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Monday 22 July 2013

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

OPA(NI) Delhi meet 4th AUG.2012

OLD PAULITES ASSOCIATION (NORTH INDIA)
 Reg, off: B-28 DDA Shed, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase II, New Delhi -110020
 9891068805 Email:opadelhi@gmail.com
 www.oldpaulites.in



 OPA Delhi meeting on 4th Aug’12 
At a OPA North India Chapter meeting held on 4th of August 2012 at New Friends Colony Club, New Delhi, the following discussions transpired regarding the emails that have been in circulation for some time now, regarding the proposals for having an event in school– “Paulite Forever”- at Darjeeling :-
(1) Every one present were in agreement that the basic idea of drawing together a gathering of Paulites from all batches spanning all the years that St.Paul’s school, Darjeeling, has been in existence, would be a worthy cause to help promote goodwill amongst the fraternity of the Paulites. It was acknowledged that so far, majority of the interactions over the past years between the past pupils and the school had occurred in a batch wise manner, and that it was a good time to expand this activity to a multi batch event.
(2) The original idea of utilizing “musical talent” drawn from the past students of the school, as a dual means of promoting such talent amongst us and also to provide entertainment content was supported by all. The proposal for having additional musical performances by well known musical talents of the country was also well accepted.
 (3) The idea of having a sort of a jamboree that would provide nostalgic entertainment content for the past students, in the lines of a fete was also supported by all.
(4) It was generally felt that an Event of such enormous proportions would best be handled by an Event Manager, and several names were mentioned, some of whom were also from the Paulite fraternity.
 (5) The subject of having a core committee of Paulites to coordinate all the management issues of this event including overseeing the proposals of the professional Event Manager also received the unanimous support of all members present. The issue of forming a core committee had already been brought up in one of the earlier Emails doing the rounds, by Paulites from the batch of ’77 and most of the points therein needed more introspection by all.
(6) It was unanimously felt that the work should begin to identify one Paulite from each batch who is willing to shoulder the responsibility of motivating his batch mates to support this event. It would also be his responsibility in collecting an updated address and professional/career background profile of his batch mates which would later be compiled into a master database of past students. The OPA chapters would act as a contact point and organize meetings to hammer out issues pertaining to the event and to ensure that we have a respectable participation from all the batches.
 (7) It was also discussed and felt by most of the members present there that the matters of raising funds for the school for developmental activities, should be given serious thoughts only after building a consensus amongst the paulites and understanding the needs from the school authorities. In other words, most of the members felt that the main focus of the event should be to get the Paulites together and let them develop the sense of togetherness.
The following members of the OPA (NI) chapter were present:-
(1) Mr. Hulas Rahul Gupta (1977 March)
(2) Mr. Gautam Singh Kuthari (1977 March)
(3) Mr. Anil Kumar Saini (1977 March)
(4) Mr. Rohit Gurtu (1978 March)
(5) Mr. Gagan Barman (1981)
(6) Mr. Krishna P. Singh (1981)
(7) Mr. R.P.Singh (1981)
(8) Mr. Nikhil Chowdhury (1982)
(9) Mr. Anuj Jain(1984)
(10) Mr. Vijay Tewari (1986)
(11) Mr. Rishi Bhatnagar (1991)
(12) Mr. Utsav Pradhan (2005)
 Two special guests who also attended were Mr. Jaswant Ch. Sokey (1977 ) who came all the way from Guwahati, and Mr. Hari Dang (Rector 1984).
We take this opportunity to congratulate the North East Chapter of Paulites especially Mr. Sokey who has taken the initiative and has floated the idea to organize the event “Paulite Forever”. It will be one such event where we will see Paulites from all walks of life assemble for the grand occasion. We are aware that the planning and execution will take time so we have fixed one year period to get our self ready for the show. Mr Sokey shared his idea with the OPA Delhi chapter and spoke about it at length on some of the main objectives behind such an event.
Mr. Hari Dang forwarded the suggestion that he was willing to promote the collaboration of the students of Woodstock school and the students of St.Paul’s, Darjeeling in performing an Opera that would be given country-wide as well as international exposure to the event. Paulites of the Delhi Chapter have extended full support for organizing the event and extend our best wishes for the future course of action.
We all feel the OPA chapter all over the world should come forward and rise to the occasion and support in making the Event a grand success. Suggestions are also invited from all the Paulites regarding the nature of the event and the level of participation from individuals who would form the core teams for this Grand get together in Darjeeling.

Best wishes to all.
For OPA (NI)
R.P.Singh
(Honorary Secretary)

Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Meeting of Kolkata based Paulites on 7th SEPT.2012

MEETING OF KOLKATA BASED PAULITES ON 7th SEPTEMBER 2012.






SUMMARY OF GET TOGETHER OF PAULITES AT KOLKATA ON 8th September 2012.
VENUE : “HARVEYS WORLD COUSINE”, 229 Rajdanga Main Road, Kolkata 700107.
MAIN AGENDA:- To seek suggestion on ways to promote the proposed event “Paulite Forever”. 
NAMES OF PAULITES WHO ATTENDED THE GATHERING (IN ORDER OF EARLIER TO CURRENT BATCH)      
 NAME                                                                   BATCH 
1.       Harish Himmatsingka                                         1973
2.       Pradyut Vora                                                        1975
3.       Sanjoy Kundu                                                       1976
4.       Soumitra Ray                                                       1976
5.       Sanjit Ray                                                             1975
6.       Rohan Ghosh                                                       1976
7.       Somnath Chowdhury                                           1975(Class 10)
8.       Jaswant Ch. Sokey                                              1976
9.       Dipankar Banerjee                                              1979
10.   Manosh Moitra                                                      1979
11.   Daniel Ghaznavi                                                    1982
12.   Indraneel Mookherjee                                           1983
13.   Sanjeev Jaiswal                                                    1984
14.   Avrajit Kar                                                              1984
15.   Rana Dasgupta                                                     1984
16.   Neelabha Dhar                                                      1993
17.   Niraj Khetan                                                           1998
18.   Kunal Khilani                                                          1998
19.   Anindya. S. Maity                                                   2006
A majority of the above Paulites who attended were present for the entire duration of the meeting which began at approximately 12.20 pm and concluded by 1. 15 pm. After that, some of the attending guests excused themselves and left. Only two members arrived after 1.30 pm. Namely Rohan Ghosh and Daniel Ghaznavi but their late suggestions were also recorded.
The main topics of discussions were as follows;
1.       Since there was already a consensus amongst the majority of the Paulites, that music would remain as the main entertainment content of the event, the discussions began with an introduction, by Jaswant Sokey, to the musical talents that had so far been uncovered amongst the Past pupils of St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling. The aim behind introducing the names of the individual musically talented Paulites was to establish the soundness of their backgrounds. The emphasis was on the fact that these talented Paulites had agreed to set aside precious time and dedicated it to create exclusive compositions to be played at the event. The following is the list of Paulite musical talent.
a.       Shoumitra Ray,  now a musician of fame, he was from the St. Paul’s batch of 1976. He was always into some musical activity during his school days. He sang as an Alto in the school choir and played on various musical instruments, chief of them being the bongo and drums. He graduated as a BA from St.Xavier’s college, Kolkata. He along with Surojit Chatterjee, co founded the well known “Bengali musical” group “BHOOMI” in 1999. The style of music played by the group is described by them as “urban Folk” which is a fusion of rural Bengali folk tunes combined with some Western music influences, such as blues. The current popularity of the group spans the major urban areas as well as the village population of the state of West Bengal. The group has also performed in the USA in some of the major cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, etc. They have also performed in the UK and some of the cities in the Middle Eastern Arab Countries. Shoumitra Ray (more popularly known as “Shomu”) is a song writer, composer, lead vocalist and drummer. He also plays the congo & Bongo. The highlight of a musical tour of the East coast of USA in 2006 was a performance at the UN Headquarters for which Shomu penned his first English song “ For a Better Day” and co-sang the same with his partner Surojit.
b.      Biswajit Bora belonged to the batch of 1987 of St. Paul’s, which was followed by his graduation from the Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka. He has worked at a regular job too with IBM during 2005 & 2006. During the early 90’s Bijit Bora and his band developed a cult status in and around Manipal and Mangalore as they were the winners of nearly every competition there.  Twenty years on, His band PSYX won the IRONIZE contest held at St. Xaviers college Mahim on 7th of March 2008. Bijit has his own You Tube channel where he gives Guitar lessons. He has founded the academy of Modern Guitar (AMG), in Mumbai, in 2012. Considered to be a “guru” on Guitar by his pupils and fans.
c.       Diganta Choudhury batch of 2004 St.Paul’s. At heart and in his vocation with music, he is a vocalist and began his training from the age of 6. He also took up piano as his second instrument and trained under Rev. Noel Sen LTCL(licentitate of trinity College London) and Mr Sudeep George Pande ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London)  at St Paul’s School. Diganta began taking lessons on counter-point, composition and vocal lesson at the age of 15 under Mrs Roshan Gazdar LRSM(Licenciate of Royal School of Music) ex- principal of Calcutta School of Music. He would often accompany  the St. Paul’s  choir during the Sunday service. As a boy soprano, Diganta voice was  recorded by the BBC team which had come to document  St.Paul’s School Darjeeling (1997). Diganta grew up to specialize in operatic and choral studies. He is a countertenor and has performed with the Calcutta Chamber Orchestra  as well as the Calcutta Symphony Orchestra every year during the Monsoon Concerts  between 2006 and 2008.  He was also a director of music at Sheerwood College, Nainital between 2009 May to 2011 December. He composes and rearranges music mainly of classic repertoire. He is presently a member of the faculty of the Department for Vocal studies at the Delhi School of Music as an Associate of Royal School of music. He is presently based in Noida.


d.      Sameer Mohanty belonged to the batch of 2006 of St.Paul’s Darj. He originally hails from Puri Orissa. He Graduated from Dayananda College in Computer Application, Bangalore in 2009. Around a year later founded his own entertainment group ‘Two Much’ with his fellow rapper Zing (Zingalla) from Manipur. Sameer also goes by the show biz name of Big Deal. He is a Rap artist. The rapper won the VH1 rapper battle (contest) held at the Fusion Lounge, Bengaluru in 2011. One of the first rap numbers released by the duo was “I believe I’m Fly”. Big Deal has performed in almost every Club in Bengaluru. You can check him out  on the following link ;- http://www.youtube.com/user/MyTwoMuch?feature=mhee
e.  Saswat  Bajracharaya from the batch of 2006. Saswat is a vocalist and a rhythm guitarist. After school, he Graduated from Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune, in Business administration. He had taken vocal lessons in St.Paul’s, under the tutelage of Mr Sudeep George Pande ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London) and completed the equivalent of grade 7 of the Trinity School of music, London.  He was in the school choir since class 6 and was the head chorister when completing class 12. He sang Base. He has a group in Katmandu “Liquid Inspirations.” But claims that they perform only once in a while. May be his career with an advertisement firm “JWT” in Katmandu keeps him too preoccupied with work.
f.        Ribor MB: Ribor hails from Shillong (Meghalaya) and studied at St.Paul’s, school between 1989 to 1994(class 8) when he had to head back to Shillong to take care of family responsibilities. He later graduated from Shillong College, Shillong in Commerce. He learned to play the guitar from class 2 and the piano from class 4. During his studies at St. Paul’s he learned to play the violin. Started playing keyboards and guitar for a local band 'Nakra Kurja" in '96. Played on the Keyboard with the famous Rudy Wahlang  ( of Meghalaya and the present leader of the band “Soul Mate”) and his erstwhile band “Mojo” in the year 1997 upto the break up of the band in 2011. Ribor was also a session keyboardist for the now famous singer/guitarist Lou Majaw of Meghalaya. He played in the band SFR which was formed by a few members of the erstwhile group Mojo and also started to arrange music in studios for albums, films, documentaries etc. In 2005 he started his own recording studio 'Merliham Arrangements'.  In 2007 he formed the band ‘4th element’, the only band from north east that does funk, jazz, rhythm ‘n Blues and soul. Got the opportunity to tour India and a few countries with Soul mate a well known blues band from 2010 - 2011. At present working as a music director/ arranger and conducting performance tours with 4th element.
g.       Vikramjit Bora (more popularly known as ‘Rishi’) Passed out from St. Paul’s in the year 1996 from class 10. His accomplishments with the guitar and vocals have all been self taught. He has graduated from Ramjas College (Delhi University) in English Literature.
Rishi is a Music producer, arranger, singer and composer based in Guwahati.                   He owns a recording studio called Noisegate. He was the lead vocalist of two Delhi based bands ‘Terminal Frost’ and ‘Swastika’ specializing in Classic Rock style of Music.
h.      Henry Zodinalana Pachua  from the batch of 1997 St. Paul’s, He did his graduation in BA (Hons) in Sociology from Presidency College, Kolkata. Now pursuing Phd. In Family & Child welfare. He is currently the assistant professor in Mizoram University, Dept. of Social Work. Henry’s passion in music has been for the Hip Hop style. He has organized concerts and musical performances in Aizawl and in an effort to promote the hip hop style co founded “Sora Family” a group of young Hip Hop artists from Mizoram.
i.        Anindya Maity, from the batch of 2006 St. Paul’s , later graduated from M.P.Birla F.H.S. School, Kolkata, and now pursuing further studies in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He plays the drums with a Kolkata based Group – “ Bee and The Buskers”.

2.       Suggestions were made regarding the other possible entertainment content for the event: Most people present appeared to be in favor of having a cricket match between the past students and the school as a healthy form of interaction with the current students. The younger 1998 batchers seemed to favor a football match. A suggestion was also made by Sanjit Ray for having a debate between past students and the school so as to involve the school in the Event as well. Holding of the “jamboree/fete” did not find too much favor here. It was unanimously agreed that musical performance by Paulite talent would remain the central theme of the entertainment content of the event. A suggestion was made by Soumitra Ray that in order to save on costs and in order to simplify logistics the performing artists could consider practicing their numbers with a single band before the event, but the co-ordination of this would also have to be looked into first. A suggestion was also made by Harish Himmatsingka that the sequence of activities of the event could be as follows:- Day one, Cricket match/games/debate: Day two, the musical performance followed by a sumptuous dinner and speeches/toasts: Day three & Four would be an option for the different batches to independently (independent of the main Event) organize any other form of entertainment for their own batches, for example, A trek around Darjeeling, a visit to Gangtok, camping at Manjitar etc.
3.       Regarding the ideal time of executing such an event most shared the opinion that the month of April to coincide with the Easter week end when school traditionally has a two day holiday, would be the ideal period to have the Event that would also involve the students of the school. This hopefully would also help us avoid the rainy season and also the rush of the tourist season at Darjeeling. However a proper consensus could not be arrived at regarding the point of whether to have the event During April 2013 or during April 2014. More feedback would have to be collected on this.
4.       It was also felt that formation of the core committee comprising Paulites who would take charge of motivating Past Pupils to be there at the event  should begin as soon as possible. The execution of the Event by a professional event Manager was also supported by all. A suggestion was made by Harish Himmatsingka, that the raising of funds to meet the expenses of organizing such an event should follow in the lines of the model executed by Sumant Dalmia (1971) during his Amarnath Tewari Fund Collection drive. 
5.       Involvement of the OPA in the Event was strongly advocated by Rohan Ghosh and Daniel Ghaznavi.

Thursday, 11 April 2013

Delhi PAULITE FOREVER evening


For guys in/around Delhi, there is a Delhi PAULITE FOREVER evening being planned on 27th April, 2013. This is the 1st & part of a series of events as a run up to culminate into the 2014 PAULITE FOREVER meet at St. Paul's, Darjeeling next year.

Venue (WIP) : Likely to be New Friends Colony Club

The evening will see a performance from Diganta Choudhury (OP 2004) and team, Paulite Forever theme designed show by designer Utsav Pradhan (OP 2005), Roadshow on the lead up to the 2014 PAULITE FOREVER meet by Jaswant Sokey (OP 1977), followed by Drinks & Dinner.

Paulites spanning batches from 1960s onwards are expected to come in, including former Rector Mr. Hari Dang.

Likely contribution for the evening : Rs 1500
RSVP : Jaswant Sokey at jaswantsokey@gmail.com

Follow us on twitter

To keep updated on the developments one the grand reunion in 2014, follow on twitter @pauliteforever

Wednesday, 27 March 2013


Paulite meet at Bangkok, Thailand on 21st March 2013.

As scheduled, the meet up of Paulites to discuss issues related to the Event Paulite Forever, took place at the office of Mr. Rattan Singh Narula (President OPA Thailand Chapter), at “The OPUS”, Thonglor, Bangkok. After a quick round of introductions over supper (sponsored by Rakesh Metakhun (1977) and Jaswant Sokey (1977)) at the venue, the presentation about the Event was made with the aid of a slide show by Jaswant Sokey. In addition, the gathering were handed out individual printed copies covering the four broad subjects:- (a) What is hoped to be achieved through this Event, (b) How the Paulite Forever Blog or Website could be put to good use, (c) A summary of the proposed Entertainment content for the Event, and, (d) The role of the core team members. The slide show, comprised a basic run up of the various meets that had already taken place at various locations through the year 2012. It also highlighted some of the discussions that had taken place at those meets. The slide show also consisted of an introduction to the core team members who had volunteered to help out with making the Event a success. The Paulites who attended the meet were:-
  1. Mr. Ken Pearce (1952)
  2. Mr. Mr. Narong Rangsichainirand (1961)
  3. Mr. Rattan Singh Narula (1962)
  4. Mr. Rakesh Metakhun (1977)
  5. Mr. Nilim Barua (1979)
  6. Sandeep Puri (1979)
  7. Jaswant Ch. Sokey (1977)
The topics of discussion were as follows:-
Mr. Ken Pearce, who represents OPA (Europe) Chapter, once again reaffirmed their support of the event and the basic Paulite based principles which the Event stands for. It was generally agreed that an Event of such magnitude will require the participation of a broad based spectrum of Paulites from different batches. It was also felt by Mr. Ken Pearce that more time would be needed to properly execute the plans of such an event and he reaffirmed OPA Europe’s stand that if would be better to hold the event around October 2014 rather than during April. But he also made it very clear that OPA(E) would go with the majority on the choice of the date for the event. Mr. Ken Pearce, also restated the desire of the OPA (E) to chair a discussion at the event on the subject “the way forward”. This was earlier expressed by Mr. J.K.Hammond of OPA (E) in an earlier Email.
Mr. Narong, who represents the OPA Thailand Chapter as its secretary, advised maximum financial caution to ensure that the money collected for such an Event, covers all relevant expenses, and that there is no short fall of funds needed to make payments against the costs at the end of the function.
This would require judicious budgeting, which would only be possible after a clearer position could be attained regarding the number of Paulites that would finally attend. Mr. Narong also suggested that after the budgeting of a final figure of projected expenses, the core team of the event organizers should utilize the offices of the different OPA Chapters located world wide to collect the targeted funds. Jaswant Sokey, clarified to the gathering that the two major sources of fund raising for such an event that were being looked at till date, were:- (a) a minimum entry fee from participating Paulites, and, (b) Sponsorships from both Paulite based and non Paulite based sources. A suggestion was also made by Mr. Narong, to get the involvement of the parents of the current students, as it would contribute to a larger number of participants at the event.
Mr. Ratan Singh Narula, assured his indirect personal support towards organizational aspects of the event. A sincere appeal was made by Jaswant Sokey to the members present to obtain more involvement from the junior Thailand based Paulites also. Nilim Baruah also felt the need to pass around word about the event more effectively among a larger section of the Paulites based at Thailand and Mr. Singh hoped to pass on the Paulite legacy to future Thailand based Paulites, with the help of the younger generation of Paulites such as Mr. Baruah and Mr. Puri.
*    *

Thursday, 3 January 2013



The Paulite meet at Katmandu on 13th December 2012.

The gathering happened at a Hip venue which is normally a hangout for the youth of Katmandu, “The Attic” and consisted of Paulites from the batch of 2001 to 2008. The chief coordinator of the meet was young Saswat Bajracharya (2007). Saswat has already  volunteered to lend his rich baritone voice to the Event and this meet provided the opportunity to hear his vocal capabilities ‘live’. With Akash Gurung on the Keyboard, and Saswat’s  lead guitarist Ashish, the gathering joined in to sing Amazing Grace. Saswat, of course, sang most of the other songs,  solo. The main gastronomic fuels for the evening were momos (of-course), chilly hot Sukuti Sadheko, various types of kebabs and alcohol of course.
Another meet also took place on the 14th at “Moksh” , another happening restaurant in Katmandu, where a few Paulites from the batch of 1991 showed up. Notably, Gurvesh Singh, Vikash Shah and Ashish Bhandari.  Suresh Vaidya (1982) and Suraj Vaidya (1978) could not make it to the meet.
Altogether the following were the Paulites who  turned up for the two gatherings:-



(1)    Saswat Bajracharya (2006)
(2)    Akash Gurung (2008)
(3)    Anup S. Sijapati (2008)
(4)    Sonam Ghall (2001)
(5)    Yuvraj Gurung (2000)
(6)    Mohamed Hussain (2000)
(7)    Ang Tshering Sherpa (2008)
(8)    Shankar Gurung (2001)
(9)    Gandib Serchan (2007, class 10)
(10)     Tenzing Kusang Lama (2006)
(11)     Gurvesh Singh (1991)
(12)     Vikash Shah (1989)
(13)     Ashish Bhandari (1991)
(14)     Jaswant Ch Sokey (1977)
At both the meets the Paulites were briefed verbally about the developments pertaining to the event “Paulite Forever” . A printed handout was also distributed to the attendees outlining the basic idea behind the event.

Monday, 14 January 2013

Deccan Paulites concluded its meet yesterday at Mr Monujesh Borooah's residence. Ideas and thoughts were bounced about regarding the future of Deccan Paulites and the event Paulites Forever. Details of the meet will be on the minutes of the meeting... coming soon...

Monday, 21 January 2013

 THE EVENT ‘PAULITE FOREVER’ Some thoughts from the OPA(Europe)

THE OPA(E) WELCOMES THIS INITIATIVE. There have been numerous discussions and a few well- meaning moves in the past to attempt to restore/maintain/enhance the excellent education afforded by St Paul’s but with limited success. Old Paulite Associations have individually and sometimes jointly contributed significantly to specific school projects and these will continue. But this EVENT should be the catalyst for a broader, more coherent drive to enthusiastically and purposefully engage the alumni with the school and the Governors.

WHY? The Event is a celebration of the past but more importantly it is an opportunity to help define the future. “ SPS is more than just a school”, and this gathering of Paulites spanning decades from across India and the world, would be a tangible demonstration of the commitment of alumni to work in partnership with the school to sustain and advance its hard won reputation. Bringing together Paulites both in person and in spirit is a major undertaking and must not be wasted. The very name ‘Paulite Forever’ exemplifies recognition of the past and a commitment to the future, and is greatly to be encouraged.

HOW? The strength of this Event is that it is not ‘top down’, but conceived and driven by Paulites. This will convey the immense good will through the constructive, co-ordinated and focussed dialogue between Paulites to collaborate together and with the school to adapt to the challenges it faces.

THE EVENT & BEYOND? The Event is a unique opportunity for Paulites to express their gratitude for having had the priviledge of an unrivalled education. It will be a joyful celebration, but must not be an end in itself. It should be the launch of an exploration of how the experience, expertise and talents of Old Paulites can benefit the school. It should lead to engagement between the school and a unified and coherent Old Paulite body, representative of Paulites worldwide, which could help the school achieve its aspirations, define its position within society and in the local community, and help it regain its renowned status amongst the leading Indian public schools.
Because of some technical problems - which hopefuly we can sort out in future, OPA(Europe) had requested that this upload be executed by me. I am sure that the views expressed above will be similar to the sentiments felt by a large number within the Paulite fraternity. (Jaswant Sokey)

Thursday, 6 June 2013

Dear Paulites,

After a great response on the promotional meets for the Event Paulite Forever recently at Delhi, Dhaka and Kathmandu, the KOLKATA one is scheduled on 12th July, Friday. 
The venue is being closed in, pls block your dates & watch this space for updates!

For more, below is the email sent out to all :
6th June 2013.
Dear Paulites of Kolkata,
This Email goes out especially to you.
A promotional meet for the Event Paulite Forever, is scheduled to be held at Kolkata on Friday, the 12th of July 2013.
The choice of Venue is between the Tollygunge Club and the auditorium at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The final venue and the entertainment content for the evening of the 12th will be declared shortly. In the mean time please mark this date on your calendar, as your participation is essential. Please also be mentally prepared to place an order for a special ‘event themed’ T’Shirt to wear for the 12th evening. The following picture demonstrates the designs that are available.
BUDDING FASHION DESIGNER TO CREATE A LINE OF CLOTHING FOR THE EVENT PAULITE FOREVER


Utsav Pradhan
UTSAV PRADHAN was a student of St.Paul’s School, Darjeeling from  1993 to 2004. He was the Lawrence House prefect and the Music secretary. Between 2005 to 2009 he studied Fashion Design at the Pearl Academy of Fashion, New Delhi and graduated from there. Young Utsav began making his presence felt in the world of fashion through his fashion label “munkee.see.munkee.doo”, which was launched in late 2009.  The label has received rave reviews in fashion related periodicals such as Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Grazia, etc., in a string of articles through the years. He is also the creator/designer of the first ‘mast head’ of our Blog. We proudly present here two of the designs that he has so far come up with for use on t-shirts, sweat shirts and hoodies, in a range of colors covering the different houses of our school, i.e. Betton, Westcott, Anderson, Cable, Clive, Hastings, Lawrence and Havelock.  We are going to see more Event Themed creations from this young Paulite soon, AND, we will put into place an online order form for willing Paulites to place their orders in for his products, well before   the date of the event. So fellow Paulites, it’s three cheers for young Utsav for setting time aside to lend his creativity to the Event Paulite Forever.


Hoodie 2 By Utsav
Hoodie 1 By Utsav

The mighty oak was once but a tiny seed from which it sprung into its present stature and held its ground well.

The heart of a true Paulite has always held dearly an in-erasable attachment towards his dear school. The Event Paulite Forever was a tiny seed of a thought that was planted into the fertile hearts of many Paulites spread world-wide. The seed has taken root and begun to show promise of an awakening among the fraternity that would parallel the growth of the mighty Oak that will hold its ground well and spread its branches far.
I think the above anecdote truly spells out our current circumstance and position, on the road to making the Event, Paulite Forever, a reality. An event with an attempt to bring us together, in person and spirit to not only recognize the glorious past of which so many of us are privy to, but to also showcase our commitment for the construct of a similar future for many more generations to come.
The zeal and enthusiasm for the Event has been gaining immense momentum, with meetings and congregations of Old Paulites at Darjeeling, Calcutta, Gangtok, Bangalore, Aizawl, Imphal, Kathmandu & the UK over the last few months, with the Bangladesh, Bhutan &Thailand meets scheduled soon.
Hence it is with great joy that I would like to introduce, the personalities behind the bold and thought evoking words from the OPA (Europe) Chapter. Their words have expressed some of the common thoughts shared by many Paulites. It is indeed heartening to have such encouragement coming forth from the Paulites of Europe and especially from its chief patron, our former rector Mr. David Gibbs.
I list below a small summary of the committee members of the OPA (Europe):
David Gibbs

Patron
David Gibbs O.B.E., MA (Cantab), SPS Rector 1964 - 1972
Ken Pearce
President
Ken Pearce, SPS 1943 – 1952
Westcott/Hastings. School Prefect. Winner Divinity, Geography, General Knowledge prizes.
Career in Sales and Marketing, retired in 1993. Held Senior Managerial positions in the British Steel Corporation, and Carnaud Metal Box Ltd. Past Treasurer of The Metal Packaging Manufacturer's Association. Past Treasurer of the Old Paulite Association (Europe). Vice-President of Wimbledon Hockey Club. Interests include Sports, Amateur Dramatics, Classical Music.
Arshak Sarkissian
Vice-President
Arshak Sarkissian, SPS 1949 - 1956
Lawrence '49 to mid '53. Hastings mid '53 to '56 House Captain. School Captain 1954 - 1956. Cricket, Football and Hockey Captain.
Career with I.C.I. Paints Division in the UK commenced in 1960. Seconded to I.C.I Indonesia 1980 -1981 as Resins Plant Manager and held a similar position in Sri Lanka 1984 - 1985. Retired in 1994. Subsequently went to China 2003 under the auspices of BESO to advise paint manufacturers on resins technology. Enjoys travelling.
Joe Hammond
Hon. Secretary
Joe Hammond, SPS 1948 - 1960
Cable/Lawrence. School Prefect. Winner Mathematics, Science, General Knowledge prizes.
Studied Aeronautical Engineering (BSc, PhD). Career in Academia. Professor of Engineering, Dean of Faculty, University of Southampton. Currently Emeritus Professor and secretary of the Old Paulite Association (Europe).
Ellis Cohen
Hon Treasurer
Ellis Cohen, FCCA , SPS 1958 - 1963
Hastings House.
Accountant and Registered Auditor, Principal in H. Plaskow and Company, Chartered Certified Accountants, Palmers Green, Nort London. Current treasurer of the Old Paulite Association (Europe). Interests include a love of golf and is a keen follower of Formula 1 car racing.

Committee members

B.P. Bhattacharya
B.P. Bhattacharya, SPS 1953 - 1960
Anderson/Lawrence. School Prefect. Vice-captain Athletics. Represented India in Junior Sprinting 1962.
Senior Partner BSS Associates Ltd., Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors since 1992. Chairman of 189 Piccadilly, St James, London W1; The French Partridge Boutique Hotel and Restaurant, Horton, Northamptonshire and The Gresham Hotel, Hyde Park Corner, London W2. First Treasurer of the Old Paulite Association (Europe).
Zarir Cama
Zarir Cama, SPS 1955 – 1963
Westcott/Havelock
Gained a BA (Hons) degree in 1967 from St Stephen's College, Delhi University after St. Paul's. Joined HSBC, working for them internationally throughout his career for 44 years, retiring in 2011 as Group General manager of HSBC Holdings Plc. Was the first Indian to head HSBC India and the first Asian to head HSBC Malaysia. Currently is a non-executive Director of three HSBC Banks and seven other non-HSBC companies. Whilst in Malaysia was conferred the title of Dato' by the Governor of Penang State and the Sultan of Perak for services to the country.
Arindam Chaudhuri
Arindam Chaudhuri, SPS 1975 – 1984
Westcott/Havelock. School Captain 1983. Winner of several prizes during his years in school: Moore Divinity, Rahul Music, Majumdar Science, Adam's Music, Robin Bannerjee Life Sciences. Awarded The Rector's Medal, The School Captains Medal,. Captain of Fives. Gained school colors in Fives and Boxing. Played Tuba and tenor saxophone in the school band
Consultant vascular surgeon, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust. Qualifications: MB BS (Hons.) MS FRCSEd MSc FRCS (Gen.); author of close to a 100 peer-reviewed publications. Administrator of the OPA (E)website.
Arup Kar
Arup Kar, SPS 1962 – 1966
Havelock House, School Prefect, Winner of Carter English Essay Prize.
M.Sc. (Polymer Science), MBA, 15-year career in industry mainly in the management of R&D teams, new product development, co-author patent on construction of optical fibre cable (General Electric Company UK), marketing followed by business strategy consultancy  -  Senior policy adviser on science and innovation policy UK Government.
Naresh Kulisra  
Naresh Kulisra, SPS 1956 – 1966
Betten/Lawrence
Solicitor practicing in Luton, Bedfordshire. Further details are unavailable at time of publication.

David Medland

David Medland, SPS 1956 – 1964
Betten/Havelock. Prefect and Vice-captain in last year in both houses. Rahoul Junior Music Prize 1956-1958, Adams Music Prize 1959-1963, both prizes 1964. Organ Scholarship 1960-1964, playing organ in chapel on weekdays and latterly on Sundays.
David is an FCA. He joined a major firm of Chartered Accountants in London as an Articled Clerk in 1965, qualified in 1971 and remained with them for 45 years, retiring in 2010 as a senior partner.


Amitabh Singhania

Amitabh Singhania, SPS 1986
Betten House. Amitabh professes to have been considered ''a bit geeky!!''
Is currently employed as a Corporate Risk Approver. A keen player of racquet games, chess and a keen golfer (still learning). He is an avid leisure traveler.