Book Bank at Narendrapur

The objective behind the project is to help the needy students of the area encompassing 100 km radius of this unit covering both urban and rural areas. Besides giving text books of different classes up to Higher Secondary level, other educational aids in the form of note book, school dresses, instrument boxes, bag etc. are also given to cater their educational needs. This aid is given every year to students of different classes, the total number of which exceeds well over 600 every year.


The Book Bank under the Rural Development unit of the Ramakrishna Mission Narendrapur is not having any school under it but it is providing educational aid to 83 schools covering 695 students (323 boys, 372 girls) and a total 4047 books have been distributed during 2006-07(upto September 2006).

Original source of this article is Here

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Praktani: Update II (as on 21st June 2007)

Atri Mitra of 1993 batch forwarded this mail which he received from Debdut-da (1975), an active member of the Praktani. kindly go through the mail and fwd this to your batchmates...

We will be meeting at Narendrapur on 24th June at
Narendrapur for a general meeting at 10am. Lunch will
be provided.

Golden Jubilee Activities:

##--A Proposal--##

Inside Narendrapur

1. Golden Jubilee Gate.

2. Goden Jubilee Open Air Theatre.

3. Golden Jubilee Bio Technology Laboratory.

4. Golden Jubilee Computer Centre.

5. Improvement of the Arogya Bhaban.

6. Improvement of the Prayer Halls of all the
Hostels.

7. Golden Jubilee Gym.

8. Guest House for the Ex-students with a office of
Praktani.

9. Funding the orphan houses run by Swami
Debendrananda (Shashanka Maharaj) around Narendrapur.

10. Golden Jubilee Ecopark at Narendrapur.

11. Special fund for the welfare of the employees of
Narendrapur.

12. Upgradation of the Museum.

13. Videography of Golden Jubilee Celebration.

Outside Narendrapur

1. Adoption of a village at Ajodhya Pahar, Purulia

2. Funding the different Social Activities Carried
out by different batches.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Progress of Golden Jubilee Celebration of RK Mission Narendrapur School
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The chronology of events; as it happened...

19.02.2007

Pradyut (1986) and Kamalda (1974) contacted me for arranging a Press Conference at Press Club to announce the Golden Jubilee Celebration of our School.

15.03.2007

A meeting was held at Press Club, Kolkata. Debiprasad Bandyopadhyay (1969), Tapanda, Secretary of VidyalayaPraktani (1972), Kamalda (1974), Udayda (1974), Pradyut (1986), Anirban (1994) and myself were present. The Press Club were booked finally for 3 rd
May (the date was deferred due to the sudden illness of Bishnuda). Food packets were ordered. Payments made by Tapanda.

25.04.2007

A meeting was held at Press Club, Kolkata, to review the progress of the agenda of the Press Conference, Scheduled at 3rd May. Tapanda, Kamalda, Udayda, Pradyut, Anirban and myself were present.

03.05.2007

Press Conference held at Press Club, Kolkata. Bishnuda (Secretary of RKM, narendrapur) and Ashokeda (Head master of the School) addressed the press. Tapan
Maharaj (Swami Jogeswarananda) Sharad Mirani and Shaktida were present from Narendrapur. Many ex-students of various batches were also present.

After the Press Conference some of the members of Praktani had a long discussion to pinpoint the role of the praktani in the Golden Jubilee Celebration of our School.

15.05.2007

Again a meeting was held at Press Club, Kolkata and we discussed a serious problem about the differences between the President and the Convenor of the Golden Jubilee Committee. We decided to sit together to solve the issue to make the Golden Jubilee celebration a success. It was decided that we would sit at the office of Kamal Banerjee on 27th May, 2007.

27.05. 2007

The meeting was held as scheduled at the Office of Kamal Banerjee (1974) at Behala. Members present were Tapan Mukherjee (1972), Arijitda (1974), Udayda (1974), Debashish Chandra (1979), Aruni (1979), Pradyut (1986) and myself.

We decided to organise a meeting of representative of most of the batches on 10th June outside Narendrapur.

Tapanda took the responsibility to book the hall. We took the responsibility to mobilise the ex-students to attend the meeting. Tapanda was requested to inform Ashokeda about the meeting to avoid the further complication. It was decided that Tapanda and Pradyut would request Sharad da to attend the meeting.

06.06.2007

Some of us met in the Press Club, Kolkata on immediate basis to discuss the agenda of the meeting of 10th June. Tapanda informed that he has already booked a hall at Bhowanipore for the said conference. Alida (1965) and Samarlalda (1969) were present among the others. We were told that Sharadda will attend the meeting of 10 th June on behalf of the President Praktani.

10.06.2007

In a very short time we could assemble 35 ex-students representatives of 26 batches starting from 1966 to 2006. Sharadda was also present. Many important things were discussed. Many proposals were taken.
It was suggested that (1) An Alumni Register will be made so that we could contact each and every members of Praktani when needed, and (2) A representative of the Praktani will meet Ashokeda and Tapan Maharaj at Narendrapur on 16th June to explain them the sentiments of the ex-students regarding the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the School.

A team comprising of Samarlalda (1969), Tapanda (1972), Dipankarda (1974), myself (1975), Debashish Chandra (1979), Pradyut (1986), Anirban (1994) and Debamalya (2003) was formed who will visit Narendrapur on 16th June.

16.06. 2007

The team led by Samarlalda met Ashokeda, the President of the Golden Jubilee Celebration Committee as well as the Prasktani and explained the present situation to
him. Tapan Maharaj was not there as he was ill (as reported by Ashokeda). We could not bring the two leaders across the table.

After meeting Ashokeda we decided to meet Tapan Maharaj as he was ill. But surprisingly we got to know that he was fit and working in his office in the 1st
floor of the Central Office. We went there and took Tushar Maharaj with us.

We had some heated arguments with Tapan Maharaj, where Tushar Maharaj intervened and fought in support of our cause. In one stage he wanted to resign from the post of the Convenor if two Joint Convenors were added as proposed by the Praktani. However Ashokeda did not oppose the proposal.

Although we was confused, however some important things came into light and two important decisions were taken:
(1) Tapan Maharaj disclosed that he is facing some problems to work with Ashokeda and there is a big communication gap between the two. Tapan Maharaj agreed to have an one-to-one discussion with me and the date was fixed. Tapan Maharaj told me to come at 9 am on 20th June, 2007.

(2) We will have an ex-student meet at Narendrapur on 24th June, 2007. Ashokeda not only approved it, he was even kind enough to announce that the School will provide lunch to all participants.

(3) We decided to meet Shyamalda (Swami Jitatmananda) for his guidance for the preparation of the Golden Jubilee Celebration.

(4) Praktani promised to take active role to make the Golden Jubilee Celebration a success, provided that our sentiment is looked after with due respect.

19.06.2007

(1) Tapan Maharaj cancelled his appointment with me. So there was no scope to hear from him about the problems faced by him.

(2) But Shyamalda agreed to sit with us in the evening. A team comprising of Samarlalda, Arijitda, Dipankarda, Kamalda, Udayda, Nirupamda (1974) and myself went to Swamiji-r bari to meet Shyamalda.

On behalf of the representation, I explained the situation to Shyamalda and requested him to guide us to formulate a concrete proposal which would be permanent in nature.
Shyamalda was very kind to give us two hours and promised to help us in near future. He has also given us some concrete proposals. He also promised to be present at the meeting of 24th June, provided Ashokeda requests him to attend the said meeting.

Compiled by Debdut Ghoshthakur (1975)

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Who am I???

I am 59 years old. I am an ex-student of Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Residential College. I was a monk of the Ramakrishna Math & Mission and was posted at Narendrapur, Belur Math, Madras Math, Singapore Mission. I was a maths teacher at Narendrapur School. I was headmaster at Barrackpore Vivekananda Mission High School. I am in teaching profession from 1967.

Love for maths or trying to hook fishes? Could he be Hari da, who fled RKM Narendrapur after a scandalous affair...? unlikely though. Any clue, who this self-claiming Maharaj is? Nevertheless, it's interesting to see another deluded ONE trying to return to the mainstream! opens another channel of thought. check out urself!!
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Where is thy Green?

On the way back to hostel after the summer / puja vacations, Kamalgazi used to be my breaking point. My sensors could acutely catch that smell of wet green as soon as our car would drive past the area. At this point, the sense of returning-to-the-cage was so overwhelming that the vast emptiness around the campus would grip me hard. Later, as i grew up, this would turn into a sense of peace as soon as the wheels would reach Mandir Gate. It was then, a bliss, within the world of screeching horns, dirt and noise. Little did I anticipate that this bliss would eventually be grapled by the polluted resonance of the city? Today, Narendrapur has completely lost its neighboring serenity, which eventually are making impacts on its own environment. The Realtors are baying for every inch as the area is attracting investments thanks to the metro extension to Garia.

I wonder - down the line, 25 years from now, will there exist a 160 acre green campus?

Here is an interesting analysis by Business Standard on the current real-estate scenario on newly emerging Calcutta.
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Praktani: Update

As mentioned in the last post, Praktani had a meeting on 10th of June to discuss primarily about the Golden Jubilee celebration. The immediate concern that emerged out of the meeting was 'non-availability' of a consolidated/updated contact information of the members (ex-students). they're meeting again on 24th of June. so, kindly inform your respective batches to send atleast one member as the batch representative. we're thinking of a platform to build up the database. for now, a group may be formed to reach out to every alumnus personally. i guess, the recent batches have their respective mail-groups. Praktani will now consolidate this mail-group info and reach out to the moderators to pass on any new communication. this, although an untidy and lengthy process, looks to be the starting step towards the consolidation.

keeping that in mind, this blog will try to bring all the alumni together on the web-sphere. do subscribe to the blog and pass on the message to others as well. those, who want to contribute their write-ups/posts, please do send us your email-ids (preferably google mail), so that we can add you as authors in the blog. we're currently looking for atleast 2 bloggers from each batch. Write to Us at -

Kindly update your current information from here. This will help us consolidate information until we launch an interactive database. Do write your suggestions.
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Story: a 100 million donation

A University of Illinois alumnus announced he will make a $100 million donation to his alma mater, the largest gift in the university's history.

Thomas M. Siebel, the founder and former chairman of Siebel Systems Inc., pledged to give the gift to the Urbana-Champaign campus upon his death.

Read the full story...
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Noticeboard: Praktani meeting on 10th June

To discuss about the upcoming Golden Jubilee celebration, Praktani (Alumni) has arranged a get-together on 10th of June @ Hazra, Kolkata. it will be great if atleast one representative from each batch can be present there. So, if you're in Kolkata that time, do drop in.

For further details, please contact Mr. Anirban Bagchi (1994 Madhyamik) - cell no:+91-9830942391 | email: bagchi_anirban@yahoo.co.in
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