Old Martinians

The Kolkata La Martiniere Boys school trouble is still making news. We report on some of the recent highlights but there has been so much exposure  with all and sundry getting their “tuppence” in. We hope that all is settled soon for the sake of the students and staff.

This web site went on line in July 1998 and was absorbed into the benefits offered by the re-established Old Martinians Association UK when they took office in 2000. We have now being going for over 10 years and we appreciate your support over the years and hope this will continue. You should know that the OMA UK committee have gone on line with a second web site. Maybe you will discover any advantages offered by a second web site from the same organisation.

This site is appealing to a wider audience and hence we have removed the “UK” from the title logo. We welcome old Martinians wherever they may be and of whatever vintage. We are endeavouring to bring you some stories from the old days blended in with the things that are happening in our schools and their locations today.

We are striving to keep improving the site by including  interactive features and choosing interesting stories and featuring the achievements of some of our our past students. We also hope to bring you some news of what is going on in our old schools at this time and of the activities of the present students and of the happenings in the places we knew so well in school. But the schools continue to excel in their activities and maintain the very high standards that we have now come to accept. I have  included items from the local press which relate to our schools and pupils in places which we knew in India and the educational significance which is generated by them in the environment. I am amazed at the depth and breadth of the  collaborative activities undertaken.

In this issue we are continuing to present  some articles from the collected records compiled by Clayton Roberts. Clayton has been the editor of the OMA Newsletter from Perth Australia for some time. He has earned a reputation for his knowledge of all things Martinian. He has been kind enough to support me by sharing with me some of his collection which I shall present to visitors on a regular basis.

We have a register to help build up and add to the Directory of Old Martinians maintained by Vinoth Kumar and Clayton Roberts in Perth, Australia. This is a straight forward form which goes through Serif Web Resources and is quite secure. I urge all new Martinian visitors to the site to register. I am glad to say that the list of new registrations  is slowly but surely increasing. The main idea is to contact others and let old friends know how to get in touch with you. If addresses are published openly there is the risk of spammers and other unsavoury characters getting to you. This is more serious than you may think. I and others have had malicious e mails purporting to come from friends who have had their contacts published saying that they are in trouble and need some funds to be sent to a given address. I am building a protected page which will only be accessed by old Martinians who have registered on this site. This will provide access to full contact details of others who have signed in. Please do register.  You will have access to contact details of old friends and other facilities yet to come.

We have re-introduced the Guest book. It was withdrawn as it was being used by individuals who were entering impolite messages. All messages are now being scrutinised by the system before they are printed and so it is safe to enter your message which will not be distorted. After entering your message, you must click on “save” for the message to be accepted. This has often been a great collector together of news of friends and colleagues. It is another way of sending messages. By including your

name and e mail address, old friends can get in touch or will learn where you are and what you are doing.

We will be pleased to receive any news items, stories or photos of yourself or friends to include.

  A very popular part of the earlier site was the archives from previous editions of the Newsletter edited by Warren Cox. We are at the moment configuring a new sub-section which will include these archives.  

I hope you will have a look at the Videos & DVD page. In this issue we present a humorous  look at the call centre culture that has developed bringing unexpected prosperity to our brothers and sisters in India and other previously considered third world countries.We also include another of Terry Misra songs “I’m an Anglo Indian”. You are sure to want to sing a long with this one.

In the main photo gallery (access from News & Views), there is a random selection of photos which you will find interesting. These have come from various sources, circulated mainly by Clayton and Vinoth. We would welcome any photos for publication. They need to be in jpg form for the ISP.


Warren Cox (Editor)