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A mellifluous start to Hindu School bicentenary celebrations

by IBNS 09 Mar 2017, 08:03 am

Kolkata, Mar 9 (IBNS): Kolkata was treated to a veritable musical feast when Padmasree Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Gima Award winner and new-age percussionist Pandit Prodyut Mukherjee, recently came together to perform at the 200th Foundation Day celebration of the Hindu School.

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on his 'mohan veena' and Pandit Prodyut Mukherjee on his 'tabla' kept the august gathering spellbound with their rendering of Raga Charukeshi in 'vilambeet teentaal' and 'drut teentaal heightened by 'jhala'.    

Kolkata-based Hindu School was established in 1817 by stalwart educationalists such as Maharaja Radhakanta Deb, David Hare, Diwan Baidya Nath Mukherjee and others to impart modern education in English.

Its academic prowess soon earned the school the title of the ‘Eaton of the East’.

The bicentenary celebrations were flagged off by President Pranab Mukherjee who was the Chief Guest during the inaugural function held in January. 

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathy and the state's  Education Minister Partha Chattopadhyay were also present. 

In his speech, President Mukherjee highlighted on the importance of quality of education and said that India has not seen a home-grown Nobel laureate for long. 

A short film on the school's history was screened and a First Day Cover was unveiled by the Post Master General.

The students of Hindu School presented an audio-visually assisted play on the Bengal Renaissance.  

Some of the distinguished alumni present at the function were Ashok Lahiri, Arun Chandra, Dr I S Roy, Dr Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, Dr Gautam Khastogir, Partha Sengupta, and Dr Siddhratha Chattopadhyay. 

The programme was well attended, with past and present students and teachers as well as their families joining the celebrations.