Dilip Simeon's blog

NB: Today is my father's thirteenth death anniversary. A few of his students from the first few batches have circulated their personal recollections. It is mainly with them in mind that I post this essay which I wrote in 2008, for a Penguin collection. (And here is something I posted in 2018, on his birth centenary). I hope it triggers some golden memories!  Love to you all. Dilip Of Bagpipes, Horses and Golden Orioles Dilip Simeon from Recess: The Penguin Book of Schooldays Palash Mehrotra (ed); New Delhi, 2008 This is a very personal story about a public school. There will undoubtedly be names that I’ve left out, but I trust I’ll be pardoned my lapses. What I’m sure about is that all of us who joined it in its foundational years share a powerful affinity with a Haryana village named Kunjpura. (Dist., as they say, Karnal). Thinking about schooldays at a point in life when middle-age is edging towards elderly-ness, can be a strange encounter with oneself. I recall ...

Today is my father's birth centenary, he was born in Allahabad, the second child of his parents, J.J.  Simeon and Florence Addy on October 29, 1918; just before the end of the First World War. He had two sisters, Sheila and Roma. He studied at St Joseph's school, where he made some of his oldest friends: Nariman Gazder and Manilal Dave. (He used to say that they were friends from the time their legs didn't touch the floor when they sat at the desks in their classrooms). Among his close friends from Government College Allahabad were N.B Menon, Asphandiar Moddie, Jagat S. Mehta and 'Rajju' Haksar. I mention them because I know their children will remember my father and loved him. One of his friends, Sultan Ali, went away to Pakistan in 1947. Eric Joseph Simeon joined the Indian Army in the Intelligence Corps in Bombay in December 1943. It was at the Censor Station that he met my mother Georgina Pinto-Lobo , and her elder sister Leonildis, both of whom worked as tr...

Posted in memory of my dear mother, whose 93rd birthday falls today, August 8 Georgina Pinto Lobo (Jean Simeon) Georgina Pinto Lobo (Jean Simeon)

NB: I rarely place personal themes on this blog, but the exception has been a few posts memorialising my dear parents. This is not only for my own feelings, but also for all the many hundreds of people who knew them - fellow officers, students, parents of students, and friends. My father had two whole careers - as an Army officer in  the Corps of Signals,   and as principal of four schools - the Sainik School Kunjpura (Karnal); La Martiniere School for Boys (Calcutta), The Doon School Dehra Dun (where he was the first Indian Headmaster), and Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay.  Today is his eighth death anniversary. The pain has ebbed, and I no longer grudge him his well-deserved rest. Yet the memory of his last days in the Army hospital in Delhi is still stark, as are some of his last words. To remember him, I post the letter I sent out eight years ago to people who knew and loved him. With love to all, and with deepest remembrance to my father.. DS Dear fri...

Colonel Eric Simeon taught us that fair play is an inviolable principle. As we struggled with a wrenching school scandal we realised how right our favourite headmaster wa s. Indian education is often criticised for making students focus almost entirely on memorising facts to score high on tests rather than how to analyse, judge, lead and make ethical decisions. In this sea of mindless education, Col Eric Simeon stood out because he was so starkly different.  He was the principal of Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai during the 1980s, when I was in high school. Before that, he had been headmaster of two other top Indian educational institutions - La Martinere School for Boys (1967-70 ) in Kolkata and Doon School (1970-79 ). At Cathedral, he taught one class, general knowledge, in which students spent most of the time debating current and historical issues - from the ethics of India amassing nuclear weapons to the US dropping atomic bombs on Japan in the World War II....

Posted in memory of my dear mother, whose 88th birthday falls on August 8 This photo was taken in Sainik School Kunjpura, in 1963.  God made a wonderful mother, A mother who never grows old; He made her smile of the sunshine, And He moulded her heart of pure gold; In her eyes He placed bright shining stars, In her cheeks the fair roses you see; God made a wonderful mother, And He gave that dear mother to me.  - Pat O'Reilly

Farewell to Thee! But not farewell - To all my fondest thoughts of Thee; Within my heart they still shall dwell And they shall cheer and comfort me Lt Col Eric Joseph Simeon in Sainik School Kunjpura circa 1962 Life seems more sweet that Thou didst live  And men more true that Thou wert one;  Nothing is lost that Thou didst give Nothing destroyed that Thou hast done (Anne Bronte) My dear father was born this day, 93 years ago, in Allahabad.  He passed away in 2007, after a fulfilling life. This photograph was taken circa 1962.