NRVP President’s Message
I am happy to learn that the Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya Praktani (NRVP) has decided to bring out a periodic digital newsletter to keep the alumni community informed about the activities of the association, school-related news, achievements of our ex-students and other related developments. I hope this will keep all of you better connected with your alma mater. I congratulate the newsletter sub-committee comprising Mr Chandan K Das, Mr Asit Motayed, Mr Somesh Bhattacharya, Mr Nirmal Mirani, Mr Aruni Chakraborty and Mr Indradeep Bhattacharyya. I thank Mr Suvadeep Sarkar for his support.
I take this opportunity to remind all the batch coordinators that the newsletter can only come out regularly if they facilitate this process. The newsletter may include updates about the personal achievements of an alumnus, collective activities of a batch, old photographs of some memorable occasion from school life and anything else related to the Vidyalaya and its alumni. I request the coordinators to do the needful in this regard.
Love & Best Wishes
Sarad K Mirani
Paradise Regained…Winter Retreat
NRVP invites all to take part in the upcoming Winter Retreat to be held on December 23 and 24, 2023. The subscription per head will be Rs.850. As there is no Reunion programme this year, the retreat will be the best opportunity to connect with our alma mater and friends. The last winter retreat, held in December 2022, 165 alumni took part and were accommodated in two hostels. They had a gala time for two days full of fun and frolic and sumptuous meals. Some of the participants enthralled the gathering with their performances at the cultural programme held in the evening bringing back memories of the good old days of school life.
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A Walk Down Memory Lane
This is a rare gem. First batch students on board the newly procured school bus on their way to higher secondary exam.
Photo Courtesy: Chandan Kumar Das, 1961 Batch
Vidyalaya News
Building Educational Infrastructure: A Continuous Process
Two STEM Labs (Science-Technology-Engineering- Management), one at the junior section and one at the senior section school building, were set up with financial assistance from Infosys. Each unit has 24 workstations (48 in total). A sum of around 35 Lakh was spent for the purpose by the tech giant. The junior section lab is situated on the first floor of the school building, while the fine arts building houses the senior section lab. The facilities were thrown open for students in July 2023.
Pranshakti Bhavan: Yours Sportingly!
Pranshakti Bhavana, a mini indoor stadium has been set up at the entrance of the Junior Section campus with financial support from the department of sports and youth affairs, government of West Bengal. The building was inaugurated on Sunday, August 6, 2023, by Revered Swami Divyananda ji, Adhyaksha, Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore, trustee, Ramakrishna Math and member, governing body, Ramakrishna Mission. Four table tennis boards and three carrom boards are now available at the facility for the Junior Section boys.
Football Fever: Swami Prabhananda Memorial Championship
The tournament named after former headmaster Revered Swami Prabhananda ji saw the participation of eight Ramakrishna Mission schools. It was held on July 22 and 23, 2023, at our ashrama stadium complex. Apart from RKM Vidyalaya, Narendrapur, the other participants were: RKM Rahara, RKM Baranagar, RKM Manasadwip, RKM Ramharipur, RKM Taki, RKM Purulia and RKM Jhargram. The final match was played between Ramharipur and Purulia. Most Revered Swami Smaranananda-ji, President, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, graced the occasion. It was a rare moment for all members of the audience to witness the Revered President Maharaj’s visit to the Narendrapur stadium. In the final, Purulia boys defeated Ramharipur 3-2 in a tie-breaker after 2-2 full time and lifted the cup. Monks, brahmacharins, teachers and students enjoyed two days of high-calibre football. Veteran Indian footballer Mehtab Hossain was present at the prize-giving ceremony.
In this year’s Rathayatra Football tournament, which is an annual event in the Vidyalaya’s calendar, Team Baichung Bhutia defeated Team Sailen Manna 1-0 and became the champion. Sri Sumanta Mandal of the 1977 Madhyamik batch personally made all the necessary arrangements and sponsored the awards.
An Ode to Mother Earth
As a part of the Azadi ki Amrit Mahostav celebrations, ‘Meri Mati Meri Desh’ programme was celebrated at the Vidyalaya on August 8, 2023. The theme of the programme was ‘Mati Ka Naman Veeron ka Vandhan’. The initiative was taken up by the volunteers of the newly formed NSS unit of the Vidyalaya. The members of the NSS team, drawn mainly from Class XI, took part in the programme. Swami Tatparanananda administered the ‘Panch Pran Sapath’ to all present. Students presented songs and recitations. A video clip on Operation Vijay of Kargil 1999 was shown to the students. Col R K Bhattacharya (retired), an alumnus of the 1976 (HS) batch and participant of Operation Vijay, shared his experience. Representatives of the Lions Club of Kolkata and Rabindra Sarovar Friends Forum presented 1,000 saplings for plantation at the Ashram.
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Achievements
RKM Alumni Scaling New Heights
Rajsekhar Maity (1992 batch, wearing orange jacket in the photo) scaled the 6350-metre Kullu Makalu on June 24, 2023, becoming the first Indian to summit the elusive peak of the Himalayas. Rajsekhar, along with fellow mountaineer Pradip Bar and four sherpas, summited the peak at 1245 pm. Also named Lal Qila, Kullu Makalu is located on top of the Dibibok glacier in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
Veteran climber Basanta Singha Ray confirmed to The Times of India that this was the first successful summit of the peak by an Indian. In 1961, an Italian team had scaled the peak for the first and possibly only time. The peak remained unvanquished for six decades.
Leading the Way in Science & Technology
Abhishek Ray (Madhyamik 2002) was awarded the CEO of the Year award by Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. Ray is an entrepreneur and CEO and director of Finarb Analytics Consulting, an AI and ML consulting and solutions provider based in Kolkata. It has been in operation since 2018. Under Abhishek’s leadership, Finarb has leveraged AI and ML to address complex, unstructured business problems across diverse industries.
Soutick Saha (Madhyamik 2009) has crafted the Wolfram ProteinVisualization paclet. This innovation offers researchers, educators, and enthusiasts in structural biology a powerful tool to visualize intricate biomolecular structures, encompassing proteins, nucleic acids, and their complexes. Soutick is currently employed as a bioinformatics developer at Wolfram Research, a leading American multinational known for its pioneering computational technology. He was recently profiled in the Analytics India Magazine that lauded his ‘breakthrough’.
News From The Reading Room
A monograph on the author R K Narayan written by Indradeep Bhattacharyya (Madhyamik 2002) was published on August 15 by Niyogi Books. The book is titled R K Narayan: A Compassionate Chronicler of Indian Life. Narayan, the creator of the fictional town
Malgudi teeming with unforgettable characters like Raju, Sampath and Swaminathan, is a household name today. But when he decided to be a fiction writer in the 1930s, it was an unthinkable career choice. He had no models in front of him, and no godfathers. In that sense, he did not just belong to an era, he began one. That is enough reason for us to consider him as one of the ‘pioneers of modern India’, as the series to which Indradeep’s monograph belongs is thoughtfully named. Narayan’s artistic achievements and contributions to the field of Indian literature can’t be overstated.
The monograph presents a behind-the-scenes story of Narayan’s becoming a writer and narrates the circumstances of his life that shaped his vision, the defining quality of which was compassion.
Indradeep, who studied at the Vidyalaya and the Mahavidyalaya, and taught at both units for several years, is a journalist by profession. This is his first book.
A Mongolian Odyssey
Dr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh (1970) travelled to Mongolia in June-July. He covered the area from the Siberian border to the Gobi Desert encompassing the Altai Mountains. It is said that in Mongolia, a sparsely populated country with mountains, steppe, lakes, alpine meadows and desert, horses outnumber the human population. People still consider Genghis Khan as an icon. Here are two images from the country through Dr Ghosh’s lens.
Memorable Events
Felicitation of Students by Uddyom
The newly constructed Swami Lokeshwarananda Auditorium in the new college building witnessed an engaging event on the evening of Sunday, July 23, 2023. On this day, students of the Vidyalaya who secured state ranks in secondary and higher secondary examinations and various competitive examinations throughout the year were felicitated with certificates, gifts and a token cash reward. The event was organized by Uddyom, an NGO created and managed by a group of students from the 1987 batch.
Revered Swami Suvirananda ji, general secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, graced the occasion as the chief guest. Also present were revered Swami Shukadevananda ji, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math, Revered Swami Shastrajnananda ji, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, and Revered Swami Ishteshananda ji, headmaster, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur. Students of the Vidyalaya and their family members were present in the audience. On this occasion, Uddyom also presented scholarships to two students of economically weaker background for their advanced studies.
Snippets
A Beginning
Revered Swami Shastrajnananda ji (Sanjib Maaharaj) assumed the charge of secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, on April 15, 2023. He is the erstwhile secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math. NRVP welcomes him wholeheartedly.
An End
With profound sorrow and deep shock, we mourn the passing of the vice president of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Revered Swami Prabhananda ji Maharaj, who attained ‘Mahasamadhi’ in the evening of Saturday, April 1, 2023, at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan. His presence amidst us benefited many ashramites, devotees, followers and admirers spiritually and morally. We pray to the Holy Trinity that his soul rests in eternal peace in Sri Ramakrishnaloka.
Swami Prabhananda ji, popularly known as Barun Maharaj, was the second headmaster of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur, from July 1, 1962, to November 5, 1967. He was then Brahmachari Girishchaitanya.