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
