A year ago, at our last get together in Coorg, it was decided that we would gather in North India this year.
Things lingered on for despite Udyan Gokhale having suggested Rishi Kesh as our venue in early April 2011. We all looked to our secretary Nand to take the lead in arranging the reunion.
Messages started flying around in late 2011, with Badal and Shantagiri taking their usual thankless task of tying ends together. Hats off to all three of them.
So with preparations to meet at Rishikesh; confirmations ,reservations and planning went on in earnest. We were supposed to have a dinner at Noida and then go to the camping grounds at the foothills of the Himalayas. At the last minute everything changed due to logistical problems in getting to and from there in time for outbound flights. Jaipur became our new destination with the initial party in Gurgaon.
Ashoka Resorts at Kapashera in Gurgaon was a great location since it was close to the airport at Delhi. We had a wonderful dinner together, which was greatly appreciated by one and all.The party was open to our batch as well as any of our seniors and juniors who were interested in attending as our guest.
The gathering took place under the evening sky, on the terrace and the weather was great with the temperature hovering around 17 degrees. It was at times difficult to recall faces of new acquaintances as age seems to have affected everyone to some extent; but the enthusiasm with which everyone met reminded one of our days on the Dufferin . The surprising part is that the basic nature of the “cadets” had not changed in spite of the 50 odd years that have gone by. Some of us drank hard and some of us stuck to soft drinks but all of us talked, exchanged stories and adventures of how our lives have panned out. Some of us had filled out a bit and others had retained their figures. It was difficult to have an extended conversation with everyone in the short time available but we left after a memorable evening. We parted with a sense of satisfaction having had the opportunity to exchanged our life stories with old friends. The food was excellent (Good job,Badal) and the drinks plentiful. Sanat Bhate presented each one of us with an excellent glass crest of the Dufferin and Nand handed us a coat crest and a cap with the Dufferin logo.
The next day ,22nd February,2012 was a travelling day.Taxis had been arranged for groups (Gokhale and Aulakh went in their own cars). Due to the late arrival of Sudershan (can anyone remember the Dufferin Fall in and Rippudaman struggling to be on time) departure from Kapashera was delayed by an hour .
The following is the list of adventurers:
Arnab Sen
R.R. Sengupta
L. Weiman
J. Paisely + Audrey
S. Shantagiri + Shaila
R. French
S. Mani + Laila
AD Moghe + Sujata
N. Hiranandani
S. Sahi + Inderjeet
AS Nain + Brinda
PPS Aulakh + Gogi + Daughter,Simrin
Gokhale + Shabnam
Sanat Bhate: Junior + Shama
S.Sinha + Pilar
R.Sudershan + Neelam
We gathered in Khandwa hotel in Jaipur. Be aware of one thing, never go to Jaipur expecting to get local directions. Everyone, including the hotel receptionist knows only the immediate surroundings and can never guide you with any common sense as to the best route. Most of us reached by 1600 ( the taxi drivers were Delhi guys and often got lost). After tea we decided to meet at 1900 to go to a typical Rajasthani village setting. Unfortunately we ended up in a sleepy deserted hamlet where the participants were surprised to see us and hastily set up an impromptu show. Suggestion; go to the real thing i.e – Chowki Dhani
On our return dinner and drinks were laid out and we talked late into the night reminiscing and making plans for the next day. Lester had brought some good whisky (no pens this time but he promised to give us ballpoint refills next year).
Remember that everything we did was on an impromptu basis because of a lack of time to organise due to the late change in venue.
23rd February started with breakfast and then as taxis filled up each party went separately to visit the city. This works out well due to individual preferences and each one pays according to what he wants to see. Guides are always preferred since they give a bit of history to the monuments. Most of us went to the Jantar Mantar (the biggest astronomical laboratory in the World) , the City Palace ,Hawa Mahal and the Govind Temple. We returned to the Hotel for beer and lunch. Around 1600 some of us went to the market for shopping and others rested. At 1900 we all got together for “Sound and Light “ show at Amber Fort and we all enthusiastically agreed that this was the highlight of our trip, a must see.
Evening dinner saw us lighting a candle to our batchmates who have gone before us and we individually remembered them ; one at a time. It was a somber moment but we are happy to report that there has been no addition to the list since last year. Gokhale has taken the laminated list with him for safekeeping and we hope to bring it back unchanged next year.
Lester invited us to hold the event in Sri Lanka in 2013. It was decided to tentatively set this up for the 9th of February ,2013 to the 15 th of February,2013 give or take one day. So all of you have a year to get ready! No excuses for our 50th Anniversary.
At breakfast the following morining there were a few speeches and especially singled out were John Paisley and Audrey for their dedication in coming to this event for the last four years . John ,apparently left his ship in Brazil and flew directly to Delhi ,meeting Audrey at the airport in Australia. We teased Audrey about out days on the Dufferin and it was good fun. Special thanks was given to Badal ,Shantagiri,and Nand for their effort in setting this up.
We take pride in the fact that our reunion has been open to Dufferin Cadets from other batches. Lets hope we can keep this up.
Note: For foreign passport holders without PIO or OCI cards please note that Indian law does not permit you back into the country for a period of 2 months if you should exit India. So if anyone is interested in coming to India and THEN going to Sri Lanka keep that in mind.
We took leave soon after breakfast on the 24th after group photographs. Someone somewhere is going to make these photos available on the net.