Sept. 14: Maitree, Rotary Club of Calcutta's inter-school cultural competition in Bengali, held annually at Rotary Sadan for classes IX-XII of Bengali-medium schools, was initiated in the late 1990s by Rotarian professor Krishna Sen.

The beautiful name was given by Rotary Sadan's cultural centre coordinator, Asru Datta. The premise was that students of Bengali-medium schools require a forum and opportunities similar to those regularly provided at English-medium schools to express their talents and enhance their confidence.

The task of personally inviting the target schools was entrusted to the Rotaract Club of Calcutta - a responsibility it undertakes to this day. There was considerable initial resistance. Some headmasters advised a football competition instead, while other principals opposed these "distractions". Even the day of the week posed a problem - certain schools would neither release students on a school day nor send them on a Saturday.

Only four teams participated in the first year. Nevertheless, early editions of Maitree had quizmasters like Ashoke Viswanathan and Mir, well before they became celebrities.

Today, Maitree is a popular event. Self-assured students vie for gold and silver medals, and participation certificates are given to all team members.

Maitree 2016 was a hard-fought contest (recitation, extempore speech and quiz) between Sibpur Bhabani Balika Vidyalaya, BE College Model School, Ballygunge Govt. High School, Sakhawat Memorial Govt. Girls' High School, Kamala Girls' High School, Sibpur SSPS Vidyalaya, Sibpur Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Santragachhi Kedarnath Institution, Jashodamoyee Vidyalaya (Howrah) and the in-house Rotary Sadan Children's Library and Cultural Centre team from five schools. It was a full house of cheering classmates, teachers and parents.

And now another year has come around and it's time for Maitree 2017.