He used to sit in the verandah, a faint shadow of bygone times when he played the drums and stirred many hearts on Holi. Joe Christopher naturally basked in the glory of those days. He was among the inmates of Ozanam Home, founded in 1958 by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Radio Colony, Kingsway Camp, Delhi. Housed in a spacious building with 42 inmates, both men and women of all religions, it perpetuates the memory of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, whose brilliant career ended at the young age of 40 at Merseilles long ago in 1853.
Sister Edith, an Austrian nun, Sister Pauline and Sister Irene, assisted by other staff, looked after these old people who have either been sponsored by someone or pay for their up-keep themselves. A board headed by Jean Correa and Dr Lazar Mathew supervised the administration of the Home, part of a worldwide organisation, badly in need of funds.
Sister Edith may never attain the same recognition as Mother Teresa, but her services were no less. Regarded as an angel by all who came into contact with her, she preferred to shun the limelight.
Three huge dormitories, a recreation room, a dining room, a kitchen, toilets and verandhas, a chapel, an infirmary, separate rooms for old couples and the sick and infirm and extensive grounds in the front and back comprise Ozanam Home.
The day starts with bed tea, followed by breakfast, lunch, evening tea and an early dinner. The inmates can sit in the recreation room watching TV till 9.30 p.m. and retire to bed after a glass of milk.
One of its kind
Mr Brian was the handyman of the Home. He was in the merchant navy. A thickset happy-go-lucky Anglo-Indian, he was a bachelor. Then there were Vancy Carssco, Mrs Elmore Sehgal, Khan, David, who has been the longest at the home, and Massey among the more prominent inmates.
Joe Christopher, who at 85 was the oldest among them also is no more. Known as “Ole Uncle Joe”, he had started life in an insurance company before joining The Statesman reading department; but music was his first love and he later devoted his life to it. A member of the famous Eugene Byrne band, the only band of its kind in the Capital during the 40s and early 50s, Joe hogged the limelight as he played the drums to perfection.
The band performed at Wengers, the Roshanara Club, the Chelmsford Club and also at Shimla, Meerut, Saharanpur, Bandiqui, Rewari and other places.
Those were the days when Santan Fernandes played the saxophone and Rex Alvares the double-bass. Came the new music, heralded by Jazz, and the band faded away. Uncle Joe never really did get over it. He would sit chin cupped in hand and sometimes begin to drum the dining table. “The drummer”, he would whisper, “will always keep drumming at heart no matter how old he becomes. And, mind you, he will never beat Retreat. Remember the story of Napoleon and the brave little English drummer boy!”
One wishes Joe Christopher had carried his drums to the other side of eternity. Perhaps they still hang in Ozanam Home.
