Braving the early morning chill, Simran and Rohan make it to Calcutta Polo Club thrice every week. While Simran, a Class III student of Modern High School, patiently waits as her favourite pony Jagatpura is readied for the ride, brother Rohan keenly inspects the other ponies. “Woh ghoda daudta kyon nahi hai? Main uspar baithun to zaroor chalega (Why doesn’t that pony run? It surely will when I ride it),” smiles Rohan, a pre-school student of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy (picture by Bishwarup Dutta).

For the duo, horse riding is the first step towards picking up the basics of polo when they are older. In November, the club introduced a two-month course to promote the sport amongst the youth in the city. The training in horse riding and polo is provided in small batches with flexible timings. The club hopes to groom the youngsters to form the junior polo team which will represent Calcutta in national and international meets in future. The course fee is Rs 3,000. After the programme is completed, an inter-batch or inter-school competition is on the cards depending on the number of batches ready to perform.

“We are planning to approach schools and colleges to create awareness about the sport amongst youngsters,” said Anant Bangur, spokesperson for the club, which was established in 1862 by British polo enthusiast Joe Shearer. The club is located at the Calcutta race course. Though the city once enjoyed the reputation of being the hub of polo in India, the sport has witnessed a steady decline over the years, partly because polo is an expensive sport. The fee for the club’s student programme has been fixed keeping this in mind.

While the game originated in China and Persia around 2,000 years ago, the name “polo” finds its root in the word “pholo” meaning “ballgame” in the Balti language of Tibet. The Moguls are credited for spreading the game to the east. By the 16th century, Emperor Babar had introduced it in India. In the 1850s, British tea planters on the Indo-Burmese border took to the game. Though polo is an active sport in 77 nations, it is played professionally only in a few countries like Argentina, England, India, Australia and the United States.

Theme harmony

Our school hosted its annual inter-school festival Ullas 2006 in mid-December. Over 600 children in the age group of six and 11 years from 18 schools across the city participated.

They showcased their talent in off-stage events on the campus on Day One. Vichitramukh, a face painting competition, brought out the imagination in them, while Spell Bee and Math-o-Fun had them racking their brains over tricky teasers.

The on-stage events were held on the second day at Madhusudan Mancha (picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya). The youngsters faced a volley of tough questions in the quiz finals before moving on to Do-Re-Mi, Ghungroo, Rhyme and Razzmatazz, the song-and-dance, recitation and drama items, respectively. The programme laid stress on religious harmony and unity in diversity.

The events were so varied that almost all the participating schools got the chance to bag a prize. South Point School lifted the champions trophy but being the host school graciously passed it on to first runner-up Delhi Public School Ruby Park. Birla High School (Boys) then moved up to claim second place.

Arundhati Banerjee & Suroraj Sen,
Class V, South Point School

Little stars: Children who will participate at a baby show to be held at Millennium Park later this month celebrate New Year’s Day in front of Victoria Memorial. Picture by Pabitra Das

Annual sports

The annual sports event of our school was held on December 11 on the campus. After the torch lighting ceremony, an inter-house march past competition was held. The finals of the track events drew the loudest cheers from the crowd. The finals of the field events had been held a couple of days earlier. Besides a host of exciting contests for the students, there were competitions for the teachers, ex-students and parents. Swamiji (Red) House emerged the champion this year. The prize-giving ceremony and the march past wrapped up the day’s programme.

Sudip Chakraborty,
Class XII, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

I think you think

The commerce department of St Xavier’s College unveiled its annual magazine Youthink 2006 on December 15 at the college auditorium with “India — A New Dawn” as its theme.

The journal’s name was suggested by Father Felix Raj. Those present at the launch mused over its connotation — whether it was “youth-ink” or “you-think” or “youth-think”.

A debate between the B.Com department and the combined team of B.A. and B.Sc. departments followed in which the latter won.

Kingshuk Nag,
1st yr B.Com, St Xavier’s College

Freshers’ fun

With the advent of winter, Annex College of Management Studies welcomed the new batch of students at Aagaman ’06, the freshers’ welcome, held in December at the BD auditorium in Salt Lake.

It was a fun-filled event, with a host of presentations, including western and eastern dance, fashion show, laughter show and band performance. The day ended with a melodious song by the college director Vikash Kumar Singh.

Trisha Sen,
1st sem, MBA, ACMS

Tech stage

The 7th annual function of KDC, a computer education centre located in north Calcutta, was held at the CU institute auditorium on December 24. The students of the centre participated in the cultural programme with much enthusiasm. The centre provides training at a concession or even free of cost to needy students.

youngmetro
writein
to contribute with news, views and interviews, send your
inputs to: youngmetro@abpmail.com