The 76th Inter Martiniere Meet was hosted by La Martiniere School for Girls (LMG) and La Martiniere School for Boys (LMB), Kolkata, with a contingent from La Martiniere College (LMC) Lucknow visiting to attend. Held from 21 August to 25 August 2023, the activities at the meet included basketball (football for boys), debate and swimming competitions where the girls of LMG and LMC fought out in a spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie.
On the evening of 23 August, the girls’ debate took place, where the young speakers enthusiastically spoke for and against the motion: “Violence shown in media triggers violence in societal mindset.” LMC Lucknow constituted team proposition while LMG Kolkata was on team opposition for the evening.
The debate was chaired by Pradeep Gooptu, founding trustee of the Calcutta Debating Circle. Both teams spoke forcefully and eloquently to make their case. The definition of media, their influence in the past and present, as well as violence in society, were scrutinised by the young argumentative Indians, people that we are seeing less of nowadays according to Mr Gooptu.
The points made by both LMG Kolkata and LMC Lucknow were strong, and the rebuttals were astute. Dhruba Mukherjee, CEO of ABP Pvt Ltd and one of the judges of the debate, stated in his address, “Curiosity is not always finding answers we don’t have, but sometimes it is questioning the answers that we do have.” The girls excelled at it, and LMG Kolkata went on to defeat the motion and win the debate.