Charity Chant: Parents, teachers, students and alumni of various schools in Calcutta, as well as senior citizens, came together in solidarity with tsunami survivors in a walk on Sunday, February 6. Actor Arindam Sil and percussionist Bikram Ghosh joined the march, which kicked off at 10 am from St Xavier?s College and ended at 11 am at the Polo Grounds on Red Road. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

January 16 will be remembered by my friends and me, all of us CRY volunteers, as one of the most enchanting days of our lives. We paid a visit to Ramakrishna Sarada Sevashram for girls, a home for underprivileged children in Hotor, 200 km from Calcutta.

We were greeted by ?Boro-ma?, as the in-charge is fondly called. To us, she embodied all the qualities of a mother, who cares for the children like her own and sees to their all-round development.

As we were led to the hall of the ashram, we found around 80 children, some of whose eyes were brimming with mischief, some had playful smiles on their faces, others were too shy to come forward. They were waiting to put up a performance for us, with song, dance, recitation and more. The colourful Sari nritya left us enthralled. The talents of the young girls took us by surprise.

As the day wore on, the children overcame their shyness and mingled with us. We spent the day playing games like kabaddi and dancing to It?s the time to disco with them. I discovered that the child in me is still alive, as I played with them, making funny faces.

While talking, they revealed the dreams and hopes they nurture in their hearts. Ruma said she wanted to become a devotional singer. She loves spending time in the prayer room. Jhunu informed us with a glint in her eye that she aspires to become a dancer. The very little ones are still aimless, simply revelling in fun and mischief.

The experience left an indelible impression on me and my group members. But beneath the fun, frolic and laughter, problems lurk. Like fundraising. As child rights becomes an emotive issue, it lies in the hands of the youth to improve the situation.

Promita Majumdar,
IISWBM

Fond farewell

St Xavier?s College definitely knows how to bid farewell in style to its students. As the past seamlessly merges into the future, it?s time to look ahead, take one step closer to your dreams and revel in a task well accomplished.

The valedictory function for the third-year students, held in the college, commenced with the national anthem, followed by the felicitation of chief guest Justice Shyamal Sen by Father Rector. The evening belonged to the prize winners, who were acknowledged for their excellence.

There was a touch of emotion as principal Father P.C. Mathew felicitated the PhD awardees, along with the current and retired staff members who had completed 25 years of service.

The Nihil Ultra awards for excellence were a speciality at this year?s function. Prof P. Lal, Father G. Beckers and Prof Amitava Mukherjee were felicitated.

The evening concluded with a multimedia presentation and a cultural programme, which had notable performances from teachers and students.The icing on the cake was the tea gathering.

For the rest of the evening, the final-year students chatted and recollected their precious experiences over the past three years. Snapshots and loud cheers were the call of the evening. The memories will last a lifetime, of long hours of adda on the green benches. The canteen shall never be the same.

It?s hard to believe that college life is over, but then, as they say, we have to learn to look ahead, to the future.

Au revoir, St Xavier?s College.

B. Arvind,
3rd year B.Com, St Xavier?s College

Students of Apeejay School, Park Street, boogied with Mr Almond on Thursday. Delhi-based NGO Siksha, in association with Almond Board of California, spread awareness about the nutritional value of almonds.

Down memory lane

The evening of Republic Day heralded a nostalgic tread down the memory lane at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Held on the premises of the alma mater, the annual reunion day of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, aptly named Nostalgia 2005, was organised by Bhavnaa, the alumni association.

The sight of the men and women pouring in dressed to the hilt, with their spouses and children, was one for sore eyes.

There wasn?t a dull moment with radio jockeys entertaining the guests. The leg-pulling by the two RJs were followed by a series of interesting events.

The fun events kicked off with a quiz for teachers in which the ex-students aimed at reversing positions and hurling questions at the teachers.

This was followed by a game show, where prizes were awarded to people carrying anything unique for the time and the place. This included foreign currency, stamps, identity cards, petrol bills, water-bottles and more. Prizes were also given to the best couple, and couples dressed in the same colour.

The much-awaited bonfire dance party followed amidst cheering. The bonfire was instrumental in rekindling memories of days gone by. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner and group photographs of all the batches, in chronological order.

Many took the opportunity to speak of their achievements and guide their juniors through the journey of life.

As contact numbers and email addresses were exchanged with a vow to keep in touch, the organisers of the party realised that they had succeeded in reuniting the hearts of all Bhavanites.

Puja Agarwal,
alumnus 2002-03, &
Stuti Agarwal,
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Helping hands

With the whole world coming together to help the victims of the tsunami disaster, can the youth be far behind? Not really. This was evident at Help Out 2005, an innovative fundraising inter-school drawing competition, put together by Leo Synergy Club, the youth wing of Lions Club.

Held at the Howrah District Volleyball Grounds on January 26, the event saw 50 enthusiastic budding artists from various schools like St Augustine?s, St Thomas?, Srijan Vidyalay and Ratnagar High School scribble, swish and sketch strokes on themes ranging from pollution, the tsunami disaster, nature and family.

All the participants were given tokens of appreciation. The colourful canvases soon gave way to an impromptu party for all the contributors, where local DJ Gautam churned out popular tunes. Rs 11,111 was collected to donate to the Prime Minister?s Relief Fund.

Gautam Bajoria,
President, Leo Synergy Club

Students participate in an inter-school talent hunt in North Point Day School, Dum Dum, on February 5, to raise funds for tsunami victims. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Sketching success

Ever wondered what makes those thrillers a little more chilling or those Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay pieces a trifle funnier? The answer is short and simple ? illustrations.

A book design and illustration workshop was organised by National Book Trust, in collaboration with Government College of Art and Craft, on the college premises from January 27 to 29.

Debu Sarkar, art director, National Book Trust, the proactive force behind the workshop, defined it as an ?experimental? event. The workshop aimed at providing an opening to new talents.

The three-day workshop with 14 final-year students and nine eminent professionals participating involved a number of activities, including interactive sessions between professionals like Debasish Deb and Anup Roy and the participating students.

Authors like Kinnaur Roy and Manas Ranjan Mahapatra were also there to present their views. Authorities in the field such as Ranenayan Dutta, Subroto Ganguly and Samir Sarkar also visited the workshop to narrate their experience and give tips to the participants.

The illustrations made by the participants in the course of the workshop will be published in the youngsters? magazine Reader?s Bulletin. From the works of the professionals and the students, some will be selected by National Book Trust to be put together in the form a picture book, in the near future.

Santanu Sengupta,
Class XII, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Question hour

?My students will not be able to answer these questions,? Prof Nigel Leask of Glasgow University told the quizmaster while distributing the prizes at the end of the Know Your Romantics Quiz.

The event, which brought the curtains down on the annual seminar of the Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature, encompassed both text and trivia of the Romantic Age in English literature. Thus, the names of Keats and Coleridge, Byron and Burns were soon flying thick and fast.

But the quiz spread to areas outside literary terrains in the round christened Spirit of the Age. The violent Luddite movement to the discovery of Uranus to the contemporary bishop of Calcutta?s poetic achievements ? it all found space in the round, which saw the audience picking up loads of prizes.

The best answer though, came in the audio round from Anil Kumar, a student of IIM-C who was confident enough to sit for the literature quiz alone. In a reply to what condition Tchaikovsky?s patroness Nadezdha von Meck had set him, the guesses were plenty ? that all his works be dedicated to her, that she be included as a character in all his operas?

The correct answer was that they would never see each other. The quiz was comfortably won by Sagnik Chakraborty of IGNOU and Abhishek Sarkar of JU, so what if they met for the first time at the venue, making it three crowns in a row for Abhishek. They were followed on the dais by Soumik Datta and Somnath Basu of JU.

whatsup

Talent hunt

The Zee Music VJ hunt Calcutta round will be held on Wednesday, February 9, at Big Ben, The Kenilworth, from 10 am to 5 pm. It?s a walk-in audition, so whoever thinks he or she has what it takes can drop in. ?Ideally, we are looking for people below 25 years,? said a Zee spokesperson.

Study time

Student counselling by University of Sussex, all day on February 11 at British Council.

On stage

JU English department students? take on William Shakespeare?s Measure for Measure, directed by Prof Ananda Lal, to be performed at Gyan Manch, 6.30 pm.

Quiz call

The eastern region inter-school final of Wai Wai Quiz will be held on Tuesday at Vidya Mandir, from 9.30 am. Seventy-four schools have been invited to participate. Eight teams will be called to go on stage to vie for the trophy.