The last batch of TS DUFFERIN ’69-’71 was hosted for a reunion Jan11-13th at Ajmer by their batchmate Capt Subhangshu DUTT from Ajmer itself, who had turned out to be a shipowner investing in Chem Tankers including a newbuild in China.
The list of 27 who attended (including Capt Randhir Singh their Senior), most with their wives is appended below with an asterisk on those who had departed from earthly abodes. Capt Suresh Amirapu read out an eulogy on batchmates who have left us behind. A scale model of TS DUFFERIN at 1:300 is being completed for couriering safely to Singapore, as a present to Capt Dutt. As tokens to cherish the gathering, photo frames, badges and insignia were presented to all attendees. Some are to be despatched to non-attendees.
Their good and not so good memories during training and competency exams that followed and even sailing together as cadets were liberally recalled as marine career setting steps and adventures, heartily. It was a happy jolly family get together with sing song sessions duly charged on suitable drinks followed by light and heavy meals, with local specialities thrown in.
Many were the songs that were sung as solo, duets (with the ladies joining in) and in groups to be listed here. The ones of “Hum Aap ke Shahar me Aye hei, fir muzafir hi kaham” was the highlight and hit as a group thank you to the host, apart from: Ye Dosti hum nahi jhodenge, Jaane Kaham Gaye wo din, Yadom ke baraat etc.
As entertainment, music and dance including one with fire was presented by an outsourced group, and a dinner by fireside was hosted by Capt Anshul Mittal from Ajmer, a colleague of Capt Dutt.
Apart from the two night stay at luxury Hotel Mansingh Palace, the outdoor trips were to Pushkar lake, historic Ajmer Dargah, both with deep religious connections, that the mariners -globalised with all religions- visited spiritually to pray for one and all.
A unique part of this reunion was that right from planning and detailing to execution, Sunita Gautama and Peony Chopra played a very important role in making this reunion very memorable.
Outstanding professionals amongst them: Capt Ashok Batura topping up his sea career as a Consul with Diplomatic status representing Malta in Singapore while running his own Sinoda Agency, Capt Dutt traversing into ship-owning after sojourning to its funding heading PIL’s Funding Trust; Capt Kapil Bahl a Marine Surveyor par excellence covering P&I, H&M, Salvage as also Import/export trades; Capt Suresh Amirapu peaking as CEO of PSA for JNPT Container Terminal building; Capt. Sury Pullat is a multifaceted consultant with expertise in various shipping and logistics areas, and founder of AMICIE.
Mulakkath fir kabhi
Hey mates we were trained together
Learning to work hard in perils of the seas
As sailors to earn a living courageously
With guts pride knowledge expertise
We lost a few to Davy John’s locker
A few more to Karma, fate, destiny, age
Here we are the rest assembled ado
For what’s left on earth cosmos universe
Crossed the Equator blessed by Neptune
Sailed the seven seas, crossed Dateline
Been down under, over the top too on call
Rhumb Line, Great Circle, avoiding storms et al
Now here is the time to celebrate
What’s left of us for those left behind
Make merry, be sympathetic, empathetic
For those missing such opportunities
Sury PULLAT
ROC 2481
2414 Suresh Narayana Amirapu
2415 Jai Kumar Anand
2416 R. Appaswamy
2417 Kapil Dev Bahl
2418 Late Pravin K Bakshi
2419 Late Joe M Baptista
2420 Ashok K Batura
2421 Sudhir W Bedekar
2422 Jehanbux Bhandara
2423 Late Jayant Bhatt
2424 Late Bhaskar W Bhide
2425 Tome Antonio Cardozo
2426 M R Carneiro
2427 K S Chabba
2428 Sudarshan Chatrath
2429 Anand Chopra
2430 Late Gregory S Coelho
2431 D J D’Costa
2432 Late Ivor J D’Costa
2433 Rudy M D’Souza
2434 Lalit G Dharmani
2435 MacKinnon D’Silva
2436 Alfie T D’Souza
2437 Subhangshu Dutt
2438 Ravi K Dutta
2439 Late Edwin E Fernandes
2440 J P Fraser
2441 Mukesh Gautama
2442 Georgie K George
2443 Late L M Gomes
2444 B Gonsalves
2445 H M Gosavi
2446 Harminder Singh Soni
2447 Arvind K Jauhari
2448 Karan Vir Jolly
2449 D Kabir
2450 Manvender Singh Kalra
2451 Viraf R Kekobad
2452 Ashok Khanna
2453 M K Khanra
2454 Late Prem Nath Lookhar
2455 Jatinder Singh Luthra
2456 Srikrishna K Manjrekar
2457 Deep Malik
2458 Malvinder Singh
2459 Ranjit Manghnani
2460 Surrindra Mehta
2461 J B Nakhwa
2462 Nirmal Singh
2463 Melville Pinto
2464 Late Jimmy M Press
2465 Ben Rego
2466 Vernon Rego
2467 Victor Rodrigues
2468 Utpal Bindu Roy
2469 Deepak Sabharwal
2470 Late Arvinder S Sahi
2471 Late Kanwaljit S Sandhu
2472 Sarabjit Singh Sandhu
2473 Philip Sequeira
2474 Ashok Sharma
2475 Late Sunil Sharma
2476 A R Shetty
2477 A J A Simoes
2478 S S Sodhi
2479 Manjeshwar Sriram
2480 Behram H Surty
2481 Pullat Suryanarayanan
2482 Rajesh Talwar
2483 FF Tauro
2484 Karan Vaswani
2485 C P Viegas
2486 V Jai Indiran
2487 E T Perera
2488 S Rengarajah
2489 Ravi Netto
2490 Manvendra S Panwar
2491 Krishnamurthy Iyer
2492 S.M. Ifthikaruddin
2493 Raman Pal Arora
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