We held our NOBA UK Annual get together as scheduled at Southend-on-Sea on the above dates.
Having been warmly received at her own home on 119 Thorpe Bay on the banks of the beautiful Thames Sanctuary by Ashaji-Naveenji and their daughters Pallavi and Pragya, we got as indulgent a welcome as one can expect from a loving sister and her lovely family.
After spending sometime there we proceeded to St. Augustine’s Church Hall on Johnstone Road for our further proceedings of the evening.
The following members attended:
1. Dr Gyaneshwari Prasad 1955
2. Dr Anil K Singh & Mrs Renu Singh 1961
3. Dr Asha Sinha and husband Dr Navin K Sinha & daughter Pragya 1962
4. Dr Kaladhar Narayan Jha and Dr Mrs Poonam Jha 1963
5. Mr Arun Kumar Puri and Mrs Puri from Pune 1963
6. Dr Anil Jha & Mrs Anita Jha and daughter Dr Shilpa 1964
7. Dr Krishna Chandra Pandeya & Dr Mrs Gayatri Pandeya 1965
8. Dr Kameshwar Singh & Mrs Singh 1965
9. Dr Manohar Thakur & Mrs Dr Mita Thakur 1968
10. Mr Om Prakash Choudhary & Mrs Geeta Choudhary 1973
11. Dr Vibhash Mishra & Dr Mrs Nutan Mishra & daughter Vatsala 1974
12. Sanjay Kumar Ojha 1977
13. Mr Ghanshyam Kumar & Dr Mrs Aradhana Rani, Gauri and Anika 1980
14. Dr Rakesh Ravi, Dr Mrs Sumita, Pragya, Prabha and Samyak 1985
15. Mr Sanjay Kumar & Mrs Tina Malhotra, Ira 1987
16. Mr Sami Haider, Mrs Sudha, Daughter Sara and son Arman 1984
17. Dr Mrinal and Nidhi 1989
18. Anuj Sinha, Priti, Harshita and Aditya 1983
19. Rajesh Jha, Soni, Medha and Shalu
20. Deepak Kumar, Bhawna, Twesha and Ryan
21. Vivekanand, Aruna, Adity and Pranity
22. Mr Vedvyas, Shweta, Iha and Pihu 1984
We got apologies from Dr JP Narayan & family, Dr Sushil Thakur & family and Parmanandji & family whose mother had unfortunately expired recently and he was away in India. We got information about Dr Virendra Guptaji’s inability to attend as well.
We started the meeting with welcoming the members and their family, which was followed by condolences to our beloved teacher, Late Shri Kailash Narayan Mehrotraji and to Parmandji on his recent bereavement.
Our senior most member Dr Gyaneshwari Prasad then congratulated us on our continuing efforts at strengthening our association, but at the same time exhorted us to look beyond ourselves to fulfil our debt to society and contribute to the larger good as per our ideals so
painstakingly and thoroughly imbibed from our schooldays. He also recited some of his poems on this occasion.
We were especially pleased to have the chance to welcome Shri Arun Puriji and family who had been brought over by Kaladharji as they were in UK to see their daughter Nidhi and husband Dr Mrinal who happens to be a Haatian himself as well as being the son of Dr Saketan Bhagat who is himself a Haatian. Puriji reminisced about a couple of interesting stories from his schooldays and told us about his new venture in opening a 450 bedded hospital in Kenya.
There was a round of introductions as we all feel the need to remind and update ourselves. There were interesting titbits shared during this round by members. Kaladharjis suggested getting our members on the Indian High Commission guest list and we expect to contribute to its various functions in the future. People generally felt we should meet more frequently than only every year, which will hopefully do away with this need for repeated introductions.
We were then treated to a delicious evening dinner meticulously planned and delivered by Ashaji and her team.
And then came the cultural part of the evening - a potpourri of songs, poems, even a Violin recital by little Ira and a dance by Anika , lovely songs by Samyak and many more. The highlight of the evening, as usual, was the informal Antyakshari competition between Haatians and their Family members. We were all mesmerised by the impressive quality and range of singing by Vibhash and some lovely Bollywood songs sung by spouses as well as Kavitapaath by Rakesh Ravi, both the Sanjays, Kameshwarji and KC Pandeyaji. Sanjay the Psychologist was cheeky cheating from his copy of Rashmirathi but his body language showed what a stalwart he must have been in his schooldays!
We ended the evening around 11 PM to go back to our hotels waiting eagerly for the Picnic next day.
Sunday 11 September brought a lovely sunny day for us. We assembled at the carpark at the world’s longest pier and then walked together in groups chatting and enjoying the beautiful scenery and the very pleasant weather to the very end. Ashaji’s affection and preparation showed through the tasty and varied lunchbox she had managed to make for all of us.
After an hour or so of chitchat, food, drinks and photography there, we ended this year’s meet with our trademark ‘Vande he Sundar Mam Sakha Netarhat Sada ‘ school song with a promise to meet at Scunthorpe next year, tentatively on Saturday 2 September, Dr KC Pandeya ji and Gayatri Bhabhi being our gracious hosts.
We look forward to our next meet with a resolve to try and strengthen these fraternal bonds every moment of our lives and to come true to the ideals we are all so very proud of. Long live Netarhat!!