The TTIS five-a-side football meet culminated in a series of tense finals on June 30 at CC&FC. Five matches were played on the day bringing the curtains down on the competition (picture by Santosh Ghosh). The afternoon?s fixtures kicked off with the Junior Losers Plate, which saw Pailan World School pitted against Children?s Foundation. The match was deadlocked after extra time, which saw the introduction of that cruel, inevitable and often unjust way to decide matches ? sudden death penalties. Pailan World School eventually triumphed.

The Senior Losers Plate saw a much more fluid game, with Loyola High School overcoming stiff competition from Hindu School. While Hindu School were dogged in defence, they lacked the dynamics of Loyola up front, which was betrayed in the 2-1 scoreline. In between the Losers and Main Plate finals, there was an exhibition match of a rather more relaxed nature between the TTIS team and a team comprising teachers from various schools ? a match that the teachers won comfortably.

The real business was yet to come, with the Junior Main Plate seeing the most comprehensive victory of the finals. K.E. Carmel ran amok, cruising through Birla High School?s back line on many occasions. The scorecard eventually read a convincing 3-0 in Carmel?s favour. Once again, Saiful Mollah proved his mettle as the top scorer in the Junior contest.

The grand finale was the Senior Main Plate, with defending champions North Point Day School, Dum Dum, taking on a sprightly and determined team from Julien Day Kalyani. North Point remained the kings of Calcutta school football, with a convincing 2-0 win.

Present at the tournament was Calcutta football legend Shyam Thapa, who was enthusiastic about the tournament saying: ?We need more events like this, so that football can be revived and will achieve the status that it had in the past.?

Thapa presented a number of the prizes in a ceremony that brought an end to yet another hard-fought, eventful and successful TTIS soccer tournament.

Correction: In a previous article, the match between Calcutta Boys School and St Xavier?s was described as being in the Losers Plate. This match in fact took place in the main competition.

 

Stagecraft: Students of Akshar perform at the school?s annual concert at Kala Mandir on June 30. Picture by Aranya Sen

Creative culture

The British Council has of late been looking to foster a new wave of young Indian entrepreneurs with the India?s Creative Future 2007 programme. Sixty applicants competed for 20 places at the Creative Future School, which will run from August 13-26 at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. Of the 20 finalists, Calcutta is represented by film student Debu Bhattacharya and museum curator Reshmi Chatterjee.

The idea of Creative Future is to mentor young entrepreneurs in the methods of modern management, so that their ideas are more efficiently executed, especially from a management level. Three selected candidates will eventually go to the UK, where they will have the opportunity to pitch their proposals to foreign investors.

Reshmi Chatterjee, curator and founder of Halo Heritage Museum in Salt Lake, is elated. ?Here at Halo Heritage, we want to create awareness about our cultural roots, both as Bengalis and Indians. So we want to promote local artisans who practice traditional crafts. Eventually, I want Halo Heritage to establish a crafts village in rural Bengal, which will be our independent way of promoting culture,? she says.

Chatterjee appreciates that to realise the ambitious plan, she will have to become an efficient manager. ?I would like to go to the UK to promote Indian cultural heritage and seek potential investors. It would also be invaluable to learn management techniques that will help make my vision a reality.?

Debu Bhattacharya, too, harbours grand plans for his Theme Entertainment production company. Currently on the cusp of graduating from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, he has his heart set on becoming a specialist producer of documentaries. ?I did a nine-week course at Femis in Paris, where I learnt a lot. At the end, I knew that I wanted to be a producer. The concept of being solely a producer is not yet widely adopted within the Indian film world,? he explains.

With two documentaries currently in the pipeline, Bhattacharya is looking for foreign interest in his projects. ?The BBC and NTV are both interested in my upcoming works, as well as two Scandinavian companies, which is encouraging. I want to take Indian documentary to a new level. At the moment, it is quite a haphazard industry. With Theme Entertainment, I want to make professional documentaries,? he adds.

Bhattacharya is looking forward to his time in Bangalore ? ?I know that I need to sharpen my management skills as I am not trained as a manager. This is a great opportunity to do so. Of course I want to be one of those picked to go to England, because it will be invaluable for networking.?

Patrick Pringle

 

Coming up...

The Heritage School is hosting its first Inter-school Computer Festival, T Smart, on the July 7 and 8. The event aims to provide a platform for the students to showcase their technological skills. Sixteen schools have signed in. For classes V and VI, there is poster making, book cover designing, Powerpoint presentations and invitation card making. Classes VII and VIII students can display their skills in poster making, book cover designing, travel brochure making and Powerpoint. Classes IX and X can take part in concept selling, newspaper layout, an IT quiz, web designing, computer games and debating.