We are happy to announce Chaitram Singh’s nomination by the Georgia Author of the Year Awards Committee to the 48th Georgia Author of the Year Awards. Other writers who have been nominated in the past are Terry Kay and President Jimmy Carter.  The Flour Convoy will be competing in the category of First Novel.  It is also expected to be in the general Fiction category.

Winners will be announced Saturday, June 16, 2012 at the Kennesaw State University Center at the 48th Annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards Banquet and Ceremony. The Georgia Writers Association is the oldest and most prestigious literary organization in the Southeast.

Rishi Singh

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Prem Manohar (Class of 1968) passed away at his home in London, England on February 15, 2012. He was formerly from Rose Hall Village, Corentyne.  He was the brother of Buddy, Devi, Sybil (dec’d), Loona (dec’d), Saras and Geeta (Manohar) Ajodha (Class of 1971). Prem was in the same class as my brother Daizal, Stanley Jhagroo, Gerald and Errol Beharry, and the late Victor Ramphal.

Prem's funeral will take place on Friday, February 24, 2012 in England.  

Ferial Samad

Today education has become a staple for young students eager for the promise of a career and more opportunities. But it was a slippery slope in 1973 Guyana. According to many, there was no end in sight. The president was soon to be king. Someone needed to stand up. And education took on a new meaning in times of hardship.

As many witnessed “a liberal democracy crumble to a de facto one-pary State”, Chaitram Singh, a teacher at Corentyne High School, desired change. His journey was one of much travel, challenges, and successes. He was given a grant to study in the U.S. West Point Military Academy in 1969 and later served in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). After feeling that the party was paramount to the government, he chose to teach. (more…)

Best wishes to all Valentine alumni of CHS. May all of you flourish. Though Valentine day has become a commercial enterprise in many ways, the spiritual aspect of true love, concern and friendship has a due place in it. In India young people in cities and towns have begun to celebrate Valentine Day. It is generally considered by the ultra-orthodox Hindus as something foreign and western. Most young people are finding some good meaning in it.

So, Happy Valentine to all of you. May you find meaning and joy in good, loving and compassionate friendships.

Fr. Joe Chira

Kerala, India

I have just received news of the passing of my cousin Victor Ramphal (class of '69) after a brief illness. He is survived by his Mother Jasodra (class of '45), his wife Kalawattie and daughters Victoria and Rachael. The funeral will take place from his home in Boynton Beach Florida at a time to be announced later.

UPDATE:

Viewing will be held on Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. at

Scobee-Combs-Bowden Funeral Home

1622 NE 4th Street

Boynton Beach, FL 33435

Tel:  561-732-8151

Funeral Service will be held at same venue on Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon then to place of internment.

Estel Dundee-Ambler

Bristol, England

Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities and Limelight were the only three CHS-sponsored movies that I could remember seeing at the Apollo Cinema. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens were syllabus requirements for English Literature. The viewing of these two movies was rather unremarkable. With the impending external exams hanging like the Sword of Damocles over the seniors, the moods of the seniors in the cinema were sombre and thus set the tone for the rest of us.

Limelight, on the other hand, a 1952 black and white Charlie Chaplin movie had no such constraints. JC had some years earlier seen the movie and was moved by it. He felt a viewing could teach us some of life’s bitter-sweet lessons.  The movie, as I was to learn much later, was about redemption. An old drunk, a once famous comedian, saved the life of a suicidal young ballet dancer. Their blossoming friendship allowed her to regain her confidence and led him to redemption, only to fall short by dying, of a heart attack on stage, in his come-back show. To appreciate the delicate interplay between the characters and to understand the overarching lessons of the movie required a fair degree of maturity. (more…)