Stan Blogs

Doordarshan has done a profile on Ferdinand Rodricks who was commended for his work with the disabled at BondOfBoys2012 which will be on TV on DD Sahayadhri on the 23^rd Feb at 08.00am and also at 09.00pm. Do view if you get a chance and tell other Stanislites to watch. 

http://arunferreira.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/arun-ferreira-released-from-jail/

The district and sessions court of Gadchiroli on Wednesday granted bail to Mumbai-based alleged Maoist Arun Thomas Ferreira (40) who was arrested by the anti-naxalite squad in connection with a police-naxalite encounter in the district.

Farreira, who was arrested along with senior naxalite leader Arun Satya Reddy alias Murali in Nagpur in 2007, was acquitted of 11 different cases, including a case of unlawful activities by the sessions court in Nagpur. However, whenever he was acquitted of one charge and was ordered release, the state police re-arrested him on fresh set of charges.

He was booked by the Gadchiroli police last year after he was acquitted by the local court in another charge. It was alleged that Ferreira was involved in a police-naxalite encounter near Jafargarh under Korchi tahsil in Gadchiroli district in April, 2007.

Jagdish Meshram, the counselor of Ferreira informed that the principal district and session judge, SS Ahmed granted him a bail on condition that he should report to the nearest police station at Bandra in Mumbai once in a month and a personal bond of Rs 50,000.

It was an emotional moment for Ferreira and his relatives at the central jail here on Wednesday afternoon after his release. A group of lawyers, his parents and well-wishers received and he immediately proceeded for Mumbai.

Fed up with the alleged bias of the state police and jail authorities for re-arresting him on one case after being acquitted in another, Ferreira filed a petition before the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday against the state authorities and slapped a compensation of Rs 25 lakh.

 Hoshang Irani (my batch-mate-1972 pass-out -- he was in Std. XI-C) was murdered on the auspicious day of Christmas (25 Dec 2011- Sunday) at his new home in Dahisar (West). He moved from Bandra (West) to Dahisar (West) about 3-4 months back. There he was alone between 10.00 pm and 11.45 pm when his life was cut short and he was murdered. Today's Times of India (27 Dec 2011) has a news item on page 5 and an announcement about Uthamna on page 10.

Hoshi (as we his class-mates called him) was a soft hearted, kind and caring person. Today (27 Dec 2011)I attended his Uthamna along with Kushru Dalal (another 72 batch guy and very close to Hoshi) at Doongerwadi, Kemps Corner from 03.30 pm to 05.00 pm. It is worth mentioning that no other Batch-mate attended.

Hoshi ... I will always miss you, friend. But I do realise that God needs you more than you were needed here on earth.

/rajiv bhasin -- batch of 1972 -- std. XI-A.

Fund raising for the St. Stanislaus Teachers Healthcare program is a stressful time. We had a target of Rs 5 Lakhs and a deadline of raising the money before 25-October and we have been doing it for the last five years. Today 21-Oct we reached our target of Rs 5 lakhs after about 35 days.

This year has been especially stressful as we did not have an online payment gateway available and I was fearful that we may not reach our target. Online payments really give momentum to our fund raising efforts. However one person has over the years been silently raising funds (His Class of 1975 will testify not so silently :) ) for the cause without any demand to be recognized. Take a bow Bryce D’silva (Class of 1975). You are truly “Born for Greater things”, you give without counting the costs.

This year we were doubly blessed when Devdas Kamath (Class of 1976) worked with his batchmates to top the Class Ranking for funds raised.

Thank You my friends, I can sleep easier tonight.

THANK YOU STANISLITES FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT, THANK YOU FOR A VERY BRIGHT DEEPAVALI

This morning I had a visit from Yeshwant Ohal's wife and elder son. For the last four days he has been in the ICU of Guru Nanak hospital on a ventilator. At Guru Nanak there is no Social Worker to help economically weak, they just have to pay the bills. There was desperation on the faces of both mother and son. They do have the Teachers Healthcare card which will help them recover part of their expenses. Yeshwant's son works as a driver while the younger son works as a peon in our school.

Yeshwant was not one of our teachers who made an impact on us for life, he was a simple peon who swept our School floors and cleaned and watered the grounds. It is people like Yeshwant that make donating for the Teachers Healthcare program even more relevant and worth while.

Composting is one of the best ways you can reduce the amount of waste you are responsible for. It is the most effective and efficient way of returning Carbon to the soil. When Composting is done at source the benefits are multiplied several times.
In the past year a few households, societies and institutions in Bandra have not had the need to use the daily BMC garbage trucks that contribute to the many landfills around Mumbai.

What started off as devising a simple low cost method for conveniently composting food waste for one family on an experimental basis has now spread to 20 other locations with many more in active discussions.
 
The Compost Tumbler has answers to problems faced by those who are already doing composting with varied levels of success; whether the stench, the rodents & cats, lack of space, no soil, meat & fish waste, etc. As it is closed it eliminates these factors as well as making for idealy weather-proof.
 
Ventilation allows fresh air in and drainage ensures ridding of excess moisture. A weather resistant frame with pivots for tumbling the bin results in an ideal aerobic composting environment that can be maintained for many years.

All that it needs is our wet and dry organic waste put in, a couple of tumbles a day and about 15 to 20 days later, depending upon conditions conducive, the compost is ready.

 The attached DNA (22 June'11)news article shows the importance given by the University of Oxford to the Alumni's role in its functioning.  

http://stanislites.org/alumni/files/IMG.pdf

In a day and age when Libraries are scarce in Mumbai it was refreshing to read this in today's Afternoon newspaper http://www.afternoondc.in/epaper/EpaperPost.aspx?id=27647

Dr Keki Gharda (Class of 1941) we thank you for this fantastic library. This library is  an oasis in a concrete jungle that Bandra has become. I hope Stanislites make the time to visit the library.