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11 June 2010 Deniz Toksoz AIS class of 1974 dtoksoze@gmail.com
Namaste, I realized that it was finally time for a much belated bio write-up! After leaving Turkey at the age of 4, we lived in the USA followed by Colombia (South America), followed by ~8 amazing years on the Indian sub-continent: Lahore, Pakistan; Dacca, Bangladesh; and then Delhi, India. In Delhi, Dad was with the Ford Foundation, and I was a freshman and sophomore at AIS 1970-1972. What a fabulous time we all had! We lived in Sunder Nagar, with a reclusive mother cobra at the bottom of the garden (the gardener would find the broken eggshells). Our house bordered the back entrance of Delhi Zoo, and we could hear muffled lion and tiger groans. In my sophomore year I hung out with Anne Pearson, Tricia Gregg, John Hoefling, and David Joffe, who made us all laugh a lot. Other good friends were Marsha Tucker and Rekha Nimgade (Marsha and I also partly overlapped in Dacca, I believe). When AIS turned into AES, I ended up graduating high school at an American prep school in Istanbul, Turkey (Robert College) while my parents remained in Delhi. Like every other AIS alum I have since talked to, leaving AIS and Delhi was a huge wrench and I suffered enormous culture shock. Since my sister Mina (who graduated from Dacca International School) was going to England to do a PhD, I also went to England for college to study biological sciences. In England I suffered yet another giant culture shock ! However, during my college years in England, Anne Pearson actually visited me on her travels. I stayed on in England after college and did a PhD in stem cell biology. Meanwhile my parents had relocated from Delhi to Nairobi, Kenya, so my sister and I had the bonus of visiting them at holidays, and seeing East Africa. After 13 years in England that included postdoctoral training and getting married to a Brit scientist, Mark Exley, we moved to Boston, MA, where we have been for 20 years since. My sister settled in London, and after Kenya my parents retired to Turkey. Sadly we then lost Mom to cancer. In Boston we actually live close to Ashok Nimgade (AES ’76), and have had mini-AIS reunions together ! During this time, I have been faculty in the Harvard and Tufts Medical School systems, doing biomedical research, and continue to do so. We have two sons, Andrew, and Metin, (currently 12 and 15). When I look back on my life, I feel so blessed to have lived in and experienced so many fabulous cultures and places. Needless to say, of all of the places we lived in, India and Delhi/AIS was the most fabulous experience … We frequently visit England and Turkey, and the kids love having access to these different cultures. The funny thing is that although we have not yet visited India as a family (but it’s on the agenda!), my kids and husband already feel familiar with it through me: they love Indian food, Indian films, and have an affinity towards all things Indian … ! I attended the 2001 and 2005 DC AIS/AES reunions, which were amazing and fun. After ~30 years, I met up again with Tricia Gregg, when she and her husband visited us in Boston in 2003, which was great. At the 2005 reunion, I met up with Anne Pearson which was also fantastic. Then Anne visited us in Boston while attending a conference in 2006. I would love to be contacted by others who have mutual memories of Delhi !! |
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