PHILIP IMRAY, OMA Secretary’s visit to India 2009.

PHILIP IMRAY, OMA Secretary’s visit to India  2009.

2009 has certainly been an exciting year for  me, as I retired from full-time employment in January, and had the pleasure of  visiting India for 5 weeks. This enabled my Partner Sue Demery and me to visit  the various charity organisations that we are involved with, notably The Usthi  Foundation in Calcutta, run by our very own Milton McCann MBE who was in La Martiniere College  ,Lucknow circa 1948.

Despite his failing health, Milton is a  workaholic, and we visited all his projects in Calcutta, Bhubeneshwar and Puri, where we were  able to see for ourselves the sterling work this stalwart carries out. There  were two schools, one of these lacking electricity, a library tied in with  computer studies, and a hospital, not necessarily located in the heart of town.  Actually, remoteness is a word that springs to mind. We interacted with all our  sponsored children, their parents/guardians, and even our cycle-rickshaw  wallahs came to meet us. It was an extremely humbling experience to be honoured  by everyone we came in contact with, and what these people lacked in creature  comforts was amply compensated by their genuine  love and total respect for us. I'm not ashamed to admit that many a tear rolled  down our cheeks.

We met up in Cal with Milton's brother The  Revd Roly McCann and his wife Ratna, together with their friends John and Mary from  the UK, and we enjoyed our visit with Milton. We would urge any fellow  Martinians visiting India to please make a point of visiting Milton. He would  be delighted.

I made it a point to visit all four La  Martiniere Schools in Calcutta and Lucknow, and I was graciously received  by all their Principals and Staff and pupils alike.

I met with Mr Sunirmal Chakravarthi and  his Vice Principal Mr Stanford Francis in Calcutta Boys', and from there it was just a short  walk across to meet with Mrs Hilda Peacock at the Girls' School .As I had not  been to the Calcutta schools before, it was a pleasant eye-opener. It was a joy to walk around the grounds, clean and verdant.

Then on to my old school in Lucknow, where I met with Mr Elton  D'Souza and his staff, and after a nice long chat and a cup of chai, I proceeded to roam around the school grounds,  which brought back oodles of nostalgic memories going back about 50  years. Sadly the scaffolding is very much in evidence, and Constantia is  desperately in need of urgent renovation.  Elton presented me with a beautiful calendar utilizing photographs of the  school taken by the boys themselves.

The next morning I visited the Girls' School where I was  received by Mrs Farida Abraham and her  Staff, and was honoured to be a front-row guest at their Prefects'  Investiture.This was a very moving occasion, with  a tinge of sadness for the outgoing Prefects who would shortly be leaving the  school after completing their studies. Miss Shaw ( Desmond's sister )  went out of her way to show me around the entire school, and after a pleasant  meeting with Farida and her Staff, and another cup of chai, they presented me  with a super paper-weight incorporating the  School Crest, and also their Newsletter.

Sue and I also visited Mr Peter Fanthome  who is on the La Martiniere Board of Governors, and spent a delightful evening  at his residence. Peter is also heavily involved personally with charities of  his own, and  is still wholly committed to education causes.

I would like to say how grateful I am for  the courtesy extended to me and Sue wherever I went, whether on my own to visit the Schools,  or in Sue's company to visit Peter, and at the same time I would advise fellow  Martinians who wish to visit the schools in the future to make a prior appointment, due to security measures now  in place.