Friday, August 7, 2020

Common Mallow. Uncommon happiness.

Common mallow (Malva sylvestris) is one of those plants that are often looked upon as weeds. But growing them in our little balcony has been so satisfying. I didn’t know what I was planting in early June. Today they bloomed and I didn’t know the name. The iNaturalist app from NatGeo is a fantastic way to find out names of plants and flowers - just click a photo and search! That’s how I found out what had bloomed.

The Mallow's kidney-shaped or palmately-lobed leaves are notably creased, typically with dentate margins. In bloom, the Malvaceae family plants produce five large notched petals in each open flower. Common mallow has showy pink petals laced with darker-coloured strokes. In the centre of the flower lies a pollen-loaded column of fused stamens. Mallow is known to freely seed. The round seed pods, known as 'cheeses', soon follow flowering. These were once munched by children on their way to and from school. The pods are held on stalks, close to the flowering stem.



Monday, July 27, 2020

Consultants = Detectives

Like most Bengalis, I am a self-confessed, unabashed detective fiction buff. Think Satyajit Ray’s Feluda, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Byomkesh Bakshi, Samaresh Basu’s Arjun, Sukanta Gandopadhyay's Deep Kaku and Suchitra Bhattacharya’s Mitin Mashi. These are my staple non-work reading (or more truthfully actually "listening" thanks to the scores of YouTube content creators). Click on the links to read my posts profiling them. 

While consuming their cases, a thought has been meandering in my head for a while now – are detectives and management consultants, not similar professionals? Think about it. The great Sherlock Holmes used to call himself a "consulting detective". 

As a management consultant, I thought that I was almost a private investigator of sorts. (Or maybe I was being self indulgent to justify why I was finessing a slide at 2 am in the morning for the 247th time that day!) Anyway, I do think the similarities are striking. Here’s how:

1) Both work on cases: Yes, engagements or ‘studies’ as we called them at McKinsey are called ‘cases’ in some firms! "Case study" rings a bell?

2) The client pays the bill: Both need to be hired by clients. Often solving the problem for one client drives future referral business from the same client or their acquaintances. Therefore the fundamental need to develop top-notch “client leadership”. They also need to be “trusted advisors” and often take their clients’ secrets to their grave. Discretion is a core virtue of both.

3) The methodology employed is hypothesis driven problem solving: Both professionals are Satyanweshis or "Seekers of Truth". Therefore, like all management consultants worth their salt, detectives also employ the same hypothesis driven problem solving approach to solve cases based on threading together facts. This includes doing 5 things well:

a. Starting with a sharp problem statement: The problems both solve are often nebulous and need the articulation of a sharp upfront problem statement – what are we trying to solve for here. In the case of detectives, that is hypothesising about the motive.

b. Diligent fact gathering: The magnifying glass clichรฉ aside, both have to rely on extensive factual evidence that is often “unsexy” but necessary to the crack the problem. The gathering of data has to be systematic and efficient.

c. High quality interviewing skills:  A core part of fact gathering is interviewing clients and stakeholders. This is taught to every business analyst and junior associate as a core skill of the consultant toolkit. Same I guess for the rookie detective. The way to get your facts is to ask the right questions in the right way.

d. Ability to thread (pun intended) all the pieces of evidence: Both need to be able to have the ability to join the dots between the facts and the underlying insights they reveal to solve their respective cases.

e. Producing a "storyboard": Solving the problem is incomplete without being able to articulate the story in a precise, simple and logical manner - a "dot-dash" as we called it at McKinsey. Look up pyramid principle.

4) Collaboration is the key to success: Private investigators often need to work with police without upsetting the apple cart. They also need to rely on the police forensics team for help and tap into their broader group of friends to get information about the case they are working one. Stakeholders and experts. This is familiar to all consultants as the need to build a “stakeholder map” and have distinctive “people leadership”. And need to reach out to industry experts once in a while to "get smart" about market facts. $1000 GLG calls. 

BTW, truly successful detectives and consultants also are very influential by virtue of being connected with those in power. Think Sherlock being sought after by the government for sensitive matters. Similarly Byomkesh.

5) Cannot thrive without having excellent communication (and the penchant for drama): Both need to be great communicators often having to rely on top-down communication to help the clients understand the “so whats”. Think of the final reveal at the end of the mystery novels as the final board meeting to get sign-off on the strategy paper… and the drama that comes along with it. And the alignment meetings in secret that are required to make sure that the final big one goes per plan.

6) Requirement to systematically codify knowledge: Both need to codify cases and learning to ensure that they don’t have the reinvent the wheel each time. They can solve the next case more efficiently leveraging their earlier body of work.

7) Need to stay updated with the latest "thinking" and market trends to aid problem solving: For consultants it may lead to talking about crypto, blockchain and AI at most inopportune times. And of course digital! Ha!

8) Reliance on publishing “thought leadership” pieces to enhance own brand: The truly great detectives like the great Sherlock Holmes is said to have published many monographs on topics “the use of disguise in crime detection”, “the utilities of dogs in detective work” and the “analysis of tobacco ashes”. Consultants do the same. Just type “COVID 19” and “New Normal” in your Google Search Bar. These thought leadership pieces are essential from establishing their brands as leading lights in their respective fields.

9) Terrible work-life balance: Burning the midnight oil, downing copious amount of coffee (and other beverages), pull all-nighters on cases are common place for both professions sadly.

What do you think? A case of too much detective fiction?

BTW, if you think the above is a stretch of imagination, brace yourself for this wonderfully entertaining novel by Sameer Kamat called the "Business Doctors" where "Ivy League educated management consultant, Michael Schneider, gets hired by an unlikely client – a desperate mafia boss who wants to give a makeover to his family business that spans across gambling, drugs and porn. But the client's seductive wife and bumbling goons weren't part of the deal Michael signed up for."



Monday, July 6, 2020

Caveman diet / Paleo diet and how is it working for me

My wife is keen about nutrition and I am a good husband - I listen to her and to be honest, I need to lose the weight. She’s put us on the Paleo Diet aka the Caveman Diet. This post is about how I am going about it.


What is the Paleo Diet? 
This link explains it well: “The paleo diet is designed to resemble what human hunter-gatherer ancestors ate thousands of years ago. Although it’s impossible to know exactly what human ancestors ate in different parts of the world, researchers believe their diets consisted of whole foods. 

By following a whole food-based diet and leading physically active lives, hunter-gatherers presumably had much lower rates of lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. In fact, several studies suggest that this diet can lead to significant weight loss (without calorie counting) and major improvements in health.” 

This has happened to me - I have lost 5kgs in 2 weeks. I also have 2 of 3 aforementioned lifestyle diseases and a bad knee. So losing weight is the need of the hour, especially given the 'work from home' situation due to COVID-19 and the lack of physical activity thereof. 



What are my thoughts on it?
A few personal reflections:
  1. The secret of a happy marriage is to listen to your wife especially if she's reading the books that you are not!
  2. The Paleo Diet seems healthier than the Keto Diet that I did for 6 months in 2018. I did lose 15kgs then but the high-fat bit always sounded dubious to me.
  3. I like the aspect of only eating fresh meats, vegetables, and fruits as a part of the Paleo diet. Also no processed foods. (Except in my case a bit too much of Coke Zero and coffee)
  4. You cannot do this diet if you don’t eat chicken and/or fish.
  5. I wish you could eat cheese and more nuts. (Anyway I don’t smoke, and I am an occasional drinker which I don’t miss at all when I don’t)
All in all, the Paleo Diet looks promising and I hope to continue to lose weight. I am sincerely hoping that means I am getting healthier.

What have I been eating?

Here are some of the things I have been eating:

Breakfasts are usually simple and consistently no frills

Breakfast is usually 3 boiled eggs (1 whole, 2 whites) and a fruit with a cup of coffee...

... and when I feel indulgent (and it is a weekend), I make eggs a bit more fancy as you can see below (recipe here)

Lunch is typically lean proteins and salad. I love playing around with the meat marinade, salad ingredient, and dressing as you can see below.

Pan-fried chicken flavoured with Chorizo slices with a side of red pepper, carrot and cucumber salad with light caesar dressing and a hint of Nando's Mango and Lime Sauce

Chicken marinated with mustard with a side of green salad and cherry tomatoes with a balsamic vinegarette dressing. The red sauce drizzled on the top is Encona Hot Sauce.

Pan-fried smoked haddock, with fried aubergine/eggplant (aka 'begun bhaja') with a green salad with a balsamic vinegarette dressing. 

Lemon & herb marinated smoked haddock, pan-fried in butter with a side of bistro salad with walnuts & chilli cheddar drizzled with Sriracha sauce and Caesar dressing.

Tandoori chicken with a side of pressure baked veggies (carrots, cauliflower and beans)

Rainbow chicken fajita with red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers garnished with red onions juliennes and chive cheddar cheese flakes, and served with a wedge of lime.

Dinners are usually the same as lunch but with a side of pressure baked veggies (cauliflower, carrots and beans). At times, I have 'cheat meals' that I cook not just for myself but for others in the family who are not on Paleo Diet.

Pan-fried chicken with a side of Mediterranean char grilled veggies & walnuts with a drizzle of Sriracha sauce.

Ultra spicy dan dan prawns 

Zucchini pasta with meatballs in marinara sauce

Pan roasted aubergine with tomato chilli sauces, cheddar cheese and spicy chicken sausages 

Breaded chicken steak topped with burger sauce with a green salad and orange juice as a dressing.

I also make these chicken kebabs on a weekly basis (recipe here)

Sometimes I add onion paste to the marinade of the chicken kebabs so that it becomes very much like "Chicken Chaap" or "Chicken Kosha" that you get in Kolkata.


Snacks are usually loads of bananas and a few nuts - walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts, peanuts - but not more than 10-12 pieces a day.

Condiments: The biggest find of Paleo has been hot sauces. I have been able to build quite a global collection as you can see below:


What a hot ๐ŸŒถ all star global lineup
—————————————————
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Nando’s Range - extra hot, hot, lime and mango, lemon and herb
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Maggi Masala Chilli Sauce
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ฒ Encona Hot and Extra Hot
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ Lee Klum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli oil 
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ The ‘imposter’ chilli oil
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ Cholula - regular and chipotle 
๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ Sriracha




Saturday, July 4, 2020

Feluda comics - Part 2


I had published a post in 2012 about Feluda comics on my blog. I just found out that my post was quoted as a source in a published book titled “Mapping Textual Travels: Theory and Practice of Translation in Indiaauthored by Mini Chandran and Suchitra Mathur. Thrilled to say the least ๐Ÿ˜€


English Feluda Comics: In my post from 2012, I had written about the English Feluda comics that were created by illustrator Tapas Guha and writer Subhadra Sengupta. Sengupta has scripted the comic series from the original in Bengali with Tapas Guha illustrating them in almost a Tintin-esque style. There were 6 titles published by Penguin (currently out of print but available on Google books and Kindle).


The same comics were originally published in Telegraph Kolkata weekly supplement for children called TeleKids over the better part of a decade in the early 2000s - the first one was in 2004 I believe. The names were different though - in TeleKids Joto Kando Kathmandu Te was called “Chaos In Kathmandu” whereas the Penguin comic album was called “A Killer In Kathmandu”. The duo of Sengupta and Guha worked on 1 title each year.

Our aim is to introduce the new generation to the genius of Satyajit Ray by bringing his stories of Feluda, the professional detective with a super-sharp brain, in comic book form. Satyajit Ray's adventures of Feluda have been avidly read by children for years. Now this sleuth with a razor-sharp brain appears in an exciting new comic book series,” said Subhadra Sengupta at the launch of “Murder by the Sea” in 2010.


Tapas Guha gave an insight into his illustration process as, “Ray had already illustrated the character of Feluda and other prominent characters in the series, like his cousin Topshe and friend Lalmohan Ganguli. I tried to make illustrations colourful, smart and uncluttered. The style was absolutely mine. The figures were contemporary and I made the detective look young.


Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu shed their 70s garb and language in the pages of these comic books. Sengupta explained why, “I have given him a contemporary look. His clothes are 21st century and in some of the books - which I am working on - he also uses the cellphone. His nephew, Topesh, speaks like a modern-day teenager and the language is today's. I was inspired by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray's movies which had contemporised Feluda. But I did not touch the plots or the landmarks that he described in the book - though I have changed some locations to make it more visually appealing.


Here’s how the process worked:


In TeleKids, there was an additional seventh story called “The Boy Who Knew Too Much” (Noyon Rohossho) that wasn’t published by Penguin - some panes from this comic below:





Bengali Feluda Comics: I am also a huge fan of the Bengali Feluda comics. These comics are published by Ananda Publishers every year. Half of the stories are now available in this format. The gorgeous watercolour art by Abhijit Chattopadhyay makes them a visual treat. These are typically published in Anandamela Puja Barshiki editions every year and then published as an album in February the subsequent year. 



However, I wonder if it's just me, but I think Feluda drawn on the cover of Hatyapuri (see photo below) does resemble Bollywood actor Siddharth Malhotra, isn’t it?


Apart from Anindya Chattopadhyay, I found someone else who had sketched a few pages of Kailasher Kelankari and posted it on their blog. I don't know the person's name but comments on the post seem to suggest it's Anando. What a talent! See below:

For full size, please visit the artist's blog


Orko’s recipes: Egg-cellent Pizza


I am on the ‘caveman diet’ (aka Paleo diet) and it’s working for me, but I do crave for pizza from time to time. Decided to make an alternate this morning for breakfast. I was inspired by a fluffy omelette recipe video I saw. 

Here’s how I made it:
1. Take 3 eggs and season with salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese and chilli flakes or paprika 
2. Whisk with a mechanical whisk till airy
3. Heat oil in a frying pan on high heat
4. Pour mixture and reduce heat after 1-2 mins
5. Add cheese bits and chorizo pieces
6. Cover and cook till no raw egg (about 5-7 mins)

Nice crust at the bottom, airy texture, absolutely yummy!

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Amio goyenda: “Arka’r Goyendagiri”

Everyone who knows me knows that my primary reading (and these days listening to various YouTubers who fill the gap of Boju reading out to me) revolves around adolescent Bengali goyendas - Feluda, Deep Kaku, Mitin Mashi and Arjun. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see a goyenda kahini featuring my namesake - Arka. The story is called “Arka’r Goyendagiri” by Manjil Sen. Coincidences don’t stop at having a namesake protagonist... the story kicks off near Deshapriya Park (that's c.2 mins from my childhood home in Lake Market). Now back to vacuuming and listening. 

Click on the photo to read the story or listen to it here.









Saturday, June 27, 2020

Feluda in the act

I knew that Feluda has been brought to life across a range of media (Films, TV, Radio, Web Series, Cartoons shows, Comic books) but didn’t know till recently that there was a stage adaptation as well. Interestingly, the story adapted was the one relates to theatres - Apsara Theatre-er Mamla - quite apt, isn’t it? Feluda steps in when an actor of Apsara theatre group goes missing. As the group scrambles to put together a new production, the lead actor is found murdered.

Feluda in different media: koto kando Feluda ke niye!

Charbak’s stage adaptation of the Satyajit Ray story is a one-hour-50-minute play, directed by Sabyasachi. The play starred Sabyasachi as Feluda and his son Gaurav as Topshe. Subir Roy Chowdhury played Jatayu. It was released in Jan 2008, around the same time as Kailashe Kelenkari. The script was written by actor Arindam Ganguly. 



Here’s how the stage adaptation came about in Sabyasachi’s own words:


• What motivated you to take Feluda to the stage?

The executive committee of Charbak suggested we do a Feluda story. We decided on Apsara Theatre-er Mamla. Since Feluda stories are largely travelogue thrillers, it’s difficult to adapt them. But the plot of Apsara is suitable for stage adaptations. Also, Babuda (Sandip Ray) assured us that he had no intention of adapting it on screen.


• What is the plot all about?

It’s about a theatre group that is gearing up to stage a play called Chhannochhara. The team has several junior artistes, including actresses. But all of a sudden, one of the junior artistes disappears and a senior actor is murdered. Two actresses are suspected. Then, Feluda steps in. It is easy to adapt this story for the stage because Feluda solves the mystery sitting at home, nursing an injury. The play is in whodunnit format. There are several suggestive scenes — murder on the street, driving a car and a lakeside.


• What was Sandip Ray’s reaction to the staging of Feluda?

We took his permission. Actor Arindam Ganguly has written the script; we showed the synopsis to Babuda. He told us to retain the Feluda flavour and not distort the script. We haven’t taken too many liberties; we have added a song-and-dance sequence and a few female characters.


I was wondering if it is still being staged as I would love to watch it. But it looks like that will sadly not happen. In 2012, Feluda was in the mood to hang up his stage chappals - after ‘retiring’ from Sandip Ray’s screen series. “We’ve had 50-plus shows and I am not too keen on staging it anymore as I am ageing and I have a belly! Nobody wants to see an old Feluda,” said Sabyasachi. I do hope if they have it recorded on video - they can consider an online release later then.


But there is hope still. Given Sabyasachi came back as Feluda on the silver screen for Double Feluda in 2017, so maybe there is a chance he will reprise the role again onstage. A decade after Apsara Theate-er Mamla debuted on stage, the father-son duo shared screen space in a Feluda movie. Sabyasachi returned to reprise the role of Feluda in Double Feluda - the tribute movie celebrating 50 years of the mogojastro wielding goyenda. The movie featured 2 stories on either side of the interval - Samaddarer Chabi and Golokdham Rahasya. In Golokdham Rahasya, Gaurav plays the assistant to an elderly scientist with poor eyesight.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Be kind

 

Another harsh reminder for us to be kind to everyone. We never know what a person is going through, what they are struggling with... and it's not so hard to be nice.

Depression is a disease. It can happen to anyone - it doesn’t discriminate. Trust me, I know.  

Don’t judge. Don’t rationalise and ask why should he / she feel depressed? They are not choosing to be unkind to themselves because they are enjoying it. Support if you can. Talk to your family and friends. Be there for them and reach out.

The negativity around us on social media and press doesn’t help. Our hyper connected world of notifications only pushes you over the edge. Trolls were once only in fantasy tales... today they are real - on social media, workplaces and playgrounds. Sadly, it has become a way of life for many. Mutated evolution of old fashioned bullying. Don’t let them get to you. Disconnect. 

Mental well-being  is not a “western concept” or “a problem of the wealthy”. Suicide is not for the weak. You are not being strong by bottling it inside you. Seek help. Speak to someone. 

Mental health is as important as physical fitness. Break the taboo. Be gentle. Be kind. Talk about it. Talk to someone who needs you. Look after yourself and each other. Take care. 

๐Ÿ˜”๐Ÿ˜ข








Monday, June 8, 2020

Orko’s recipe: Arka’s Special Pan Grilled Chicken Kebabs


I am not a very good cook (I am a good eater, though - ha!) but over the past few months, I have found my niche with a chicken kebab dish. I started out trying to replicate Tandoori Chicken at home but with a few trials and errors (mostly the latter) I have developed this amazing recipe of my very own pan grilled chicken kebab.

Here’s how I make it:

Step 1 - marinade the chicken (10-15 minutes)
1. Take 4 chicken thighs on the bone but with the skin off. Score the pieces so that the marinade really penetrates.
2. Put them in a box which you can chuck into the freezer before adding the marinade masala
3. Now add the magic marinade masala which is...
• 2-3 tbs of ginger garlic paste, mustard oil
• 2-3 tbs of onion paste
• 1-2 tps of red chilli powder
• 1 tps of turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garlic powder and onion powder
• 1/2 packer of dry tandoori masala
• Add the juice of 1green lime
• 1 tbs of apple cider vinegar
4. Massage the masala marinade onto the pieces nicely
5. Close the lid and let it rest for at least 1 hour if you want to freeze it / or put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours - the longer the better 

Step 2 - pan grill the chicken (cooking time: 20-25 minutes)
1. Take out the chicken from the freezer and thaw for 8-10 hours before cooking
2. Take a large frying pan and heat 1 tbs of white oil and 1tbs of mustard oil or ghee (for flavour) On high
3. Once the oil is nice and hot, put the chicken piece flat side down
4. Fry for 3-4 mins before flipping; fry the other side as well for 2-3 mins
5. Now cover and let the chicken cook for 4-5 mins (turn down the heat to half way)
6. Open the over, flip the chicken and cover again to cook for another 4-5 mins
7. Turn up the heat to max and fry off the chicken on both sides for 2-3 minutes each to finish it off


Note: This pan grilling technique keeps the chicken juicy and moist on the inside and crispy, smoky on the outside (as you can see above). We tried using the oven but the chicken got quite dry.

Step 3 - garnish and plate up (5-7 mins)
1. Make a nice salad of sliced cucumber, red onions, tomatoes and carrots. Dress with squeeze of lime, chat masala and black rock salt.
2. Add a couple of green lime wedges 
3. Place the chicken to rest on the plate for 2 mins and sprinkle chat masala
4. Garnish with coriander leaves 
5. I recommend making a raita on the side (take some curd in a bowl, mix it up to a smooth consistency, add some boondi, chat masala, chilli powder and black rock salt. Mix gently.)

Step 4 - tuck in
I recommend serving with parantha, pita bread or naans. See it disappear in 10 mins. Yummy!


Step 5: wash the frying pan 
The frying pan will be a mess after cooking the chicken. So I usually rise off the pan when cooled. Then put a little hot water and cleaning liquid, cover with 3 sheets of kitchen paper towels and lease to soak it overnight. It does the job and becomes easy to clean in the morning without the need for vigorous scrubbing!

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

The Testament Of A Xaverian - S.M. Murshed

This one is from the archives of an aunt of mine - Shaiqua Murshed, daughter of the eminent IAS officer Mr. SYed Mushtaque Murshed. The article was penned in 1985 by Mr. Murshed who was a member of the first committee of the old boys association of our school, ALSOC, or Alumnorum Societas, as it is known, and was involved with it for many years till constraints of age took their toll.
He shared the following with some of his fellow Xaverians:

"I am perhaps the seniormost Xaverian in the world today -- Std. 1 to B.A., 1940 to 1952.
I helped organise the 125th. Anniversary of our alma mater in 1985. Fr. Huart was then the Rector.
The Statesman commissioned me to write an article on our great institution. I attach a copy of the resultant magnum opus.

The 125th Anniversary was followed the following year by the visit of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Calcutta. The Catholic community elected me as the Master of Ceremonies for the Holy Father."

I am sharing the article that was published in the Statesman on the occasion of the school's 125th anniversary. 
It will, perhaps, rekindle some very warm memories of an institution that is immortalised in the heart of many a Xaverian.

The Testament Of A Xaverian
-- S.M. Murshed

(Published in The Statesman dated Sunday, 10 February, 1985 on the occasion of the 125th. Anniversary of St. Xaviers College, Calcutta)

St Xaviers College, Calcutta completed 125 years of fruitful existence on the 16th January, 1985. This event is being celebrated with some รฉlan. His Excellency the President of India will inaugurate the celebrations; a special postage stamp will be issued commemorating the anniversary; and Xaverians, including the present Chief Minister of West Bengal and his immediate predecessor, will debate on a public platform issues which are vital in the field of education.

Which school do you go to Sonny, used to be the question; St. Xaviers would be the reply. Thought as much, would be the comment that followed. There is something about St. Xaviers which for more than a hundred years successive generations of students have cherished. There is a certain mystique which the Xaverian has acquired.

It will not be possible, within a restricted perimeter, to explain fully that something or the mystique of the Xaverian. One can therefore at best merely delineate  necessarily with some misgivings  some aspects of the total picture without drawing it either in great detail or in depth.

At the outset a small but pertinent question, which may appear to be one of semantics only, may be disposed of. In common parlance the term College is reserved for the institution where one prepares for a university degree after completing the primary and secondary stages of ones career in school. But the term suffixed to St. Xaviers embraces both the school and the college, and, as a matter of historical record, the school was founded in 1860, the college being appended to it five years later. It is in the school that the true Xaverian of yore spent about eight or nine years of his educational life, reserving three years for the college, if he at all went there. Therefore, if the mystique of the Xaverian is to be explored, attention for the most part will have to be focussed on the school.

Great things would appear to have their origin in fire. The introduction of roast pig to the cuisine of the civilised world (except the part dominated by Islam) is ascribed by Charles Lamb to an accidental act of conflagration in a shepherds cottage in China. It is to certain accidental acts of conflagration that St. Xaviers College, Calcutta owes its origin, at least as far as its mural aspect is concerned.

On July 27, 1826, the celebrated Esther Leach descended on the Chowringhee Theatre in Calcutta and for more than a decade remained its presiding deity. On May 1, 1839, while she was on a short holiday in England, a fire reduced the famous theatre to ashes.

One supposes that Ms. Leach was inconsolable in her grief, but loyal friends helped her to raise funds and on March 8, 1840, she found a new home at the Sans Souci Theatre at 10, Park Street. The Theatre was distinguished by a majestic faรงade  a portico with magnificent Doric pillars and a grand flight of stairs.

Ms Leach was presumably more suited for a role in a Sophoclean tragedy. Her new found bliss in her new home was short lived. Those were the days of oil lamps, presaging the fate of modern Calcutta, and it was such lamps that served as footlights for the stage. A tongue of flame from one of these lamps licked the petticoat of Ms Leach as she waited in the wings for her cue to go on stage. I do not believe that episode provided the inspiration for Christopher Frys ‘The Lady is not for Burning’. The celebrated Ms. Esther Leach was impelled to the stage engulfed in flames, although the stage directions did not call for this pyrotechnical entry. The flames were soon extinguished; so was the celebrated Ms. Leach. With the presiding deity thus consumed, the altar of Sans Souci was in need of new Gods that would not fail.

By a happy coincidence, at that time, waiting in the wings, as it were, was an astute Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the person of Mgr. Carew.  With considerable foresight he purchased Sans Souci Theatre with the intention of setting up a school for Catholic boys. The school was named St. Johns.

Stones, however, do not deliver sermons. There was a need, therefore, for imparting life to St. Johns at Sans Souci Theatre. An institution called St. Xaviers College was at that time functioning on Chowringhee Road under the aegis of certain English Jesuits. The latter were apparently not making a good job of it. Mgr. Carew felt that perhaps a change of environment would impel them to greater things. Accordingly, on the invitation of Mgr. Carew, the English Jesuits moved to Sans Souci Theatre. Unfortunately, the spirit of the late lamented Esther Leach failed to inspire them. They, therefore, retired from the scene. Mgr. Carew was then summoned by his Maker; and St. Johns College became defunct. Into the void caused by the exit of the English Jesuits walked on the 28th November, 1859, seven of their Belgian confreres under the leadership of the redoubtable Father Henry Depelchin. The calculations of Divinity may sometimes appear strange, but they do have an eternal validity, for who but a Divine Being  could have dared to think, particularly at that stage of Indias history, that where the English had failed, the Belgians could succeed.

Father Depelchin addressed himself to the task of revitalising the defunct school with some zeal and zest. To begin with, he changed its name from St. Johns to St. Xaviers. The name and the institution were destined to endure.

The portals of St. Xaviers College were opened to the first batch of forty students in Standards V, VI and VII on the 16th January, 1860. It was thus the school that first came into existence. The initial years were difficult. By the end of 1863, although affiliation to the Calcutta University had been gained, the number of students on the rolls of the College stood at 90 only and the institution lost money in its running. Students had not come in the numbers that had been expected.

In Father Depelchin, however, resided a spirit that was indomitable. In a grand reversal of proverbial roles, since Mahomet had refused to come, the mountain went to him. Unwittingly, in this process the priest was once again helped by the English. A public transport service that they had tried to run with a number of horse drawn buses ended in disaster for lack of passengers. The zealous priest purchased the buses and sent them out to fetch students. They were vehicles which proclaimed the faith of the Jesuits, provided -- seemingly without design -- valuable publicity for the College and started bringing in students who had eluded the Jesuits during the preceding four years. From that time onwards, S. Xaviers has not looked back.

Great and rapid strides were made in all spheres of human endeavour. The second Rector of the College, the successor of Father Depelchin, was Father E. Lafont, a scientist of considerable eminence. He was one of the founders of the Indian Science Association and he is hailed as the father of Indian Science. Under him, St. Xaviers College came to be accepted as a shrine of scientific knowledge and learning.  And in the fullness of time this great institution produced great scientists, including Sir. J.C Bose. In humanities also the College was not to be outdone: there emerged from its precincts, among others, the poet Rabindranath Tagore.

The peace of the ancient world has often been disturbed by the vandalism of the modern in its quest for progress and development. In defence of such sport the much flogged clichรฉ is used that the old order must change, yielding place to the new. It was thus that in the year 1932 the Doric pillars of Sans Souci Theatre were pulled down along with the grand flight of stairs and the hall of the theatre itself to make room for a larger building and a larger number of students. In extenuation of that painful decision it must be said that, according to contemporary expert opinion, the ravages of time had taken their toll of the venerable pillars and sooner or later they would have to be sacrificed. One cannot but observe with a tinge of regret that there did not then emerge an architects genius who could have saved the venerable pillars. The portico, the stairs and pillars are now preserved in photographs of that era. Bits of property were added from time to time to the premises that emerged from the ruins of Sans Souci till the College attained in the main the proportions which it commands today on Park Street.

It was then to such an institution, already beginning to acquire a certain timeless quality, that in the year of Our Lord 1940 I was taken, not by my parents  -- for that was not considered necessary  but by my cousin and left to my own devices. Such devices operated till I emerged from the College in 1952 with a B.A. degree of sorts and they have operated ever since in my bureaucratic career. That is the essence of the matter: in the course of ones progression along corridors of different floors of the Crohan school building, from one standard to another, one was surely and steadily, if imperceptibly, being moulded in such a way that one was always able, even late in life, to rely on oneself, to study a theme from first principles and to contend with the heaviest of odds against oneself. In school and college there was no need to consult commercial commentaries in order to understand any text, no need to anticipate examination questions through any theory of probability based on questions set in preceding years -- for one was always prepared for any eventuality -- and above all, no need for  parental or tutorial supervision at home. Lessons taught in the classroom were complete; practise at home on ones own was all that was required. Therefore, private tutors at home were not only not necessary, but were discouraged. How different it was elsewhere, and how different it all is now.

It is a matter of singular good fortune that at the time of which I speak  an institution like St. Xaviers was in existence, for my parents were then steeped in onerous public duties, my father as a Civil Servant and my mother as Parliamentary Secretary to the then Premier, the great Fazlul Haq. To make matters worse, my mother was a good cook and Fazlul Huq (who happened to be my grandfather and who was then sans wife) was fond of eating and entertaining. Thus the duties of official hostess devolved on my mother with the result that in the early formative years parental supervision over my studies was not possible; nor was it necessary. In the mid-forties my father was transferred to Dacca (now in Bangladesh). There he showed me St. Gregorys School. A Xaverian neophyte is not easily converted to an alien faith. So I remained in Calcutta and once again my parents were forced to leave me to my own devices.

We may recall some details of life at school in the forties. To begin with, there was what we called Model Copy Writing. It was based on the belief that there was only one way of forming letters of the English alphabet; and it was that way which we soon learnt after assiduous drilling in exercise books containing double narrow lines which regulated the size of the characters and their loops and slants.  I think I shall today be able to forge the handwriting of any Xaverian of my time. Our exercises had to be superscribed by the letters AMDG. We did not comprehend their import till later when we began our Latin studies. It was not for us to reason why; we did as we were told, reposing a strong, if childlike, faith in the mystical abracadabra. In Standard IV, when we started Latin, we learnt that the magical words stood for the Jesuit motto: Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam, which, translated, means for the greater glory of God. The Jesuits believe that whatever one does in life, no matter how big or how small, must be for the glory of God and for nothing else, least of all for ones personal glory. How does one reconcile this to the creed of the atheist or the agnostic? In my submission, it is not necessary to believe in any God to derive meaning and  strength from the motto.

Soon  in standard II or III  we were introduced to parsing and analysis of sentences. Starting from its simplest form, this exercise, over the next few years, assumed rather complex dimensions.  At the end of it all, through daily drilling in the class room and at home, we acquired complete control over the most complex of sentences and we could take each clause, each phrase and each word apart and define its exact position and its relationship to the other components of the structure. I think the late Winston Churchill, writing about his early life, remarked that if he learnt nothing else at school, he learnt at least to write the correct British sentence, which he described as a noble thing. It might have surprised Sir Winston to learn that the early Xaverians could show much nobility.

Then there was the daily writing of an essay in English and readings from the Bible, for which we used the Authorised Version. Since the time of King James, there has been considerable exegesis on the origins of the Bible and there has been much delving into Hebrew texts. Based on such exegesis, various versions of the Bible have been published. I shall not, however, even for my life, part with the Authorised Version.  It is indispensable for a proper study of the English language; if in the process one learns something about the ways of Christ and acquires some of the eternal verities, I see no great harm done. I think it will be appropriate at this juncture to refute the charge sometimes levelled against schools like St. Xaviers that they are intended to serve as proselytising outposts of the Roman Catholic Church. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The word catholic has a meaning in the dictionary which has nothing to do with religion. St. Xaviers produced a catholicity of outlook in us without making Roman Catholics of us.

Finally, there was the teaching of Latin from Standard IV to Standard IX  (or Senior Cambridge, as it used to be called in those days). We began with declining nouns and conjugating verbs. From there Fabulae Faciles and ultimately to Caesar and De Bello Galico. The discipline of Latin was wholesome and invigorating: it chastened the mind without chastising it. Its benefits extended far beyond the immediate one of not having to consult the dictionary for knowing the meaning of worlds like genuflexion. It was not till much later that we fully comprehended those benefits (and, as regards genuflexion, it was not till I joined the Civil Service that I could observe it in practice). It is a great pity that they do not teach Latin any  more.
     
One must not forget certain quaint practices. One could not, for instance, leave the school premises before the scheduled closing hour without producing before the durwan a document signed by the Prefect saying in Latin: EXEAT, meaning Let Him Go Out.  The school durwan, one conjectures, must have had the rudiments of Latin in those days. Similarly, if one had absented oneself from class on any day, one could not gain admission the next day without producing before the Master another document signed by the Prefect and saying  ADMITTATUR, or Let Him Be Admitted. These ingredients in their own way added to the distinctive flavour of St. Xaviers.

Mens sana in corpore sano. This dictum was taken somewhat seriously and the task of translating it, or rather the corpore sano part of it, into practise was entrusted to a British Sergeant Major of a fierce aspect, to wit Sgt. Edwards. His cockney marching refrain still rings in my ears: eff;eff, eff-ight-eigh, eff; eff ....

In school we remained, I think, for the most part untouched by the great upheavals all around us in the country. For us, the only portent of the demise of the British Raj was the departure of Sgt. Edwards with his marching refrain. His place was taken by Sgt Ronny Moore. The latters proficiency in pugilism was well known and that, I think, in some measure helped Tom Humble to maintain a peaceful posture, notwithstanding that he was, by the consent of all men, the largest among us and also British to boot. The fact that Richard Mendietta tried conclusions with Humble is of no relevance now. Sgt. Moore was destined to become Deputy  Commissioner of Police in Calcutta and in that capacity he became quite an institution He is now in retirement in Australia.

Corporal correction could sometimes take a different form also.   A weekly test measured the progress made by us in our studies and every Monday the results of the test would be announced by means of cards of different hues. The gilt card was excellent, the mauve was good, the pink was average, the grey was poor and the white very poor. The two last mentioned cards involved a visit to the office of the Prefect, Father Tant, and brought us there into sharp conflict with his leather strap.

Our class Masters were a dedicated lot: C. Bampton, T.D. Bellety, E. Rebeiro, M.W. Pires, H. Gilbert, Fr. Lepour, C. Deefolts, Fr. Mairlot and Fr. Dobinson. Their mastery over the subjects that they taught was complete and absolute, and their exposition of the subjects in the class was also masterly. There was a virtuosity in their teaching which is rarely seen nowadays. If they made heavy demands on us, they made even heavier demands on themselves.  Their devotion to their profession, and to us, was pure, and there was no mercenary element in it. They were  rightly -- in loco parentis as far as our studies were concerned. And, visually, my remembrance of them is one of sartorial elegance  the priests in their black or white cassock (depending upon the climate) and the lay teachers in their jacket and tie and always immaculately shod and groomed. It was our privilege to have been taught by them.

` Brother Picachy used to be the Sub-Prefect of discipline on our first floor corridor. He is now to be encountered in the person of His Eminence Cardinal Lawrence T. Picachy, Archbishop of Calcutta. I have been in regular touch with him (as with the other priests at St. Xaviers), but every time I meet him I tend to forget, notwithstanding my terrible reputation abroad, that I am no longer in Standard IV.

Nihil Ultra is the motto given to the School by Father O Neil. It is borrowed from the family of St. Francis Xavier. Rendered literally into English, the expression will mean ‘Nothing Beyond’. But by an ellipsis which is peculiar to aphorisms in Latin, the expression means that there is nothing beyond human endeavour, that is to say there is nothing that cannot be achieved by effort and striving. That is the lesson that was taught with thoroughness at school and that was the lesson learnt by us to be remembered throughout our life. But early in our career we interpreted the motto to mean that there was nothing beyond St. Xaviers. I am happy to say that the faith and zeal of the neophyte have not deserted the apostle of later years.

The years at school passed, and with them the procession of Masters. Soon the Senior Cambridge was done. The days of Caesar and De Bello Gallico were left behind. Then came the transition to the college, and all of a sudden everything seemed different. The language and the idiom changed, the mood was more relaxed.

Of course all of us did not join college. For instance, Ashok Bir thought it more prudent to join Messrs. Stewarts and Lloyds. The faith that he reposed in himself was vindicated. He has risen to be the Managing Director of the Company.

College opened a new window for us. To begin with, the coils of school discipline were loosened and one had more liberty and more time to oneself, for one was no longer bound to a rigid 9.30-3.30 routine. During the interludes of freedom, one usually parked oneself near the main gate and observed the passing show. In those days, in ones adolescence, there was much to be observed on Park Street.

Our College Prefect was Father Schepers. He held that office for two decades - from 1939 to 1959. He was a remarkable man. The administration of the College was always firmly in his grip. Years later, if he saw an Old Boy, recognition of name, face and other particulars would be instant. One retains considerable affection for him.  On one occasion, he confiscated my yo-yo, refusing to be impressed by my explanation that with the help of that instrument I was simply trying to investigate the Laws of Gravity.

In college I recall the sudden awakening of a literary spirit. A band of like minded souls got together and we decided to publish a magazine. Father Fallon suggested the name Elans for it. The first mimeographed number was duly circulated. It immediately proved popular. In it, under a chapter entitled Generalities, I recorded my reflections on life, such as they were at that adolescent stage. They included the following definition of lecturing: a process whereby the notes of the professor become the notes of the student without passing through the heads of either. The next day there appeared a terse notice on the board of the college: Further publication of Elans stopped  By Order of the Prefect. A promising career in journalism was thus cut short in its incipient stage.

An outstanding personality at the College was Father Goreux. He had a Doctorate in Mathematics and in that branch of learning he was a genius and, though lightly built, he was intellectually a colossus.  It was widely believed in our time that he was one of the six men in the world who fully understood Einstens Theory of Relativity.

One eventually passed out of college and embarked good and proper upon the adventure of life. The Xaverian chapter was  at least in a formal sense  closed.

I feel the time has now come to deal with a question about which there may be lurking suspicions in many minds. I have no hesitation in confessing that in our pursuit of the quintessential Xaverian, we developed inevitably a culture which was peculiar to us and others of our ilk brought up in missionary schools, a certain mannerism in speaking English, a certain shyness about conversing in the vernacular and a tendency to be insular with reference to boys brought up in vernacular schools. It was this culture that in later years meant evening dress for cocktails. I do not now bat an eyelid about going to dinner in my shirtsleeves or in my kalidar kurta and P Lal, the contemporary prophet of Vedic Transcreation, is always seen in diplomatic parties in his flowing kurta.

The Jesuits were not responsible in any way for this culture. They did nothing to encourage it. In fact, they themselves did not speak the English that we spoke. Our culture was perhaps an inevitable product of the prevailing milieu, a necessary outcome of the intermingling of English and Indian mores. It was a part of a historical and a social process.

Perhaps a part of our Indo-Anglian culture was the only thing to be regretted in retrospect, although it was quite thrilling at the time in question. For instance, speaking for myself, I regret not having acquired my fathers mastery over Persian or my mothers spiritual devotions. Possibly because the blood of the Syeds flows strong in my veins, I was in later years able to  repair to some extent my initial privations. Each of us was able eventually to work out a solution of the problem. Although I cannot quite see Bobby Basu (sometime Secretary of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club) chanting vedic hymns, yet I do feel that his heart is in the right place.

The term elitist was not in vogue in our time. It was not, therefore, used for describing the culture that I speak of  not that it could have been used with any justification; for the cleavage in the scholastic field in those days was not between the patrician and the plebeian or between the haves and the have nots. The cleavage was basically between English and the Vernacular.   Votaries of the latter of course reserved a pejorative epithet for us: tansh. The wheel, however, eventually came a full circle and those who had come to scoff remained to pray. After the departure of the British from India and the recession of the Anglian culture, those who regarded us as tansh themselves began to send their sons and daughters to Missionary schools in the hope that they would lean the things we learnt and speak the English that we spoke. Fate can, however, play cruel tricks. The milieu changed and a new wind began to blow at St. Xaviers and elsewhere.

My son has just completed ten years at St. Xaviers. I perceive in him a tinge of regret as he talks about other pastures, for he has to prosecute further studies under the Delhi Secondary Board and St. Xaviers at that stage is not affiliated to that Board. Twenty-five years hence our common alma mater will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. I wonder in what vein, if called upon to do so, he will record his reflections then. His will certainly not be a nostalgia born of aphorisms in Latin; but there will be some kind of a nostalgia, and a certain wistfulness.

Such then is our great alma mater. My debt to it is great. Whatever I have achieved in life is attributable entirely to the days that I spent at school. The priests who have made what St. Xaviers is today and who continue to guide the destiny of this great institution are, individually and collectively, exceptional men. They have steadfastly lived according to their motto: Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam, for they have all, without exception, surmounting tremendous odds, served a worthy cause in a climate and an environment which, physically and otherwise, has not always been hospitable, sacrificing in the process material prosperity and preferment in their native country. It must be a strong inner spirit which moves them. Many of them have dedicated their entire lives to us without the expectation of any material return; some among them returned home and could have died, if so they wished, peacefully in their own country, but, sensing that death was near, came back to Indian shores to be buried in Indian soil.  

The story of St. Xaviers then is essentially the story of a procession of priests: Father Depelchin, Father Lafont, Father O Niel, Father Crohan, Father Power, Father Van Neste, Father Briot and, closer to our times, Father Antoine. Et. al. Their spirit, though not visible or tangible, pervades the immemorial air of St. Xaviers. It will forever stride the corridors of the venerable institution. Yes, the priests are dead and gone. But who was it who said that to live in hearts that are left behind is not to die?

It is not always that one is given to an effusion of the literary spirit in print. But there is a duty to acknowledge a debt and one must be grateful for an opportunity to attenuate its burden somewhat by recording a personal testament to the greatness and heroism of priests who sacrificed so much for us and to whom so many of us owe so much. Laudamus viros gloriosos: Sing we then in praise of glorious men.

(Courtesy: The Statesman)