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Singapore calling Xavier’s alumni

A STAFF REPORTER

Beyond Boundaries, the international alumni convention of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata is headed for Singapore this year with an agenda of business and bonding.

The Singapore chapter of the alumni association will host the convention from May 11 to 13. The first edition was held in Bangkok in 2010.

“Beyond Boundaries has strengthened ties among Xaverians across the world. We expect an even larger participation this year,” said Father Felix Raj,SJ the principal of St. Xavier’s College and president of St. Xavier’s College Calcutta Alumni Association (SXCCAA).

The convention will start with a business meet, “Bengal Calling”, in association with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that will see a government official, a bureaucrat and an industry leader from Bengal speak to members of the business community in Singapore.

The principal, Fr. Felix Raj, SJ and the Indian high commissioner in Singapore, T.C.A. Raghavan will officially inaugurate the third chapter of Beyond Boundaries on May 12. The inauguration will be followed by a traditional lion dance.

Also on the cards on Day Two is the Global Xaverian Award ceremony. The award, instituted last year to honour Xaverians who have made a name globally, will be given to industrialist L.N. Mittal this year. Last year’s awardees were former Kolkata police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti, industrialist Pawan Ruia and Bank Sarasin-Alpen and Alpen Capital CEO and founder Rohit Walia.

The Beyond Boundaries theme song composed by Xaverian Subhen Chatterjee will be launched along with the alumni theme composed by Bickram Ghosh and filmed by Arindam Sil. It will be followed by a dance performance by actress Jaya Seal Ghosh.

Next up will be a panel discussion with four successful Xaverians moderated by Abhijit Ghosh, partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Singapore. Xaverian duo Soumyojit Das and Sourendra Mullick of You & I, an Indian traditional and modern music fusion band, will perform on the second evening.

Day Three will begin with a meeting of all alumni chapters. “We expect members from the London, Bangladesh, Dubai and Bangkok chapters to be there along with those from Calcutta, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore,” SXCCAA honorary secretary Firdausal Hasan said.

The event will close with a performance by Usha Uthup, followed by a jam session with musician and Xaverian Bickram Ghosh. “I hope this edition will see more participation from our alumni and that it will open newer avenues for showing loyalty towards their alma mater,” said Father Felix Raj.

Mamata Allots Land for St. Xavier’s

“ SXC is Bengal’s pride”: Chief Minister


Mamata Banerjee on Friday, April 27, allotted plots in Rajarhat to St. Xavier’s College to set up its third campuses, playing honorary Xaverian.

“ St. Xavier’s is our pride. We are giving the land St. Xavier’s had asked for at the minimum possible rate,” the chief minister said at Writers’ Buildings after a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure.

St. Xavier’s has been allotted 16 acres in Action Area III, four acres of which it already owns. The land is opposite the Rosedale Garden residential project, one of the many works in progress spread across Rajarhat.

Father Felix Raj, SJ, Principal of St. Xavier’s College, termed the allotment “a gift” from the chief minister. “She called me to talk about the land while the cabinet sub-committee meeting was in progress. She is an honorary Xaverian now and we are grateful to her and the government,” he said.

Mamata had invited herself to the St. Xavier’s alumni fraternity at the college convocation on January 20, saying she would be delighted to “join the Xaverian family” by becoming the institution’s first honorary member. The principal happily obliged.

The chief minister then extended a return invitation to Bengal’s first autonomous college to become a unitary university like Presidency. The Principal has appointed a Think Tank consisting of seven members to go into the preparation of the draft document of the University.

St. Xavier’s had first petitioned the Trinamul-led government for land last September, saying it would ideally like a 25-acre plot. “The government did not have 25 acres of land available for us in one place. We are very happy with what we have got. The onus is now on us to start planning how to develop the plot,” Father Felix Raj said.

The completion target for the third St. Xavier’s campus is three years. It will house the BBA and MBA courses and postgraduate departments along with some of the arts courses.

The science courses might be shifted to the St. Xavier’s second campus off the EM Bypass. The EMMRC now at park circus will be shifted and a Science research centre will also be started there”, the principal said.

The college is in the process of adding two new boarding facilities, one each for girls and boys, and an additional floor for classes to the Park Street hostel building that presently houses the boys’ hostel. (Courtesy: The Telegraph).



 

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