Who photoshopped our memories, ask Hill Grange ex-students

Sophy Kelly’s batchmate Anamitra Dasgupta, an advertising professional and documentary filmmaker, remembered that the school was closed down in 2003, a year after Kelly’s death and the building pulled down during the pandemic

Mumbai:

The Hill Grange Hill School at Peddar Road

An alumnus of the iconic Hill Grange High School, on Pedder Road, recently shared a photograph of an empty space where the elegant institution once stood, on Facebook, captioned: The iconic structure that once stood is now an empty space. It opened a floodgate of memories among ex-students who felt an unknown power had photoshopped their most cherished memories, calling to mind lines from Simon and Garfunkel’s minimalist song – ‘Preserve your memories. They are all that’s left you.’

“Terrible... heartbreaking. They should have made it a heritage structure,” wrote one. “Sad. Sad. Sad. It was a beautiful property. I remember the wooden stairs, long corridors, high ceilings, the carvings,” wrote another ex-student.

The school was founded by Sophy Kelly, an educationist of Baghdadi Jewish heritage, who passionately operated it from the 1930s till her death in 2002. The alumni of the school include Mukesh and Anil Ambani, their close associate and chairman of the Jai Corp Ltd, Anand Jain, actors Rajesh Khanna, Prem Kishen, Neetu Singh, music director Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal Dadlani, author Ashok Banker, chef Moshe Shek, Dinodia Picture Agency founder Jagdish Agarwal, among others.

“I was there from kindergarten until my ICSE exam in 1987. The building was unique and beautiful. It had an old-world charm, sadly missing in most modern buildings,” music director Vishal Dadlani told HT.

Aban Chotia, who did her Class IX and X in the school, couldn’t believe that the building had vanished from the spot and replaced with a residential highrise. “It was the best school in South Mumbai. It had some amazing teachers; Miss Sophy Kelly, one of them, lived in the same bungalow,” she said.

Her batchmate Anamitra Dasgupta, an advertising professional and documentary filmmaker, remembered that the school was closed down in 2003, a year after Kelly’s death and the building pulled down during the pandemic. “It was heartbreaking. I feel completely uprooted,” said Dasgupta, who was a student of the school between 1977 and 1987.

Dasgupta said Kelly was one of the most influential figures of her time. Baghdadi Jewish families contributed to Mumbai’s development.

“She had a personal association with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, and equally good relations with the ruling politicians in Israel at the time,” said Dasgupta, who plans to write a book on Hill Grange High School.

Dadlani remembered her as a distant but imposing figure, “who taught the Lord’s Prayer alongside ‘Humko Mann Ki Shakti Dena’, which says a lot about her”.

A strict disciplinarian, she would punish anyone who faltered while singing the national anthem, added Dasgupta. “After the anthem we also sang ‘Chodo Kal Ki Baatein’ about nation building,” he said.

Photographer Jagdish Agarwal, who studied at the school between 1956 and ’64, reminisced Nehru’s cavalcade passing by the road leading to the school. “We walked down the hilly slope to Jaslok Hospital to catch a glimpse of Nehru. He passed by in an open-top car waving to us,” he said.

Chef Moshe Shek, who studied in the school from kindergarten till Class XII in 1984, remembered Kelly as a modern woman with vision. “The school was her life. All of us believed that the building was a heritage structure. It was baffling when it was taken down during the pandemic,” said Shek, who now runs Knead Café.