St Xavier’s School students stage Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a part of their ongoing golden jubilee celebrations in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Nov. 22: Boy bands, felicitations and, hold your breath, horse-riding. The ongoing golden jubilee celebrations of St Xavier’s School, Doranda, promises to rock in December.

Old boy Ajit Horo and his Ranchi-based Sparsh band will drum up excitement at Carnival 2010 on December 19. Though the carnival boasts imported attractions such as Hip Pocket (Shiva), a Calcutta-based five-member rock band and Princess, an Orissa-based dance troupe that will perform on December 18, all eyes are on the school’s “very own” Xaverian Horo and his band.

Horo, also Jharkhand Rock Music Association president, said that Sparsh would perform their numbers like Johar Jharkhand and Cheer Up India, and added that their music drew cheers at the Delhi Haat concert before Commonwealth Games. “We had also performed when the Queen’s Baton came to Ranchi on August 6. The youth will surely appreciate our performance,” Horo said.

School alumnus Shivendra Mohan Sharma, the chairman of the yearlong Nostalgia 2010 celebrations, added: “On December 19, Ranchi-based rock bands will fight it out in the ‘Battle of Bands’. An added attraction is acclaimed saxophonist Anil Kumar from Hyderabad.” The carnival will have 25 stalls and horse riding for visitors.

And in an event that is sure to invite much nostalgia, on December 20, the school will felicitate old and new teachers for their contributions.

Culture with a conscience is also on the agenda. Sparsh will perform in the Kokrajhar Relief Fund at Don Bosco School, Kokar, on December 4 and 5. Proceeds from the programme will go to rehabilitate 1,000 tribal families affected in the Kokrajhar fire in Assam on November 3, said programme in-charge Roshan Tete.

Meanwhile, 18 students of the school concluded their three-day staging of Shakespeare’s As You Like It today.