Hello Everyone
For those of you who remember Stephen Francis and would like to share an anecdote or two or three or four, please go ahead and do so here. The guy was quite the character and for those of us who have been with him for so long have so many memories of the man so some words from us would be more in tune with his attitude.
Stephen was one for cracking quotes. I think he saw himself as quotemaker. Whenever he would prime himself up with inspiration he would let fly his pearls. Woe to one who had to be the brunt of his wisdom.
He was also academically very brilliant getting great grades all the while indulging in every non-curricular activity one could do in One Horse Town Cochin.
He hated being called Steefan or Steefaa. He would constantly correct people by telling them S.T.E.P.H.E.N. is pronounced Steven. Imagine this situation for Malayalee people who by God's decree have never got any western name right ever! Those who didn't want to incur his wrath or rant just called him Steve.
I am going to post a couple of pictures. Look forward to seeing a few words from others.
Cheers
Ashley
A page for those who knew Stephen Francis (1966 - 2010).
Hmm! One of the first moments between Steve and my mom was to clarify how his name should be pronounced! Both Steve and my mom being strong personalities with their own stinging sense of humour finally settled for 'Monai ...' as any mallu MIL would :)
ReplyDeleteHi Guys,
ReplyDeleteThere is so much one wants to say not sure if can all be in the public domain. Well the first thing that comes to mind was the he corned (kidding) me into buying Jeffery’s bike (Roadking) but believe me I have no regrets about it, in fact I wish I still had it, that was one good bike.
After a very long time I was able to speak to Stephen on the tele just before our get-together in Dubai, we spoke for about 20 min and like kids exchanging notes after holidays we were talking of all that we did and exchanged some pics on email.
This is a start sure will come up with more soon.
Rgds/Arun
Wango
ReplyDeleteThat bike was a great one, Jeffrey took great care of it and I know you did too. We knew it was you a mile away, that bike had a great note. Stephen was hoping to have gotten that bike from Jeffrey but those days their sibling rivalry was massive.
Cheers
Ashley
I can remember vividly the event Kurian described in his post - the Navy ball episode:) i was part of the posse who tried to get in by posing to be a band member.
ReplyDeleteAnother incident that is clearly etched in my mind is the conversation i had with Steve on a new year's eve party (2008) at Amal's place in Dubai. As an expectant dad..i was full of worries and Stephen was calming me down by giving me a lot advice on parenting. He put everything down in a structured and logical manner and lo..everything looked so simple :)
Yes. yes. yes. and then Sathyan went on (after the looooong leak by the wall as Kurien described it) to win the "best dancing couple" with his partner pammy of panampilly nagar fame :)
ReplyDeleteyes, we had a good time that new years eve.... rather planned at the very last minute and steve and shyla and shamilbhai and prashina and kat and the rest made that evening quite memorable....
hey steve used to do a fair bit of desert driving with his quad. don`t any of you have pics of him on the quad? I know he and Shyla used to go out into the desert most weekends....
i vas nt in ur gang but vas ther vit u guys.Mone ashly dont get provokd. And i used to cll steve, ada steffa.In mid 90 i cut a deal vit stefan tat he must get into Indian Admin Services( IAS ).whn he become an IAS officer i get d laison work and v make money.Aditya also joined in dis deal. v funded his studies.took an aprt in Del.1st chance he cleared prelims.I knew he got brains.After tat there vas no news abt him for six months. Then he met me and he said he cant do tat and the deal is off.I vas angry but i realised wat he meant.Steve always liked to tell things straight.Tats d best thing i liked abt him.
ReplyDeleteYeah OG, I remember the IAS deal. Stephen got frustrated because of Hindi. This guy took French instead of Malayalam or Hindi and for IAS it was quite mandatory as an Indian civil servant to know Hindi. All the rallying days with Aditya, Stephen, Sangeeth and you!
ReplyDeleteOG, remeber we had the many cricket matches at Durbar Hall Grounds, Chariot gang vs the VSC, those were good times, you guys being older would have cold beers while we unemployed penniless people only had sami.