Author: Suparna

Folks,
Events make you think. It is the reunion time in Kolkata. All colleges and schools are busy spawning and strengthening a network between those who are ready to leave the brood and those who have already left and are busy making their mark in the world. Take for example the case of St. Xavier’s.
Many of us, of the Narendranath alumni, have also passed through the portals of St. Xavier’s. And all of us swear by the fond memories of the institution, of Fr Huart chastising us for our faults and patting our back for achievements, Fr Gauraux (hope got the spelling right) pulling our legs. It was like a womb in which we felt safe, happy and contended.
The institution also encourages its alumni to maintain the old link with similar passion. The picture of L N Mittal with Fr Mathew, Mr Mittal smiling like a kid would never fail to touch those nerves that might even make you shade a few tears of happiness.
And for those from our school might even shade a few drops out of sheer frustration. If we look at those institutes that feel proud of their students, we would also notice that they also breed a strange bonhomie that weaves a stong bond between the institute concerned and the members of all hues. Teachers would be proud of having taught there. Students, having been taught there.
Ours would perhaps be one of the very few in the entire globe that suffers from xenophobia when it comes to its alumni. One might keep wondering why — in all its endless iterating logic — but at the end there will be this feeling of emptiness at the pit of the stomach.
It is sad. Why does one institution prefer not to have a bond that is taking institution after institution to one height of glory to the other? But then who and why would one think about it? If we did, this post would not have been written in the first place.
Happy Republic Day.
Suparna Pathak

This is to wish every fellow alumnus a very happy 2008. This is also to wish that the network that is growing so fast, keeps growing at least at the same rate so that by the end of the coming year we will have the required critical mass to clog the network.
Those of us, who have watched the association grow from nothing, must acknowledge the untiring efforts of the 69 batch, specially Dhrubada and Surojitda, not to allow the association to fray at the edges and die an untimely death.
And Debansu, of course, a much younger proposition, who has set a goal to establish a branch of the association in Bangalore! These are the efforts that must be lauded. As the year draws to a close, I as a member, bow before them.
And then of course there are Pradip and Benu without whose efforts reunions would be difficult to organise.
To keep us gramatically correct there is Indra, the Prof.
The values that the school imbibed in us are not expressed in words but the way we do things. The lofty goal that this association has set for itself to achieve will be realised because of these efforts. We must therefore say ‘Three Cheers’ to all of our fellow members who are kindled by such values.
Folks, a very happy 2008.

Did it rain on August 6? If it did, no one really cared inside the hall. With Mr Pradip Ghosh recounting his days in the school, they were too busy taking a personal journey down memory lane to care about anything else. As he talked about the relations with the teachers, the quest for excellence as a human being that the school tried to imbibe in its students and how the alma mater acted as the incubator for what he is right now found approving nods from an audience that straddled an amazing spectrum of age groups. A cluster of doctors with body language chanting success in their profession and salt and pepper mane vouching for their experience, another cluster with liquid voice and aggressive stance screaming loudly about their affiliation to the world of techies, yet another with measured steps low voice saying they were the bankers—they were a melange of exactly that, a collection of heterogeneous groups. But as the evening wore on the groups meshed and turned into one single entity – Alumni of Narendranath Vidyamandir.
Did the group that worked relentlessly for nearly two years for this day dare to think about such success? The answer is an unequivocal ‘no’. And they had their reasons. A venue away from the school premises naturally act as a deterrent to bring the ex-students together specially during the initial years. With a strongly entrenched legacy of a few years, the venue ceases to matter as the network of students takes up a life of its own. The next was the question of spreading the word. Yes, we had a website. But the access was not universal. How many among the ex-students were regular surfers? So advertisements were a must. If they were, what would be the strategy? How would it be funded?
Like kids, a few reasonably busy professionals took time off from their commitments and engaged themselves in animated debates about the strategy to make this reunion a true platform for holding aloft the tradition of excellence that the alma mater espoused. While Surojitda with his wry smile encouraged a debate on every point, Dhruboda affectionately helped the group reach a compromise whenever there was no solution in sight. Purojit with his corporate experience and scarce presence provided the much needed fine-tuning while Pradip preferred to liaise over phone always assuring his vital support for what would later transpire to be a historic day. Binoy, the businessman, was ever the task allotter and Indranil, the doctor professor, never failed to cut the t’s and dot the I’s. Debansu with computer and wide caste network at his disposal kept the entire team on their toes so much so that I, the itinerant, got reminded of my duties even when I was busy completing immigration formalities in a foreign airport.
But even with all this, we were not sure how it would turn out to be. At 3 pm on August 6 as I drove towards the venue, thoughts kept speeding by. Would we be able to pull it off? So much of hard work – what would be the response? And as I reached to find a deserted venue, the thoughts turned into panic. This was not a good omen. But with little else to do, I sat down with a cup of tea and watched the busy movements of the cook and his helpers preparing the food. I started to approximate the proportion of waste as a teaser to while the time away. And then came the knock. ‘Hallo! Is this the venue of the school reunion? I am coming from Halishahar.’ Instantly, my trepidation turned into elation as I sensed a successful evening ahead. If the news had traveled so far and had inspired someone to journey so much to attend the reunion, it could never fail.
And it did not. By the time our fellow alumnus and the current law minister of West Bengal, Mr Rabilal Maitra walked in, the hall had started to look busy. With people meeting each other after decades, reliving the past, hugging and introducing their families it was fast moving into an occasion of bonding across generations of alumni. It was revealing to hear one of the parents of the students felicitated by us for their performance in the board examination comment, ‘Who knew that the school had bred so much of success!’
The ground outside the venue was fast filling up with as many as there were inside. This was a sure sign that the function inside would soon turned redundant! And sure it was. As the magician grabbed the stage to entertain the kids, the entire contingent walked out into the open and the real reunion begun. It was then just 8 in the evening.
Post script: This text ought to have been in Bengali. But as the Internet does not support the software that I use, Debansu forced me to write it in English. His claim, he would be able to bypass the compositor. So my apologies.