Air Marshal Adi Gandhi (1960)

That tree in the background reminds me of a specific incident which I will never forget in my life. We were as usual playing in the Short Break and that day we decided to play darts with a divider for lack of anything else more exciting. Well I remember Akheraj, Ajit Uttamchandani, Farouk Chagla and Dinshaw Nariman all being there. We were doing quite well with the target drawn on the tree till one of my attempts went really wile ( sic Wide ?) and flew right past the tree and into Nasieeriddin Jhaveri's ankle on the other side. Poor guy had to be taken to the hospital and walking was a problem for a few days. Can never forget how silly and scared I felt for what I had done. Wonder where the guy is now and if he has ever forgiven me for using him as a dart board.

John Vasica (1964)

I remember one time we were on our way to a Jamboree in Calcutta and we had stopped at a station. I was looking out of the window on the train and Fr. Circus came up to me and slapped me on the face through the bars. As he walked away he said "You know what that was for". To this day I have no idea why he did that. That is my very vivid memory of him.

John Vasica (1964)

I have another story to tell about my meeting with Hodi in 1999 when I visited Bombay.
Roosi Modi and I went to visit him in the school he was working in at the time. He took us to the principals office, who was a woman, and we sat down to chat about old times. Hodi looks at me and says that I was a trouble maker when in school and that I had not changed since those days.
So I say to him, "Once a gaandoo, always a gaandoo". Both Hodi and the woman principal were taken aback and at the time I had no idea why. Needless to say Roosi was cracking up laughing.
A while later I realised that I meant to say "goonda" not "gaandoo".

Ah well, another day in the life of a Campionite....

Dr Zerxis Umrigar (1966)

I would love to jaw with David Cullis. He was at York House and we used to take the bus from Regal.
Both of us being broke most of the time , we used to jump off without buying our 5 paise child ticket.
I had to do that repeatedly to get to Colaba. The next day I would see David buying a 15 paise oily, veg samosa(3) from the canteen.
Myself and James De Souza used to save one paise at a time till we gathered 12 paise each and we walked to Kailash Parbat to have 2 plates of Pani Puri each.
Even there we would tend to slink away without the guy noticing and get more bang for our buck (paise) !! Those were great innocent times.

Naumann Mendonca Braganca (1966)

After lunch break the IX Std was often locked out because someone would block the keyhole with gum. At his wits end Fr. Ribot fined the whole class Rs.5/- each.
Much after the deadline, Percy Chibber, Darryl Rodrigues, Roosi Modi, Daboo, Mike Kirby and I were declared defaulters and sent home to get the money.
We started off – I think in Roosi Modi’s car - by going to ALBELA’S (Raj Kapoor’s restaurant opp. Bombay University) played some games at RMs house and got back to school in the afternoon.
All of us gave the usual story of parents not being at home etc. – except Randhir Kapoor – who told Fr. Ribot that his father said he could not afford the fine!!!
We were all let off …..?

Dr Zerxis Umrigar (1966)

Do you remember we used to play across the road at lunch time. Well some of us were playing hockey
and things must have got out of hand. Apparently I wacked Massayushi on the nose with my stick, after an argument. Blood started streaming down Massa's face and he returned to attack me like some crazed Kamakazi Warrior. Man, did I crap in my pants! Twice over, too!. One, after seeing all the blood and again when he came after me crying and screaming like a banshee. I tell you my knees gave way and I rushed to the toilet. I cannot recollect if it was due to the pee or for the fact that I wanted to hide from him.

Naturally his folks came over that evening and we had a meeting at father More's office. One look at my ashen face and they must have reckoned that Massa must have been the attacker!! For some reason I wasn't punished, and , I figure it was Massa's folks generously saying it was just a boy's- will- be-boy's problem. Never had a problem with Massa, though I kept a safe hockey stick distance from him. I'm sure he attributes the flat bridge of his nose to me !! Would love to see him again.

Christopher Gomes was a great buddy in school. We hung around a lot together, even after school. Now ,Chris was not somebody you wanted to tangle with at any time. He had a wild wild temper and would practically foam at the mouth when he was livid. He was maniacal when mad, and had a voice to match. Again for some reason I got into a tangle with him. He did what was then the accepted thing to do. He challenged me to a bout after school hours in the back gardens. How could I refuse in front of 20 classmates!
I must have looked for every excuse under the sun to get out of it, but i was well and truly cornered. I don't know how I must have passed the day, which must have seemed like a week. Come 4 pm and the hoopla had reached all the classmates. Chris walked out with his huge entourage of followers, hangers on and gang members. And I was left with, guess who? Hamza Chaiwalla !! the beady eyed, fair, chubby,fellow (also a real close friend ) fancied himself as an evil genius!! He was whispering in true conspiratorial, hushed tones, what our strategy should be, when every cell in my body was saying 'run Zerxis run, yo stupid bufoon" I managed to stay on my feet before the fight , which was an achievement, considering what was going on in my gut at the time!
The fight started in real earnest and guess what happened. I swung and connected with Chris's nose. he went down as if pollaxed. I stood there in disbelief at what i had done. no body had done that to anybody before, much less to Chris! I must say there was somebody up there who took pity on me. Before Chris recovered, I realized Father Molina, and old revered gentleman came running down from school and stopped the fight. I was picked up on my shoulders and take around as a victor.I could not believe what had just happened, but from that day on me and Chris were buddies.We even shared a couple of sisters as our girlfriends! His "sister" was the petty sexy one while mine was the scary one. I got a lock of her hair, Chris got a lot more. No names here as their brother was a Campionite
It may seem to you guys that I was a toughie of sorts. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was the biggest coward going, but wasn't smart enough to get out of these situations.

Neil Peck (1967)

Under scout trips photo "0000" I am confident it was at Matheranhis  (Refer the "Scouting & Trips" page in the "Photographs" section) I recognise a  number of faces 1) Rajiv Dua, Mr Bhatia and a guy named Christopher Rouse/House (??) he was from the UK I recall him because he used to be the Patrol leader for the Penguin Patrol - and he started the craze of calling it the "Pengimen" patrol much to the chagrin of Fr More

This particular camp was also the first time a guy whom we used to call "Bhudwa" displayed his singing talents at the campfire giving us a rendition of "It's Now or Never" - he turned out to be the resident comic for the 3 days and by the end of the week even Fr More was calling him Bhudwa - much to the amusement of all concerned - of course we very quickly corrected Fr More

Vidyasagar Puthran (1967)

There is a story behind this picture (Refer Class Photographs : 1962 VII A)
We were teasing Mustansir (Barma) about sitting next to Miss Rosario and  this caused him to edge away from her in embarrassment and practically share Dinyar's chair.

Also as you can see, there is a  scowl on David Cullis's face while Chris Gomes, Anil Mehra, Brian D'souza and Mark Baptista are grinning, this is because when Fr More was not looking we were all trying to push David onto Miss Rosario.

Oliver Moraes (1967)

That cameo moment captured on film, had ramifications far beyond that fleeting taste of victory.
Loyala won the coveted Tug-Of-War trophy that year against the biggest, strongest, burliest guys in school - almost all of whom happened to be in either the Xavier or Britto House. We were the little guys, the no-hopers, the underdogs who knew just one thing - that if we pulled together, in perfect unison, we could not fail. Proving that, was a lesson indelibly learned.
I built a career from that understanding as did Michael Pereira (the tall angelic-looking guy)
and Chris Samson (extreme right, with cap). Incidentally the guy whose hand is obscuring Keith Lobo's face is a wonderful chap named Innocent Roberts who was all heart and courage.
Only too well do I remember that great group! Lubin Soans (extreme left) with his quiet humour and a smile that could light up a room, Ray Rufus (to Lubin's left) who could - at that tender age - make the girls go wild,
whenever he sang an Englebert favourite. (Ray, the memory of you strumming your guitar, and your rendition
of "There Goes My Everything" will stay with me forever.). Jyoti Pande - reserved and shy- but undeniably
destined for greater things and Keith Lobo (to Fr. Ribot's left) - always calm and unflappable - whose friendship
I valued deeply for more that 40 years.
This is the stuff from which Friendships are forged and Character is shaped.

Oliver Moraes (1967)

Visualize this:The year was 1965. Loyola v/s Xavier. Xavier batted first: 149 runs all out.
Thanks to a great start by the Rufus brothers Loyola had managed to muster 138 for 9.
Last man in: Juzar Khorakiwala to face Xavier's demonic fast bowler - Anthony De Souza. We were staring defeat nose-to-nose! Never will never I forget the following scene:
I accompanied Juzar to the crease all the while providing some inane advice. All Juzar did was smile softly and ask me how many runs we needed to win. The first ball was a thunderbolt pitched right up. Juzar goes up on his toes and flicks the ball to the fine leg boundary. Next ball - a furious bouncer. Timed to perfection. Middle of the bat. Square leg boundary. Like a flash. But it was "Annie's" third ball that took the cake, the cutlery, the linen and most of the kitchen sink.
Every loyalite loved Juzar that day! The sight of him dancing down that pitch and elegantly driving a converted
full-toss straight over the bowlers frustrated head for one bounce and over the boundary, was sheer poetry.
We carried him on or shoulders, we whooped, we danced, we hugged everyone in sight! Loyola had won the
Cricket Tournament for the first time since inception! For that incredible moment - Juzar - I salute you and thank you with all my heart.

Raoul Heredia (1968)

I also remember another anecdote about Ricardo (de Mello). When he performed Czardas at the talent contest. there is a point when he had to pluck the violin strings. This was of course quite astonishing as the music was moving along at a very hectic pace. Whenever he got to that point it would give him incredible delight as he put on his most impish astonished look and proceeded to surprise the audience gleefully with the string plucking. Bravo Ricardo, we always knew you were incredibly gifted. You made our lives at Campion so much fun with your pranks,  pink cards, My fair Lady ticket and you forgot to mention the one Rupee note

Jaspal Singh Dugal (1968)

I remember the period, or periods, after Mr. Rouse's sad demise when we had a veritable casino running in class !!
I remember it was the 10th, after all the office bearers had been elected / appointed and almost all were from10-B.

(we were the elite after all !!)
Fr. Ribot came and said that we were all responsible students and as the school was extremely short staffed and we would hence have many free peiods and that we should use it to study on our own as we were going into our final year. (Yeah Right !!!! - Free periods and study ? Not on your life !!!).
It started with Ravi Parkash and me playing rummy (as we usually did - sometimes during class too - and we both had been booked for that crime before also - but that's another story !!!)
The next day others wanted in. A few days later it was up and running - with most guys in on the act. I brought playing cards and counters. YOU were providing cigarettes - and Harmeet Singh raided his dad's bar and brought the alcohol (in several bottles of cough syrup!!!) The serious students - who didn't want in - were politely advised to study in the library where other "reference materials" were available - and not to disturb us !!
Things went well, very well, till that rat and momma's boy - Irwin Ferreira (who I called Vermin Ferreira) went and ratted on us. The only thing that saved us from expulsion is that generally the whole class was involved, including the newly appointed office bearers. Phew that was close !!!! But I got a major clobbering from my dad after Fr. Ribot called him in, told him about it and suggested I was one of the prime instigators. I was grounded for months.

Rajesh Patel (1968)

Jaspal was Wilkinsons Sword's Model during the sixties, and he did teach all of us every vice in the book and some. Lucky that you had a cousin providing you with continuing education!!!
Flush, was one of the first, when we had zillions of fee periods (during Mr Rouse's fatal illness). Do you remember Mr Varghese, he used to teach us Commece/Accounts/Commercial Arithmentic. One day he breezed in, whilst we were amidst a hot challenging game, cigarettes went flying out of the window, which he pretended not to notice, and as punishment confiscated the card pack.
He was a sport and seemed to understand us, because a week or 2 later I went to the Staff Room, and there he was, with Messrs Leslie, Gussain, Gomes (cowboy with a cigarette sticking out of the corner of his mouth, looking very much like Rajiv Khanna who also had the habit of keeping his cigarette in the corner of his mouth), and a couple of other teachers. Red faces all around but then that was the class of 1968. Ricardo D'Mello, J(?)LSD, Rishi Kapoor( who was in everybody's class) Rajiv and Raman Khanna, Ravi Prakash who lived next to Mr Bhatia, and who never tired of asking us to advise Ravi to stop screwing all the ayahs in the neighborhood, and to switch to some other "sporting activity"....
Then there was the matchbox game, blackjack, five card stud, good sound knowledge which has served me, from time to time.
And of course the joke he wrote and sent to PLAYBOY magazine hoping to get $100..."heard of the nymphomaniac who had trouble closing her thighs???"

Joe Puthran (1970)
Toddy Aspi Toddywalla) and I bunked out of NCC Camp in Poona through Aspandiar's garden (his house was on the border of the camp) we had great fun roaming around Poona and nearly bumped into a group from our school who were out legally in uniform. Toddy and I were in banians, shorts and rubber chappals

Brian Peck (1971)
In 1968 when Eddie Naronha took over the role of sports master along with Bala Govind he set out to form a school team and the only we way we could enter was by working our way up from Div 3. Which had 20 or so teams in it. After we trained hard for over a year and during the school holidays and only after we beat Holy Name in a friendly match did Fr Ribot agree to allow us to enter and we then went on to be promoted to Div 2 and I guess it took off from there and I now hear that the school team is now one of the best around.

 I recall we had to buy our own gear and even had to fund our transport costs to the ground for a 7 am start all the way to Lower Parel and then be back in school for classes. Some of the team members included, Geoffrey Pinto, Rajiv Yagnik, Elroy Lobo, Cusrow Minocher Homji, Joe Puthran, Brian Peck, John Thomas, and Glen Matthew.  

We wore Red & White Shirts with white shorts and red & white football socks

Cyrus Driver (1971)

Costa was our finishing freestyle response to Cathedral's amazing Tingu Khatau. Once in a relay, the reporting time was up and our guys were standing around the blocks at either end (Soli and self both reps for junior age group) and costa was nowhere to be found.
Hodi's temperature was rising and called on a guy to go check where that "useless bugger Costa" was. Though I was just an observer for that race, I could feel the tension rise as we were about to be disqualified. the
the guy checking around for Costa came back with Costa running behind him. Hodi had managed to delay the
call for a few minutes, gave the caller an okay and the guys were up and away just as Costa was reaching his
return block for the last lap and the final splash.
Costa trailing by half a quarter body length to Tingu at entry made up the difference and we were ecstatic to
win by a fraction. making up water on Tingu was an almost impossible task and Costa got us through.
But the real highlight was the behind the scene story of where Costa was when the scout found him ......
reportedly sitting in the Campion School bus, having a smoke and smooching a chick!

Neville Kapadia (1974)

Marathi teacher was Mr Miranda, who wore trousers made out of shark skin material (very hep in those days) and Vinay did provide the hair oil!
He (Miranda) also bought another school teacher's motorbike -Yezdi or Enfield and initially insisted on depressing the leg kick start pedal with his hands to get going! Also remember previous to him was the thin and tall Marathi
teacher Mr Kadam (nickname 'hipless'), who said " It was so cold, so cold, that it was like froze!" and also "surrender your culendur" (Campion School's student diary) to me! so he could write a teacher's remark. He then left
and joined Air India.It was Father Donnely who got pasted with black ink from Mehernoosh Irani's pen-I sat next to him when he did it! needless to say Jamnadas from the office who gave us a mouthfull, was not impressed as the sprays of ink also went onto the wall below the blackboard.
And Mr Leslie's -Chinese Bangle torture when you pissed him off with a wrong answer!
Who was the one that used to pull your side burns up? Mr. McGready or Leslie?
Hodiwalla -"Headache in the stomuch!" when you tried to opt out of his marching class

Deepak Wadwani (1972)
This resurrection of Fr. Ribot brings back memories of my traumatic encounter with him (in his first incarnation), in the hallway after an 8th std. mid-term exam, when I absent mindedly neglected to turn in my math exam answer paper.  After returning from recess and finding my test paper still safely ensconced in my desk, I ran in a panic to try and find someone to hand the paper to, and who should I run into but a stern faced Fr. Ribot who looked at me in stoned silence as I explained my predicament to him.   Without a word, he took my exam paper and ripped it in two in front of my eyes and walked away. 

Yazd Goiporia (1978)
Brother Tort applying mercuro-crome on our elbows and knees after Hodi made us crawl in the backgarden because some of us hid behind a tree during his "four rounds of the feld"
The time Gomes kept the entire school waiting in assembly in theTagore Hall and warned us not to move "or even breath" as punishment and I had this terrible itch on my leg

Dadiba Pundole (1978)
In the ninth, Patrick and I shared the last row in the long class room. Once in a while he would give me money (I think Rs.2.50) to get him a pint of Arlem beer. It was his responsibility once I handed him the bottle. He would very generously share the contents with me between periods while willing to take the entire blame if caught. The empty bottle would stink up the desk but Patrick the senior citizen I guess had a liquor permit by then and did not seem unduly concerned. Disposal of empties was his problem. I think the only thing we both missed was a cigarette with the beer.

Dr Sanjay Parikh (1978)
We used to have a Moral Science teacher in the 7th....Mr. Varghese. He reads out from the text...."Call no one else your father, but the one above". Sridhar asks him, "Sir, what do we call Fr. D'Mello". He spends the rest of the class kneeling.
Mr Menezes - Was sitting next to Khozema in the 9th. One of the lenses of my glasses had
broken. This dude puts them on, and when Manju comes to class he scratches his eyes from the front. Don't remember Manju's reaction

Sanjay Balan (1984)

And so as I remember all the incredible Campion moments .... here's my compilation of top 10 favorite memories.
#10. Miranda (Marathi teacher) coming into class (several times) when Dora Noronha nee Fernandes was teaching and saying "Dora, one minute". I think it was more the action that he made rather than what he said. It was said with one of his legs off the ground, his upper body kind of leaning into class and his thumb and forefinger placed together.
#9. Karanjia telling Jerry Levi (what happened to him?) -- "That blessed Levi, his father is a gentleman but he's not a gentleman". As an aside here, I think Karanjia had easily the best handwriting of anyone in Campion.
#8. Juzer (or Zooza), carrying on this hilarious monologue with Mrs. Paes about how Kapil Dev was a PACE bowler and how Madan Lal was a medium pace bowler and on down the list to Lillee, Thomson, Holding etc., until Paes had to tell him that she had never heard of anyone of these people!!
#7. Bhal throwing his glasses when he got into a foul mood which incidentally was almost every class. Amazing that those glasses never broke . Should definitely consider it as an advert for LensCrafter or Lawrence & Mayo.
#6. Jay Nayegandhi's ' Harassing the Class Monitor' speech in the assembly. This was a really funny speech and it actually ended with Fr. D'mello's --- Devotion to Duty quote !! Jay, actually got into some trouble because of it and had some explaining to do to Sheth (Prefect of Discipline).
#5. Arvind Puri telling Joe Sheth -- "Look who's talking" when Sheth told him that he was getting too big for his boots. Man, Puri you had some guts !!
#4. Tellis on the 7th standard picnic, demanding an "Orange Squash -- Manshani Special" at 2 am. What a great picnic that was ? This totally inebriated guy falling over people, using bad language and keeping us up throughout the night. For all of Tellis' misgivings one must hand him the fact that he was really entertaining !!
#3. Leslie pulling up his pants in this amazing one-two maneuver. He would have his forearms perpendicular to his body and his elbows would scrunch his pants against his body and slide them up into position. Quite astounding, I've actually tried doing it and its much harder than
simply using your hands ..
#2. Stephen D'Lima going into hysterical laughter when Fr. Miranda was telling us about the 'Johari Window' ? This was some kind of window into your inner self and how it would help you to feel your body or something. Now, why Fr. chose to say this to a bunch of 15 year olds, I will never know... but I digress. Anyway, Stephen is in the throes of absolutely uncontrollable laughter and Fr. Miranda asks him to stand up because he doesn't think he was paying attention. And of course the very action of standing up sends Stephen into even greater convulsions of laughter. Meanwhile, the entire class is laughing at Stephen laughing . Stephen easily had the most contagious laughter of anyone in class with Navin Prabhu being a potential second.
And now for #1 (Drum roll here....)
Situation : Goosey in the middle of reading a chapter from either Darpan or Chune Huey Phool. All of a sudden, a compass comes flying onto his desk with a note stuck in it. This infamous compass and note was actually making its rounds in class with Goosey being completely oblivious to it. Somehow, someone is bold enough to stick it on Goosey's desk. (Ok, fess up whoever you are... we will be lenient !!)
Anyway, Goosey is totally stunned and picks up the compass and the note and reads the note. Goosey's face turns pink and then a shade of purple. He looks over his reading glasses and a small 'Ope' escapes his lips. He doesn't say anything, being absolutely shocked by the contents of the note and actually hands the note to Sheth (Prefect of Discipline) at the end of class.
Now for all those who don't remember the note and are dying to know what it said... hang on I'm coming to it. Anyway, Sheth is actually really amused by the note and doesn't make a big deal out of it and comes to class and tells everyone that it was a pretty amusing note although he doesn't say what it said. Well here's what the note said
"NEXT TIME IT WILL BE YOUR P---K !! SIGNED... COBRA"
How do I know what was in the note ?? I wrote the note and I think I put it on Tushad's desk and he passed it on to someone else and it kept going around until its final destination. I must admit that I had absolutely no intention of actually sending it to Goosey. But in hindsight I'm glad that it did. Made for another funny and indelible memory.

Nadir Karanjia (1984)
Anyway, enough of this self - depreciating humour; lets talk about the Hodi.I remember one perticular time where he stood on my knees, and made me do that WAND exercise in the back garden - the guy was enjoying himself . I can still hear his booming voice over the microphone amidst Hitleresque Marching Band music from a scratchy record "NAAADDDIRRR KAAARAAANJIAAAA yoooou FATTIELUMP !!! THAAAAAT BLOOODY NAAAAAAADDDDIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRR" - just loud enough to humiliate you not only in the backgardens but all across Nariman Point and the Fort business district too !!!
There should be a support group for ex NCC Air Wing victims. One very clear memory I have is when we were free of the shackles and were at HR college we saw the Campion bus coming back from CCI one after noon and my ex-batch-before-this one colleague Sanjay Gadvi ran into the middle of the road and started dancing in path of the oncomming bus - much to Hodi's FURY. And finally when Hodi looked like he was about to
fly out of the front window and kill Gadvi - Gadvi in a flourish stepped aside and permitted the driver to lift his foot off the brakes , raising a toast (his cutting-chai glass) to Hodi as the bus zoomed past . Wow - Hodis face was unbelievable - just unbelievable as he passed - he kind of looked like a strussed up owl in a window

Tarun Theogaraj (1995 - 1996)
My most vivid memory is of sliding down the banisters rather than walking down in the accepted "young gentleman" fashion.  C'mon, we've all done it haven't we?  On one occasion, I rounded a corner and was all set for the next section when I see Stan Gomes waiting at the foot of the stairs.  For some unfathomable reason, rather than jump off and walk down (or run up!), I slid all the way down while he waited there, foot tapping.  If I'd been a cartoon character, that's the point I would have just melted into the floor.  Inexplicably, and uncharacteristically for Gomes, he didn't say a word.  Just made a funny disgusted sound and stalked off.  It was enough though, and that was the last time I slid down the banister!
Another memory involves Goosey and Sean Fernandes (or was it Abhijeet Patel?)... Goosey used to have the habit of pulling your sideburns when he was irritated.  For Sean, it happened often enough that one day he came to school without any... he must have been shaven clean halfway up his head!  Left us in splits to see Goosey struggling to get a grip, and getting more irritable with each unsuccessful tug.
Sean was also responsible for an extended break between periods in the 10th standard once... Caloo (Colaco) was in the habit of taking off his watch and putting it on the desk while he taught... the temptation was too much, and Sean changed the time, and of course we all began clamouring that the period was over.  Caloo stalked off to find out from Jammy why the bell hadn't rung, while we enjoyed a brief respite.  It was short lived, because he came charging back in 10 minutes later demanding to know who the culprit was.  Luckily he found it pretty funny himself and it all ended well