“Man Overboard”

The Indian Navy was in the news recently for driving away Somalian pirates. We are proud of their effort. It was about time maritime nations got tough with them otherwise they were taking a lot of ships for a ride..or is that phrase applicable only for what happens on land.

 

“Sweet Caroline”

Amazing how one thing leads to another, what? A couple of days ago I chanced upon an absolute old favourite of mine – Neil Diamond singing his 1969 hit ” Sweet Caroline” which I hadn’t heard for years.

 

The Old Lingo

Did you realize that words and phrases learnt in childhood tend to stay with you for life? I am not talking of what you perhaps are thinking of- the many swear words in several languages that one learnt as one grew up.

 

Congrats, Anand Mahindra

I remember Anand Mahindra as a cheerful, chirpy kind of guy. This was many years ago. When I was in the XI Std, he was in the VIII th perhaps in Aravalli House at the Lawrence School, Lovedale. Today  Anand Mahindra is known to be one of India’s more dynamic entrepreneurs.  Earlier this month, the 53 year old Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award, one of the highest honors to come out of the Harvard Business School.

 

“Light Songs”

We had a great family get together last weekend. The occasion: A family celebration of my uncle, Capt. Mohan Prabhu’s 80 th birthday. The Old Sea Farer being my Mom’s brother. An eloquent toast was made by my cousin, Manohar, known far and wide simply as Mickey. In this he attributed the Old Boy’s health and cheer amongst other things to long years at sea ( something to do with the sea brine getting into the bones etc) and the daily quota of the spirit that keeps life and soul together by way of a chotta peg.

 

Dadi Nani Foundation

This has more to do with ” Looking at Life ” than anything else. I have been absent from this site for the last few months. The trigger for the post comes from Subodh Mathur. Thanks, Subodh for making me take the plunge once more:)

He seems to have seen my post on “1955″ and he pointed me to the Dadi Nani Foundation – something I was coming across for the first time. Dadis ( father’s mother) and Nanis (mother’s mother) have played major roles in Indian family life since time immemorial. I think it is very fitting that this site uses them as a platform to captures memories of bygone times. All of us have a nice story to tell about our Dadi or Nani (or for that matter our Dada or Nana) or about the stories they themselves invariably told us.

I am excited about the Dadi Nani Foundation. I see in it a wealth of information and many hours of happy reading. Excuse me while I go there to nose around and explore the site, as a relatively new comer there, for some time.

 

“Praise the Lord etc etc”

If nothing else, Lovedale taught you to love games. That love exists after years so I watched the recent Euro 2008 footer matches with great interest. Before each match the Germans played, one heard their National Anthem - Das Lied der Deutschen- being played (pardon the dreadful puns and the play..here I go again..on the words)

Hearing the tune rang a bell in my mind. Hear this YouTube version. Hey, I said, I have sung to this tune before and it was something other than the German National Anthem. A few minutes of concentrated thought gave me the answer. The old RAM and ROM are not choked after all.

 

1969 – The Year of Woodstock

1969, to me, and many of my generation, means Woodstock. A 3 day music blast held at Bethel, NY from August 15-18, 1969. A never before gathering of folk who wanted – in keeping with those times- love and peace.

The organisers expected a maximum of 200,000 people to turn up. More than 400,000 did. To watch their favourite performers. Some I still remember after nearly 40 years: Richie Haven, Joan Baez, Santana, Janis Joplin, CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix.

Wow! All these and more. All at one place. I must mention that our own Ravi Shankar was there too.

To bring back memories, I sought out Joe Cocker. Remember “A Little Help From My Friends” ?

Listen. Enjoy.

 

1968- The Year of Revolt

You can’t talk of 1968 without associating the year with unrest and revolt. In such exciting times, aged 17, I began my studies at Loyola College in Chennai (then called Madras), I began with some disappointment. My dream was to go to the US for undergraduate studies – but my family couldn’t afford that.  The Loyola College was a very conservative, studies- oriented college in those days. As the old Madras saying went – in describing college students : ” the gentlemen of Christian (Madras Christian College), the slaves of Loyola and the rowdies of Pachaiyappa’s” I don’t know if that adage is still apt now.

 

Drum Majors

A drum major, Encarta tells us, is somebody who leads a marching band. The purist in me made me check whether the plural is “drum majors” after all or is it ” drums major” like in “Governors General”. Read more about drum majors here.

My grateful thanks to all who have uploaded their videos of the 150 th Anniversary of the School on YouTube. At this site, key in “Lawrence School, Lovedale” in the search feature and it takes you to a thrilling display of videos relating to the School.