Republic Day & Saraswati Puja Celebrations

This 74th Republic Day of India was marked by an auspicious beginning, with the Saraswati Puja being organised at the Valia Hall. The Puja began around 8.00 am when the blessings of Goddess Saraswati were sought in the presence of the dignitaries, management, and students of the college. The day began on a holy note with the puja & everyone was ushered to the Turf thereafter, where from 9.00 am the Republic Day celebrations began. The tricoloured decoration, with 100 pictures of Indian freedom fighters in the stage backdrop together gave a patriotic aura to the festivities. After uttariya was given to all the present dignitaries, they headed for the flag hoisting by the Turf, which was followed by the National Anthem, sung by all present at the program.

The first event for the day was the March Past by the ICSE students, followed by the flag bearers and the Contingent Commander, CSUO Raj Tiwari & CUO Anjali Kumari leading 50 NCC Cadets. During the March Past, it was announced that the two leaders had also represented West Bengal & Sikkim Governments on Republic Day 2022. The March past was followed by a speech by the President of the Society, Sri. Rajnikant Dani gave an invoking speech on the importance of the two occasions. After the President’s address, the Preamble of India was read out by Prof. Dilip Shah, Dean of Student Affairs, who was joined by all the attendees in the proud moment.

The first performance on stage was a tribute to Goddess Saraswati, where Flames Eastern group dance students performed the song ‘Veena Vadini’. The ICSE students were next on stage to perform a dance on the essence of India put up by the junior school dancing to Vande Mataram & Nanna Munna Rahi Hun. Next was a dance performance orchestrated by ICSE students playing a variety of instruments in tune with a live choir singing the song ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’, which is a part of the campaign that was launched by our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, marking the 75 Years of Independence of India.

The stage was then set for Saraswati Samman Samaroh, which as Prof. Shah explained was to felicitate the faculties who have written their articles in various Journals; published books and have achieved Ph.D in the present year. The occasion of Saraswati Puja was an auspicious reason to honour faculties who are no less than the repository of knowledge, Goddess Saraswati herself. Of 27 faculties of whom, 23 had several publications in Journals of their respective fields of expertise, 3 were awarded for becoming Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) & 1 was awarded for her Book Publication.

In the next event, the ISC students took over the stage with a skit on the topic of education for all. Next ISC students staged a dance performance on a medley of the true spirit of India, with songs like Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani & Saare Jahan Se Acha. The attendees enjoyed the music which is infused with a sense of pride for every Indian. The second last performance of the event was Western dance, by the College students who gripped the audience with an eclectic mix of Bollywood songs which were soul-stirring.

The last event for the day was the NCC Cadet Rank Ceremony to honour the NCC Students of the college, where 15 students were given various ranks of NCC. The cadets were awarded the ranks by the dignitaries of the college, which included Sri. Rajnikant Dani, President; Sri. Pradip Sheth, Sri. Jogesh Shah, Dr. Subhabrata Gangopadhyay, Smt. Renuka Bhatt and Brij Bhushan Singh (Principal, Bhawanipur School). The Cadet Rank ceremony was graced by the Guests of Honour, which included, Hav Bharat Bahadur Pun (Training NCO); Hav Sandeep Thapa; Hav Kuldeep Singh; Sgt P.R Swaroop, Cpl Samar Bahadur Singh from No. 1 (B) Air Sqn NCC. The guests also felicitated Prof. Dilip Shah with a cap engraved by an Indian Naval Ship (INS) Netaji Subhash.

The event ended with the closing remarks by Prof. Shah, who was delighted by the 74th Republic Day celebration where he made a special mention that The Bhawanipur college is the only college in the country to have all 3 wings of NCC (Army, Airforce, Naval Wing) which was a matter of immense pride for the college. Towards the end, he called upon the stage the Best Dressed Students (Male & Female) & Best Dressed Faculty (Male & Female) to be awarded a token of appreciation marking the end of the celebrations. This auspicious occasion of Republic Day & Saraswati Puja finally culminated with more than 1500 attendees who relished the ‘Bhog’ Prasad at the Valia Hall.