Events

  Personally Speaking 95th Birthday message from Richard Pereira

At the request of my Superior, I write this “personally speaking” of my own on the occasion of my 95th birthday. In recent years when `sharing’ has become a part of community meetings I have shared most of what I describe here and so to many it will be a mere repetition.

I was born on Good Friday (05.04.12) at three o’clock in the afternoon in Blantyre, which was then the capital of British Nyasaland, Africa. In later years I discovered that Blantyre was exactly on the same longitude as Jerusalem and so as Jesus bowed His head and died I raised my head out of my mother’s womb!

On 8th April I was subjected to a severe attack of convulsions so that all hopes of my surviving were given up and I was given baptism as an emergency. Soon after an elderly African entered my home and on seeing my condition, picked me up and threw me into a large tub of cold water. The shock ended my convulsions and I survived.

At the age of six my dad brought me to Bombay to live with my nearest relatives. My Uncle Priest took me to St. Mary’s Mazagaon, to be admitted as a boarder and I did my entire schooling there, graduating from my senior Cambridge and my Bombay Matriculation by March 1929. In the Senior Cambridge Examination I was the only candidate throughout the British Empire to obtain a Distinction in Arts.

In the Senior Cambridge Class of 1928 there were 19 students, 12 of whom were Catholics. Of these 12, eight decided to join the Jesuits, one as a lay brother. One of them, however Albert Lobo, decided to go to Africa to wish his parents goodbye but did not come back. He got married instead, but his son, Dionysius, became a Jesuit to repair the loss. Included among the six others were: Llyod who joined the English Province, Naomi Sarkis, Edward D’Cruz, D’Souza Lawrence, and myself. I was the first East Indian to do so.

I was sub-beadle in the novitiate, in the juniorate and in the philosophate where I was later made beadle. I was beadle in tertianship as well. During my regency, I spent three years in St. Xavier’s School, Fort, Bombay, three years in St. Joseph’s College, Trichy doing my M.A. in maths, and one year in St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, doing my B’Ed, where I stood First in the University. Later I was the first Indian Principal of St. Xavier’s School, both in Bombay and in Jaipur. I also became the first Indian Rector of St. Xavier’s Community, Bombay.

Against this background it was not surprising that, when in June 1956 the Vice- Provincial went to Rome and Spain for six months, I was appointed Acting Vice- Province to the status of a Province, I was appointed as its first Provincial. Because of painful experiences I went through in the months I acted as Vice-Provincial, I wrote to the General giving my reasons why he should withdraw my appointment and he agreed to do so and appointed Fr. Jerome Aixala instead.

 Providence also intervene in this matter. Because of a shoe-bite I received a generous dose of Cibazol powder, and since I was very allergic to Sulphur drugs, I became a victim of weeping eczema. Fortunately I discovered that a very dry climate reduced its effects. I was sent to St. Xavier’s, Jaipur, to be Principal there for a year. As it turned out, I remained there as Principal for 13 years.

When the Council for the ISCE was inaugurated, I was an active member of it. Six Jesuit Principals, including myself, and two lay Principals decided to found what was to be known as the ASSISC (The Association of schools for the ISCE). Today it contains more than 600 members including the Public Schools Conference, The Inter-State Board of Anglo-Indian Education, the ASSISC and also representatives from the British Council, the CBSE and some other bodies.

In June 1968 the British Council decided to send me as the representative from India to attend the course in the University of Hull, (U.K), for introducing Modern Maths into schools. The Provincial of Patna followed his up by sending me around the world to visit Jesuit schools and learn from them. With this rich knowledge I introduced Modern Maths into St. Xavier’s, Jaipur. The Council for the ISCE also decided to do the same.

 When I became Principal of St. Xavier’s School, Bombay, a Mr. Shah approached me with an offer to run a tour for our students and teachers around India. All I had to do was to book a tourist bogie. As far as I was aware no school in India had conducted such a tour before. As the cost per head was cheap, agreed to it. On the night of departure from VT, I was busy dealing with the parents of the students on the platform and so was unable to check things. The next morning I learnt to my shock from the agent of Mr. Shah that he had bee supplied with just enough material to supply breakfast! So when we reached Jabalpur, I bought enough store to supply us for a few days and in Patna replenished my funds to carry on with the rest of the tour. Homi Lala, who later became a famous tourist agent, was a student on this tour. Thus I learnt how to conduct such tours on my own and even once conducted a tour to Europe. Mr. Shah refunded all the money I gave him.

And so `personally speaking’ you will have realized that all along I was following whatever guidance Providence was giving me and that everything has gone smoothly with only a few bumps along the way right up to my 95th birthday.

Fr. Richard Pereira,
Fr. Richard Pereira  SJ  died on the April 22, 2007 at Vinayalaya, Andheri.