It did not rain this 171st Commemorative Service of the Founder, Major General Claude Martin.

It was bright and sunny and a bit too warm for a monsoon day. The climate has changed and so had my seating arrangement. No longer was I with the hoi polloi. I had been elevated to share the dais with the high and mighty. Lt Gen John Mukherjee (1961) also graced the occasion. Ganguly, my annual companion to the Founder's Day Service, gave it the skip and so did his son. God had left me high and dry in companions and weather.

From the Atmodaya Bhavan (the air-conditioned hall in the building where Mr. Bloomfield's carpentry "kingdom" was), the sight of the playing fields did give a sad appearance, being bald as Mr. Bloomfield's pate! Or was it balder or was it baldest? It did look sad and forlorn with grass being conspicuous by its absence. Maybe it was because the School has started playing Rugby, so informed Mr. Ritchie, a teacher. Good. That is what separates the men from the boys!

The gathering of ex students was stated to be larger this year. It did not appear so at the Founder's Dinner; at least not where (the Constantia Hall) the old and aching rubbed shoulders to partake in the spread with the Governors and the nobs. The Constantia Hall, one would recall, is the Hall atop the building that cropped up when the erstwhile Dhobi Ghats got sold to private parties, possibly for a princely ransom. The young and sprightly, closer to the years from passing out from the school, and who populate the other dorms substituting as the dining halls, could have been the reason for what constituted to the 'exs' overflowing the seams!

The dress sense is somewhat improving. Though school blazers remain conspicuous by its absence (in comparison to our times), yet ex students were generally wearing clothes; that is, clothes not too bright and beautifully jarring. Some old boys came in T shirts including a prize winner (it was an LMC T shirt, and though natty, was not quite the form for this occasion), and some were in Jeans. I am sure they were not auto mechanics hired from Beck Bagan to fill the hall. But then, such chaps must be the New Market types. Money, but no class!

The Service started sharp at Noon.

The School Flags trooped in followed by the "team" comprising of the teachers, the Principals, some Governors and bringing up the trail was the Bishop of Kolkata, swaying merrily in tune with the music. The only addition, if I recollect right, was Mr. S Chakravarthy, who is an ex Mount Hermon student and ex Principal of St Pauls, Darjeeling and now the Principal of the best school in the world, La Martiniere Boys Calcutta! I must confess that I did not find time in between to ask him if he thought so or otherwise! Ms Choudhuri, the Principal's Secretary since 1975, and a Loreto House ex student however did opine off record that the La Martiniere students were but a "snooty lot"! I reckon it is better to be snooty and not snotty!

The Wreath was laid at the Founder's bust. The Last Post was sounded by recorded bugles and while the Rouse should have followed, it was the Lunch Call that was played. Maybe someone was hungry when the recording was done!

The School Orchestra played the Allegro from Einekleine. The Canticle, "Let us now praise famous men" followed. It was sung by the Boys and the Girls. It was sung in unison. We sang it differently. Our way was that the boys sang each line and the girls joined after a gap and gaily with a quicker pace joined the boys' by the time they finished the line. I forget the musical term used to define this style of singing. Gone are the Menezies (our music teacher) of the world!

The Prayers followed and was concluded with the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer was followed by The First Lesson. It was from the Book of Tobit Chapter 22, and was read by the girls' school representative.

Then came the First Anthem Brother James' Air sung with full throated ease of a thrush by the Girls' School Choir composed of about 50 girls, all prim and washed. The composer was James Macbeth Bain and the Descant and Accompaniment was by Gordon Jacob.

That finished, the Second Lesson was read by a sprightly young lad from the Boys' School. The Lesson was from St Paul's letter to Timothy Chapter One.

One wishes that the Lessons are read more deliberately and without compassion of the hunger pangs that maybe afflicting some in the audience. After all, the Americans know their business best and they are clear about the fact that there is no such thing as a Free Lunch!

The School Prayer followed Second Lesson and it was rather pleasing to note that most were depending on their memory and not the handout. It was as if the adage Elephants never forget was manifesting itself amongst the portly and the not so portly present.

Sounds of a New Generation, composed by Paul Wells was the Second Anthem and was sung by the Boys' School choir composed of 60 plus boys. While they did not sing exactly like thrushes, they, however, did sing like the nightingales to a most definitely catchy and modern tune. The tune had even stirred those who had already readied themselves for their repose for the Sermon that was to follow. I am not being irreverential. Some people actually think that it is ordained that one must repose (sleep) when the Sermon is said and so they had achieved the sublime state and were as if in deep meditation.

The Sermon followed. I could distinctly observe from the dais that some were definitely in deep meditation and the Rt Revd had not even warmed up to his casting the pearls! His Grace, the Bishop of Calcutta, Rt Revd Samuel Raju, gave a short and crisp sermon. It did not delve in the rarefied esoterica as Bishops the world over are wont to do. It was topical and being short hit home the message. He dwelt on the aspect of role models being played by Parents and Teachers. It reminded me of my teachers. They were teachers who were more of friends, philosophers and guides. I said a silent prayer for them, since most have left for their Heavenly repose. I missed them this day. His Grace said another verity that is worthy of note. Education and academically being qualified is not adequate. Inculcating the values of life is the essence of education and qualification. Indeed it is! Schools such as LMC should strive to inculcate the same.

The Hymn that followed was "Immortal, Invisible, God only wise" and His Grace the Bishop of Calcutta thereafter gave The Blessing.

The Presentation of the Medals followed. Every year this is the time I go into meditation (sleep) since it is as long as the Prize Distribution ceremony conducted during the Annual Day of my time. I reiterate that because medals are given as if it were Mrs Sonia Gandhi distributing blankets to the flood relief victims, the Gold Medal for Academics and the good Conduct Medal has lost its importance and pride of place. When will the School authorities realise this? Possibly they don't since most are not from the School and are not aware of the vibrancy of the ethos that has held this School in good stead to permit it to still be a premier institution. Manners maketh a Man and traditions and ethos maketh an Institution. Both these cannot be cast asunder in a perfunctory manner.

Thanks to the Vice Principal of the Boys' School, Mr. Stanford who is an exceedingly decent gentleman, I got the list of the award winners. I forget if there were more winners of other medals that were not on the list. I presume a similar list of for the girls school was there, but since I did not have it, I will be listing out the awards for the Boys' School alone. Sorry, girls.

The Founder's Gold Medal for Scholastic Excellence in the ICSE Examinations of March 2006 went to Rohan Shah and Vinay Doshi, both having scored 96.4%.

The Founder's Gold Medal for Excellence in Academics in the ISC Examination oif March 2006 went to:

· Arnab Sengupta 97.75% (Science)
· Akhil Kamani 97.75% (Science)
· Priyank Patwari 97.75% (Commerce)
· Abhishek Bhattacharya 90.5% (Humanities)

The Founder's Good Conduct Medal for 2006 was awarded to Shiv Kapur, who also won the Principal's Award for the Best All Round Student.

Darren Ross, a small little chap, when compared to Vincent Jacob of our times, won the Best Sportsman's award and was also congratulated by the Anglo Indian nominated MLA, Mr O' Brien during the Founder's Dinner. Darren's parents were definitely delighted that Mr O'Brian took the trouble of congratulating the boy.

The Bishop of Calcutta's Medal 2006 for Social Awareness went to Abhishek Ganeriwala and that for Environmental Awareness went to Raghav Fomra.

Thereafter, the Awards for Teachers completing 25 years and the Senior Principal' Recognition awards were given.

For 25 years of selfless service to La Martiniere, Mrs U Dadlani and Mr N Ritchie were awarded a token prize. If I am not mistaken Mrs Suarez was also given a prize in this category. She is the wife of Mr Saurez who was our PT Instructor after Mr Powell had left. I know Mr Saurez from the time he was in Barnes High School, Deolali, where too I was a student when my father was posted there in the Army. Mr Saurez had received the award earlier.

The ex Principals who were recognised with the award were Mrs Vimla Subiya, the Lady Principal from 1970 to 1986. We were told that she also looked after the Boys' School in 1975 and 1980, Mr D M Alney, the Principal from 1980 to 1998 (during his tenure the Dhobi Ghat was sold) and Revd Dr A Samuel Raj who was the Principal from 1975 to 1980.

The Board of Governors also recognised the contributions of Miss S Chatterjee, the Lady Principal from 1987 to 1999 and she had also looked after the Boys'School in 1998 and Mr RA Flynn, the Principal from 1998 to 2005. Both however could not attend owing to circumstances beyond their control.

This time no prizes were given to the Class IV employees and other staff. In fact, I found that the School security at the gates had been handed over to a private security agency, who were doing their job very diligently. They were so diligent that they had not allowed me in to collect my Invitation card for the Founder's Service. A little were bent on not letting me enter the school to collect my Invitation Card. Could it be that I look like a terrorist and so was given the shakedown? I had a tie on. Maybe ties are suspect. I shall the next time wear Bermudas and bathroom slippers. It may work. However, a bit of military curtness, some Urdu and a flash of my Club card worked like as Open Sesame worked for Ali Baba. I must find out what is the secret password one must use to ensure entry. Hey, I commend their work and security consciousness being a military man, but I also had to enter the School since I had to write this Report or else Warren and Vinoth would chew me up! I was desperate to enter and grab that Invitation Card. I even had a Tempo graze my car in the traffic when we had stopped for the lights. And what is more, 13 September is my mother in law's birthday and she is sure sore that I prefer to visit the General Claude's Commemorative Service to attending her Birthday Lunch every year! If I could brave all that, I sure would get the card, come hell or high water.

Mr Sanjay Budhia, Managing Director Patton International Ltd was the Chief Guest. His Address was very down to earth and very inspiring. He waxed eloquence about the virtues of the Schools and of the Awards that the schools had bagged recently.

Then came the Vote of Thanks by Neil O' Brien, Member of Acting Board of Governors.

Someone said in a forced whisper, "The situation is screaming out for a monkey wrench in the works," or words to that effect. That set my mind ticking. When I young I heard the song, "Lovers must learn". Hearing these "Vote of Thank"-ers, I wonder, when will they learn? No wonder the person had whispered so. Year after year, one hears their philosophy of life alone and very little about thanking anyone. In fact, I have now forgotten what a Vote of Thanks should contain beyond what the word means. And, what is worse, is that everyone knows it is the 'finito' of the proceedings and so everyone is restless. That restlessness is palpable. At least, as seasoned speaker or philosopher in these cases, one should crack a joke or two to allow the restlessness to erupt in a more civilised, albeit camouflaged, manner. It is so discomfiting to see people fidgeting and turning their necks here and there as if they are at public funeral having been forced to attend.

With all due respect, one can say that a Vote of Thanks should be a Vote of Thanks and not an exercise for one's ancient vocal chords in languorous monotone.

The School song followed and it was sung rather well and loudly and Mr Menezes, the Music Teacher of my time, was not at hand to "encourage" us to sing louder as he did in those times with a ruler. The song flooded one of memories of one's time. It sure is a great salve to each's Soul. The National Anthem then followed with equal gusto.

This year I sat with the Nobs on the High Table. The difference was that it was a sit down affair and not a buffet as is for the others; and two Continental dishes were also thrown in for gastronomic comfort!

I informed some Teachers that the Menu was also laid down in the Founder's Will and that that is what should be served. While new traditions must be made, old ones cannot be cast asunder for the sake of ringing in the new. Maybe Warren will fish out the Menu as he had promised me! The School administration I am sure will be positive in bringing the tradition back provided we, too, chip in, right?

I also learnt of something quite unusual. They are thinking of giving Blues for Academics! I have never heard blues for academics before in my rather long lifetime of such awards in public schools or in the Military academies.

Claude Martin, as we know, was a military man and military is steeped in traditions!

New Year is the only place where the old is rung out and the new takes its place.