...Cambridge University celebrates 800 years. Reading about it took me back to my trip in 2003, though this story goes all the way back to 1920.
My grandfather (on Mum's side) formed one of India's first few batches of Indian Indian Civil Service (ICS)servants; despite its name, the elite Service was made up of Englishmen during colonial times. Indians who wanted to join the Service had to prove exceptional abilities - over and above the bar if you will.
Thatha - my grandfather - aced his exams and, well, could not be disqualified on those grounds. Next came the physical and the examiners thought they had him there because Thatha wasn't very tall. They had not reckoned on his fitness. The tape measure slipped out from the examiner's hands as Thatha took a deep breath and his chest expanded. And expanded. And expanded. Let's just say he made it through to the ICS.
ICS probationers were sent to Cambridge to study and in 1920, a fresh-faced youth walked through the gates of Christ's College Cambridge.
Sidebar: Indians who 'crossed the water' to the U.K. were said to be crossing Kala Pani. Literally: black water.
When he graduated two years later, Thatha returned to India as a newly minted ICS officer and would go on to become Secretary, Health, then Secretary of Education, before becoming Member, Board of Revenue in Chennai (Madras).He rose to the highest administrative rank of Chief Secretary of the then Madras province; renamed Tamil Naduafter India became a Republic in 1950. Writing about Thatha - his father - years later, my uncle would say:
He had an amazing gift for languages. Apart from Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam he was passably good at Hindi. He learnt French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian on his own and even translated some famous stories and plays from the originals from a few of these languages into Tamil for a Tamil magazine. His Magnum Opus was a comparative study of the epic Mahabharatha as it had been handled differently in several Indian languages from the original work by Vyasa, which was in Sanskrit. It was published by Messieurs Higginbotham of Madras and titled “Vyasa and Variations”.
Move forward to 2003 and an extended, three-week, business trip to the UK. I happened to looking at the Christ's College website and noticed Thatha listed as 'lost alumni'. Intrigued, I contacted the office and explained I was his granddaughter. They were kind enough to host me when I visited and for a full day, I got to wander the same halls my grandfather did all those decades ago.
My day was capped by a visit to Trinity College. Its cathedral is a stunning confectionwith soaring arches pinned with Tudor roses. I stayed to gather a special memory. The Chapel choir was singing that evening and it took me back to when I was a child. Mum and I had a tradition: each year, we'd tune in and listen to A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Just the two of us.
Once I got home, my family and I played an online version of 'Guess Where Thatha Is In This Picture." It is a picture of the Class of 1922 and here he is. The ears, a family trait, were a give away.
Personally, I am intrigued by the man with the eye-patch in the third row. Wonder who he was?
Comments