Fr. Cecil Leeming SJ

12 June, 1910 – 26 May, 2000

An unwilling Olympian

Founding Principal Loyola School, Jamshedpur

In this Olympic season, spare a moment for Fr. Cecil Leeming SJ, the first Principal of Loyola School, Jamshedpur.

 

In St. Joseph' School, North Point, Darjeeling, he had the distinction of clocking 10 seconds in the 100 yards sprint a record that remained unbeaten till the arrival of James Ray Hines who officially broke the 10 second barrier in the 100 m world record in 1968.

On his way to Madras in 1932 to appear for a sure selection to the Indian Olympics team, he travelled with the Jesuit Provincial of Calcutta. Whilst talking to him, Cecil realized his calling to be a Jesuit priest. So, he dropped out from the Indian team to Los Angeles in 1932.

At 22 years, he joined the Society of Jesus and 14 years later he was sent to Jamshedpur to be the spiritual advisor to the recently started Sacred Heart Convent and as assistant parish priest ;but most importantly, for us, and at the request of Sir J.J. Ghandy, to start a much-needed boy's school in the Chota Nagpur Regiment Club.  After handing over the school to Fr. James McGinley, he went to St Xavier's College in Calcutta, 1953 and came into his own by being in-charge of the college games. He concentrated on Athletics and hockey.  And soon St. Xavier's could boast of two Hockey Olympian medallists - Dr. Vece Paes (father of Leander Paes) and Pat Janssen.

Norman Pritchard

Indian Olympian & Jesuit alumnus to win 2 Silver medals in Paris, 1900 – the inspiration for Cecil Leeming

However, Fr. Leeming's inspiration came from a little-known Norman Pritchard, from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, who went on to win two silver medals in the 100 m sprint and 200 m hurdles at the Paris Olympics in 1900 and therefore has the enviable position of being the first Indian Olympian.

We are inspired by such an institution builder like Fr. Leeming to create an atmosphere of competitive sport and make a mark for Jesuit schools.
On the birthday of our founder St. Ignatius of Loyola, we pay tribute to our Institution builders, one of whom is the founder of Loyola School, Jamshedpur – Fr. Cecil Leeming SJ.

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?"
Mark 8 :36
                               
Acknowledgements :
   i)    Fr. Cecil Leeming SJ – ‘Surprised by Grace’ by Fr. James V. Keogh

 ii)    Norman Pritchard - Featured in ‘Harmony — Celebrate Age’ Magazine, July 2018 by RajuMukherji, former cricket player, coach, selector, talent scout, match referee and writer

 --

Ronald D'Costa

Loyola School, Jamshedpur, 1964

President JAAI 2004-07

 

Vintage Loyola School, Jamshedpur

The Creation of the Arches 

 

Do the students, the teachers and other visitors to Loyola School know that the gates they pass through to enter the school have a story to tell ?

The Chotanagpur Regiment Club's four tennis courts were sacrificed for the  construction a double storied, quadrangled building with a large courtyard.

 In 1954, Father Carroll I. Fasy SJ was completing the building of the main school. Fr. William Maloney SJ, Provincial from Maryland, USA, was planning to visit Jamshedpur that year. The construction of a suitable entrance for the main school was suggested.

Dinesh Singhal was a year or two away from appearing for the Senior Cambridge exam. Not only was he very proficient in science, but also of a creative and artistic bent of mind. Fr. Fasy recognised this quality in him and requested him to design the arches for the entrance gates of Loyola School. Dinesh captured the very essence of the Jesuit ethos and designed a structure that had everything. He also took advantage of erecting one arch closest to the Principal's office, just announcing "Loyola School" with IHS on top.

 

The other gate towards the CNR ground was more elaborate and contained the inscription "In Caritate et Justitia" - the school motto which translates to "In Charity and Justice". The Jesuit motto "Ad majórem Dei glóriam" abbreviated to AMDG appears on the top of the arch. Translated to "for the greater glory of God", this motto has, for long, been the guiding principle of the Jesuits.

The picture above shows one of the arches being admired by Fr. William Maloney SJ, Provincial, Maryland, who had especially flown down from the US in 1954 to inaugurate the newly constructed school building and to visit the Province of Jamshedpur.

 

Thank you, Dinesh. The arches that you and Fr. Fasy created are the key symbol of Loyola today.

--

Ronald D'Costa
Loyola School, Jamshedpur, 1954
91-9431113097
ronald48@rediffmail.com

 The Nolen Gur Makers of Patamda                   

Photo credits : Rajat Ghosh

 

From the depth of Bankura comes a different breed of entrepreneurs. They know that they are skilled in making fresh jaggery which is a hot seller in the cold winter. Having discovered that Patamda has a large number of palm trees they were able to bring along their team of tappers.

 

The tree

These are date palm trees, very different from the fruit available in the Middle East. The fruit is small and typical to this region, but the juice is sweet and ideal for processing.

 

The tapper

These are professional climbers of trees but they are also skilled in giving that part of the tree the right cut with a V shape to allow the white juice to flow into the attached jar tied underneath.

 

Jaggery

There are several teams placed in Patamda. The team consists of the toddy tapper, the supervisor, the toddy collector and the person who tends to the fire. A lot of sensitivity to the environment is observed namely – they use the fallen palm from the tree for fire. They build a temporary hut constructed by bending twigs and covered with plastic roofing and topped with branches. This is the resting house during the day.

 The process

Early in the morning the experienced toddy tapper climbs the tree, unties the jar that has collected the liquid overnight and puts it into yellow 20 litre plastic jars.

They balance two jars on either end of a stick to make it easier to carry. This arrives at the processing place by about 6:30 in the morning and is poured into flat trays which are place over a fire. 

They then start the process by lighting the fire below when this tray is full of this unfermented liquid.

There are two additives that we discovered. The first is ‘chuna’ – a type of limestone to arrest the fermentation of the sweet liquid into toddy and retaining its sweetness instead. The second discovery is after the boiling and the thickening take place, they add cane sugar to the semi liquid to increase its weight. So it is true that there is a type of adulteration that takes place.

Overall

So the end product is in three parts – liquid, semi solid and solid.

 

 

 

 

Entrepreneurship

There is a lesson beyond ‘gur’ making that we learnt.

1.     Mobility

       The Gur makers had a skill but they found that in the local village namely Bankura there were not enough palm trees. They found this available in Patamda.

2.     Flexibility and skill to be accepted in a new environment

        The skill of this village entrepreneur was to form a team and move in. Realising they had to be accepted by the local tribals, we assume they worked out a win-win situation since there was no conflict and the locals were happy that this natural resource was being economically used. .

3.     Awareness

        Manufacturing of Gur on a busy highway and just a sign ensured a level of interest and probably purchase. However the manufacturers actually took their stock to the wholesale market of Sakchi, Jamshedpur, to ensure that there is a turnover of working capital.

4.     We also discovered that the old belief that ‘nolen gur’is available only in the colder months of December and January is not true. So this started pre Durga Puja.

 Action

1. We should form a team and send representatives to watch the making of jaggery from the beginning to ensure that sugar is not added and with the assurance that we will pay a higher price.

2. Having a representative will assure a lot of close friends that we are getting the pure product and also helping and encouraging a local entrepreneur who, after this season, goes on to some other idea.

 

Pricing

Rs. 120 / kg

Please take a container for the solid product and a wide-mouthed bottle / jar for the liquid.

I had an empty bottle and was lucky to get 2 litres of the date palm juice.

Gali Guleiyan

A review of this 23017 psychological thriller

An off mainstream presentation that needs patience and deep understanding

Manoj Bajpayee as the main character is portrayed as a voyeur (Khuddoos) who set up a large network of CCTV and monitored them from a ramshackle room.

The director keeps us guessing as to his motives.

He just survives on minimum food, and occasionally alcohol.

He has a very loyal friend Ganeshi (Ranvir Shorey) who is always around to pull him out of trouble.

The director imperceptibly starts on the story of a young teenager’s relationship with another classmate who he tutors in maths. His mother is typical of some girls who have lived a comfortable, sheltered life almost like an angel protected by five brothers, in a large airy bungalow and open space, and then to be thrown into a ‘Galli’, and a ramshackle house with an absentee husband who has a mistress.

The intelligent Idu (Idris) portrayed by Om Singh hated food and adored his mother (Shahana Goswami) and was protective of her. She made him change his mind from running away.

One major murder changed his perspective and leads him on a unique psychological path.

Liyakat is a butcher (Neeraj Kabi), who wants his son ‘Idu’ to be like him and tries, wit brute force, to crush his any rebellion, and his spirit.

Saying anything more will be unfair to the director and the superb actors.

Is this a story of a father and son relationship ? Or, as with many men, an Oedipus complex, or an intense need to love and protect his mother ?

You'll be forgiven if you find a bit of yourself on this movie, as a mother, son or father.

A bit of advice...  patiently absorb the first part and you will be immensely rewarded in the last twenty minutes.

This experience will stay in your mind for a long, long time.

A Blast from the Past …

The Zachariah family was leaving town after having spent a lifetime in Jamshedpur. Their 3 sons Errol, Ian and Sam had finished school and already gone to college.

The couple, Moss and Ruby Zachariah, decided to pack up and leave Jamshedpur. However, the family piano, a German built Blüthner, was too heavy to take with them and had to be left behind.

So in 1964 the family gifted this sonorous, acoustic cottage piano to the up and coming Little Flower School in Telco.

This stately, warm sounding piano served to train many students who will testify about its outstanding duty to them.

Almost 60 years later the Symphony School of Music, Jamshedpur, received an urgent message from the principal of Little Flower School that they needed a piano tuner for two instruments. They called a piano tuner who tuned one and then was sent up to have a look at the other lying on the first floor. He was distressed since it needed a lot of material and would be very expensive to restore.

IN DESPERATION the Principal called up the Symphony School. The agreed to take it away and get it restored at the Boulevard Hotel.

The Story Continues

The children of the Zachariah family, now settled in the UK, got nostalgic about their home city. Sam, now a retired surgeon in London, decided to visit Jamshedpur and stay at the Boulevard Hotel.

Heritage

He, along with his elder brother Ian, hosted a dinner at the ‘Penthouse’ in the Boulevard Hotel. One of the guests had a son who is a student at the Symphony School and he offered to play ‘Fϋr Elise’. While he was playing, Ian approached the piano, recognised the sound, and was stunned. "This is the piano my mother gifted to Little Flower School. I am reconnected to my family heirloom, after 60 years !" He almost wept to see this long lost heirloom.

He said that he recognised the melodious sound which reminded him of happy days when his parents and friends like Joaquim Dias thumped away on it while all gathered to sing "beautiful, beautiful brown eyes".

The Boulevard Hotel is proud to add one more legacy piece belonging to this outstanding family to our heritage property.

 The Story of Aviation in Jamshedpur

 

1934 – The Landing Ground

JRD Tata

The Indian Aviation department issued its first Aviator Pilot’s License to JRD Tata in 1929. This focused interest in flying in India. Very soon, 2,000 kms away, Jamshedpur township was waking up to the importance of air travel.

In Jamshedpur, about 5 km North-west of the railway station, the officers and others used to gather on weekends to bet at the horse racing ground, a flat piece of land, overlooking the Dalma hills.This, the management decided, would be the ideallanding ground for the nascent aviation movement.

A landing strip was then appropriately constructed. This was very convenient for dignitaries like Governors and Rajas to visit the township. It was also used as a technical halt for the historic Calcutta to Bombay experimental flight in 1934. The “T” shaped landing ground was expanded from 550 yards to 1000 yards which would enable “even a KLM or Imperial Airmail liner to land”.

How the first Aeroplane in Jamshedpur was acquired

Local legend suggests that a Scottish engineer wrote to the Board of Directors requesting that TISCO acquires a small plane. Since he had to travel regularly on dusty roads to the collieries, he offered to fund half its costs.

Jehangir Ghandy, Assistant General Manager, thought it was a reasonable request since a landing field already existed. The company decided to fund the entire cost. And with this began the exciting and colourful history of aviation in Jamshedpur. An aircraft with a larger capacity than the usual Puss Moth was considered.

 

TISCO began its historic aviation journey with the Leopard Moth registered as VT-AHA in 1936

A British made De Havilland “Leopard Moth” monoplane made in the U.K. was delivered on the 22^nd of April, 1936. With a 130 H.P. engine, it cruised comfortably at 100 MPH and could carry two passengers besides the pilot. Two days later on the 24^th of AprilMr. Ghandy took the 7½ hour journey to Bombay and returned on the 27^th of April, satisfied that this new acquisition could be profitably used in better time management for the officers. After that it was used regularly to visit the nearby collieries.

J.J. Ghandy welcomes TISCO’s first aircraft

The first flight to Bombay

Waco 5 seater biplane

So successful was the new venture that the management felt the need for a larger aircraft to carry more than two passengers. By 1938, TISCO added a five seater Bi-plane – the American Waco fitted with a Jacob’s Radial 285 BHP engine, with a cruising speed of 140 MPH. This continued to be in service till the early fifties. Important dignitaries thus found it more convenient to visit Jamshedpur.

 

World War II effort

Aircraft of the local kingdoms

In 1941, Mr. Jehangir Ghandy stirred up the imagination of the citizens of Jamshedpur by conducting a collection drive leading to donating the proceeds of Rs 2,30,000/- to purchase two Spitfire fighters named Sakchi and Golmori. He managed to gather the aircrafts of the local kingdoms and ignited the imagination of the local people with aerobatics, low flying and even steep dives !

Growth from the late fifties

Since then the company continued to acquire a wide variety of interesting and modern aircraft from the Beechcraft, Cessna and the Pilatus range.

Tata Steel continued to upgrade its fleet. The Beechcraft, considered to be the Mercedes of executive planes, continued to be its favourite. There is a twin prop aircraft for long distances. For short hauls and to ferry company executives there are the two single prop STOL Pilatus and also the three Bell 429 helicopters.

The current range of aircraft

Flying for the citizens

With the interest in aviation increasing, TISCO encouraged locals to experience the thrill of flying by allowing the creation of Jamshedpur Cooperative Flying Club.

 

Commercial Flights

 In the fifties, private airlines like JamAir and ACC began commercial flights to Dum Dum, Calcutta, using the war horse of World War II – DC3 Dakotas.

This is what ignited the interest of young Niroop Mahanty, in flying.

 

Next, Vayudoot introduced the F-27 Fokker Friendship and sustained the service successfully for a few years. After that, a few private airlines like Kingfisher, Air Deccan and MDLR attempted service to Jamshedpur but gave up after a few months. Others also have, for a short time, attempted to own and operate aircrafts. 

 The Scotsman of the 1930s would surely be thrilled to see the results of what he had suggested !

-         Ronald D’Costa

Courtesy :

Capt. Neeraj Madaan

Niroop Mahanty

Dicky Mody

Swarup Sengupta

Merlyn F. Anklesaria