trail blazer: Yusuf Hamied (far left) with his friends; (below) the statue of Jagadish Chandra Bose

A corner of Christ’s that’s forever Calcutta

The bust of Jagadish Chandra Bose, the “father of modern Indian science”, unveiled at Christ’s last December to mark his 150th birth anniversary, has been given a permanent place of honour at his old Cambridge College.

And last weekend, another old boy at Christ’s, Yusuf Hamied, chairman of Cipla, the pharmaceutical giant, was also honoured in recognition of his role as a long time benefactor to the college.

Hamied came up to Christ’s in 1954 to read Natural Sciences, graduated with a First and stayed on to do a PhD. The Cipla boss was elected an Honorary Fellow of Christ’s last year “to mark his outstanding contribution to the pharmaceutical industry and his provision of affordable drugs to the Third World”.

As guests filed into the Yusuf Hamied Centre for the felicitation function, they had to stroll past a clearing in the garden where the bust of Bose, sculpted by Biman Das, nestled at repose amidst the greenery.

Referring to the two other famous old boys of the college, the Master of Christ’s, Professor Frank Kelly, joked: “Last year we celebrated the 400th birth anniversary of (John) Milton, this year we are celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birth anniversary and who knows we may celebrate Yusuf Hamied in the future!”

Hamied, who had flown over from Mumbai with his wife, Farida, beamed with pleasure. Many of his friends, including a couple from Cathedral, “my old school in Bombay”, were present.

The Master told me, “We wanted to show Yusuf the sort of uses to which the lecture theatre is being put” — and Christ’s did indeed put on quite a show for its benefactor.

There were performances by the College’s Music Society and the Chapel Choir, extracts enacted from The Importance of Being Earnest by its Amateur Dramatic Society, a lecture on Darwin by science historian Jim Secord (“Darwin didn’t have a beard when he came up to Christ’s as a young man”), and a poem specially written for the occasion by Helen Mort, who graduated two years ago.

Hamied paid an emotional tribute to the eccentric admissions tutor in his day, Dr Lucan Pratt.

British eccentrics are not what they were, for legend has it that candidates for Christ’s, waiting nervously to be interviewed, were admitted if they caught the rugby ball Pratt flung at them. If they caught and drop kicked the ball into the wastepaper basket, they were admitted with an Open Scholarship.

Hamied now wants to build a sports pavilion and a boat house in memory of Pratt, who died last month aged 102.

Joking apart

Contrary to reports, Indians do have a sense of humour — and that’s official.

It can be revealed that the Comedy Store, which has been the launch pad for quite a few of Britain’s most popular stand up comedians since it was set up 30 years ago above a Soho strip joint, is opening a branch in India.

The Comedy Store has been described by Time Out as “still the greatest and most influential comedy club on the planet”.

A 300-seat theatre in Mumbai will be the Comedy Store’s first overseas venture. If this experiment proves successful, Calcutta could have one, too — a coffee house could be a good location.

“At present, there is no emerging comedy talent in India, and we hope to change all of that,” promises club founder and chief executive Don Ward.

“We’re looking for the first Indian stand up superstar and you never know, we may find the Paul Merton or Lee Evans of India,” he adds, referring to some of Britain’s best known comedians.

The idea is for comedians to stand in front of a microphone and tell jokes, often of questionable taste and on subjects normally considered taboo. There is also a plan to send in foreign comedians in an effort to make Indians laugh — which may be a risky venture.

Comedians exported to Calcutta, for example, may be foolhardy enough to risk jokes on, say, Mamata or the Left’s resolve to rule Bengal till the end of time, or worse, question Dada’s divine birthright to be Captain for Life. Maybe it would be safest if foreigners were told: “No jokes, please, we’re Indian.”

Wanderlust: A. Murugesan with his wife M. Subhashini

Watercolour journeys

In the old days, if an Indian official was posted abroad, his wife went with him. But what happens if it is the wife who gets the overseas posting?

Dr A. Murugesan, an official with the defence minister in Delhi, decided to take unpaid leave and accompany his wife, M. Subhashini, when she was posted to the Indian High Commission in London as minister in charge of press and information.

Murugesan has not been at a loose end, though. He has been able to pursue his private passion for watercolour paintings, a peculiarly English form of art that is both delicate and difficult.

Last week Murugesan felt confident enough to have his first solo exhibition, “Watercolour Journeys”, at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. As Subhashini has gone from posting to posting, Murugesan, now 57, has been by her side, catching local landscapes with his brush. At The Hague, he attended an art school.

He has painted English landmarks such as the Peak District and the royal parks in London. There was watercolour of a bare tree from Tanzania, which made the high commissioner, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, feel nostalgic for the latter had also once served in the East African country.

It was traditional in Victorian England for the upper classes always to pack their sketchpad and watercolours when they went on walking tours of Europe. As Indians become globetrotters, this seems to be a custom worth adopting.

Since Murugesan picked up his love of painting from a teacher when he was a little boy in Tamil Nadu, he feels art should be taught to all children as a core subject at school.

“I always carry a sketch pad,” Murugesan tells me. “My teacher said, ‘Don’t leave home without a sketch pad.’”

A mighty task: Sangeeta Datta and Javed Akhtar

Javed’s jitters

Javed Akhtar is rendering two Tagore songs — Tobu mone rekho and Sakhi bhabana kaharey bole — into Hindi for Sangeeta Datta’s film, Life Goes On.

So how challenging has been the task?

“Frightening!” admits the bard from Bollywood.

Poll fever: Manmohan Singh

Smart money

Perhaps this is what the Brits want the result of the Indian general election to be but to my question, “Who do you think will win?”, most informed folk have offered the following prediction: “Manmohan Singh.”

Anyway, the smart money is for the PM to continue as PM.

L. K. Advani’s supporters appear restricted to the Hindutva belt in Harrow, Wembley and parts of Leicester.

Tittle tattle

On Wednesday last week, when Alastair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced his budget, stressing the country was facing the worst economic recession in living memory, the Evening Standard published an undated picture of Shilpa Shetty and her mother, Sunanda, shopping at Dior, which isn’t exactly the cheapest store in London.

This is yet another PR disaster for the Bollywood actress turned IPL part proprietor who was unable to find time either to visit the terminally ill Jade Goody, her erstwhile adversary on Celebrity Big Brother, or attend her funeral.