ALMAXinfinitium

Bulletin of St. Xavier's Alumni/ae Association of Burdwan (XAAB)

From the President's Desk

Editorial board

1. Rev. Fr. Dr Maria Joseph, S.J.,Chief Patron

2. Mr. Koushik Chakraborty

3. Dr. Partha Sarkar

4. Dr Amit S. Tiwary

Dear All,We live in a time when there is so much of uncertainty and chaos across the globe. COVID–19, Amphan, the invasion of locusts in the Northern part of India, the killing of George Floyd in the US which has led to a huge divide between the Whites and the Black in the US, etc. have all turned things topsy-turvy. The astrologers are predicting that more devastating things are going to befall on human kind as if the present havoc isn’t enough. It is alarming to notice that our normal children are turning violent and unexpected psychological disorders which were rare before are now becoming common in our children and our families.On a positive note, thanks to the advanced technology which is playing a key role at this time to keep us united while we are geographically scattered. Thanks to the online platforms which have become handy to continue to impart quality education. Kudos to the teachers who have been toiling day in day out to continue to provide quality study materials to the students through different online platforms. They have been adept in handling this new way of teaching through technology though not formally trained. They quickly adapted themselves and plunged into teaching our students in an innovative manner. In response to this new way of teaching, students have been extremely receptive and trying their best to cope with this unprecedented situation. Many are working hard to pull through this tough time by channelizing the energy of our children for productive purposes. One of the examples is this Alma X Infinitum. Our students and the children of the Alumni/ae took part in drawing, cartoon, slogan writing, paragraph writing competitions. I would like to congratulate all the participants and a special word of appreciation to those whose creations have been published in this magazine. Special thanks to Dr. Partha Sakar and his team who were the main instruments for conceiving such a novel idea and bringing it to fruition. My prayers and blessings to all of you to continue to do such innovative activities.

President, St. Xavier’s Alumni/ae Association of Burdwan (XAAB) and Principal, St.Xavier’s School, Burdwan

Dr. Maria Joseph Savariappan, S.J.

From the Desk of the Editorial Board

AlmaXinfinitum is an initiative to connect the

past with the present of St. Xavier’s School,

Burdwan. It is a two-way platform, where the

past students, with a greater experience of life

as a whole, share their understandings of the

journey, which the present has just begun. On

the other hand, the present students share

their talents through drawings, cartoons,

slogan writing and paragraph writing in

response to the call for contest organised by

XAAB. The basic objective of organising the

contest for the school students and the

children of alumni/ae is to keep them engaged

with some creative activities amidst the

prevailing situation in the wake of COVID-19

pandemic. XAAB will, in this bulletin, list down

the activities organised during this time and

the school administration will express their

expectations and goals through this bulletin. The pandemic that we are going through calls

for stronger mental bonding, inspite of the

mandatory physical distancing. This bulletin,

in its maiden adventure looks forward to

strengthen this relationship between the past

and present. Surely, with your suggestions, it

will continue to do so even at times when

distancing will be there no more. Maybe, the

present scenario has provided us with a new

opportunity to strengthen our bonding with our

Alma Mater. As Dickens had put it, “ It was the

best of times, it was the worst of times............it

was the spring of hope it was the winter of

despair.”

Under the able leadership of our Reverend Fathers, we have undertaken relief works on behalf of XAAB in association with our

School and Asansol Burdwan Seva Kendra (ABSK). On 20.04.2020, 100 food packets have been distributed among the needy

at Burdwan on the basis of the guidance and involvement of ABSK. On the second day, we distributed food packets among 200

families of daily labourers and rickshaw pullers in a slum near Sukanta Pally, ward no. 6 near Kalna gate and its surrounding

areas in Burdwan town. Rev. Father Joseph, Rev. Father Mourlin and Rev. Father Arvind from ABSK with his team were present.

It was really a pleasant experience for us to contribute a little in healing the wounds of the needy who are facing an

unprecedented crisis and are deprived of the basic necessities of decent and fair living.

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XAAB during the Corona crisisRelief activities undertaken by

thOn 13 May 2020, some members of XAAB

alongwith the Reverend Fathers travelled to

Godanmari (Katwa line), PurbaBardhaman, a

village adopted by the Jesuits. We distributed

food items among the poor villagers. 200 people

were given support. In one of the pictures, a

student from Xavier's School, Gurap is greeting

Rev Father Maria Joseph on his birthday with a

flower bouquet prepared by him.

DOWN MEMORY LANEDr. Kushanava Pabi

Alumni Speak

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It all started in 1962. A visionary District

Magistrate in name Mr. K P A Menon

himself participated in a road rally with

many other eminent personalities of

Burdwan in an appeal to open an

English Medium school in the town. To

set the ball rolling a pre-primary school

in the name of “Modern School” was

started. There was no building for the

initial classes to start. So for the first

one year the classes were held in

Burdwan Town School between 6 am

to 9 am. After one year the school

building which was meanwhile

constructed in Kanainatshal was still

not complete but we had to leave Town

School premises due to technical

reason. So the courageous mentor Mr.

Menon shifted the school in the

balcony of his District Magistrate’s

residence. It was an exemplary act for

which people of Burdwan should ever

remain grateful to him.

Then came the day when in 1964

Modern School was taken up by St.

Xavier’s School and the school moved

into its permanent place, where it now

stands. I was initially in the second

batch of the school but since the first

batch was discontinued due to lack of

facilities so automatically we became

the first batch which ultimately passed

out from our school after successfully

Alumnus ICSE 1972-73 (First batch)

clearing ISC exam under Senior

Cambridge.

Our fond memories of the school

ushers many names like Rev. Father

E. Gales, Rev. Father L Hinque, Rev.

Father Das, Ms. Saxena, Mr. A Sarkar

are few to name with. Amongst these

Father Hinque was outstanding. If Mr.

Menon can be thought of as the

founder of the school then definitely

Father Hinque was the architect of

putting a strong foot print of the school

in this town. He was very strict but he

also refereed in our football matches.

Initially there was a single building

with only two floors. Gradually new

floors cropped up. New buildings

were built. My favourite play ground

was also very small, not as big as you

see it now. But we thoroughly enjoyed

our games. We used to visit Durgapur

St. Xavier’s School for playing football

matches there.

It all summed up to such a wonderful

experience that will forever leave a

sweet trail in our minds.

Thank You,

My school.

ALMA MATER

Radiologist and Director, Chittaranjan Advanced Medical Referral Institute (CAMRI), Burdwan

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COVID-19: A PHYSICIAN'S PERSPECTIVEDr Monjori Mitra

Research Director, Medclin ResearchProfessor of Institute of Child Health, Kolkata

As the Coronavirus 19 pandemic sweeps across

the world, it is causing great concern to all

aspects of health, mental health, economy, education, sports and any sphere of life.This Covid has changed our life style- we learned to live differently, restraint on our wishes

for everyone, even the cranky children has

stopped demanding as they too understand it doesn’t work though they are perceptive to changes.Children are facing enormous disruption in their regular activity. They do feel the fear which is prevailing in their family. As schools are closed

on part of necessary measure, they are having less opportunity to be with their friends and get that social support which definitely is good for mental well-being. Parents at home should be

supporting to both young and old children as

they are not apprehended by the situation and

may be unnecessarily irritable which may be a

vicious cycle. So lot of meditation and yoga

should be done at all end, it will enhance physical

health and even mental health.The developing country may see a change in

overall hygiene, no spitting in public, mask

wearing and hand washing. The most simple but

impactful method of preventing infection from

spreading is ‘hand washing’ with simple soap,

the simpler the soap the better will be the result.

If this habit is inducted even to 40% of the

population of our country it has a very effective

impact.Today be it telemedicine, physical visit and

hospitalization the number of respiratory infections

and gastroenteritis has significantly come down,

no outside food and mask wearing and hand

washing has prevented the infection. The next

most important change which we all are enjoying is

the pollution free environment. The river Ganges

has for the first time after so many decades have

been ‘so pure’, the government havespent crores

and crores of rupees to clean it earlier but now it

become really clean.The only worry in this situation is the ‘mortality’

which cannot be recovered but all the rest would be

recovered sooner or later in a new platform. The

mortality in our country is featuring low in the list,

the reason being the immunity, our population is

exposed to so many infections subclinically that

they do develop a better inherent immunity when it

comes to viral infections. A simple example of such

will be ‘nut allergy’ which is so severe in the

developed world due to ‘hygiene hypothesis’ but

which is not prevalent in our country.We wish whatever we learnt or were forced to learn

because of this ‘Covid’ we should not forget-

‘maintaining cleanliness which is next to

godliness”, we should remember and follow in our

next phase of life “Covid and post Covid era’.

Alumna ICSE 1978

Alumni Speak

ONLINE PEDAGOGY AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

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In the recent period following the spread of COVID

19, life is not as usual in India as well the world

over. All activities in the country were brought to a

halt through a country wide lockdown since the last

week of March 2020. All educational institutions

were closed down a little before that, to be specific

on the Ides of March 2020 - the day on which Julius

Caesar was assassinated. As I say this, I am

immediately reminded of my English pedagogy in

the final years of secondary school, where we

were taught the Shakespearian play Julius

Caesar, along with the significance of the day in

the Roman calendar, by Father A. Crasta S.J. in

his inimitable style.

With the lockdown in force, all stakeholders in

education - students, teachers, administrators and

other stakeholders in education alike - suddenly

found themselves without any engagement. Even

as the lockdown continued into the months of April

and May, no perceptible decline in the spread of

the virus was noticed. The country entered into

UL1.0 in early June, but the resumption of

normalcy in education, irrespective of elementary,

primary, secondary or tertiary, is nowhere in sight.

Educational institutions started evolving and

finding out ways to go back to learning since then,

albeit in a different mode. Needless to mention,

institutions are on an online knowledge

impartation spree regardless of accessibility by all

concerned.

Let me take you back a little in history. With

education becoming a marketable service and we,

the teachers, trying to emerge as service providers

in a market-driven economy since the early 1990s,

the mid 1990s to be specific, there is a clamour to

make the sector more accountable and the output

of the sector more efficient. With the definition of

output for this service remaining grey till now,

attempts are made till date to arrive at a multi-

dimensional index taking into cognizance the

various dimensions of output in education.

Changes in education policy during the period

since mid 1990s have tried reforming the sector

not only by making the curriculum up-to-date in

tandem with the global knowledge frontier, which

is indeed required, there is an increasing attempt

at improving the quality of education and elevate

the efficiency of “undefined” output with the use of

state-of-the-art technology. With spread of the

digital technology, education has emerged as an

IT enabled service globally. Distance learning is

ideally based on the new technology the world

over. Online education is definitely beneficial for

those who cannot make it to a formal system.

Adoption of new technology has even transformed

classroom lectures, and also brought about a sea

change with respect to access to information

bringing otherwise inaccessible resources on the

work table. Keeping in tune with the changing

times, we the agents in this services sector very

often use digital methods to teach in the class. We

often do not make our way to the library shelves, soil

our hands digging out archival information, or even

write in long hand a short note. Now we prefer to do

all these essential actions digitally over the earlier

modes. Online education thus guarantees flexibility

to a student, provides better documentation facility,

allows students for accessing expertise and

networking opportunities with peer groups

elsewhere apart from reducing monetary and time

costs. These are all for a quick turnover of the

“undefined” sectoral output!

These changes have no doubt transformed

education, the pedagogy in particular, but are not

without downside risks. Teachers, who use new

technology as a teaching aid, often circulate the

same notes in every academic year without even

bothering to update or ugrade with the latest in the

subject. Further, they often come to the class

unprepared as they are confident that the talking

points in the slides will help them to sail through. I

think, the old pattern of teachers entering the

classroom with soiled lecture notes in their hands

has not changed much in the new system. The

clients - the students - have adopted to these

changes faster than anyone else. In fact, most

students have very quickly learnt to sift the exact

information required for the examination rather than

reading an entire text to have an idea of what is

there in the reading material. This is irrespective of

whether the resource material is digital or not. Very

often, the presentation that a teacher uses in the

class is distributed to the students for quick

reference. Even if the teacher does not use the

presentation slides in classroom teaching, the use

of an exercise book and pen by a student is being

relegated to history. Thus, in the system that has

emerged, the gadgets required are a lot different

from what were in requirement before. There is an

increasing requirement of an information saving

and reading device. With increasing use of mobile

telephony, especially in tertiary education, learning

has become lot easier. I have often observed

students effortlessly recording lectures in the class

or taking a photo of what is being written on the

board rather than taking the effort of writing down

lecture notes. I have seen my own children

retrieving lecture note files from the mobile phone

on the eve of the examination! Let me not mention

that access to encapsulated lecture notes have

become a lot easier to students who miss classes

on one pre-text or the other!Online pedagogy gives a completely new

dimension to this emerging system of system

of education. Even during lockdown, online

impartation is supposedly the best bet provided all

interested students have access to the latest

system. However, this “new” new system is fine

as long as there is no digital divide across space,

and income and social groups. Often the service

provider and the client are handicapped using the

new technology related interfaces. An online

system without the basic condition of equal

access and level playing skills makes the system

even more unfair and the divisions in the society

gets perpetuated. For instance, during this

lockdown, students in a remotely-located school

are completely left out of this ambit of online

education or knowledge impartation at large when

compared to his peer group from a school situated

in an urban/semi-urban locale. Even though

mobile telephony, social networking and gaming

requires connectivity, it is usually insufficient for

online classes. Poor and unstable internet

connectivity has often shadowed online classes,

which led to undesired consequences during

lockdown. Apart from the case of the Kerala girl

ending her life, students are found to move to and

flock to distant public places for better

connectivity defeating the purpose for which

lockdown was clamped down. Above all, an

online class often becomes impersonal in nature,

the personal care and attention in classroom

teaching, especially for weaker students, gets

missing. In this scenario, a teacher ’s

responsibility is to devise new methods to keep

remote students engaged in the virtual class.

However, as a teacher, I don’t get enough

stimulus to teach when I speak to an inanimate

camera. I would rather like a class full of students

with eye-to-eye contact, even if some of them are

naughty and distracting at times. For a teacher, an

instant feedback from students in a class is very

important to proceed.The question that is looming large on the horizon

is the way out for teaching under the new normal. I

am not the one who would predict the doomsday

for education on the Ides of March, but I am

hesitant to blindly take the route of online teaching

even in a crisis situation like this. Policy makers

and institutions are trying to come to grips with the

situation. The “new” new system can only become

a success when the “necessary condition” of

equal access to opportunity is ensured for all

stakeholders, lest it would make the economy and

society more unequal.

Professor Saikat Sinha RoyProfessor, Department of Economics

Jadavpur University

Alumnus ICSE 1981

Alumni Speak

MY SCHOOL, MY LIFE Dr Syed Tanveer Nasreen

Alumna ICSE 1989

First Secretary, Culture

Director, Indian Cultural Centre

High Commission of India, Maldives

ALMAXinfinitium

The beginning of my relation with the

school goes back to a little more than four

decades, when I entered the school as a

dishevelled dreamy little kindergarten kid in

1978. In the customary ‘first day at school’

photograph taken at Priti Studio, I can still

see myself looking away from the camera.

My shirt is not neatly tucked. Interestingly,

both these features are discernible in the

class photograph of St. Xavier’s KG -1978.

I had spent the first four and a half years of

my life at home. It took the idea of nurseries

and prep schools another decade to reach

our sleepy little town. I had entered school

with the knowledge of a few English words

(desperately made into sentences without

any regard for grammar). But there was an

insatiable eagerness to learn; and the

school encouraged it enormously. I have,

thus, remained a keen student, learning

newer lessons at the crossroads, all my life!

I am grateful to my school for the liberal

academic ambience it provided. I had the

privilege of being shaped at the hands of

some of the best teachers one can possibly

imagine! I was so deeply influenced by one

of them that I had already made up my mind

to study History when I was in Class IV.

Despite the best efforts of another teacher,

my inability to comprehend the act of

balancing chemical equations may be

accounted to the orientation of my brain.

In the junior classes, we were often

required to write an essay on ‘My Best

Friend’ (not Bestie!). Thirty one years after I

left school, today I am blessed with a bunch

of best friends who have remained the

strongest pillar of support in the most

tumultuous days of life.

We were blessed to grow up in a world in

which ‘competition’ had not yet assumed

extrahuman proportions. We had the liberty

to explore the world of aesthetics according

to our inclinations. The school encouraged

creativity throughout the year and my

parents, at times, did seem concerned that

I devoted more time to dance, drama and

debates than ‘studies’. I remember with

gratitude the pain Rev Father Fohshow,

our Headmaster (that is what the Principal

was then called) had taken in preparing me

for a State level elocution competition. The

rigorous training and the successful

metropolitan exposure prepared me for the

many public debates, later in life.

I am amused when I see my Class VI

annual report card, where, despite a

modest academic score, the disgusted

class teacher had written ‘very talkative!’ in

the column of remarks.

I was indeed a little embarrassed for some

time, but today when I see myself untiringly

arguing for gender rights, talking

incessantly about my country and its

culture before an international audience,

his comments seem to have been

prophetic!

We were not technologically empowered

during our school days. But what I learnt at

school helped me to thrive in the academic

world, first in Kolkata at Presidency

College and later in Delhi, at Jawaharlal

Nehru University.

Whatever I am today, I owe to my school.

The school has ‘made’ me in every sense

of the term. I remain grateful to my

teachers (some of whom have also taught

my daughter), my friends and the staff of

the school who contributed in the making of

whatever little I am today.

To each brick in the walls of the school, to

each blade of grass in its field, to each rusty

name scribbled on the desks, I owe my

gratitude. No joy in life has ever matched

the fun of playing football in the

waterlogged sportsground in an August

afternoon! We were encouraged by Father

himself who, too, used to come down and

play with us.

The spirit of adventure and the zeal to

explore newer domains, which I imbibed so

well in school, have led me to take up this

job at the Ministry of External Affairs after

20 years of teaching and research at the

University.

The Students’ Pledge to the Nation was

administered on every important

occasion in school. It was much later in

life I realized that some phrases, like,

being ‘proud of its rich and varied

heritage’ had been so deeply etched in

my mind.

As a student of the Silver Jubilee class of

1989, I had the rare honour to be

selected for designing the school

emblem. My sister graduated from the

school in 2001 and my daughter

graduated in 2016. 38 long years of my

active engagement with the school, first

as a student and later as an alumna and

guardian, seem to have passed at the

blink of an eye. Is life really this short?

Today, as I am in another country, I feel

proud to see the great social work the

Alumni Association is doing. I regret my

inability to join in these services and

miss every moment of it.

Much of what we were used to until

March 2020, will be reformulated in the

wake of the Covid 19 pandemic. With

the onset of the online programmes

already, the paradigm of education will

be vastly revamped. Teacher-student

connections may not any longer be as

direct as they used to be. However, both

teachers and students have to be a little

more alert in imbibing the basic values

and principles of education. Distancing

will only be physical (for some time,

hopefully!), the world should mentally

come closer as one big society.

I have never been a particularly well-

dressed person; neither have I learnt to

pay much heed to it in life. But today,

when I speak at a TV show, I look straight

towards the camera. Usually, the shirt is

also in place!

You may wonder if I would attribute these

to my Alma Mater as well.

Yes, and the evidence is the class

photograph of the ICSE batch of 1989!

Alumni Speak

ALMAXinfinitium

Name : ARIGHNEE SENClass : KGA, Roll No. 47

Name : SOUMYA BANERJEEClass : 2B, Roll No. 05

Name : OIKANTIKA DUTTA Class : KGC, Roll No.11

Drawing Competition

THEME: “BLISSFUL EARTH”Class : KG-IISelected Drawings

Name: SATYAKI BISWASClass : 2B, Roll No.13

Name : BISMAYADEEP BALLClass : 2D, Roll No.1

Name : ADRIJA BHOWMIK Class : 2B, Roll No.11

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Drawing Competition

THEME: “BLISSFUL EARTH”Class : KG-IISelected Drawings

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Name : JYOTISMAN KABIRAJClass : 4C, Roll No. 25

Name : SINJINI PAULClass : 5A, Roll No.

Name : SHOAIB ALAMClass : 5A, Roll No. 51

Cartoon CompetitionTHEME:

“Corona Bhago!”

Class : III-V

Selected Cartoons

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Name : Manjistha KunduClass : 3B, Roll No. 28

Name : Saptarchi DeyClass 4C, Roll No. 17

Name : ADWITYA JASHClass : 5B, Roll No. 29

Cartoon CompetitionTHEME:

“Corona Bhago!”

Class : III-V

Selected Cartoons

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Avik Guha4A, 12

St James School, KolkataS/O Indrani Guha, Alumna (I.C.S.E 2002 and I.S.C. 2004)

Johann Neo BhowmickMont.III (equivalent of KG-2)Chiguru Montessori, BangaloreS/O Boddhayan Bhowmick, Alumnus (ICSE 1996)

Riyaan Bhaumik GhoshKG A1, 20La Martiniere for BoysS/O Dipayan Ghosh, Alumnus (ICSE 2002)

SELECTED DRAWINGS AND CARTOON OF CHILDREN OF ALUMNI/AE

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EXPEL DARKNESS BY STANDING WITH OUR ANGELS IN WHITE

Sounak Samanta 8B, 52

YOU AND I TOGETHER CAN BANISH CORONA FOREVER

Sophia Alam 7C, 55

LET’S STAY LOCKED AT OUR HOMES TOGETHER

TO BRING CORONA DOWN FOREVER

Sunith Halder 7A, 23

ROUND THE CLOCK MAKING EARTH COVID-FREE

SALUTE YOUR COURAGE AND HUMANITY

Syamantak Das 7A, 18

BEWARE COVID WE ARE MERE HUMAN BEINGS,

BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHENEVER WE SUFFER,

WE SURVIVE, TEMPER US WITH MISERIES, WE GO STRONGER

Abhidha Kundu 7C, 29

SPREAD FACTS NOT FEAR AS CORONA BRINGS TEAR

MAINTAIN PHYSICAL DISTANCING BEING MENTALLY NEAR

Darshit Tiwary 7A, 54

SAY NO TO CORONA AND TO FEEL GOOD

WEAR A MASK AND TAKE HEALTHY FOOD

Nawhid Nawar 7A, 38

SLOGAN WRITING COMPETITION, CLASS VI-VIII

“Fight Against Corona”

Or

“Salute the Corona Fighters”

SELECTED SLOGANS

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Paragraph Writing Competition

THEME: “The Joy of Staying Together and Praying together”Class : IX & X

Selected Paragraphs

Srejita Ghosh, 9C, 19 We are now locked in our homes trying to combat the dreadful COVID-19, and eventually it has begun to loosen our external relationships with the work physically. But if we think logically, this physical distancing cannot really create any barrier between us or easily split the world, if we stand strong and united mentally; of course, At Home!. A distinguished proverb says, “a family that stays together, prays together”.Generally, by the word ‘family’, we mean a small habitation comprising members sharing the same blood relation. But again, thinking logically, is blood relation really necessary if we consider the entire world, struggling now, as a ‘Unified and Total Family’? The healthcare workers are striving hard from morning till night, taking care of COVID patients, and on the other side, scientists are going on experimenting about the vaccine of COVID-19, which will be an upcoming blessing to be showered upon the suffering and sick world. And the whole world is praying together by staying at home, communicating with their near and dear ones over virtual platform, maintaining social distancing and yet helping the poor with necessities and standing by them, just and just to bring a successful end to this monstrous epidemic and restore back normal and happy life again.Hence, apart from the biologically related families living together under the same roof, can we not call this grand and worldly family, staying under the great blue sky, which is ‘staying together and praying together’ fighting for each other as well as for Mother Earth?

Adrija Gayen, 9C,17There’s a famous saying, “The family which prays together stays together.” My parents had this quote on a plaque hanging on the wall in our game room. The author is Fr. Patrick Peyton, a priest who later became famous for promoting the rosary all over the world. When he was a kid in Ireland, his mother would call him and his eight siblings to pray. Then their dad would teach them rosary. Well, sort of. He didn’t have to teach it. He would just kneel down and read it. By and by, the kids learned it. It was the same for me. Nobody ever sat me down to teach me my prayers. Nobody ever handed me a card with our Father on it and said, “Memorise this”.I remember kneeling with my family in the living room and struggling to keep up until one day, I just knew the words. Praying together bonded us a family. There were arguments but true to a point all those are natural activities. Praying goes beyond. It is super natural.Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” If we inherit the habit of praying together, then, no matter where we are in this world, each one of us will stop at a certain time of day to say our family prayer “together”. Only prayer keeps us united, even across the miles. One, who wants a happy family, makes prayer a daily event. We must ask God to bless us and our family, bring us more closely together and make us a blessing to everyone we meet.

Jayotri Chakroborty, 9A, 10A single stick can easily be broken, but a bunch of sticks is impossible to break. In the same way a single person is too weak in a society but a group of people is always stronger. Not only physically, but also mentally. Because of critical lifestyles and other activities, today situation has forced us to get detached from our near and dear ones.But the joy of staying together with our family, friends and close relatives is just incomparable. It is good that today, due to COVID-19 pandemic we have again reunited our society, in which the whole environment is a part of. This has unknowingly given us certain mental strength and happiness which can easily defeat all difficulties. More we are together, the more we pray to the almighty for the well-being of our admired person and the more a positive energy works within us which can certainly help to overcome all bad situations, along with keeping us “fit and happy”. Hence, at least I would always say, that staying together and praying together would keep us joyous, happy and fit throughout our life.

Debayan Pramanik, 9B, 42“The art of love, care and share,In times of need, being always there,The bond so special boosts mind and soul,A family shapes life and plays a vital role.”These lines showcase the importance of togetherness. Modern century is blessed with advancement of technology and simultaneously has made the human life machine dependent. Humans now live in a virtual world, made of android, app, 4G, artificial intelligence and so on. But, in recent days, COVID - 19 Pandemic has jumbled up the scenario and brought back people’s togetherness. The lockdown has helped us to receive the old tradition – to live with family, motivation from grandparents’ love for siblings etc. Life has a new dimension with everyone helping each other in daily life, playing indoor games, praying together for emotional well-being, watching mythological shows, cooking and eating meals together. Let us all pledge that we will stay united and surely our prayers and togetherness will aid everyone in winning over all battles. This is called peoples’ power which can illuminate the whole world and can make every impossible – possible – also stated by the theory of Quantum Mechanics.

Adrija Roy, 10A, 46“The family that prays together, stays together”, Patric Peyton a famous charismatic figure believed that a family which stays together and prays together can overcome any difficulty that comes towards them. We are going through some difficult times, in such times we must pray together with our family. It not only strengthens the bond between family members, but brings us closer to God, the Almighty. Due to COVID-19 we all are locked up in our homes, and at such times, we must stay together and pray together for everyone.Due to our busy schedules it is difficult to stay together, but now as we get this opportunity, we can experience the spiritual joy of staying together and praying together. When we stay together and pray together, we realize the importance of a family. By praying together, we re-discover others and ourselves, we feel stronger. When praying we become one and then only we feel the joy of praying together. When we pray together a feeling of oneness comes in us and that is the real joy, and no other joy is greater in front of this joy. We must know to be thankful for this joy, and appreciate it.

Hiranmayee Padmaja Tripathy, 10A,51The entire world is confronting an unprecedented situation because of COVID – 19 pandemic. School, colleges, offices and other establishments are closed because of lockdown. People are working from home and students are attending online classes from home. All of us are staying at home because of the ongoing lockdown and that has given us a chance to spend some quality time with our family – something which we had almost forgotten because of our busy schedules. By staying together, we are enjoying things together which we could not afford to do earlier. We all are realizing that the joy of staying together is invaluable. We would never have got so much time with our families and we should be glad that though we are going through a very tough time, we have our family as our support system. We all are praying together during this crisis for the well-being of our family and the universe at large as the entire universe is one family. It has been rightly said that –”The family that prays together, stays together.”

ALMAXinfinitium

God bless, Burdwan Xavier’s School

Where Love and care, joy and peace do rule,

Burdwan Xavier’s School.

Self-Discipline, integrity, and respect for one and all,

Gentleness, obedience, the hallmark of our life.

As a beacon of hope we stand among all,

Marching on ahead of all,

For the nation, for Bengal, Forming men and women for all.

May we march on, together,

And rise for what Xavier’s stands

Truth and justice, humility

Be our guiding light.

May we use our gifts and talents,

For building up a new nation,

As proud xaverians, we stand up

Keeping our flag flying high.

XAAB (St. Xavier’s Alumni/ae Association of Burdwan) is a registered organisation of the ex-students of St. Xavier’s

School, Burdwan. Over the last two decades XAAB has been striving for the betterment of the society in general and the

members of the socially excluded section in particular.

Some of the regular activities of XAAB involve running of a charitable dispensary, organising blood donation camps,

organising health and dental check-up camps, providing learning aids to less privileged children etc., and at critical times it

also undertakes special activities. In view of the wake of the novel Corona Pandemic, XAAB offered relief in the form of food

supply to slum dwellers and poor villagers of some nearby areas of Burdwan town and villages.

We, therefore appeal to all our ex-student brothers and sisters to strengthen XAAB, help it to stand beside the society and

to fulfil its motto “To give till it hurts”. Let us unite with a determination to light candles instead of cursing the darkness.

For other details, please contact us at , follow the alumni page on our School website or follow us

on our Facebook page.

xaab.official@gmail.com

An appeal from XAAB

By Dr. Fr. Maria Joseph, S,S.J. and Br. Rakesh Mondal, S.J..

All activities associated with the publication of this bulletin have been undertaken online without any physical presence of anyone involved in the team. Collection and evaluation of drawings, cartoons, slogans and paragraphs have been carried out online. Writings from the alumni/ae and Rev. Principal have been collected

and edited online. Typesetting, editing and designing works have been carried out exclusively through online mode.

Gratitude

We wish to thank all the students who have participated in large numbers in response to the call for participation in

the contest. According to the feedback that we received from the judges, some of the participants are immensely

talented and if nurtured properly they could really do well in future. We wish to convey our sincere thanks to the Rev.

Father Principal and other members of the school administration for providing wholehearted support in undertaking

alumni activities in the right perspective. The editorial board also wishes to thank the judges comprising the

members of Jesuit community and alumni/ae for spending their valuable time and meticulously evaluating all the

submission that we received as part of the contest. Thanks are also due to the alumni/ae who, despite their

immensely busy professional schedule, have taken their time out and contributed their writings which have

enhanced the quality of this bulletin.

School Anthem