LAUNCH OF XLP AND The month of December saw alumni return to campus to - PDF document

1 LAUNCH OF XLP AND The month of December saw alumni return to campus to mark the On December 6, 2012, 100 selected ourtesy: runmayee Satam A few glimpses of professor 2 College was abuzz with the plethora of events it had lined up in December. The month started with Ithaka, presented by the Department of English which saw students at their literary and dramatic best through the plays, creative writing competition and other events. This was followed by Zeitgeist – The Media Conference, presented by the Department of Mass Media which brought together some stellar names from the media industry like Shekhar Kapur, Hussain Zaidi and Madhu Trehan to interact with students. St. Xavier’s also hosted for the very �rst time a science festival, Paradigm and ushered in the third annual edition of Econundrum, its economics festival. Amongst all these events, Antas, the annual cultural festival by the Department of Hindi entered its 61st year. The XLP was also launched in December. As a part of this program, Ashley Tellis and Vidya Dehijia, with students. The talk by Mr Tellis was followed by an alumni dinner which saw alumni reminisce about their time at Xavier’s as they caught up with former classmates. With The Xavierite, we hope to not only present to you how your beloved college has shaped up over the years but also how signi�cant a role St. Xavier’s has played in your life and that of other alumni. We hope you enjoy reading this just as much we enjoyed compiling it. We look forward to receiving your articles, suggestions, anecdotes and inputs to help make this newsletter a regular monthly feature. Audrey Coutinho and Wayne D’CruzEditors, The XavieriteWe can’t wait to hear from you! about their experience at St. Xavier’s. This month, Dr Kakar revisits her two-year journey at St. Xavier’s through a memoir. Dr Kakar completed her SYJ from St Xavier’s ollege. Today, ndian Academy of Aesthetic and osmetic Dentistry, fellow of the nternational ountry osmetic DentistryATLLAR TRFLY – Y TW YY AT ST. XAV his memoir is about a transformation of a 10th grade student from a quiet, reserved introvert to a con�dent, outgoing extrovert. Coming from an ICSE education system, the admission process to ‘junior college’ was relatively easy. The pre-admission campus interview I underwent with my parents before my 10th standard Board examinations resulted in love at �rst sight. The sprawling stone structures with open a comforting homely embrace which I readily accepted, rejecting an admission offer from a reputedly more prestigious institution! I was labeled an emotional fool.It was an introduction to the real world out there.were made, and as the realization dawned that I had been much more fortunate than many in this world! The sentiment was to help those who had been less fortunate than me. I also had teachers more attention and they saw to it that the needy received that additional guidance. Along with academic curriculum, I received an advanced education in social etiquette!I fondly recall Father Bulchand’s booming voice shooing us into our classrooms when my friends and I attempted to skip classes and see a movie, the endless cutting chai and samosas from the canteen whilst waiting after practicals for a lecture, the number of movies seen after college, the experience of resurrecting the Sangeet Mandal; the one and only Xavierite Nite, my hesitant efforts at participating in the classical music competition at the incredible Malhar festival and the chatting with friends long after college hours. This perfect setting of circumstances and sequence of events over two years instilled the con�dence in me to transition from a school girl to a responsible adult. This was only possible in an institution like St. Xavier’s College. As an alumna of this wonderland that introduced me to the world, I bow my head in respect to the entire faculty and offer my reverent and fond wishes to the institution. Thank you Xavier’s for contributing so much to making me the person I am today!THE XAVIERI It was with great trepidation that I decided to attend the recent “Alumni Reconnect Programme”. As I felt I’d be entirely ‘disconnected’, belonging as I am of a completely different day and age ‘but believe me when I did I was made to feel so at home; by my dear granddaughter, her many friends, her professors and most of all Fr.Masceranhas himself.But then that’s what Xavierites are, and that’s what ‘Xavier’s Alumni Reconnect’ is all about. And yes, like most Xavierites, when I look back at the happier times of my life, the four years I spent at ‘Xavier’s stand out amongst the best.Can anyone forget the grandeur and magni�cence of the library never mind the supposed to be studying times we spent there, the famous quadrangle the dark dank stairways to our labs, the unforgettable Tosas canteen and most of all the many wonderful profs, the kind and gentle Dr.Bhat and dear Prof. Fabian Fernandes, Prof. Kothare, Prof. Lavand, and Munshi with his exquisite blackboard drawings of frogs and cockroaches, Fr.Santapau and in my very �rst year Prof. Gracias with his sines and cosines, alphas and betas all truly greek to me having done senior Cambridge with just plain arithmetic. Yes I sincerely regret I never met any of them later as my army life took me far and wide, but I will always remember them with gratitude and affection.alsie Fernandez, B.Sc 3 : Shobhaa De has always been revered as an entertaining read with socialite, TV writer and author, she’s done it all. Few people may know that she is one of our many glowing alumnus. About her experience at St. Xavier’s College, back to St. Xavier’s and walk the same corridors, I am a little afraid as the old guilt surfaces since I the Principal’s of�ce as a student. I wasn’t the best behaved student and I had poor attendance as I was more interested in sports. I am glad that Xavier’s nurtured that don’t conform. It nurtures a lot of creativity and recognises talent. spent at Xavier’s and made me who I am today. My radical views were would have in other colleges. But, more than anything else, it was truly democratic, fair and secular. No one cared who you were or where you came from, and we had absolutely brilliant professors. So, I still feel that I owe Xavier’s a big one. And of course, once a Xavierite, always a Xavierite!”As a journalist, she has always does she not get �ak about being objective as a journalist? “Every journalist aspires to be objective. I am a columnist. An opinion is necessarily subjective. Your opinion has some credibility and want to read a different point of view. Objectivity when writing a column is not a desirable quality. You have to be free of prejudice and as fair and honest as you can, but there is no such thing as a detached columnist.”With her experience in Indian television going all the way back would feel to sit back and watch television today. “Television is the very month, The Xavierite features an alumnus/a who has carved out a unique path of success. This month, Sonia Thomas tracks down and is a re�ection of our hopes, fears, dreams and aspirations. Today, television is mostly sting operations. It’s either that or you get the serials based on huge families exist in a world that is so unlike reality. Reality TV has nothing to do with reality either. I enjoyed the soaps that I wrote. But, that was a different era and I hope to do something in the future. At the moment, I cannot connect with what’s on TV as I �nd it irritating.”However, she does have her new book Sethji, about the behaviour of bureaucrats and politicians as she has witnessed in her long career. “I have seen many ‘Sethjis’ in my life over a long career. I have interacted with many politicians, made certain observations and arrived at certain conclusions which I have incorporated into the book. He is It was a book that was crawling out of my head, waiting to be written. It was my way of making a statement about a system that we all need to be a little worried about.” you want to be a writer, just write. It’s like being a classical singer, you need the riyaaz. The more you write, the more in control you are. At the end of it all, writing is a craft. You need to have a great passion for writing and a tremendous curiosity. You need to be interested in people, in yourself, the world. You need to keep your eyes and ears open 24x7.”THE XAVIERI xcerpts from an interview by Wayne D’cruz, Aashish D’mello and Ronit Sarkar 4 While the Student Council has always been around at St. Xavier’s, this year it has outdone itself in terms of catering to the interests of students across all streams and disciplines. Optimizing the use social media networks like Facebook and Twitter extensively may have helped in this regard. Comprising student representatives of all academic streams and years, the Student Council at St. Xavier’s College has tried to attain maximum student welfare on campus – through various engagement programs for students. The student body ensures that they meet every week to ideate and discuss students’ concerns. This year, they have instituted the system of an ‘Anonymous’ Box wherein The Student Council has taken up several initiatives in this academic to go by, they seem to have their year. Earlier this year, they organized Teachers’ Day celebrations; when for the �rst time in 20 years, professors were taken outside of college to celebrate at Bombay Gymkhana. Another remarkable initiative was providing online journals. The Student Council also organized an inter-disciplinary talk – “Cross-Bene�t to support FDI in retail in India won a majority of the student crowd. In collaboration with the Knowledge still in the process of ensuring every Xavierite has a xaviers.edu.in email-id. The Girls’ Common Room owes its makeover to this dedicated bunch of students who spearheaded its beauti�cation project. Besides this, Independence Day and Traditional Day festivities also fell under the purview of the Student Council. Some of the upcoming events of the Student Council include a Q&A can learn more about the new GPA system and understand its nuances better. The council also intends to organize a grievance redressal forum to tackle students’ queries about PAN card and Voter ID card registration. The Social Innovation Summit 2013 and the farewell ceremony for other initiatives they have planned. Janfest is arguably one of the biggest events organized at St. Xavier’s College. Scheduled to take place on the last weekend of January, this musical celebration is an annual music connoisseurs all over the city. mélange by some of the �nest artists of is truly an enthralling musical experience for traditionalists and newcomers alike.In the past, one would witness all-night concerts at Janfest, which began at dusk and went on till dawn, a tradition that unfortunately was discontinued due to regulations and time restrictions. The soothing change in ragas as the �rst rays of the morning fell upon the audience is something that is sorely missed today. However, the early morning concert that happens on the second day of Janfest makes up for that experience.Through the year, IMG organizes several concerts, baithaks, mini-baithaks and music appreciation courses. A Young Artists’ Festival is also held annually to encourage fresh talent and provide a platform for budding artists. The Birthday Concert which is scheduled for January 12 is a popular prelude to JanFest. The artists that grace IMG events are well-established names. Some of the maestros Hussain, Late M.S. Subbulakshmi, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Late Pt. Ravi Shankar.roup of St. Xavier’s have JanFest and the Birthday January. The Xavierite looks at the January 26, 27: JanFest passes go on sale from mid-January. For more details, contact Sanjay www.indianmusicgroup.orgTHE XAVIERI you can reach Lizann Fernandez, President(2012-13),Student ourtesy: Viraj Tadwalkar ouncil members on Traditional Day