Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Denis Lopes stoops over a green plastic bag. Fingering the remembrances of his schooldays, he slowly extracts a photograph. Sixty-four years have drained the colour out of the paper, but memory restores visibility and Lopes points to two figures. This, he says, was St Patrick8217;s High School8217;s winning cricket team in the Ruby Shield in 1941. I was the opening bowler. That is L.K. Advani 8212; he was the scorer.
In the distance, in a courtyard turned out in the school8217;s green and yellow colours, Simun Pereira, retired archbishop of Karachi, and James D8217;Souza are shaking their heads at each other uncompromisingly. They cannot agree on their returning schoolmate8217;s details. He finished his matric in 1942, says one. No, 1943, says the other. It is a question that will soon be settled.
In St Patrick8217;s Cathedral, Karachi8217;s current archbishop Everest Pinto and the principal, Reverend Father Joe Paul, welcomed Advani to a nostalgic reception. 8216;8216;It looks like a dreamworld to me,8217;8217; began Paul. 8216;8216;I can hardly believe it. The visit speaks of his sincerity, honesty, truthfulness and humility.8217;8217;
Saying he was overwhelmed at the welcome, Advani said the kind of attachment formed to one8217;s school cannot be developed at college or any other institution. He recalled that when he first met President Pervez Musharraf, another alumnus, the first subject they discussed was the school. Almost 20 minutes of the total 45 minutes were devoted to St Patrick8217;s.
Musharraf had recounted his experiences with Father Todd, who would cane him for indiscipline. Pointing to Todd, a young teacher giggled about Musharraf8217;s visit to the school recently, when the general presented a cane to his old teacher.
When Musharraf went to Delhi for a cricket match, he took with him a photo album of Advani8217;s school days, including a copy of the register entry of his enrollment 8212; May 12, 1936.
Incidentally, two of the people Advani met in Islamabad this week are also alumni of St Patrick8217;s 8212; PM Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.
As Advani summoned names of old associates, exclamations of 8216;8216;Oh yes8217;8217; echoed softly among the seated. Father Modestine was the principal, Patrick Mendes made it to the Olympic hockey team of undivided India, O.B. Nazareth taught science, J.L. D8217;Souza, science. And, Advani looked around, while the main building has been rebuilt, the primary section is still housed in the same structure.
He told the teachers: 8216;8216;As an Indian Nobel laureate has said, the most important thing for a country8217;s economic progress is how much attention it pays to education and health.8217;8217; St Patrick8217;s, coincidentally, has finally obtained reform. In a controversial move, Zulfikar Bhutto8217;s government had nationalised many educational institutions, including the college once attached to St Patrick8217;s. On May 11, this year, it was denationalised.
After November 1978, this was Advani8217;s first visit to his school. Salina Orr, who has been teaching English, was around to welcome him then too. 8216;8216;Actually he belongs to Karachi,8217;8217; she told colleagues. Having ushered him in with a spirited performance of the school anthem 8216;8216;With glorious flag aloft we march, to knowledge and to truth8217;8217;, the school band saw him off with 8216;8216;He8217;s a jolly good fellow8217;8217; and 8216;8216;Que sera sera8217;8217;.
