WOSA-NA reunion in Toronto
Yes, there were the mists of memories, and elements of suspense, and distant loves, and lovely songs, and beautiful heroines and just a few still-handsome heroes -
Chaalees Saal Baad - the title of a most wonderful film, bi-lingual, Hindi and English, shot in Toronto, Canada, over the weekend of July 11-13 - the cast was almost all on the 'right' side of fifty, with a few offspring thrown into make the average age just that little bit less. It was the 40th. Reunion of the Class of '68 from Woodstock School - yes, we, including the humble writer, had graduated from Woodstock, on a monsoon July evening, forty years 'to the day' ago. And we had gathered - twelve of the original forty - with spouses and a few children - in Toronto to celebrate and remember and become friends all over again.
This was all part of the much wider annual Woodstock Reunion -- arranged with much care and love and hard work by the Woodstock Old Students' Association (WOSA) of North America. And this year it was in Toronto, with almost three hundred people in attendance - The WOSA reunion each year has a theme, and this year it was 'the arts' - painting, music, drama, teaching and creative writing. There were exquisite and moving paintings by artists such as Douglas Nave and Bruce Skillicorn - there was a wise and wonderful lecture by Prof. Mark Kenoyer, who is a PHD in Indian history and culture - there was Hindustani classical music, vocal and instrumental, by a group called 'Aradhana', led by Chris Hale, and supported by, among others, Douglas Virgin - there was 'Madrigal' singing by former staff and students of Woodstock - and I was honoured to present a film of mine, 'Art of Dying', and a little drama and Urdu poetry. Then there were 'belly-dancers', sensual and lovely, and some amazing 'Bollywood' dance numbers - And all of the names mentioned above are graduates of Woodstock - It was Woodstock not only looking into the glorious past, but, more importantly, connecting with 'today's India' - our country that is growing and groaning her way to the very top of the world's ladder.
The people in attendance - the alumni and former staff of Woodstock residing in North America - were a rainbow of colour and language and life-style and occupations; padres, teachers, farmers, scholars, artistes, writers, social workers, historians, professors, businessmen, entrepreneurs - the list is endless. But they all shared two great passions - for India and for Woodstock.
The senior 'leaders' of the group were Bob and Ellen Alter, who were principal and 'principal's wife' of Woodstock from '68 to '78 - with their grace and knowledge and 'josh', they set the tone for the entire reunion. But they were joined by other great people in this, and if I start naming them all, this report will turn into a thesis -
Of course, the tragedy of what had just happened to Stephen and Ameeta Alter in Mussorie, both of whom are Woodstock graduates, also saddened the occasion, but the courage and fortitude of Stephen and Ameeta also made us all realize that we must not change in the face of any challenge --
For me personally, as the memories and the emotions and the tears flowed - and I was soundly thrashed by my old and dear classmate, Paul Skillicorn, in tennis - two things were very, very special -
Firstly, the love and passion with which everyone remembered both Woodstock and India - the school and the country were part of each person's very essence; secondly - the fact that new relationships, new passions, new loves were developed over that weekend in Toronto; we did not only wallow in the past - we sought to learn and grow, and that was wonderful. Finally - if that is possible after forty years - two special memories of Toronto and the WOSA reunion; firstly, hearing words of Hindustani which, even here in India, I had not enjoyed for too many years - words like 'tandurust', and 'khaansaama', and 'baawarchikhana', and 'tasalli bhakhsh'; words that spoke through the tears of an era gone by; and then, meeting Tariq Qidwai, one year 'junior' to me, and now a resident of Toronto - Tariq is from a very eminent Aligarh family, whose mother was a pioneer of women's education at Aligarh Muslim University. Tariq and I had shared cricket together at Woodstock, and a love of Urdu - but now, meeting in Toronto forty years later, both at the reunion and then at his lovely home, we shared so much more; cricket, yes, was still there, but now it was Urdu of a different level, and concerns over India, and his deep appreciation of what Woodstock had meant to him, and an even deeper love and passion for what has made our country great. For after so many years in Toronto, Tariq is still an Indian and a Woodstock alumni deep in his caring heart -
So Mike, and Sarra, and Paul, and Steve, and Glenn, and Sheryl, and Carol Anne, and Linda, and Doug, and Gwyneth - class of '68ers all - this is a salute to you; may Woodstock and India, and the whole universe, always know that love and truth and friendship and a commitment to life are what makes us all great.
Finally, a very special 'salaam' to my 'guru' Bill Starr, who was my 'English literature' teacher at Woodstock, and who guided and chided me to think deeper and finer about life and art and writing - Starr-sahib was there at Toronto, with his lovely wife, Janet. (Janet, by the wife, taught art at Woodstock, and Bruce Skillicorn and Doug Nave were her students - just imagine how proud she was, and is, of them!). And it is their son, Chris, who is now working at Woodstock, in the Alumni Office - keeping the tradition, and the traditions, alive, right at the 'source'. Chaalees Saal Baad - 'picture to hit hai, mere bhai - superhit - ab to 'golden jubilee' bhi zaroor manaayegi - shaayad Rialto mein!'