Judging by the line-up of gold medallists, guests at Tuesday's graduation ceremony could be forgiven for thinking that St Xavier's was a women's college. For, among the 32 toppers of the 2015 batch, 29 were girls!

While all the toppers of the seven postgraduate courses were girls, there were only three boys among the 25 toppers who graduated that year.

"May be they (the girls) pay more attention to study than we do," said Anand Prakash Baa, the topper in Hindi (2015 batch) who is now pursuing postgraduation in Pune, when asked the reason behind the boys lagging behind in the medal tally.

Addressing the students, Narendra Kohli, a Hindi litterateur and Padma Shri awardee present at the event, said, "I suggest we should respond to the call of our inner selves and pursue what it prompts."

Kohli, who expressed his pleasant surprise that St Xavier's College chose to invite a litterateur instead of a politician to become the chief guest, advised the students to ignore what others say and continue pursuing their goals.

Ramesh Kumar Panda, vice chancellor of Ranchi University, who was the guest of honour, told the students, "Be open to new ideas and adopt those with a belief that you are fully empowered and capable of making your own destiny."

Welcoming the awardees of graduation and postgraduation degrees, principal Father Nicholas Tele asked them to carry the spirit of the Xaverians that the college had been inculcating in students since its inception in 1944.

Father Superior Joseph Marianas Kujur, who spoke at the event, reminded the students, "Once a Xaverian, a Xaverian for life."

The topper in Mathematics (2015 batch) Shalini Dungdung said, "I am pursuing postgraduation and want to become a teacher." Ananya Bose, the topper in English (MA 2015 batch) echoed Shalini saying, "I want to become a lecturer". But there were exception too. "I am already working and want to continue in corporate communications," said Sukanya Roy, the topper of journalism and mass communication department.