Power of words: It’s only a signature, but one that’s worth its weight in much more than ink. Skipper Sourav Ganguly adds his name to the Sanjog cloth, lending support to the Interact District Council, Rotary Interact District 3290 campaign against child sexual abuse, on Sunday.

With the rampant rise in incidence of sexual abuse of children in the city, the Interact District Council, Rotary Interact District 3290 decided to take up the task of educating people to protest the crime. The result of hours of brainstorming was Sanjog — The Linkage, a massive signature campaign to give voice to people against the evil and also to make the masses aware of child sexual abuse.

Commiserating with a hundred years of the existence of Rotary International, Interactors from various Schools like South Point, MP Birla, Apeejay and Welland Gouldsmith among others had 100m-long pieces of cloth signed by people from all walks of life — teachers, corporates, labourers, children, housewives and more. The campaign gained momentum when people like mayor Subrata Mukherjee, municipal commissioner Debasis Som, Sourav Ganguly, Tollywood stars Tapas Pal, Shatabdi Roy, Shilajit Roy, Jishu Sengupta and Biplab Chatterjee supported the cause.

On the eve of Independence Day, the action shifted to the gates of Victoria Memorial as 200-odd Interactors from city schools tied the pieces of cloth together to form a single appeal. With city-based youth rock band Insomnia spreading the message of the protection of innocence through their songs in the middle of the ring, curious onlookers and avid supporters came together in an emotional pledge to to do their bit to protect the girl child from exploitation.

Led by Interact district representative Harsh Gupta and secretary Sangeet Shirodkar, the movement has plans of carrying on throughout the year with the cloth on display at strategic places in the city and people free to sign it and extend their support. Says Sangeet: “We appeal to all people in whatever capacity, to leave no stone unturned in saving an innocent from being scarred by abuse. It is up to each one of us to eradicate this evil.” Here’s hoping the message will have the desired effect on all who are reading this.

Madhumita Das

 

War of words

“Can we defend life by taking life?”, or “Is death a fitting punishment?”. These were the sentiments put forward during a discussion on capital punishment organised by the NSS unit of St Xavier’s College recently. The forum comprised chief public prosecutor Lawrence Gomes as chief guest, Prof Amitava Roy from the B.Com department as moderator and Cheryl Francis, NSS director. The four panelists were Soroja Tagore, Anumita Ghosh, Anurag Singhal and Aynsley Moses, all students of the college.

The speakers elaborated on the amoral connotations of the death penalty, at the same time justifying its use in certain cases. On ethical grounds, the debate revolved around whether execution is justified, and if so under what circumstances.

One panelist claimed that it was often awarded without foolproof evidence against the excused. Another called it a “purgative instrument in society”. Many felt strongly for it. An opinion poll revealed that they were keen to see the guilty penalised. The chief guest enlightened us on the legal aspects of death sentence and answered queries. All agreed on a penalty for life being justified in cases of physical torture.

Sonam Baid, Sneha Saraf & Fareha Khan,
St Xavier’s College

 

Rocking time

July 4 was a great day, when the National Adventure Foundation, West Bengal chapter, celebrated its silver jubilee in Salt Lake Stadium with a rock-climbing programme. Students 16 years and above from St Teresa’s Secondary School, St Thomas Girls and Kendriya Vidyalay, Fort William, were invited. The artificial rock was supposed to be the highest man-made rock in India at 17.5m. The ropes were 45m each and could support a weight of 2,000 kg. We had to each put on a harness, with the rope attached to the metallic figure eight-shaped clasp on the waist, which could carry a weight of 2,800 kg. The instructors were very sporting.

During a brief discussion, director Amulya Sen explained that rock climbing was previously done on real rocks, but now international competitions were held using artificial rocks. The team is now getting ready for an expedition near Mt Everest later this year, and we hope that they reach their lakshya.

Oindrilla Sarkar,
St Teresa’s Secondary School

 

Helping thoughts

As part of the youth programme Ignited Minds, Thoughtshop Foundation had conducted a peer leadership workshop and training exercise recently. The three-day workshop was aimed at helping young people reach out to their peers. Held on a monthly basis for 19 to 25-year-olds, it helps develop self-awareness, led by counsellor Shrabonti Kirtania. It provides a platform for youngsters from different backgrounds to come together and discuss issues important to them, like peer pressure and addiction.

Participant Navin Jhanjharia from Annamalai University said: “After discussing our problems, we feel a lot more confident about ourselves and thus develop leadership skills.” Rituparna Roy from CU felt she had “learnt the basics of confidence and to identify the line between leadership and a domineering attitude”. Several interested participants volunteered to be a part of the programme. For telephone counselling and information, call the Thoughtshop Foundation helpline on 24176128/9.

Stuti Agarwal,
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,
& Puja Agarwal,
JD Birla Institute

 

Fest with feeling

Jaco ‘04 was celebrated in a unique way this year, with events for under-privileged children, too. On July 22, the fest kicked off with special programmes for the children. Jaco provided them an opportunity to take part in contests and receive prizes.

July 23 and 24 were filled with activity in St James, as several schools participated in off-stage events like Kabya, Computer Poster, Cartooning, Rangoli and Aks (photography), and on-stage contests like Masala (medley), Vad Vibad (debate), Fata Fat (ham), Masti (monologue), Antakshari, Indipop and Jalwa (fusion dance). After the events ended, Shayne Hyrapiet entertained the audience. Span was the guest band.

While most fests are going western, Jaco laid strong emphasis on Hindi. A few popular faces from Tollywood opened the event. Jaco also witnessed a special teacher’s event, Gurukul. Teachers from various schools enthusiastically took part.

St James was declared the over-all winner with 406 points, followed by Loreto House with 350 points and Calcutta Girls’ with 310 points.

Asif Salam,
2nd-year, Asutosh College

 

Quizmaster Siddharth Basu questions the teams at St Xavier’s College auditorium, during BBC’s University Challenge on August 12. IIM-Calcutta’s winning team will go on to the next round. Picture by Aranya Sen

Question hour

The Literary Society of Loreto College held The Annual Inter-College Loreto Shield Invitation Quiz on August 5. Participants from JU, Calcutta Medical College, IEM, NUJS, SXC, Lady Brabourne, Presidency and Loreto College participated.

The questions posed by quizmaster Soumya Datta ranged from the ordinary movie round to the bizarre “What is the new way in which Egyptians propose to celebrate birthdays?” (by giving presents to everyone except the birthday boy/girl), to the more challenging questions, like the meaning of the name of a city that has been in the news recently — Abu Ghraib. These were interspersed with the audio and visual rounds.

The last round was based on Calcutta and brought to light many little-known facts about the city, like Sourav Ganguly’s locality Barisha was named after emperor Bir Shah and Black Cat was the former name of the now-famous Someplace Else. Knowing the city well proved to be an advantage for JU, which emerged the champ, displacing Medical College. IEM came a close third.

Radhika Basu Thakur, Loreto College,
& Suchi Arya

project report

Healthy, wealthy, wise

It was a morning of rest, relaxation and healing at Oxford High School on August 7, during a meditation camp organised by the school for students, teachers and parents. Principal S.C. Dubey began the camp with an explanation of the usefulness of Pranayam. A regular routine of this exercise can cure asthma, chronic cold and cough, sinus problems, hypertension and constipation. Doing Pranayam on a continued basis clears the breathing passage and also helps with stress and tension. Therefore, this form of meditative yoga makes one healthy, physically and mentally. The 50-minute exercise was divided into five phases, each of about 10 minutes. Soothing music was played during the meditation, to prevent the mind from straying. Participation from children and adults was enthusiastic. Parents requested that more such camps be held in future.