SPRING SURPRISE:HERMONS ON THE MOVE
It all began this spring when the Hermons were on the move. Uttam Pradhan and I went to see Miss Russell in Darjeeling on March 20. We visited MH and we felt good; the school was putting its best foot forward despite trying situations.
We met Chuck, my school mate and ex-Princi of Lamarts Cal. Cindy and Pradeep flew from Ireland and visited MH in April with Anup Chachan. They felt the same. I drove down to Siliguri to meet them at Shiv Saria’s place before they left for Darj in early April. This was followed by the visit to the school by Shiv Saria and his son Suds. Shiv and Suds who also came to Gangtok, also felt good about the school.
Then we all said, “Why not? Why not give another try to save MH?” Pradeep and Cindy swung into action and got in touch with school authorities. General Thip, our HI (Hermonites International) President in Bangkok, was contacted and updated on the events and he gave the green signal. He also wrote to Rev. K. Sardar, the school’s Administrator and Secretary, and got a good response from him. He invited us for talks. On June 14, Anup, Namgyal and I met the Senior Master, Mr. Partho Dey, to apprise him of the new development. The meeting went off well, the decks were cleared.
Finally, a meeting has been fixed with Rev. Sardar on June 20. We are hopeful and confidant that the Managing Committee, which looks after MH on behalf of the Methodist Church in India, will give us the go-ahead in taking MH to greater heights.
Meanwhile, Jagdish Saria and Mahesh Singh of 1972 and 1973 batch respectively also visited Darj recently. Mahesh, a Supreme Court lawyer, also paid a short visit to Gangtok. Earlier, my class 5 student of the 1970s, Dhruba Ghosh, a senior lawyer at Calcutta High Court, also visited us in Gangtok recently.
In Bhutan, Thinly Dem and other Hermonites looked after Cindy and Pradeep. Thinley and other Hermonites are currently taking care of visiting Hermonites in Bhutan.
The central focus and the talks held during all our interactions were and will be always “MH”. Hail Mt. Hermon!