An Eternal Bliss....

A tiny little life fell from the sky today

He was slow, yet he was a ray of hope; a life saviour.

He fell from the sky wetting my palm, which for the world was not disallowing.

I felt embracing 'em tight to my arms,

Soon he called for his comrades, and formed a large army.

Attacking the city will a fierce storm, they clattered against the roofs of the city.

It rained torrentially, returning Life to the dead trees, the shrinking river, the tired flowers,

And proved to be a bliss, past the destructive hours.

The relief was still breathtaking, and the rain thanksgiving.

As the rain was brought down on the parched earth,

I felt an unbearable lightness, and

The peace

The relief

And an Eternal Bliss....

By Natasha Ahmed

Class 10 Section B

SPBDS celebrates Independence Day

On 15th August, 2014, St. Paul’s boarding and Day School celebrated the Independence Day. The day started with a grand march past by the students of classes six to twelve followed by the hoisting of the tricolour flag by the chief guest. After that the students marched into the hall where a program was arranged. Even the parents and ex-students were a part of the audience. 

School Band

 An English skit was performed in which the school choir sang beautifully. Four folk dance performances by the students added to the versatility of the show. A Hindi skit was performed based on the topic 'role of women in the freedom of India.' This was followed by a melodious Bengali choir and recitation which en-fused in every mind the spirit of patriotism. The program ended with a concluding speech and a vote of thanks by a teacher. Refreshments were served at the end of the eventful morning.

 Report by: Meghna Mukherjee (Class 12C)

Picture Courtesy: Niloy Bose (Ex-student)

Flag hoisting by the chief guest

Captains participate in the march past

Santhali Dance

Students performing Bhangra

Garba and Dandiya 

Hindi Play

South Indian Folk

Bengali Choir

 Special Thanks to Niloy Bose for mailing the beautiful pictures to us.

First batch of teachers when SPBDS was a boys' school...

Backfield

Hostel and residential building

Foundation stone on marble plaque

School chapel

Principal's office and primary classes

Inter-house Dance Competition

On August 1, 2014 St. Paul’s boarding and Day School held an inter-house dance competition in the school hall. The Gala celebration and the authenticity of folk dance , exclusively chosen from the four extents of India – brought in the feeling of Indian-ness looking back at the day gone by, when a trip to the extreme stretches – from the snow covered north to the peninsular south to the lush green vegetation of the east to the coastal west; when contemplating at the festival of the harvest season, and the celebration associated with it, brings in the feeling of unity- one cannot deny that St. Paul’s  inter-house dance completion was high.

Sister Juliet with the two judges

The four houses, Churchill (green), Gandhi (red), Kennedy (blue) and Tagore (yellow) performed popular folk dance forms from across the country. Students of classes 9-12 participated in this competition.

As much as the competition was vibrant and fun, the rehearsal and practices were all the more fun in themselves. The participants all in colourful costumes and glittering jewelry and full of zeal made it difficult for the judges to mark them a little less than the previous one.The programme began with a short introduction on the format of the competition by the host, Mr. Kleinman. The judges were Mrs. Shrija Krishnadas (Classical dancer) and Ms Ranjita Chakraborty (Contemporary dance teacher). Altogether four folk dance forms were performed by the four houses. Each house had nine dancers and they got only three minutes to put their best foot forward in dancing. The first house to take the stage was Churchill (green) and they performed Bhangra, the Punjabi folk dance. Tagore house (yellow) performed a folk dance from Tamil Nadu following a Santhali dance by Gandhi house (red).

 

Pre-performance preparations

The last to perform was Kennedy house (blue) and they performed Gujarat’s Garba and Dandiya. The judges were really impressed with the effort put in by the students and the teachers. It would be a herculean task to congratulate each of the participants, representing their own house, since every adjective would be less to describe the sincere effort and endless energy. Participants after days of practice geared up for the D-Day, finally setting to “rock” the dance floor. The red curtains were accentuating, already illuminated stage and the colourful lights added to the brightness even a degree more. 

After all the four performances, the principal Sister Juliet was called upon the stage to deliver a short speech. She too appreciated the skills of the students in dancing. Soon after the felicitation of the two judges, the results were announced. Gandhi house (red) was declared as the winner. Tagore house (yellow) came second while Kennedy (blue) & Churchill (green) secured the third position together in a tie.

 It was not only a success for the students but all teachers involved. The hard work of the student and the teachers was really commendable. St. Paul's, thus witnessed what magic music, rhythm and footsteps can create!

By Shreeja Das (Class 11 C) & Jaismita Alexander  (Class 12 C)

Pictures by Priya Chanani (Class 12 B)

Edited by Aryani Banerjee, ex-student (ISC 2006) & author of the book 'Little Longer than Forever'.

Kennedy House performing Garba

Gandhi House performing Santhali dance

Churchill House performing Bhangra

Tagore House performing South Indian folk dance

I Too Had a Love Story

Once upon a time, I fell in love,

But now I'm only falling apart.

I gave you all my heart,

And all you did was tore it up.

I'm sorry that I was such a fool,

I did not know that love could ever be so cruel.

Look into my eyes and you’ll see,

Those memories-sweet and sugary

That heavenly unforgettable time,

When your hand was on mine,

And those tough days that I went through,

When I had non except you,

You said “we make such an adorable pair”

And that you would never leave,

But you gave away the things you loved

And one of them was unknowingly me.

You had my heart with you; I have loved, but only a few.

“Sweetheart is it your fault or mine”,

Of course! I am not keeping fine.

I wish I could go back in time,

Back to where I had first met you.

I wish I had seen through your lies

I wish I had known the reason behind our fight

I could have been alert and chose the right.

But now I only carry a fake smile,

‘Cause I can't escape the pain inside,

I'm shattered, and I tremble at night.

Oh! So many nights I have spent, you and me apart

Crying myself to sleep,

Using all my strength,

To mend the broken pieces of my heart,

I realized, fairy tales always don’t have a happy ending, does it?

So yes! I’m not breaking,

I should keep going.

I should be strong, ‘Because life goes on’

Upasana Biswas

Ex-student (ICSE 2013)

Sordid tale of Gaza

Gaza and bloodshed have been synonymous. Bloodstained streets and torn up corpses being published every day on the news. But nothing seems to be fine with life there. Has humanity been lost into oblivion's curse? What's more shocking is, one in every five deaths is a child. Do they even understand what bombs are? Gaza and Palestine are burning... with human wails of anguish echoing in the air, poisoned by hatred. Hatred of Humans. For humans. A nineteen year old boy wrote on his social network page on the 13th of July that he could not fall asleep for a single night fearing when a bomb would finish his home and family.

He ate in fear. He roamed around inside the house in fear. High schools have been shut down and his life had no hope. On the 15th of July, his apprehensions proved true. His home was bombed. Into ashes. The last post of his social network page remained with a few comments of consolation and hope from friends from around the world. They all were proved wrong. Humanity is being proved a joke every single day in Gaza.

The sky is grey with the smoke of the bomber planes and the streets are scarlet with human blood. There is no other colour left in that part of the world now. A little boy was shot dead and the last five words he uttered when the gun was pointed at him were, "I'm going to tell God everything."

By Aryani Banerjee

Ex-student (ISC 2006) & Author of the book Little Longer Than Forever.

St. Paul’s Boarding & Day School conducts ‘Bengali elocution contest’

Dishari Chakraborty

Class 9 Sec A

The words of Tagore recited by a student of Class XII echoed in the hall, announced the inauguration of the Bengali Elocution of St. Paul’s Boarding & Day School on 23rd June, 2014. The competition was divided into 4 groups- Class IV - VI, Class VII-VIII, and Class IX-X & Class XI & XII. As the inauguration was declared, the competetents all sat with their back straight. All tried to take a glance of the poem. The judges’ names were announced. The hall burst into a round of applause. The judges walked down to take their seats. The sheets were given to each of them by the coordinating students. There were 32 participants in total. 1 from each of the four houses- Churchill(Green), Gandhi(Red), Kennedy(Blue) & Tagore(Yellow) and 4 students from each class. Gradually, all were called for delivering there poems. The words of the poets like Tagore, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Subodh Sarkar, Nazrul and many others echoed in the hall. Every participants performed a mind blowing performance, which could be well understood by the thunder of applause by the entire hall. When all were done with their performances, it was really a tough time for the audience as well as the participants. The coordinators were seen counting the results. All sat with crossed fingers. All desired of securing the first position in the contest, as these would add to their house points. And finally when they were done, a pin drop silence prevailed in the hall. After the results were all, declared and the certificates were awarded to each of them, again the whole hall burst with the rounds of applause. And then the final house positions were declared. In the first position was secured by-Churchill House, second position- Gandhi House, third position- Tagore House, fourth position- Kennedy House. One of the judges said a fabulous speech declaring the end of the program.