Who's who at former teacher's birthday bash

Updated on: Friday, December 18, 2009

Kolkata: Bernard Brooks is basking in the warmth of love.

His students, some of whom he taught 54 years ago, are flying down from across the world to the city to celebrate his 81st birthday on Monday.

And what a crowd to celebrate one’s birthday with — a painter from the UK royal court, a prime minister and a chief justice from Bhutan, a teacher from Oxford University, a social worker from Australia. Naturally, Bernard Brooks is basking in the warmth of this love.

Brooks, who is settled in Kolkata now, was headmaster and later principal of Dr Graham’s Homes in Kalimpong for 30 years — from 1958 to 1988 — and is still remembered in the Anglo-Indian community for the metamorphosis of the school from one reserved for the community to one that was open to all.

The school was originally established to help educate and provide for illegitimate children of European tea planters and poor Anglo-Indians. Funds for these children were raised by committees formed for the purpose in Edinburgh, London, Auckland and Sydney.

When Brooks became headmaster, he realised that this was not enough. So, he threw open the gates of the school for all and set up committees in Sweden and Switzerland, from where people started wholeheartedly contributing to the school.

Norman Hutchinson, the UK court painter and one of the most illustrious students of Brooks, is expected to reach the city over the weekend. Raised in the Kalimpong hills, Hutchinson is today a UK citizen. Queen Elizabeth II commissioned him to paint herself, her mother and son.

Jigme Thinley, the present prime minister of Bhutan and chief justice of that country, Sonam Tobgye, were Brooks’ students and are both expected to be at the party.

A letter from their favourite teacher a couple of months back did the trick. “I am still in touch with many of my students whom I taught for three decades. At this age, one starts feeling nostalgic and I was yearning to see those fresh, young faces that I had taught chemistry and geography to, so many years back. So I wrote to them, inviting them over for my birthday. To my surprise, most wrote back enthusiastically to tell me that they were coming,” Brooks said.

A banquet hall has been booked on Marquis Street for the gala affair that is also expected to be attended by other stalwarts of the city’s Anglo-Indian community, such as Paul Mantosh, Neil O’Brien, Gillian Hart, Richard Flynn and Shane Calvet.

The illustrious teacher has many an interesting anecdote to narrate. “Dr Graham’s Homes runs a nursery nursing centre — the only one of its kind in the country. Since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister, Vijaylakshmi Pandit, was closely associated with the school, Indira Gandhi knew about our nursery nannies. She actually visited the school with her son Rajiv and I selected a Lepcha girl to be the nanny for Rahul and Priyanka, who is still with the family,” he remembers.

Who's who at former teacher's birthday bash

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