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ALOHA SCINTILLATIONS 2010 JNC fest on 22nd and 23rd will be etched in our memories forever. it could be said that we Johnites, went, participated and conquered.
to start of with, the Mad med men juniors from the batch of 2007 took part in ice breaker. the determination to win was quite evident from the fact that jino roshan jobin davis came all the way from Kerala despite vacations to participate. after a few nerve wrecking moments where there were doubts as to whether we would even participate cos guitarist TP was stuck in his community medicine end off exam, we managed to pull of a performance that had the audience in their splits . honestly speaking we didnt expect to win this time and our chances took a further blow when we came to know that we had exceeded the time limit. but guess it was going to be our day as we were announced the winners. what a great way to start the fest and maintain our 100% winning streak in ice breakers.
well the following few lines may sound narcissist or gloating about self but please do pardon.4 events were clashing at the same time for yours truly. only red bull and ice cream saved me from collapse out of exhaustion. by the grace of god and the support of fellow johnites, i could pull of 2nd in JAM after a tough competition with Christ college and SJPUC. it was then turn for picto where my team consisting of avian chang, jeffrey lewis and myself and the team from the batch of 2009 comprising of jerry,brian royson qualified for the finals. after getting power puff girls in 3 seconds and guessing the names of songs and personalities we manged to finish 2nd just 5 points behind the winners of east point college. it was also fun to be carla bruni in aircrash and share the honours. henry and kurian from the batch of 2009 finished 3rd in a quiz. the evening was marked by the appearnce of kannada actor chetan which probably resulted in deafness for a few as the girls just couldnt stop screaming.
2nd day arrived. mad ads began with a twist. we had 2 new members in tilak pinto and jasbon andrade. moreover, the judge stipulated a new rule that we had to include a celebrity in our mad ads and we got the king himself-lalloo. nevertheless we wracked our brains and incorporated him into a scene. the cheers of the crowd egged us on to give one of our best performances. and in what was one of the stiffest competitions we have taken part in out of 15 teams we were adjudged 1st. best narrator went to jobin jose of our team and best actor to jino joy. jino continued his award winnig spree and had the crowd in rapturous applause for his rendition of Othello in Malayalam which was followed by a humorous take on the navarasa. no surprises that he walked away with victory.
being a medical student helps. in whats the gud word, we walked with a 1-2 victory. guessing the movie JAWS by the clue mandible, staccato from intermittent might seem a cakewalk for us johnites but other teams were spellbound by the ease in which we won. though we qualified for the DC finals, we couldnt make the most of it.
in the end we will remember the fest. we could not repeat the heroics of last year as we did not have representation in most of the stage events and a different points system. nevertheless we made our mark and our presence felt. a big thank you to Nikhil Dhanpal and the 2006 committee. and congratulations to all the winners and participants.

Wow…in retrospect, I could just about say I’m speechless…just like the WAY-MORE-THAN capacity crowd inside the St.John’s Auditorium on the evening of 11th December, who marveled at the mere decorative brilliance of the venue dressed in all its fantabulous Christmassy attire (I’ll elaborate later); but I mean, being speechless would do everything but justice to writing a report of one of the biggest events on the Johnite Calendar, JINGLE ROCK 2009 which is henceforth known as CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
With the University Exams in mid-December, we, the Batch of 2008, knew that we’d have to work double hard to make up for the dearth of support, experience and talent of our seniors; and when you’re stepping into the shoes of people like Dwayne, Jarvis, Binston and Co. from the Batch of 2005 who’ve pioneered the event, mind you, these are HUGE shoes you’re stepping into.
A week of November had elapsed when the choir started practice. As is the case every year, we had to initially deal with a mélange of lame/preposterous/incredulous excuses of people coming late for practices for reasons ranging from “I had to buy a Greeting Card!” to “I was playing Carom in the Mess!!!” This year, practices were shifted to the Food Court until the start of December, so we worked tirelessly from 5pm to 8pm every evening, as the November twilight and the accompanying chilly weather descended on us.
But even with the horizon of exams looming closer with every passing minute, our seniors showed us their true Johnite spirit. Everyday a few of them (either from Batch ’05, ’06 or ’07) walked in to help us out, giving us inputs on how to improve the choir, personally helping the juniors learn their parts and also teaching us how to handle inefficiency, etc. A huge THANK YOU (and a Big Hug) to all of them. With post-dinner practices from the 1st of December, we had our hands tied trying to co-ordinate the choir and band, each trying to drown out the other.
We formed separate committees as is tradition for Artwork & Decoration, Band, and Choir and so on. I took charge of the Choir, and Aubrey (Batch ’08) took charge of the band. Lisa, Santhi, Victor and Co.(all from Batch ’08) took responsibility for regulating the decorations, and Ann Sarah (Batch ’08) took charge of handling just about everything else from settling Accounts to printing Posters to tying up every loose end possible. Our Artwork committee went into overdrive towards the end of November. With ideas pouring in, literally in frenzy, but a way smaller budget to work with, we set out to work. Tirelessly we worked every evening, trying to balance music and artwork to meet our deadline. I remember people from both the Batch of 2008 and the Batch of 2006 staying up until 5am on the final day to setup the auditorium. We needed Nikhil Dhanpal’s car and about 25 others on foot to finally transport the artwork from the college foyer to the Auditorium. Rahul Fernandez (Batch of ‘06) with his electrical genius and unbelievable energy walked on the rods above the stage to suspend the decorations and complete the circuits. The result: was a breath-taking backdrop painting of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, lit by halogen lamps, into glowing life…Life size Bells in gold and red suspended from the ceiling…Small to gigantic candles (lit by flickering bulbs to mimic flame)…large holly…and massive hanging stars (forming the Stage alone). The foyer at the entrance of the Audi was a sight to behold. On one side, amidst a landscape of cotton-snow stood a 12-foot Snowman, which the little kids could not take their eyes off, and the little ones were crawling into the snow while eager parents clicked photos of them. On the other side stood the cutest looking reindeer I’ve seen, crafted to perfection, full with a red-nose and everything. Whew! I give up! I cannot quite describe the effort that went into the decorations. Hats off to the team!

The nursing college and the non teaching staff did their bit on stage to set things rolling in motion. one cannot forget a little on dressed as an angel jumping on stage waving the wand , posing for photos clicked by fr. matthew and running with full of energy on stage. it defintely was not part of the script but then again the innocence of the child had the entire auditorium in rapturous applause and laughter. Mr.jayasheelan from the estate department amazed everyone by playing popular carols like silent night, jingle bells on the mouth organ.

The director Rev.Fr.Lawrence d’Souza gave a very valubale and relevant message by means of a story and drawing an analogy about how St.Johns is rendering service and giving hope, life nd answers.

Every single person came in and contributed and we’re very proud of it. The MC for the evening Karthik Shyam gave a bit of trivia about each carol.
As for the Band and Choir, we had a blast on stage. I guess it’s fair to say that we gave it the best shot we could with the sound system available. Hours of tuning, adjusting, and sound-checking, finally just about paid off. The Baby Juniors from the Batch ‘09 were great to work with, and together with the rest of the choir and band, gave the audience a fabulous show.

Not to forget the staff  Dr.Arvind Kasthuri,Dr. Kiron Verghese, Dr. Mary Verghese, Dr.Maria Lewin who enthralled the crowd with their singing particulary dr.kasthuri and dr. kiron with their booming bass voices.

Christmas is incomplete without Santa Clause.  As Dr.Kasthuri called them Santae(plural fr santa), the 5  Santae ran among the crowds much to the children’s delight and then dance on stage. they also coordinated handing over the gifts in the amphitheatre.

The PG’s then thrilled the audience with a series of carols reminding us of the sheer impeccable musical talent with which Jingle Rock had begun in John’s. With Feliz Navidad, we threw up our caps, overjoyed at the sheer relief and exhilaration of having done it! Finally…after a month of toil, we had finally made it work!!

The icing on the cake was when Binston on request especially from his babies decided to sing Holy night impromptu which led to the band members coming back on stage.  And as is the case for the last 3 years, the audience were left spellbound by his performance. a perfect way to end the night.
Finally, when Ann walked onto stage to give the Vote of Thanks on behalf of our batch, she meant every word of it, as did we. Every person who was involved did his/her bit to make that evening wonderful.
Looking back as we cleared up the auditorium, we waved away the nostalgia that hit us, the little incidents that made us smile or guffaw, the disappointment of stupid errors and the contrasting joy of tiny successes. Through it all, the Staff Society stood by us, and Fr. Matthew, our Associate Director, graciously granted us permission for almost everything we asked of him; and the Student’s Executive Committee was our Rock, till the very end. Without them, Jingle Rock 2009 would’ve been only a distant dream.
It took until 11pm and beyond for the party lights to fade away that night, but for us, “Jingle Rock 2009” is our Baby, and it’s thoughts will obviously, never fade away from our minds…

President, Student’s Executive Committee, SJMC

Hey there.I’m really sorry for bringing out this post real late.No excuses just downright lazy…Well here we go.. First Stop JIPMER…Well this year we had a massive contingent going there numbering about 90-95!!! majority being the jobless second years.This Spandan we happily continued our ever so loving rivalry with KMC Mangalore and of course were winners in football ,throwball & runners up in Badminton(Mens),Basketball(girls) and in hockey(did ya know u could score with your leg in JIPMER ,turns out to be YES).In the culturals we,of course,missed the music team from the batch of 05 and “Swayam” our choreo team…. having said that we weren’t short in enthusiasm to make up for the absentees …take for instance..the enthusiastic bunch from 08 putting up a performance in Indian Music and won Sharan the second best vocalist.We finished first In western acoustic…let me brag a bit..I was in that team…Anyway then we had the boys from 07 aka Mad Med Men Inc Juniors who came in a car and went back the same way by being winners in Ad zap n second in Skit.Shanti won painting and Nobin won in face painting….well this SPANDAN was fantastic not just cause of the prizes won but the UNITY OF All JOHNITES always stood high..So what can I say”You may hate us,You may love us but you just can’t ignore us”

Next Stop – Tea with Bishop Percy…Our former director agreed to join us for tea to distribute the prizes won at JIPMER & talk with us – the next generation of docs.He talked to us about his times in John’s and difficulties he faced and advised us how to get along with our lives here with the changed atmosphere in place…

Finally to those who feel that the Gym is really close to their hearts….With the help of Dr Kutappa (Anaesthesia) and of course efforts by Steve Joys,The Indoor Sports Secretary, the gym has been reasonably renovated to our needs.We would be extremely happy to welcome any contributions towards to the gym fund so as to maintain it for many years to come…Alright thats about it now.Oh i almost Forgot Jingle Rock’s happening on Dec 11 probably the only sought after event in St John’s now…

Full marks to you for persistence. Honestly, with the hectic schedule that I have these days – I can hardly get down to checking my mail. I thought this sabbatical will give me some free time to do some personal stuff but this is just not happening. After your “n”th reminder I thought I should open my account.
With all my traveling I think the theme of my posts will be the Johnites I meet on the road – with the intention of informing our students what the alumni have ended up doing. Let me warn you guys there will be a lot of “those were the days…”!
So let me start with my latest encounter – Dr. Rony Mathew at Ernakulam.
Rony is from the Bo83 – a year my senior. President of the Student’s Union for the year 1985-86. I took over from him the next year. My memories of Rony go back to the rivalry that his batch and ours had during the late 1980s. Those were the days (there I go) when all the able-bodied men would be found on the hockey or football field every evening – and we have had our share of encounters there. But there was more incidents in the cultural arena – naturally immediate seniors cannot stand the thought of losing to their juniors.
But all this is forgotten once you leave St. John’s. I remember going to Bombay in January 1994 (four years after I last met Rony) and he came all the way out to my classmate’s residence in the KEM Hostel just to chat and catch up with old times. That’s one lesson – no matter where you go Johnites will hunt each other down just to relive the old days.
Rony is now the much sought-after Chief Cardiologist at Ernakulam’s Lissie Hospital. I had to go and see him because he was treating two of my relatives. The crowd outside his evening OPD was humongous – I took the liberty of walking right in and discussing my relatives’ cases. I had to do that because when we used the normal channels to get an appointment we were told that the earliest we could get to meet Rony would be May 2010!! Even, Devi Shetty at NH is not so busy!
At the end of the day, it’s guys like these who make you proud to be a Johnite! Am traveling to Delhi this weekend – wonder who I will run into.

Hi!

For those who don’t know me, I’m George K. John from the batch of 2003. Iv just been selected as one among the five Rhodes scholars from India for the year 2010.It’s a great feeling to be among illustrious company, being the sixth Rhodes scholar from St.Johns. This win is especially special because I’m the second person from the batch of 2003 after Rakesh Sharma to become a Rhodes scholar, a definite record of sorts.

The elaborate process of applying began in July with me running around getting references and testimonials. After that I sat down to write the thousand word essay which forms the heart of the application. I heard back from the Rhodes trust in the end of August saying I’d been short listed for the regional interviews. The total number of applicants vary each year and range from 400 to 600 of which approximately 200 are selected for the regional interviews held in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata.I was informed of my selection to the final interview during the end of September.

The final interview for the Rhodes Scholarship was held in Mumbai on the 11th and 12th of October. It has been a tradition of the Rhodes scholarships to have a dinner on the previous night of the interview for the candidates to meet the panel. The panel for this year was under the chairmanship of Mr.Ratan Tata and included Congress leader and parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi. Others on the panel included Mr. Nandan Kamath, Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal, Ms. Rakhi Mehra, Professor Vir Chauhan (the secretary of the Rhodes trust in India) and others.

The interview was a great experience and lasted for about 20 minutes. It was a real honour to be able to interact with people of the stature of Ratan Tata, Rahul Gandhi and the other Rhodes Scholars on the panel, all pioneers in their respective fields.

And after waiting for the longest time the results were finally announced. The Scholars for 2010 would be Baskar Bhusan who is currently doing an MSc in Chemistry from IIT Kanpur and will study a Phd in Chemistry at Oxford; Tanya Bhattaracharya who is currently in her final year of a BA in History from University of Delhi St Stephens College and will pursue a second BA in History, V Niranjan of NLSIU, Aditya Swarup of NALSAR and me.

I intend to pursue a masters in Global Health at the University of Oxford and to specialize in medical oncology later. Preventive oncology, especially screening and early diagnosis and treatment of the most prevalent cancers is what I am most interested in. I aim to come back to India after my studies and set up a community-based cancer screening and treatment program in the near future.

Although academic excellence forms the foundation to become a Rhodes Scholar, I think that should not become a hindrance to do what you really like and enjoy doing. The aim at least in undergraduate days at St.John’s should be to utilize the wonderful opportunity which is provided to us to develop as well rounded individuals.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, my brother, my teachers at St.John’s and my dear friends all of whom have played a key role in moulding me as a person. I would like to express my special gratitude to the Mad Med Men, our team, and finally to God almighty without whose blessings none of this would have been possible.

I do hope that more Johnites will join the list of Rhodes scholars in the years to come. I look forward to my time at Oxford next year and hope that it will be an enriching experience.

Regards,

George K. John
Batch of 2003
St.Johns Medical College
Rhodes Scholar – elect, Class of 2010.