State of New York. After working for a few years in Mumbai, then at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in

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New York, and at Steptoe & Johnson in London, he now practises at Mulla & Mulla, Craigie Blunt & Caroe in Mumbai. When not arguing (law or otherwise), he tries to improve his golf handicap! Siddharth Wazir (Barham) graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and then worked in Chicago for a year, before heading back to Bombay to join the family business in Chemicals and Engineering, recently diversifying into Healthcare. He is married and has a son who attends Cathedral Infant School. Soha Singh née Parikh (Barham) went to HR College and then attended Bentley College, from where she graduated in Marketing. After working in her family business in Mumbai, she got married and moved to Delhi. She is now the full-time mom of two lovely baby girls, trying her best to bring them up with the best values. Sonali Motiwal (Savage) went to Jai Hind College, and then did a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology from St. Xavier’s College. She then went on to do research on DNA based vaccines for HIV at Sheffield (UK). She graduated with a PhD and worked at the FDA in Maryland. Married now, she moved to Tampa Bay, and is a new mum. Suhasini Jalan née Ranjit (Wilson) left in Std. 7. She graduated from Jai Hind College with a BA in Economics, followed by an MSc in Business Economics from the University of Reading, UK and a degree in Econometrics at the London School of Economics. Having worked as a Senior Economist at the Tata Group, she is married to Rajiv and has a daughter, Alesia. Sumeet Vazir (Barham) did his BCom at HR College and a Masters Degree in Computer Science in the US, and is now working with Yahoo! He got married this year to Reema. Tanaya Prasad (Savage) graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi followed by a Masters degree from Delhi School of Economics. She lives in Mumbai and has worked at the Bank of America as a Risk Analyst, and at ICICI as an economist. Currently working at CRISIL, she manages the Sovereign Team working with S&P on Sovereign Ratings. Tanuj Garg (Savage) graduated from Sydenham College and did an MBA at the Strathclyde Business School, UK. Having worked for the Radisson Group of Hotels and BMI, he relocated to India to join Kumar Mangalam Birla’s entertainment company, Applause, and then UTV and Viacom/Studio18 in the UK. Now back in Mumbai, he is the CEO of Balaji’s motion picture business. Tanya Singh Ahluwalia (Savage) went to Northwestern University, and then moved to New York to work in Investment Banking at Salomon Smith Barney (Citigroup) and then Unilever. After an MBA from London Business School, she moved to Amsterdam to work with Nike, and then moved back to London to work with Coca-Cola. Now based in Gurgaon, she is a Senior Brand Manager for Thums Up. Tara Jhaveri (Barham) went to Australia after Std. 11 and joined CRC High School in Melbourne. She graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) followed by the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark. Working at Ogilvy and Mather, Mumbai, she discovered a flair for design and has launched the brand Tara J Fine Jewellery (Taraj.in) Tina Singh née Mitha (Barham) studied Design at School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC and came back to India to work in Advertising at Leo Burnett and then at Publicis. She then joined Conde Nast working on Vogue, GQ and Traveller. She recently started “All Things Beautiful”, a boutique design house and is married to Ambrish. Tushar Jiwarajka (Savage) went to Babson College, Boston and then dabbled in entrepreneurship, technology incubation and venture capital in New York, London and Singapore before founding Volte Gallery in Colaba, which represents some of the world’s greatest living artists, organising exhibitions in major museums and galleries around the world. Married to Archana, a graphic designer, they have a son, Vivaan. Tushar Kilachand (Barham) graduated from The University Of Michigan Business School and worked in Investment Banking at Credit Suisse First Boston and Sandler O’Neill & Partners in NYC. Having completed his MBA at INSEAD, he is back in Mumbai manufacturing auto components and processing/trading steel. Married to Mansi Mehta they have an extremely naughty son, Yuvaan. Vishaka Vaswani (Savage) completed her B.A from St. Xavier’s, Bombay, worked in Corporate Sales at the Taj Group and then led Client Development at a couple of law firms. After marrying Naveen in Mumbai, she moved to Chennai, where her daughter Rianna. She has recently moved to Perth where she is exploring the beaches and wine country. Vishal Gupta (Bahram) is a Ph.D. and an Engineer, living in the Silicon Valley designing chips for cell phones. Married to Tarang, he loves cooking and writing poetry. Zerna Karian née Khursedji (Barham) left Cathedral to move to Pune in Std. 4. She has a BFA in Photography and is a freelance digital re-toucher & photographer in NYC, where she also helps with the family web start-up. She is married to John, with whom she has an incredibly mischievous daughter, Lea and two cats. Zia Ardeshir (Barham) left India for sunny Perth after Std. 10. She did her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University of Western Australia, and now works as a Clinical Psychologist working with children, teenagers and families with mental health issues/disabilities/trauma in both Perth and Melbourne. Married to Laurie, she continues to live in Perth. Sunil Mulchandani (Palmer) went to the University of Texas in Austin after which he dabbled between a software start-up family business and his own venture in the nutraceutical space. He completed his MBA from ISB and has since been at Yes Bank. Now VP of the Media, Entertainment and Sports Banking Group, he is married to Twisha. Last but not the least, we would like to remember Rehan Goplani and Robin Shroff, our dear classmates, who, due to tragic circumstances, are no longer with us. By Rohini Behl

Class of 1995/97
Madhuri Mohindar: (Wilson) After studying English at St. Xavier’s, Madhuri completed media studies programmes at Sophia Polytech in Mumbai and the New School in New York. She is working as a Multimedia Producer for human rights organization Breakthrough in New York, creating online documentary campaigns and digital strategy on immigration, race and women’s issues, while pursuing documentary filmmaking.
2012 The X-Cathedralite 63

CLASS noTeS
Shruti Gupta Singhal: (Savage) graduated in 1995. After completing her MBA from Thunderbird, USA she worked in the Financial Services industry for 10 years. After which she started her own after school program for children called iLeap Academy. It has three centres - two in Mumbai, one in Bangalore and one opening in Dubai. The Program focuses on developing children’s language skills and thinking skills through general knowledge topics Sweta Dugar (Wilson) spent 12 years managing and teaching at a Martial Arts Institute. She combined being Shihandai and Chief Camp Officer with a B.Sc. from St. Xavier’s. She worked with her family diamond business and designed her own range of ‘AVA’ custom jewellery. Currently residing in Iowa with her husband Alok, they are expecting their first child this year. Roxanne Maben née Patell(Wilson) followed up her B.Com from HR College with a post grad from XIM and spent six years at Planet M selling music, managing the store and training staff across India. Married to Arvin, she has spent the last five years being sold on motherhood, being managed by her son Samuel and being trained in the art of mother-child negotiations, and the use of faintly-remembered science classes to explain the extinction of dinosaurs and how scabs are formed. She also occasionally freelances as a research associate. Rashid Contractor (Wilson) completed his B.Com and MBA from Mumbai. After starting his career at SEBI, Rashid joined Deutsche Bank A.G. in 2005 and is presently working in the Securities Services unit. Samvit Tandan (Savage) left after the ICSE for United World College in Singapore. After completing his I. B. there, he matriculated into Knox College near Chicago. Sam graduated magna cum laude with a major in Biology, and pursued his research interests with a Ph.D. in molecular cardiology with Dr. Joseph A. Hill at UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX. He then rounded out his basic science skills with an M.D. at the same institution, and is currently training at Albert Einstein’s Montefiore Medical Center as a first year internal medicine resident. He hopes to continue his passion in research, most likely in the field of cardiology in the coming years.
64 The X-Cathedralite 2012

Faiz Memon (Barham) is currently the director of investment management, healthcare and human resource consulting firm. He lives in Bombay with his wife and two daughters. Namrata Daswani (Wilson) got married in 2006 and moved to New York. She now lives with her husband Arjan Khiantani and son, Ishaan between New York, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Canary Islands. Namrata continues to be passionate about her graphic design career and her love for cooking, while running a cooking blog (www.simrancooks.blogspot.com). Kusum Harchandrai Nairi (Barham) is a Visual Arts teacher at Wildwood School’s elementary campus, an independent K-12 school in the Los Angeles metro area. In 2011 she graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with an MFA in sculpture/installation. Images of her recent work can be viewed at www. kusumharchandrai.com. She lives with her husband Pramit Nairi (Palmer 1996) in Santa Monica, CA, spending her free time at the beach or making pottery. Tulika Devidayal (Barham) studied liberal arts at Oberlin College after graduating from school. Until recently Tulika worked in the retail industry in Mumbai first with Good Earth and last with Le Mill. She still consults occasionally independently. Married to Harsh Jasani (Palmer, 1997), they have a two-year-old son—Veer. Harsh Jasani (Palmer) currently trades commodities for Trafigura Beheer BV. specialising in Coal. Maneka Mulchandani (Palmer ) pursued a career in public relations and has been in the field for over 12 years. With varied experience in luxury and lifestyle, she currently works for Gucci and heads their Communications office in India. Maneka got married in 2004 to Nitin Thadani and lives in Mumbai Kainaz Antia (Wilson ) got her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After completing her CPA, she worked at KPMG in Mumbai and then joined her family business. Kainaz currently lives in London with her husband Rutton Patel (Savage 1993) and their son. By Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen

Class of 1998 / 2000
Vikram Chogle (Wilson) is currently a private equity associate at Warburg Pincus, based in Mumbai. An undergraduate alumnus of the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, he spent six years as an investment banker in Chicago, before pursuing an MBA at London Business School prior to returning to India. Mallika Singhania (Palmer) graduated from Northwestern University, and then went to LSE for her Masters degree. After graduation, she wrote books, a newspaper column, and has done a few TV shows on shopping/ fashion in India. She currently runs a fashion e-commerce website, www. indianhanger.com. Some of her interesting travels in the past include Egypt, Turkey and the Olympics in London earlier this year. Asheesh Dubash (Savage) joined IHCL (Taj) after a BCom from HR College and a two-year course at Le Cordon Bleu, London. He now works as a Food & Beverage Consultant and Caterer. Devanshi Ruparel (Wilson) moved to London with her family after two years at Sydenham College. She still has her flat in Mumbai so she visits every couple of years. She is a finance business partner and currently works at Cisco Systems after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in London and then doing an MBA from the London Business School. Prateek Banerjee (Palmer) did his Bachelors in Architecture from Kamla Raheja Architecture College in Mumbai and worked at Raj Rewal associates in New Delhi. He became a partner of a 50-year-old firm “Architects Combine” in 2006, and launched Arbor Research Initiatives in Architecture in 2010. He is currently working on a range of projects including institution buildings, hospitals, schools and hostels. Tanvi Patel (Savage) did her BA from St. Xavier’s College and followed it up with a Diploma in Social Communications from Sophia Polytechnic. She undertook a project on alternatives in education at CED, Mumbai, and then did an MA in Sociology at JNU, New Delhi. Alongside teaching at Cathedral School as a Sociology teacher from 2007-2011,

CLASS noTeS she consulted with Quantum Market Research. She is currently pursuing a PhD at IIT Bombay. Varun Ahuja (Savage) left Cathedral in Std. 8 and went to Mifflief School (UK) followed by the University of Durham (UK), from where he completed his BA in business finance and MA in International Relations. He began his career in Hospitality with the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai followed by the opening of the Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai. He moved to the Maldives with the Four Seasons, once again retuning to Mumbai, where he now oversees Sales and Marketing for the hotel. Ankit Mody (Savage) is Director of Sales at IMOC, a minerals and metals trading company based in Mumbai. Prior to this, he worked as an entrepreneur and investment banker in Chennai and Philadelphia. After graduating from Cathedral, he earned a dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK and Oberlin College, USA. Though he vowed never to study again, he is battling a seven-year itch to do just that now! Robin Mehta (Wilson) moved to Edinburgh, Scotland after school and is now the Managing Director of Union Technology, Scotland’s largest advertising group. As well as investing in and assisting new start-ups, he spends his time travelling and playing golf. Aneesha Durga (Wilson) completed her BCom from HR College, Mumbai and went on to do her MA in Communications from the University of Westminster, London. She worked with CNBC in India for five years on their editorial team and currently resides in Dubai with her husband where she enjoys a relatively low-stress working life in advertising. Priyanka Khanna (Barham) graduated from Hamilton College and then moved to New York where she worked in the Public Relations department of Hearst Magazines on magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, CosmoGIRL! and Marie Claire. She returned to Mumbai six years ago and joined the launch team of Vogue India. Married to Rikin Sheth (1997, Barham), she is now the Fashion Features Editor at the magazine. Tara Mahadevan (Savage) practices as a Nutrition and Health Psychologist in Mumbai. She helps clients permanently lose and maintain their weight by combining nutrition and cognitive-behaviour therapy. After doing her BA in Psychology (Vassar College, NY), she did her MA in Psychology (SNDT University) along with multiple international certifications in wellness and nutrition. Gauri Kitchlu (Palmer) completed her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She then moved to New York City, where she worked for four years at a Public Relations firm, specialising in hospitality. She returned to India in late 2008 and joined The Oberoi Group in Mumbai, where she is the Manager of Communications. Hansel (Jaidev Rego) Cordeiro (Barham) is an attorney with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., where he advises the Veterans Health Administration (the United States’ largest integrated health care system) about issues that impact the lives of more than eight million American veterans. Maansi Kakkar (Wilson) graduated from St. Xavier’s College (Economics Honours) after which she joined Ernst & Young’s consulting practice. She was simultaneously a freelance sports journalist with The Times of India and did a Masters in English. After her MBA from ISB, Hyderabad, she rejoined E&Y. Now turned entrepreneur, she is a Director at DK&A, a company into branding and advertising. Akshai Sarin (Barham) has lived in every continent except South America and Australia. A brand/culture consultant, musician, journalist, serial entrepreneur, record label and studio owner, global media content distributor, nightclub and restaurant owner, he has performed with the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers and has also brought Akon, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and more to play shows in India. Akshai quit his job heading Culture Marketing for energy drink Red Bull recently and has been touring Europe promoting his album Connected. www.akshai.in Akshay Jalan (Wilson House Captain) graduated from the Management and Technology program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. He worked in the financial services industry in New York between 2004 and 2007, first as an Investment Banker and then as a Hedge Fund Manager. He decided to return to India in 2007 and has since then been playing the role of an entrepreneur, developing businesses in various industries across India. He got married in 2009 and has a one-year-old baby daughter, and is currently running in the race called Life! Jehaan Shroff (Savage) is currently a lawyer with AZB & Partners. After completing his B.Com from HR College, he studied Law at the Government Law College, Mumbai, and then pursued an MBA. from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Vinay Pamnani (Savage) Graduated from ISB. Currently a Manager at Ernst & Young in Chicago, he is looking to move back to India in a few years. Janjri Jasani (Barham) graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an M.Sc in Environmental Protection and Management and is currently working with the Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CERE). Following her two years at Cathedral, she has had a lot of amazing and inspiring experiences, from fencing with her collegiate team to attending DISHAA, a UK-India initiative. She is also a co-author of several books and lives in Colaba with her mum and pet beagle, Lenny. Hutoxi Antia (Wilson) graduated from Indiana University and went on to pursue a Masters degree from FIT. She currently lives in Dubai and works in her family business. Subita Doshi née Godhwani (Savage) pursued her BBA from The University of Texas at Austin, after which she came back to join her own company, Zooni, a fashion brand which has been around for sometime. As Directors of the company, she and her sister, Reema Godhwani (two batches younger), have taken the business to new heights. Rahul Lulla (Barham) will be joining the New York office of 3i Group, a Private Equity firm, after recently graduating from Columbia University with an MBA. His biggest achievements since Cathedral are growing to six feet and getting a tan. He was five foot five and pasty in 1998! Ateya Khorakiwala (Wilson) is currently a doctoral student at Harvard
2012 The X-Cathedralite 65

CLASS noTeS
Univesity’s Graduate School of Design. After training as an architect, she moved into the world of professional academia in the hope of becoming a historian of the built environment. She currently studies the architecture that came out of India’s modernisation and development project, and hopes to teach and research the same at some point in the near future. Jeremy Macmull (Palmer) currently lives in Portsmouth, where he is happily married to Jenny. He graduated from Leicester University in 2006 and works at Scottish and Southern Energy in Research and Development. They are expecting their first baby boy in September 2012. Shirish Barwale (Savage) worked with BCG after graduating from Cornell University. Between BCG and a MBA at INSEAD, he was a substitute Economics teacher at Cathedral and simultaneously put together a fresh produce distribution business. He got married to Pragya, a short six months after bumping into her in Mumbai. He works in his family business which endeavours to find new technologies to make agriculture in India more sustainable, environmentally-friendly and profitable for the farmer. Priyanka Todi Kheruka (Wilson) graduated from the Wharton School, and spent two years in NYC as a Management Consultant at Bain and Co. She moved back to Mumbai after getting married to Shreevar Kheruka (Savage) and set up the Indian arm of Technoserve (a US based non-profit consulting company). After traipsing all over the world and India for four years, she is now forced to stay put in Mumbai due to the birth of her two delightful children. She currently works as Marketing Consultant to Borosil. Vitek Goyel (Palmer) did his A levels at Harrow School, UK, and then got a degree in Electronic Media, Arts, and Communications from RPI in Troy, NY. He is currently CEO of Pixeltek, a 3D animation company in India, and Vice-President of Phoenix Online, a US based game developer. He is also a musician, and plays in a band called Slow Down Clown. He is set to marry fellow Cathedral alumna, Maya Bhogilal (Savage, 2001), in November this year. Zain Rais (Wilson) studied at Jai Hind College, Mumbai and then began his career at Wizcraft, followed by
66 The X-Cathedralite 2012

MTV. After getting tired of working for corporations, he decided to set out on his own. He joined Cineyug and heads their events division, executing projects like the National Games and various Bollywood award shows. Uttam Chopra (Palmer) went on to scale new heights by heading internet firm Contest2Win and thereafter joined Yahoo, after working at a creative agency called Flaky, Mellow and Grounded. He now heads a division of Yahoo’s Asia operations and is based in Singapore. Uttam sky-dives and test drives Scrot-Karts in his spare time. Sahir Hidayatullah hacked his way to notoriety as a young man by breaking the defences of various websites. His chance at redemption came when the Mumbai Police asked him to use his skills to help them solve a cyber crime case. He went on to become their mosttrusted advisor. Sahir now has his own firm specializing in digital security. By Priyanka Todi Kheruka

Class of 2004/06
Pranav Mehra (Wilson) was Athletics Captain in school. After a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications and Psychology from Indiana University, Bloomington USA, he joined UTV Disney as an Executive in Video Optimization, handling UTV’s two main channels on YouTube, Bindass and UTV Stars. Natasha Kewalramani (Wilson) completed an MSc. in Development Studies from the SOAS, London, and then worked there with the Institute for Philanthropy. Returning to Mumbai in July 2011, she worked for a year as a CSR consultant, assisting companies on how to look for social returns on their investments. Recently, she quit her job to set up an organic food and agri-tech venture. Karan Gill (Barham) graduated this May 2012 with an MSc. in Electrical Engineering from USC, and is now interning at the USC Stevens Institute in Los Angeles, carrying out patent research. Rohit Taparia (Wilson), Vice Captain, graduated as Valedictorian from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 2010, and subsequently

worked at PwC in New York City for a year. He is currently setting up a userdriven website called MyTopTeacher. com. The website will provide ratings and reviews on teachers in India. Rohit is a huge Manchester United fan. Sharana Jhangiani (Wilson) completed a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Journalism from Jai Hind College. She worked at Star India Pvt. Ltd. for a year and a half, and then at India’s leading entertainment agency - KWAN Entertainment & Marketing Solutions Pvt. Ltd. for two years. She has just quit her job and is now a founding member of a start-up e-commerce venture. She also conducts dance classes and teaches a writing class at Jai Hind College. Abhinay Jhaveri (Savage) is currently working as a consultant with Capgemini Consulting in Paris, France. He’d be happy to meet up with any alumni that are passing through. Zohanne Dinshaw (Palmer) currently works as a client servicing Account Executive for a top advertising agency (Draft FCB Ulka). His passion for music lives through his rapping ability for which he has gotten due acknowledgement (http:// bombayhiphop.com/?p=4639). he performs at happening night clubs all across Bombay. Gurlyn Ahluwalia (Wilson) is a qualified doctor after five years of medical school. Currently interning at Dr. D.Y. Patil Hospital, she plans to start her post-grad training in Dermatology in the coming year. Phiroze Shroff (Palmer) was a House Monitor in school. After a B. Com from H.R.College, he first did an internship as a Business Analyst for the Managing Director of an I.T. company, SAP Pvt. Ltd., followed by another internship as an Associate Investment Banker at a Japanese investment banking corporation, YEN Managements & Consultants. After working as Business Administrator for a German multinational, Schott Zwiese, he started on his M.Sc. in International Business & Management at the University of Bedfordshire (London, Luton) this September. Neville Bhandara (Barham) dabbled in theatre—writing and directing plays—after he left school in 2004, after which he interned at various publications including Mid- Day and

CLASS noTeS
Verve magazine. He currently works at Condé Nast Traveller, where he writes for and handles various sections of the website www.cntraveller.in. Rashee Shah (Barham) did her A Levels at Millfield School, got a B.Sc. in Economics, Accounting and Management from Cardiff University, and a MA in Marketing Communication from Westminster University. Rashee is currently running a company called Doggie Dabbas in Delhi, NCR which provides gourmet food for dogs. Shikha Choudhury (Wilson) graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and is currently a Strategy Consultant at IBM Global Business Services in New York City. Pia Davis (Savage) graduated from USC with a BA in Psychology, and a Double Minor in Consumer Behaviour, and Theatre. She worked in casting at 20th Century FOX, then in talent management and production, with Bender and Associates, followed by a one year stint at Sager Entertainment. She is currently working towards her M.Sc. in Human Behaviour at USC. Avika Bhansali (Wilson) is currently the Marketing Head for West & South India and an Interior Design Consultant for B&B Italia, an Italian luxuryfurniture brand. She is also a glass artist, and has participated in residencies in Scotland and the United States on invitation. Adib Parkar (Savage) is currently doing his Masters in Computer Science at USC (University of Southern California). Farah Khan (Savage) is currently working as Brand Manager at a luxury and lifestyle brand management and event planning agency called Creative Co. She loves her job and has been there for almost two years now. Aarti Mody (Barham) is currently a second year student at Fordham Law University in New York. Ishani Roy ( Savage) did her B.A. from St. Xavier’s College, a Mass Communication course at Sophia Polytechnic, and is now an Assistant Director for documentaries; she hopes to make her own film. Parinaz Vakil (Wilson) graduated with a Bachelor of Legal Sciences and Bachelor of Law from Government Law College, Mumbai, while simultaneously working as an Articled Clerk at a reputed law firm. She holds a Diploma in Cyber Law, has completed a Certificate Course in Alternative Dispute Resolution and continues to be involved in international conflict resolution activities with Seeds of Peace, USA. An Advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, and an Associate at the law firm, Bharucha & Partners, Parinaz is presently preparing for the Solicitor’s Examination. Sneha Jaisingh (Savage) completed her Bachelor of Legal Sciences and Bachelor of Law from Government Law College, University of Mumbai while simultaneously working as an Articled Clerk at a leading law firm in Mumbai. She is enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, and is an Associate at the law firm Bharucha & Partners, primarily practising in the Bombay High Court. She is presently preparing for her Solicitors’ Examination Same as above. Rahul Mahtani (Wilson) graduated with a Major in Mechanical Design Engineering and a Minor in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, USA. He has been working as an Automotive Fuel Systems Development Engineer with a fuel and filtration systems company, Stanadyne Corporation, since 2010. He spends most of his free time engaging in competitive motor racing and league cricket. Neel Ghose (Savage) graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi. After working for two years in the hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., he got bored of the corporate world and ventured into the domain of startups. He is currently a Vice-President in Zomato.com, one of India’s fastest growing e-commerce ventures. Chintan Chandrachud (Barham) is currently an M.Phil. candidate specialising in Constitutional Law at the University of Oxford. He completed his Master’s degree in Law at the University of Oxford, after pursuing his LLB at the Government Law College, Mumbai. Besides authoring articles for international and national journals, he has contributed to several pro bono projects including a report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Arindam Bora (Savage) graduated from MPSTME, went to Bogota, Colombia, to serve as an International Business Analyst for an oil company called Petrotiger for about 14 months. He is currently based in Manila, Philippines, serving as a Corporate Consultant/Business Development Executive to the Chairman and CEO, Mr. Joseph Sigelman, who heads Asia’s biggest fabrication company, Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila, catering to the Oil and Gas business. Ishita Jain (Palmer) studied Construction Engineering, did her MBA in Marketing, and is working at Infosys as a Consultant. She plans to teach English someday! She also studied fashion designing for a while but still hasn’t found what she is looking for! Jayni Shah (Savage), Head Girl, currently works in the Investment Banking division at Deutsche Bank in New York City. Khyati Mandalia (Wilson) graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Warwick in 2009. During her three years in London, she interned with Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley in the Investment Banking department. She then returned to India and is now working as a Finance Associate at Kiran Energy, a solar power company in Mumbai. Khyati will be getting married in January 2013 to fellow classmate Karan Kothari. Karan Kothari (Palmer) is currently a Partner at “Images”, a leading leather goods company. He graduated from Emory University (Atlanta, USA) with a BBA degree in Management, Consulting & International Business. Aditya Mittal (Barham) received his Undergraduate degree in Business from the University of Southern California. Currently a Director in his family business, Mittal Builders, he is starting his own real estate venture, Mittal Universal. Karishma Shah (Palmer) completed her B.A in 2009. During this time, she also freelanced with The Times of India and other publications. She is currently working at Text100, a Public Relations firm in Bombay, and intends to join her family business, Kushmi Kosmetics, shortly. By Karishma Shah and Sharana Jhangiani
2012 The X-Cathedralite 67

THe QUiZ

How well do you know your school?
1. What date is celebrated as Founders’ Day? a) November 15 b) February 23 c) November 14 d) September 2 2. Who was Mr. John Connon? a) First Principal of school b) Chief Registrar of Bombay when the School was built c) First Principal of the co-ed School d) Founder of St. Thomas’ Cathedral 3. The first three words of the school song are: a) Gateway of India b) Prima in Indis c) Play up school d) Let it thunder 4. The school colours are: a) Blue and black b) Purple and white c) Purple and grey d) Purple and black 5. The school’s motto ‘Clarum efficiunt studia’ is translated as: a) Studies maketh famous b) Only efficient studies c) Studies maketh men d) Studies are delightful 6. The Cathedral School was founded in: a) 1860 b) 1960 c) 1880 d) 1920 7. The Senior School is located on: a) Little Gibbs Road b) M.G. Road c) Purshottamdas Thakurdas Marg d) Prescot Road 8. The school motto was chosen by: a) Percival Wilson b) Sir Thomas Arthur Savage c) Bishop Palmer d) Cannon Barham
8.B 18.True 9.D 19.False 10.B 20.D

9. The School became co-educational in which year? a) 1860 b) 1880 c) 1922 d) 1967 10. The Cathedral Pre-Primary School is located: a) On Mahatma Gandhi Road b) In the old Choir School building at St Thomas’ Cathedral c) On Malabar Hill d) In the Junior School 11. The School Emblem, with the Bishops Mitre (Anglican) and the Diagonal Cross of St. Andrews (Scottish) to represent the AngloScottish Education Society, was taken from the Girls’ School badge designed by: a) Mrs Zoe Bebbington b) Miss Nora Whitfield c) Mrs Jean Cabral d) Mrs Joan Dev 12. Which of the houses is named after a businessman and philanthropist, one of the funders of the school? a) Barham b) Palmer c) Savage d) Wilson 13. Which of our school buildings boasts this lovely carved stone pillar? a) Pre-Primary b) Junior c) Middle d) Senior 14. It is believed that the School Hymn was written by: a) Rabindranath Tagore b) Rudyard Kipling c) Robert Louis Stevenson d) Ruskin Bond
3. B 13.B 4.D 14.B 5.A 15.C 6.A 16.B 7.C 17.C

15. The current Junior School was previously known as: a) The Cathedral Girls’ School b) The Cathedral Boys’ School c) The John Connon School d) The Cathedral Grammar School 16. It is believed that horses used this staircase. In which of our schools would you find it?

a) Pre-Primary b) Junior c) Middle d) Senior 17. Which of these famous personalities was NOT an alumnus of Cathedral School? a) Kareena Kapoor b) Shiamak Davar c) Kajol d) Cyrus Broacha 18. True or False: Initially the School did not have enough money to construct a building, so it was started in tents at Azad Maidan. 19. True or False: The School was always only a day school, never a boarding school. 20. To commemorate 150 years of the School, which national public personality launched a stamp of the Cathedral and John Connon School? a. Vilasrao Deshmukh b. Rahul Gandhi c. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam d. Pratibha Patil

Compiled by Sarita Bhalerao nee Saraiya (ICSE 1983) and Nandita Duggar nee Rajkumar (ICSE 1988)
ANSWERS: 1.C 11.B 2. B 12.D

68 The X-Cathedralite 2012