Hendy has passed on!

The news Friday night (April 26, 2013) that Mr Oscar Henderson has passed away saddened me. I came home from work after midnight and discovered the news on facebook.

This is the letter Mrs Henderson has put out to all Martinians and others who knew him:

Dear Friends,
Greetings to you from the Henderson family in Tampa, Florida excluding your very dear friend Oscar, who is no more. Yes, Oscar left us all for his Heavenly Abode, yesterday, Thursday 25th April ’13 at 1.15 pm.

It is with great sadness that I write about Oscar, my precious husband, the love of my life for the last 54 years, my best friend, my All! Even though he was pretty unwell for the past couple of years, by the Grace of God, his final moments were very quick with little struggle. This was so because he was a good man and well blessed by our Heavenly Father.

Oscar as you know lived and enjoyed his life to the fullest, putting others’ needs before his own, and at all times doing his very best for all he interacted with. Each endeavor he undertook was with sincerity and honesty. Where ever he went he spread happiness and cheer all around. It is for this very reason that he did not disclose his ill health issues to anyone outside of his immediate family. Instead he focused his attention on spreading happiness and goodwill to his siblings, wife, children, grandchildren and hundreds of friends all around the Globe with inspirational, motivating, informative and witty emails. His inability to travel to catch up with family and friends was balanced by the constant flow of e-mails, online bridge games, listening to music, keeping up with the Daily News and watching the Sports Channel - his favorites being Rugby and Cage Boxing!

What I will miss most is while he was an excellent human being, gregarious, intelligent, a towering personality who made heads turn, he was deep down God fearing, and very soft and tender on the inside. His innate ability to sense and share pain or sorrow of others and always lend a helping hand, was truly remarkable. I am positive each one of you will recall and reminisce some of those moments spent with him.

As we prepare for the upcoming funeral service, I am proud to see how Michael our son, has so easily slipped into his father’s shoes working through the logistics, taking into account my wishes for Oscar. He and his family have been by his side throughout this arduous journey and were with him as he breathed his last. Unfortunately our daughters, Debbie, Sandy, Jennifer and their families were unable to be here in time to say their goodbyes but will be with me as we lay him to rest. In addition, we will be joined by family from Australia, UK and Canada - his sister Anne and her family, his brothers Bruce and Tom, his cousin Shaku and other close friends in the US will be present to bid him a final farewell.

I will end with the consolation my 9 year old granddaughter Rebecca, extended to me yesterday as she innocently remarked how her Grandpa was no longer in pain and safe with Jesus. She went on to quote a verse she had recently learnt at school,

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelations 21:4

Sorrowfully,

Meena

Going forward: Contact Details while in the United States:

Meena Henderson
5824 West Inter Bay Blvd.
TAMPA. 33611
Residence Telephone – 1-813-944 3047
e-mail: meena@iecworldwide.com

La Martiniere Jr School

Mon April 22, 2013

The junior blocks have expanded considerably. The view is restricted to what can be seen from the front gate.

The fields here are again green with the care that has been taken over
 the past months 

Over the years outsiders misused these grounds. You'd even have people
 learning to drive here.

La Martiniere Lake 1976

This is the only know picture of the lake, taken in 1976 by John Cline, after the embankment, known locally as a 'bund'
 had come up cutting off the lake from the two-century old 'Constantia'.

This picture was taken in June 2011.  The river has since been rerouted flowing about 100 metres beyond where it is seen in the pic which is  close to the distant embankment.

 The River Gomti, like most rivers in India and elsewhere, would flood during the rainy season and overflow its banks all along its course, joining up with the Martiniere lake forming a sheet of water for miles beyond. The earliest water levels was registered in perhaps, 1923 to be beaten by the High Flood Level - 1960. During the next decade the water level never went much beyond the banks of the lake, barely reaching the road in front of the Martiniere steps. This was much to the disappointment of  the school boys (us). The next big flood was in 1971. I was out of school and in Calcutta at the time. The flood level, I don't remember accurately while I write this, was close if not higher than the 1960 level. This was the proverbial last straw for the city administration. To protect the growing city building embankments on both sides of the river was seen as the only way out! This spelt doom for the lake because instead of building the bund along the river beyond the lake, it litterally ripped in half a masterpiece when it cut the lake off from the building. It doesn't mean much for those who have joined the institution after the 'crime' but remains a festering sore for all of us from the 1960's and earlier.
Leaving aside the aesthetics the lake was an experience, an adventure and a pastime  - the bank was where boys lolled around and chatted while dragonflies hovered over - boys of all ages sailed boats made from paper and wooden ice cream spoons that glided over the water lining the opposite back with a strip of white. One time the college warden had to order an end to boats, at least temporarily, because of the mess it had caused. Fishing was the other interest where boys fashioned hooks from pins to pull out mostly tiny fish that fell for the bait! Since the water level in the lake remained low most of the year it was a good way to crouch out of sight of a prefect or master and run down the length of the lake then popping up and hiding behind one of the many trees that lined the bank - a common way to escape punishment!

For the record: During the last tenure of the BSP Government, under Chief Minister Mayawati, squatters who had built a small village close to the railway tracks and were rival Samajwadi Party supporters, under Mulayam Singh Yadav, were 'relocated'. Then the whole lake area was cleared up to be used as a park. Not long after the BSP which had converted a large area into a memorial to Dalit leaders about 3-400 metres upstream from the Martiniere, decided to reroute the river closer to the opposite embankment, in the process building a weir 50 metres upstream (out of the pic), thus, giving back La Martiniere the land that the river had cut away. Of course one cannot really be given back as long as the bund exists. Today, in my estimation, the river is flowing where it must have flowed a century ago.  

Reclamation work!

April 17, 2013
Another old well on the Martiniere grounds was exposed to the world after the trees and bushes around it were removed in recent months. The school authorities remained completely oblivious to large swaths of property and concentrated on only what was in use and the running of the institution. The land on the village side, seen in the pictures, was also a part of the golf course in the 1960's and for a few years later. Once I left school, end of 1969, I must have visited a few times during the next two and a half decades. The embankment, better known as the bund, came up perhaps towards the ending of the '70's. This came as a shock to me! But I've got to admit I didn't notice the changes taking place on the village side of the road. The whole area had become an open-air toilet.
 Temples, in other words religion, has been long a weapon used for self-gain. Temples along roads in most parts of Lucknow are there to protect illegal constructions - usually businesses - shops etc. The temple in the top picture was planned for the same purpose but the school authorities constructed the boundary wall despite the place of worship being used to prevent it. Those behind  these temples often say that the temple has always been there, or, its thirty years old. The one in the pic supposed to be 30 years old!