Students of The BSS School dressed up as Shakuntala and Dushyanta in a scene from Shakuntala at the annual programme and prize distribution ceremony at Kala Mandir. A unique representation of the Kalidasa classic, the play had modern songs, English dialogues, glimpses of extra-curricular activities such as skating, karate, adventure sports and more. “Shakuntala is a woman of the past but she has so many traits of the present. She is a woman who stood by her principles. It was a unique production and almost 120 children participated. Despite the pressure of studies, the children put in a lot of hard work,” said Sunita Sen, principal. Dipti Khaitan, the additional secretary of the school, was impressed by the young actors’ efforts. “The actors really got into the skin of the character. I felt like I was in that era,” she said. G.K. Khaitan, the secretary of The BSS School, felt the story of Shakuntala was presented in an empowering way. Ritwika Pal, who played Dushyanta, had trouble to relating to the characters initially but “our teachers and principal ma’am told us how the character is relevant even in today’s times and that is when we realised the strength of Shakuntala’s character”. The chief guest for the event was filmmaker Nandita Roy and guest of honour was filmmaker Shiboprosad Mukherjee. “I am very envious. I wish I was a student like you all. I am bowled over by your talent. Enjoy your time in school. You will enter adulthood and miss these days,” Nandita said.

St. Augustine’s Day School, Barrackpore, celebrated its Founder’s Day with a new building a little away from the main campus. Built especially for students of the pre-primary section, the new wing boasts improved infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities. The inauguration ceremony was accompanied by a prayer service. Teachers from the Shyamnagar and Barrackpore branches celebrated the day with music, dance and merry-making, just the way their founder C.R. Gasper would have wanted. “The new building is an extension for the tiny tots of the school. It has special facilities and the environment is very friendly,” said A.D. Gomes, the principal of the school.

A new team of student leaders took over the reins at the investiture ceremony and prize day of St. Augustine’s School, Shyamnagar. School captain Anushka Banerjee and the newly appointed prefects marched onto the stage to take over the flags from their predecessors. Students from classes IV-XII received prizes for academic and general proficiency from the principals and coordinators of the associated schools along with Edna Gasper, wife of founder C.R. Gasper. “Every child has a vision, and we fulfil that here in St. Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnagar. Our motto is ‘Learning, Loyalty and Leadership’ and we celebrate this in such a big way every year because we like to acknowledge the leaders of the school and encourage the upcoming batches to aspire to those standards,” principal Jhuma Biswas said.

Maharishi Vidya Mandir welcomed its new leaders at an investiture ceremony. The school flag was handed over to head boy Hrishikesh Harsh and head girl Shibangi Bose, both students of Class X. The head boy, head girl, house captains, sports captain and vice-captain and prefects received their badges from principal Susmita Chakraborty. The programme ended with the oath-taking ceremony, followed by the principal’s speech and a vote of thanks. “This is a big responsibility and I hope to live up to everyone’s expectations. I will carry out all my duties with dedication,” Harsh said. The principal wished the new leaders well.

Colourful costumes, happy faces, cute dances and lots of cheers were in order at Rhapsody, the Junior School Annual Felicitation Day, the pre-primary and primary school prize distribution of Lions Calcutta (Greater) Vidya Mandir. Students put up cultural programmes and also received awards for excellence. The students had a great time dancing to peppy tunes and reciting poems and singing melodious tunes. They also staged Mowgli based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and Oscar Wilde’s Selfish Giant. “This is one day of the academic calendar that every child and parent looks forward to. It is a platform for children to showcase their talent. The junior school is a vibrant and successful unit of the school,” said principal Kakoli Ghosh.

Students dedicated an evening to Satyajit Ray, painting a tribute to the legendary filmmaker, while an array of personalities shared their memorable moments with Manik-da at The Magic of Ray, organised by ALL Ladies League, Kolkata Chapter, and supported by Techno India Group, at JW Marriott to commemorate the 96th birth anniversary of the filmmaker. Sandip Ray, filmmaker and son of Satyajit Ray and Pradip Mukherjee (Jana Aranya), Alakananda Ray (Kanchenjunga), Chandana Banerji (Postmaster, Teen Kanya) and Madhabi Mukhopadhyay (Charulata and Mahanagar) travelled down memory lane as they spoke about their experience of working with Ray.

Text by Samabrita Sen, Trina Chaudhuri, Chandrajit Mitra, Sreya Deb and Prajnadip Pal
Pictures by B. Halder, Arnab Mondal, Shuvo Roychaudhury, Koushik Saha and Gopal Senapati