They say, history repeats itself.

They say, people make mistakes over and over again.

They, obviously haven’t heard of us.

So, in case you’re one of them, this is one’s for you……

Let’s go back to 1987.

When Dr. Mehroo Bengalee, Ex-Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, and former Trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, came up with the concept of H.P.Y., the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) came up with the backing. And about 60 kids came up with the participation.. And stayed on, through 2 weeks of half-days filled with career talks and a few sports.
A modest start, but a start, nonetheless.

Within the next year, the duration had extended to 3 weeks and the numbers upto 80. But it was truly in 1989 that things got rolling. The programme reached its present status of 4 weeks. And the numbers had swelled to 120. With the heartening aspect being the larger number of outstation participants.

1989 was also for H.P.Y. a momentous year. It was then that Diana Marfatia (“Dee”) took over as the Co-ordinator of the programme from Dr. Khetayun Madon, who had efficiently nursed it in its baby years. And as we entered the ’90′s, a whole new look was taken on.

H.P.Y. has always been about continuous upheaval – but in a nice sort of way. And we’ve always concentrated a little extra on the quality and content of each day. From the early idea of only lectures, we added self-developmental workshops. These include yoga sessions, speech and drama, workshops and the likes. The, to relieve any boredom that may have crept in, we upgraded sports. H.P.Y.-ites can now look forward to indoor sports competitions in T.T., chess, carrom, arm-wrestling and go for volleyball, throwball, basketball, football and cricket. With, of course, singles, doubles, girls and boys categories. And it is during all these evenings that the kids let go with an intensity that only someone who seems 150-200, 16 year old’s fresh from school play in the middle of summer, can truly appreciate.

Our participants are divided into groups. These groups then fight for a whole load of competitions. We felt it was important for the kids to learn too, so we put in Project work. Sometimes existing as a separate entity, sometimes being doubled up with Dramatics, these projects have been a source of real work and effort (leading to kids holding up banners at railway stations……) And for the mental skills of the eager, we threw in a couple of high quality quizzes, a debate, an elocution, some creative writing events and a highly complex but entertaining event called J.A.M. (Just A Minute).
As they say,……….. “Welcome to the HPY Family.”