St. Paul's English High School, Karachi

Even though St. Paul's English High School is the least known of the places I got educated in, I have no hesitation in saying that this school and its teachers (except the jerk "Brother Monteen" (sorry Ralph ;-) ) contributed more to my life than any place, even more so than Aitchison College, Engineering University or the Columbia University Business School. Particularly noteworthy were teachers like Sister Mary Frances, one of the finest human beings I have ever known and one of the kindest teachers ever.

I went to this school, I believe, in late 1969, and passed my O' Levels Cambridge University Exams from there in late 1976. Even though many of us have not been in touch for 20 (correction, it is now 28 years!) years, but it is a feeling I have that a bond continues between the people from that year. I made this page on May 8, 1996 (updated on 3/13/04), when, in just the last 12 hours I have received email from 2 other missing in action aPaulos.

Please note there was a delayed 25th Year Reunion for the class of 1976 in New York on July 30, 2004. This took place and 4 out of the 5 US based 1976 Cambridge people were in attendance - Ian, Imran, Mohsin & Oscar. See pictures. Aamir was in Mexico and could not attend. Dale D'Souza, a former classmate, was unable to make it from Canada for a family gathering there. More info on updated contacts below. Update 2005: ReUnion 2005 takes place in 24 hours with the US based people from this group re-converge on Heron Pointe for a weekend of fun, friendship and frolic. We continued this every year but the economic turmoil, and personal crisis of 2009-2010 caused two reunions to be missed. We started catching up with a Manhattan weekend Spring 2011, including a Yankees-Mets Baseball game.

THE SCHOOL

A large compound houses two rather simple rectangular buildings, respectively the Urdu and the English medium sections.

Update: I finally made it to the school in 2004 and had the pleasure of spending time with Fr. Martis, and several of the people who were there 30 years ago! Ms. Ernestine, the Principal's secretary is as sharp as ever, and Sir Anwar has not lost his charm and youth. What was amazing was to see how Ernestine whisked out my student file from THIRTY YEARS ago! Even a letter I wrote from Aitchison College, in 1977, to the then-Principal, was in the file.

Saw many others, and took a tour of the halls of the great school with Fr. Martis. The two original parallel buildings now have a third structure perpendicular to them (along what was the wall with St. Joseph's Girls School (College?) next door). Construction was going on rapidly and it should be near completion by now. I also had the pleasure of attending the school assembly where the Principal was kind enough to actually announce me to the assembly and allow me to make a short speech.

Standing there, in front of all those young boys, it was an amazing feeling that 30+ years can go by so fast and how I was standing among those students "just yesterday". I was impressed by the discipline, and good behavior of the students. I told them how proud I was of the school and what great learning they can achieve there. I was also very happy to announce a set of academic scholarship/prizes which I had discussed with the faculty earlier. The idea is to provide a set of incentives to students coming First and Second in Cambridge Sections IX and X, and Matric classes 9 and 10. As more friends join in the effort the number and size of scholarships would increase. The first of these was sent to the school in July 2005, consisting of a $500 donation from Ian Sequeira, Mohsin Shad, Oscar Freitas and myself. Others were invited to contribute but did not respond.

The people I remember from those years include the following:

St Paul’s Alumni found

(Names in boldface are Class of 1976 O' Levels, names in Italics mean I am not absolutely sure, please let me know. Updated March 27, 2004. Updated July 15, 2011)

Mohsin Shad (located again in 1990, last met for reunion on May 22, 2011 NYC)

Ian Sequeira (located again, contact thru Mohsin, last met for reunion on May 22, 2011 NYC)

Oscar Freitas (Maine, Fairchild, last met for reunion on May 22, 2011 NYC)

Amir Mufti (located joining Columbia after I graduated from there/missing again/located in CA, missed reunion but in contact by email & phone, but no contact since 2004)

Hassan Nasser (reportedly in London. Sad to report, Hasan died a few years ago of a heart attack. ILWIR/RIP)

Hussain Sharif (disappeared since Aitchison 1978, Agsar Virji {see below} reports he has resurfaced in Canada in 2004, did not respond to invitation)

Henry Liong (being searched for in Australia by old classmates who believe he is there. No luck since 1978).

Muhammad Walji (had contact by email but lost touch again)

Zain Haji (no known contact)

Younus Lakhani (no known contact)

Other batchmates from that time:

Dale D’Souza (met last night in Miami 3/12/2004 after THIRTY TWO YEARS, regular communications but infrequent in last few years, runs an entreprenurial business)

Carl Pinto (located in Canada, no response, Dale also reaching out to him, no response)

Darren Rodriguez (met in 1994 or so, Karachi, became really good with computers, 'Ecce Homo' :-) Stays in touch on FaceBook etc)

Chalres Perrera (Australia)

Stephen Coutinho (Australia, email contact, now in contact via FaceBook)

Ralph Croning (Canada, email contact, no further communications since 2003)

Dave Lobo

Leon Roybelove?

Murad Shahabuddin

Tukhbir Tajuddin

Russel Gomez

Glen Anwar Bayat

Ibrahim Butt (USA DHL, thru Dale/Mohsin)

Kamal (Mohsin’s cousin, Dubai)

Andre Pacheco (Pacheco? Was very agile, even more than Ralph Croning, and could easily have become a stuntman!)

Asgar Virji (Used car dealer in Karachi then, made contact from Canada in 2004 where he built his own super-luxury car sales business. Reportedly Hussain Sharif works for him)

An interesting note is that some of go back even further. Oscar, Dale and I were also classmates at Christ The King School in PECHS, Karachi, before transferring to St. Paul's. So, a separate reunion can be planned for that group.

If you have any more information and details about where these and other people we studied with went, please drop me a line.

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