The Jungle Life: Students of various schools got together to enact Jungle Story — Mowgli Returns, at GD Birla Sabhagar on July 9 and 10. Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book characters were brought to life on stage once again in the sequel. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The Apeejay School annual fest Perception 2005 was held on June 29 and 30. Care Take The Moment was the theme of the two-day cultural festival. Nine schools participated in the array of events, including South Point, Carmel High, Birla High, Future Foundation, Don Bosco Park Circus, Mahadevi Birla and Laxmipat Singhania Academy.

The off-stage events started with the debate. The topic was ?We follow reel heroes in the absence of real heroes?. It concluded with the viewpoint that we badly need a real hero to epitomise. The best speaker from Carmel High School, Khyati Patel, made an honest confession of resorting to reel heroes in the absence of the real Bhagat Singh today.

Scriptwriting was a new inclusion, with the theme ?Where the stage ends, there begins a new audience, where acting ends, there begins a new life?. Rijita Chatterjee of Apeejay School elaborated through the story of an actor?s obsession with the stage and won over the judges. Dial (M) and Open Windows were the two computer events where LSA proved its skills.

The usual, like HAM, quiz, treasure hunt, photography and tug-of-war, were the other events of the day. Another new inclusion was Ad-Normal, a concept-designing competition based on social issues like child labour, smoking and HIV/AIDS.

On June 30 were the on-stage events, at Vidya Mandir. The Empty Space (one-act play competition) was judged by Ramajit Kaur, a theatre actor and director from Chandigarh settled in Calcutta, and Janardan Ghosh, a city-based alternative theatre activist. Both felt fests are the breeding ground for young talents and so need a sincere and conscious involvement from teachers and guides. Rijita bagged the best actor award.

The medley was conducted by Prarthito Chatterjee, an ex-student of the host school, who declared South Point victorious. Music was adjudged by Neel Dutt. The best vocalist, Rijita, charmed the audience. The best band credit went to Future Foundation.

The dance event, a riot of colour, music and lights, was judged by choreographer Tito Dey and teacher Chirantan Bhaduri. Future Foundation stole the show. The last but most glamourous event was the fashion show. Finally, it was the prize distribution and the grand finale with Cactus performing. Rijita Chatterjee of the host school was awarded Miss Perception, while the overall trophy was passed on by Apeejay to Mahadevi Birla.

The Interact Club of St Mary’s School, Ripon Street, was chartered by Rotary Club of Calcutta Metro City. The students organised an art and craft exhibition and music competition on the occasion. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Around town

• The inauguration of the new session of Bhavan?s Asutosh College of Communication and Management coincided with the 2005 edition of the annual Sir Asutosh Memorial Oration on June 4 at Asutosh Memorial Hall. The evening session organised jointly by Asutosh Mookerjee Memorial Institute and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Calcutta Kendra, saw Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi speak on the topic ?Gandhi in the Grip of Violence?.

He talked about how Gandhiji was never comfortable with the title of Mahatma and that the two most popular terms used to refer to him, Mahatma and father of the nation, were given by two Bengalis, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose respectively. The governor also cited several instances when Gandhiji was involved in violence, in South Africa and India.

Stressing on Gandhiji?s belief that justice should come with clean hands, the governor identified several contemporary issues like communal violence, dialogue with Pakistan, women?s rights, ecological crises like water resource management, poverty, commercialism and corruption, where his involvement would have proved beneficial.

The grandson of the Mahatma also drew a line between fasting and hungerstrike as modes of agitation. According to him, fasting deals with changing the other party?s mind and heart, whereas hungerstrike seeks to obtain a favourable decision.

Earlier, Gopal Krishna Gandhi paid homage to Asutosh Mookerjee by referring to him as having ?Himalayan stature and Gangetic vigour?. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Calcutta chairman Dr Pratap Chandra Chunder in his presidential address praised Sir Asutosh for converting Calcutta University from an examining institution to a teaching one.

On behalf of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, he handed over a cheque to Governor Gandhi for tsunami victims.

Among the other dignitaries present were Calcutta High Court Chief Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan director K.V. Gopalkrishnan and Asutosh Memorial Institute president Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee. The programme began with a musical invocation by the Bhavan?s teachers and students, and ended with everyone singing the national anthem.

• Frankfinn Institute of Airhostess Training inaugurated its new classroom, designed like the inside of an aircraft, at its Camac Street centre on June 30. It has 30-odd seats for training cabin crew aspirants, mostly college-goers pursuing the course along with undergraduate degrees.

Rakesh Agarwal, managing director of the institute, encouraged the students to utilise the opportunity of first-hand experience of in-flight services during the the 30-hour training inside the institute?s leased Airbus A-300 parked in Delhi.

Institute chairman K.S. Kohli announced plans to set up a third Frankfinn centre in Calcutta at Gariahat within a fortnight, adding to the existing ones at Camac Street and Salt Lake, and two more in the city by the end of this year.

The fashion show at the Apeejay School fest Perception 2005

• The valedictory function of the three-month certificate course in travel and tourism conducted by the Enterprise Development Institute (EDI) was held at the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) on June 23. It organised with training support from the department of tourism, University of Burdwan. The EDI, promoted by the BNCCI and the state government in 1999, has been organising entrepreneurship and small business management programmes on rural entrepreneurship development and export-oriented floriculture among others.

This is the first time the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC) collaborated with the EDI, to conduct the travel and tourism course. WBMDFC chairman Md Salim emphasised the current trend of looking towards the east, highlighting the importance of Calcutta being not only the traditional gateway to eastern India, but also the entry point to the orient for the western world.

Declaring tourism as the process of integration of the Asian market, he stressed the importance of this course being the stepping stone for new-age entrepreneurs in the world of tourism-based hospitality.

• The department of journalism and mass communication, CU, in collaboration with the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) conducted an interactive session on university and industry for ?reorganising corporate communication and rejuvenation the industrial image?. Held on June 24, it was part of the varsity?s 150-year celebrations.

Guest of honour Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Calcutta, chairman Rajiv Poddar advocated a partnership between CU and CII to meet the demands for qualified professionals.

In his introduction to, and thematic analysis of, the PRCI, Bibhatsu Kumar Sahu, zonal chairman (east) of the council, emphasised the need for good publicity for the sustained popularity of a university. He stressed on the judicial selection of public opinion while framing public policies in general.

Chief guest A.K. Chanda, chairman, Calcutta Port Trust, dwelled on the pride associated with history, but pointed out that history is not the be-all and end-all of affairs and that praise of history should not make people against change. He drew parallels between the Calcutta port being the first of its kind in India and CU being one of the first universities of modern India.

CU pro vice-chancellor (academic) Suranjan Das in his keynote address warned against the unregulated university-industry partnership in the form of privatisation of education.

Presiding over the programme was Prof Asis Kumar Banerjee, vice-chancellor, CU. He sought cooperation and support from industrialists and media houses and expressed his intentions to interact with academicians, students, professionals and industrialists, so that ?in this era of information society, our university can build an image of a premier university throughout the world with the help of education-loving citizens of the country?.

He added: ?Our university will organise many programmes and national and international collaborations for the development of the university and the Indian education system.?

• On June 23, the state centre of The Institute of Engineers (India) organised the 152nd-year celebration of the renowned engineer and entrepreneur the late Sir R.N. Mookerjee. In his commemorative lecture delivered on the occasion at the Sir R.N. Mookerjee Hall on the institute?s premises, B.K. Basak, president, Indian Institute of Foundrymen, Calcutta, dwelt on the origin, growth and development, and present problems and prospects of the foundry business, both in the domestic and the international sectors.

Earlier, the joint honourary secretary of the centre, Sujit Kumar Banerjee, spoke on Mookerjee?s career as a civil engineer and an entrepreneur of repute in British India. His contribution in the capacity towards the building of the Victoria Memorial was also highlighted.

N.R. Bandyopadhyay, president of the centre, dwelt upon the importance of the civil engineering fraternity in view of the increasing emphasis being given to water conservation and preservation, rainwater harvesting in particular, and water resource management in general.

Put together by Arjun Chaudhuri,
1st year MA journalism & mass com, CU

Srimat Swami Sanatanananda Maharaj garlanded by Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Centenary Primary School students on Vidyarthi Vrata

Small talk

• On June 28, St James School hosted the grand-finale of Jaco Iz 2005, an inter-school quiz involving 24 schools. The preliminary and the semi-final rounds were held in St James, where 16 schools were eliminated. The final was a clash of the top eight teams of La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta Boys, Mahadevi Birla, Ashok Hall, St Thomas Boys, St Xavier?s Collegiate School, MP Birla and St James. The standard two-day format of quizzing was followed.

The final was conducted by Barry O?Brien. LMG entered the round in the lead, followed by St James and Calcutta Boys. But LMG?s luck ran out and the top honours were taken by St James, with Mahadevi Birla and St Thomas securing the second and third places respectively. The quiz was organised by Quizobean, the quizzing society of St James, headed by B. Dasgupta, the senior physics teacher and the master-in-charge of quizzing.

Snehasish Kumar,
St James School

• Srijan had its poetry-reading session at the Youth Poetry Festival in April, where budding poets in English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu below the age of 25 were invited. They had submitted five poems, which went for the final selection. The listeners? forum of Srijan had a presentation on its rooftop recently, by vocalist Shruti Sadolikar. It was based on the life and music of Hirabai Barodekar, one of the most versatile singers of our country and a doyen of the Kirana gharana. She was the daughter of the Abdul Karim Khan and student of Abdul Wahid Khan.

Sourendra Kumar Das,
Class XI, Salt Lake School

• The questions ranged from drinking etiquette to visa applications at an orientation session last week for students going to the US to study. Organised by USEFI, in association with Air India, there were presentations from organisations like Bank of Punjab and American Express, as well as interactions with USEFI representatives to help the students clear their queries before their departures.