Very happy that family of administrators of my first school (later closed) - (Jayakar's) English High School, Dadar (E), Mumbai - has received paperback copy of my book, "Who am I? I am I ..."
Around the middle of last month (Feb. 2019), I was pleasantly surprised to receive a mail from a person of the Jayakar family who were associated in the past with my first school (closed down some years ago), English High School, Dadar (E), Mumbai. This seems to have been triggered by a Facebook message I sent to a different school that he now administers.
I studied in English High School, Dadar from 1st standard (or less probably from K.G.) to 6th standard, corresponding roughly to period from mid-1968 to mid-1974. The School Leaving Certificate from the 2nd school I joined - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - mentions my previous school as English High School, Dadar. You can see a pic of the certificate on this post of mine: Very happy that my school - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - has received paperback copy of my book, "Who am I? I am I ...", http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/10/very-happy-that-my-school-cardinal.html.
English High School, Dadar, which also seems to be known informally as Jayakar's Dadar English High School, was located bang opposite the main entrance of Dadar (East) Suburban Central Railway Station. This school got closed down some years/decades ago and it is difficult to get historical information on it from the Internet. The land and building of the school got sold to a business organization.
Note that the IES school (English medium) (formerly known as King George school) in Dadar/Matunga area in Hindu colony, https://www.facebook.com/pg/iesdadar/about/, is a different school to which some of my friends in the Dadar Central Railway Officers' colony that I lived in, went to.
The parents of the Mr. Jayakar who mailed me, named Mr. Jaysen M. Jayakar and Mrs. Kalpana J. Jayakar, were associated (as administrators, I guess) with English High School, Dadar, perhaps before I joined it. Their relative(s), also named as Jayakar I guess, continued to be associated (as administrators) of this school, while Mr. Jaysen Jayakar and Mrs Kalpana Jayakar discontinued their work in English High School, Dadar and established 3 other schools in Bombay/Mumbai (in Parel, in Santa Cruz and in Marol). In particular, the latter started St. Lawrence High School in Santa Cruz, Mumbai in 1961, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Lawrence_High_School_(Santa_Cruz). Mr. Jaysen Jayakar was the principal of St. Lawrence High School. Their son, Mr. Jayakar, who contacted me over mail, is the current administrator of this St. Lawrence High School.
Perhaps my school - English High School, Dadar - was founded by the father of Mr. (Principal) Jaysen M. Jayakar mentioned above, who would have been a Mr. Jayakar leading to the school being known as Jayakar's Dadar English High School.
I have some memories, most of which are very faded memories, of my student days in this Dadar school. Perhaps that's due to my small age at that time - I would have studied there from age of 4 or 5 years to nearly age of 12 years. But I still have a few clear memories of my Dadar school student days including the school building and its outside area where hawkers would sell eatable-goodies to students! Tasty food has so much power for a kid that memories of it are very deep and accessible even many decades later!
English High School, Dadar was my first school and so I am grateful to the school.
I was very happy to be in e-mail contact with a family member of the Jayakars who were administrators of my above school, at some point. Over email I expressed my gratitude to Mr. Jayakar for his (larger) family's contribution to my schooling. I also expressed my gratitude to all the teachers in the school that taught me, and also to my schoolmates for their friendship.
I told him about my first self-published book (a blog book) titled, "Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer; Vedanta; God and Science conversation", https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07K7M2963.
I wrote him that I would be very happy to send him a printed (paperback) complimentary copy as a token of my gratitude and love for the years that I was taught in Dadar English High School which his (larger) family had administered.
He wrote back saying that he would love to have a copy of my book.
I wrote him back as follows (an extract from the mail):
"I am glad that you have accepted my offer to send you my book as a token of my love and gratitude to the Jayakar family which was associated with administration of (Jayakar's) English High School, Dadar, of which I was a student for six or seven years. I note that there is a good probability that your late parents may have discontinued their association with the school prior to the years I was there (late 60s to mid 1974), and that it may have then been administered by your uncle. In any case, I think it is well established that the Jayakar family has been associated as administrators of English High School, Dadar, which was closed down some years ago. And so I am very happy that I am able to offer my first self-published book on spirituality and God & Science to you, sir, as a member of the Jayakar family."
I organized sending a copy of the book. Mr. Jayakar confirmed receipt of the book around the end of last month (Feb. 2019) and thanked me.
I responded by thanking Mr. Jayakar again for accepting this offer of gratitude from me towards the family associated in the past with Dadar (Jayakar's) English High School, where I did the first part of my schooling.
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About how I attempted to locate and contact Jayakar family associated with my 1st school
I thought some readers may be curious to know this and so have provided it.
Some time back, I had made attempts to find out information about my 1st school - English High School, Dadar, from the Internet. I found a shell like Facebook page here which seems to correspond to it: https://www.facebook.com/pages/english-high-school-jaykar-dadar/536420083172546 but it does not have any significant activity. The name Jaykar used in this FB post and also in some other pages found on the Internet for English High School, Dadar, if I recall correctly, rang a bell.
I then searched for this Mr. Jaykar on the Internet which led me to some other Jaykars/Jayakars in Mumbai including one associated with St. Lawrence High School of Santa Cruz, Mumbai. I saw a youtube video of this school which gave some history of the school and referenced Mr. Jaysen Jayakar and Mrs Kalpana Jayakar as its founders. In Jan. 2019, I sent a message to the Facebook page of St. Lawrence High School of Santa Cruz, Mumbai asking whether the founders Mr. & Mrs. Jayakar of their school were associated with English High School, Dadar in the past. I also gave my background as a student of the latter school.
I received a Facebook message response but the person did not know about English High School, Dadar part. In the course of our exchange, I gave my contact info. I think this person may have later passed on the info. to Mr. Jayakar, the administrator of St. Lawrence High School due to which Mr. Jayakar sent an email to me which I have mentioned at the beginning of this post.
I should also mention that I made some other attempts to contact via messages on the Internet (email, youtube etc.), some other Jayakars of Mumbai that I found on the Internet who I felt may have some association in the past (through their parents/family) with my school. I gave them - 2 or 3 such Jayakars - the background and reason in these messages. But there was no response from them.
I studied in English High School, Dadar from 1st standard (or less probably from K.G.) to 6th standard, corresponding roughly to period from mid-1968 to mid-1974. The School Leaving Certificate from the 2nd school I joined - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - mentions my previous school as English High School, Dadar. You can see a pic of the certificate on this post of mine: Very happy that my school - Cardinal Gracias High School, Bandra (E), Mumbai - has received paperback copy of my book, "Who am I? I am I ...", http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/10/very-happy-that-my-school-cardinal.html.
English High School, Dadar, which also seems to be known informally as Jayakar's Dadar English High School, was located bang opposite the main entrance of Dadar (East) Suburban Central Railway Station. This school got closed down some years/decades ago and it is difficult to get historical information on it from the Internet. The land and building of the school got sold to a business organization.
Note that the IES school (English medium) (formerly known as King George school) in Dadar/Matunga area in Hindu colony, https://www.facebook.com/pg/iesdadar/about/, is a different school to which some of my friends in the Dadar Central Railway Officers' colony that I lived in, went to.
The parents of the Mr. Jayakar who mailed me, named Mr. Jaysen M. Jayakar and Mrs. Kalpana J. Jayakar, were associated (as administrators, I guess) with English High School, Dadar, perhaps before I joined it. Their relative(s), also named as Jayakar I guess, continued to be associated (as administrators) of this school, while Mr. Jaysen Jayakar and Mrs Kalpana Jayakar discontinued their work in English High School, Dadar and established 3 other schools in Bombay/Mumbai (in Parel, in Santa Cruz and in Marol). In particular, the latter started St. Lawrence High School in Santa Cruz, Mumbai in 1961, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Lawrence_High_School_(Santa_Cruz). Mr. Jaysen Jayakar was the principal of St. Lawrence High School. Their son, Mr. Jayakar, who contacted me over mail, is the current administrator of this St. Lawrence High School.
Perhaps my school - English High School, Dadar - was founded by the father of Mr. (Principal) Jaysen M. Jayakar mentioned above, who would have been a Mr. Jayakar leading to the school being known as Jayakar's Dadar English High School.
I have some memories, most of which are very faded memories, of my student days in this Dadar school. Perhaps that's due to my small age at that time - I would have studied there from age of 4 or 5 years to nearly age of 12 years. But I still have a few clear memories of my Dadar school student days including the school building and its outside area where hawkers would sell eatable-goodies to students! Tasty food has so much power for a kid that memories of it are very deep and accessible even many decades later!
English High School, Dadar was my first school and so I am grateful to the school.
I was very happy to be in e-mail contact with a family member of the Jayakars who were administrators of my above school, at some point. Over email I expressed my gratitude to Mr. Jayakar for his (larger) family's contribution to my schooling. I also expressed my gratitude to all the teachers in the school that taught me, and also to my schoolmates for their friendship.
I told him about my first self-published book (a blog book) titled, "Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer; Vedanta; God and Science conversation", https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07K7M2963.
I wrote him that I would be very happy to send him a printed (paperback) complimentary copy as a token of my gratitude and love for the years that I was taught in Dadar English High School which his (larger) family had administered.
He wrote back saying that he would love to have a copy of my book.
I wrote him back as follows (an extract from the mail):
"I am glad that you have accepted my offer to send you my book as a token of my love and gratitude to the Jayakar family which was associated with administration of (Jayakar's) English High School, Dadar, of which I was a student for six or seven years. I note that there is a good probability that your late parents may have discontinued their association with the school prior to the years I was there (late 60s to mid 1974), and that it may have then been administered by your uncle. In any case, I think it is well established that the Jayakar family has been associated as administrators of English High School, Dadar, which was closed down some years ago. And so I am very happy that I am able to offer my first self-published book on spirituality and God & Science to you, sir, as a member of the Jayakar family."
I organized sending a copy of the book. Mr. Jayakar confirmed receipt of the book around the end of last month (Feb. 2019) and thanked me.
I responded by thanking Mr. Jayakar again for accepting this offer of gratitude from me towards the family associated in the past with Dadar (Jayakar's) English High School, where I did the first part of my schooling.
-----
About how I attempted to locate and contact Jayakar family associated with my 1st school
I thought some readers may be curious to know this and so have provided it.
Some time back, I had made attempts to find out information about my 1st school - English High School, Dadar, from the Internet. I found a shell like Facebook page here which seems to correspond to it: https://www.facebook.com/pages/english-high-school-jaykar-dadar/536420083172546 but it does not have any significant activity. The name Jaykar used in this FB post and also in some other pages found on the Internet for English High School, Dadar, if I recall correctly, rang a bell.
I then searched for this Mr. Jaykar on the Internet which led me to some other Jaykars/Jayakars in Mumbai including one associated with St. Lawrence High School of Santa Cruz, Mumbai. I saw a youtube video of this school which gave some history of the school and referenced Mr. Jaysen Jayakar and Mrs Kalpana Jayakar as its founders. In Jan. 2019, I sent a message to the Facebook page of St. Lawrence High School of Santa Cruz, Mumbai asking whether the founders Mr. & Mrs. Jayakar of their school were associated with English High School, Dadar in the past. I also gave my background as a student of the latter school.
I received a Facebook message response but the person did not know about English High School, Dadar part. In the course of our exchange, I gave my contact info. I think this person may have later passed on the info. to Mr. Jayakar, the administrator of St. Lawrence High School due to which Mr. Jayakar sent an email to me which I have mentioned at the beginning of this post.
I should also mention that I made some other attempts to contact via messages on the Internet (email, youtube etc.), some other Jayakars of Mumbai that I found on the Internet who I felt may have some association in the past (through their parents/family) with my school. I gave them - 2 or 3 such Jayakars - the background and reason in these messages. But there was no response from them.
Glad to find someone interested in finding Dadar English high School whereabouts! I too have studied there for a few of my KG years upto the 5 th standard. Hope and wish to know more about the students who were in my class.
ReplyDeleteHi Deepa, great to see your comment and know that you too studied in Dadar English High School (Jayakar school).
DeleteHi I too am from Dadar English High School!
ReplyDeleteMy mother and aunt were teachers at English High School in the 1960s
ReplyDeleteMy mother was Rose Pereira and my aunt was Berna Dias.
Thanks Betty for the info. Perhaps they have taught me during my stint there. As I was there only till 6th standard, I do not have clear recollection of English High School teachers' names. Wonderful service to students done by your mother and aunt. My pranams (salutations) to them.
Deletehello, i did my high school there from 1964-1968 and one of my geography teachers was ms rodriguez (if i remember right) and i remember mrs oak, mr rai and of course, the senior jaykar brothers (i can still visualize them). all the best
DeleteHi,Madam Pereira was Vice Principal when I passed out 10th std. She signed my school leaving certificate. I was in Jaykar English High School from Junior KG till 10th std. I remember many of my school teachers. Madam Emily, Nilu Fonseca, Sheikh, Puranik Sir, Ghaisas Madam, Surve Madam, Chopde Sir, Ghosh Madam, Siddique Sir, Nayak Sir, Devika Madam, Saroj Sir and few more. I also remember Principal Jaykar and his two daughters who managed the school for few years till it finally closed down.
ReplyDeleteHi, Thank you so much for sharing this info. about our school and names of the teachers that you remember, and about Principal Jaykar and his two daughters managing the school. BTW it would be great if you could mention your name too. Thanks.
DeleteHi I studied in EHS dadar from 1965 - 1969 SSC. Some teachers were Kantak sir English & French, Mrs Sharma Science Diwaker Civics, Rai-Hindi.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. about our teachers.
DeleteYogendra
ReplyDeleteI presume you are the person who made one of the earlier comments. Thanks Yogendra.
DeleteSome more names of teachers Raja Sir, Muthu Sir, Rosamma madam, Giridhar madam
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteYes,Glad to review childhood and early teenage memories here. Regards, Yogendra
ReplyDeleteWow so nice to hear about the Dadar high school. I was there till 3rd grade. I loved the school and have vivid memories of it. Loved the Jaykar family. I had a math teacher I loved - her name was Matta teacher if I remember correctly. Does anyone have pictures of the old building?
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandhya for your comment. Interesting that you have vivid memories of the school even though you were there only till 3rd grade. I don't have any pics of the school. It will be great if someone has them and shares it.
DeleteHi I am trying to get in touch with EHS. I did my 11th standard SSC in 1974. Is anyone who was at that time? I would be glad to get connected. I have great memories. Thanks Sangita.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sangita for your comment. I passed out in 6th standard in 1974 (and left the school as we had moved to Bandra (East) from Dadar) when you passed out XIth std. SSC the same year.
DeleteSo overwhelmed and excited to have found this page and some information about my first school. Studied there till 3rd standard and have vivid memories. I still remember the classrooms and the canteen, always crowded at recess and I have never been successful getting anything on my own from there. Loed the patti samosas there.
ReplyDeleteMs.Pareira was the Vice Principal then. Ms.Avalti, was very fond of me and treated me like her own child. One of my bestest teachers. I remember buying roses for her from the vendor at the school gate.
Yes, I do remember all the other vendors there with all their goodies which of course I wasn't allowed to eat.
Nostalgia!
Thanks for your comment sharing your interesting memories of our school. Glad you liked the post. BTW could you please share your name? Thanks.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteme, Vithal S Parab was in Jaykar Sir's English High School, Dadar. i did my full schooling in this school except KG. l was in this beloved school from 1967 to 1977 and was passed out Xth Std ( SSC ). We have many school mates of my batch and we are still in touch with each others. During our tenure Principal was Shri. Jaykar Sir was bald and bit fat and short in height, whereas vice principle was his brother and this vice principle Jaykar Sir was very strict and disciplined, thin and tall. He use to carry wooden cane along with him hided inside his full shirt hand cufling. He use to have a watch round at classrooms on all the three floors of school building. i was in NCC too in this school and went to Camp at Nasik Deolali and Kirke Pune for 2 consecutive years. That time P.T. teacher Mane Sir tooked us to this
camp. Principle Jaykar Sir's son Mr. Swaroop was in our class and his 2 sisters ( i may not be sure 1 or 2 sisters as now we are Senior Citizens with limitation of our memory). Teachers i remember were Dekade Sir( Drawing and P.T teacher ), Kazi or Tazi Sir, Vargheese Sir, Sakpal madam, Singh madam, Surve and Pai teacher, Swami and Bhat Sir, Roopa teacher and one aged Sir ( name not recollecting but he use to chew pan masala and was fair with full grey hair) who taught English excellently. Another one Lokhande madam teaching marathi besides Surve teacher. During our period, a dreadful accident happened. A speeded bus suddenly dashed inside our school compound breaking compound wall behind Krishna's canteen. It was during exam time and may be in late morning or afternoon when there was a break time after one subject exam paper. Good number of students were taking snacks/food in the canteen when the bus suddenly penetrated inside the canteen. Bus driver fled. Students got serious injuries but no casualties as per my memory. Teachers, other staff and
senior students rushed at canteen to remove the students who were below debris. Luckily the bus was empty.
I remember those time State Education Minister Smt. Prabha Rao madam visited our school and there was a grand function in the school.
School was performing Ganapati festival for 5 days with Ganapati Bappa sthapana in the classroom behind vice principle office. We use to have full night duty in school to guard Ganapati Bappa, on rotation basis. On 5th day, the procession of Bappa's immersion to Dadar chowpatty was use to be memorable. Our school NCC & Scout / Guide troops to march from School till Dadar Chowpatty along with School Band in the procession. I was in NCC troop parade and to lead in first row.
To surprise of you all, my other 2 batch mates Sharad Jadhav and Charudatta Wajage were sitting in same bench with me and in one classroom, right from 1st std. till 10th. We are still in touch with each others and also family friends. Another batch mates in class were Nitin Dongre, Shashikant Masurkar, Vijay Anerao, Sunil Dalvi, Shashikant Nayak ( brilliant student of our batch ), Mukesh Datta, Bharat Bid, Satish Pandit, Yousuf, Sunil Prabhu, Naresh Sadrangani, Shailesh Shah, Paresh Bhatia, Ashok Gaikwad, Naresh Kadam, Vinod Jagdale (Naresh and Vinod were Kabaddi players), Sunil Edvankar ( he was playing drumset and bongo - congo ), Mukesh Bagaria, Anil Tambe and few other colleagues. All these were my batch mates.
Thank you dear Mr. Ravi for creating this blog which gave me space to express and cherish my good old school memories. i remember, during our tenure, there was another Jaykar's School at Parel nearby T M Bhat High School as i was staying in Dadar area. i too want to contact / meet our principle family members.
my mob. 9967004643. Pls.share me either emails or contact numbers of Jaykar family.
Warm Regards to viewers...
Happy English New Year 2022 to you all.
Thank you so much brother Vithal S Parab for your detailed account of your years in our beloved school. I enjoyed reading it and I am sure it will benefit some visitors to this blog post who want to know more about the history of our school.
DeleteYour kind words about this blog post are much appreciated.
Wish you a happy 'English' new year 2022 too! Thanks for your new year wishes.
About contacting Mr. Jayakar who in 2019 was, and presumably still is, principal of St. Lawrence High School in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, I suggest you message the Facebook page of St. Lawrence school with your background and interest in contacting Mr. Jayakar: https://www.facebook.com/St-Lawrence-High-School-Santacruz-West-489679384420352/ (you will have to copy-paste the link/address to your Internet browser address field and press Enter/Go; I presume you have a Facebook account). Note that I too got contact info. of Mr. Jayakar after sending a message to this Facebook page.
If you don't get a response to your Facebook message for a week or so, do let me know by sending me a message from your email id to my public email id of ravi@raviiyer.org .
Thanks again for your valuable contribution to this blog post about history of our beloved English High School, Dadar.
My name Satishchandra.S.Mandvekar was with Dadar English High school Dadar in the year 1965 to 1966.I was in this school for 4th and 5th standard.I was staying near Matunga railway station and even when young used to travel from Matunga Railway station to Dadar railway station by local train and walk down to school.I remember Rochani sir who used to teach us .In his class there were lot of mischief mongers.When I was in 5th standard there were lot of mischief mongers.We had just started writing with fountain pen.The mischief mongers would throw blue ink on our white shirts on the back and it became a nuisance.The principal thereafter told us to use pencils instead of fountain pens.
ReplyDeleteI do not with which Jaykar my mother interacted during my admission in Dadar English School Dadar.It so happened that I along with my parents had migrated from Karnataka.Since we were Kannadigas we did not have any surname unlike the Maharastrians.My name in school records in Karnataka was Suresh.Satishchandra.During my admission to school one of admission to Dadar English High School one of the Jaykar's insisted that I should have a surname otherwise I could not be admitted in the school.My mother pleaded with them that we being Kannadigas do not have a surname and requested for my admission to school but Mr Jaykar still did not agree.We had migrated from Karnataka and we were already late as regards our admission hence my mother put surname as " Mandvekar" as I and my brother were born in a place called " Mandya".Later in life I found this surname very inconvenient as I there was a problem of identity.I could neither call myself neither a maharastrian nor a kannadiga.
I had also difficulty in arranging marriage for my daughters.I am now 65 years old and my mother is no more but I remember her telling me that because of insistence of one of the Jaykar's under a very short notice for a surname she had no choice but to give a surname just for the heck of it.My mother at that point of time also did not realize that having such a surname which has no bearing would put us into various difficulties in future.Now neither Dadar English High School is there nor my parents are there and I and my wife have to undergo all these inconvenience as this surname does not identify with a Maharastrian or Kannadiga.Fortunately my both daughters got married although I had lot of difficulty getting a bridegroom as my surname Mandvekar did not bear any identity.
Thanks Shri Satishchandra S. Mandvekar for your interesting comment.
DeleteI have vague recollections of ink throwing mischief during my years too at English High School Dadar but I am not sure about them. Nice that you shared that here as all this has been part of our lives in school!
About the surname requirement: I think that may have been a requirement in Bombay/Mumbai municipal area then, if not in Maharashtra. My father's name was V.M. Suryanarayanan which is without a surname, as he grew up in Kerala and then migrated to Mumbai. My elder sister and elder brother joined their first school in Malad, Mumbai and both had Iyer as their surname. I think the school may have insisted on surname due to government/municipal directives.
My first school was English High School, Dadar, and naturally, Iyer was added as surname for me.
Now in the case of me and my siblings, the Iyer surname did not create any major issues as that is the general name by which our community is known.
But I should also say that many of my cousins who also did their schooling in Bombay/Mumbai around the same period as me and my elder siblings, do not have the surname, Iyer, in their names. So perhaps all schools in Bombay/Mumbai were not insisting on surname (perhaps some schools chose to disregard any government/municipal directive, if there was one, in this regard).
Sorry to know the great inconvenience you had to go through due to your mother having to quickly think up a surname based on the area your family hailed from, and which surname created confusion for others to know your and your children's background. Neither Maharashtrian nor Kanndiga - quite an identity crisis!
But I should also say that such confusion is not uncommon in India. In our case itself, we are Kerala Iyers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_Iyers, who are Tamils who migrated to Kerala. So my family elders would have faced some level of an identity issue between Tamil and Kerala (Malayali) backrounds that they had. And for my generation in the extended family (including cousins), as almost all of us were born after our parents had migrated out of Kerala, mostly to Mumbai, the confusion was even further - Tamil or Malayali or Mumbaikar/Maharashtrian!
But then such confusion was not really a disturbing factor in our lives, unlike your case where you and your family had to face great inconvenience.
Thanks again for your interesting comment.