Margaret E. Noble, one of the closest disciples of Swami Vivekananda wore many hats. She was not only spiritually inclined, but also a teacher, author, caregiver, fund-raiser and follower of Indian scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose. She was sympathetic to the Indian freedom movement and contributed monetarily to freedom fighters. These were some of the thoughts shared by the residents of CA Block who were commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita at the block’s community hall.

“Margaret was inspired to serve mankind from her father Samuel Richmond Noble. Though she lost her father at a young age, she learnt that service to mankind is true service to god,” said Apurva Kumar Ghosh, president, CA Block Citizen’s Association. He added: “Margaret came in touch with Swami Vivekananda in 1895 and later arrived in India in 1898. She was named Sister Nivedita or Bhogini Nivedita (the offered one) by her spiritual guru, Swami Vivekananda. Later, she opened a school for young girls in Calcutta. It was really unfortunate that she died at the young age of 44.  She also came in contact with Rishi Aurobindo during India’s freedom movement.”

The block president lit the ceremonial lamp, kicking off the events on the evening.

Speaking on the occasion, former CA Block resident Utpal Mitra highlighted Margot’s (as Swami Vivekananda used to address her) work for plague and famine victims in Bengal and her role in education of girls in Bengal. “Sister Nivedita opened a girls’ school in Bagbazar to educate them. Among her students were many young widows, who would often drop out of school. But such was her dedication towards her goal of imparting education to young girls that she would personally visit the homes of these girls and plead with their parents to let them attend school. She would even, at times, personally take them to school and drop them back home. I think, we can all take lessons from her,” said Mitra, who now looks after the various cultural activities of the block. Also present on the occasion was block secretary Ashish Kumar Mukherjee.

The residents of the block later performed an audio play Margaret Theke Bhogini Nivedita, conceptualised and conducted by Utpal Mitra. The play featured Nivedita’s initiation into brahmacharya by Swamiji, her work for the plague victims and her association with freedom fighters of Bengal. It also explained how she arranged for funds to fuel the freedom movement and her association with Rishi Aurobindo. 

The play showed how Swami Vivekananda cleared Margot’s thinking when she had doubts about giving up on her British identity and how she distanced herself from the mutth to save the institution from any British surveillance.
Among others, Sister Nivedita was played by Gopa Goswami and Seema Mukherjee and Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose by Rahul Dutta.

Senior block resident Ajanta Kar later presented former Jadavpur University professor Utpal Mitra with a prize as a token of appreciation for his activities and propagation of spiritual ideas in the block.