Xavier's boys to fly on Irish mission

KOLKATA: The city''s Ireland connection endures. A group of young Xavierians will head for Dublin early next year to nurture the friendship that has developed between St. Xavier''s, Kolkata, and Belvedere School, Dublin.
Every year, 15 students from either institution visit the other''s city and spend a fortnight do-ing community service. The visitors are hosted not in hotels but in the homes of students.The student host becomes ''brother'' to the visiting student and his parents automatically become ''mom'' and ''dad''.
For Xavierians like Arka Bakshi and Jishnu Das, who have made the trip, the experience changed their lives forever. The warmth of the Irish families lives on in their hearts. And Irish students who have visited Kolkata still cannot stop gushing about their hosts.
Visits to slums in Tiljala and Nirmal Hriday have been real eye-openers, a young Xavierian told TOI. Last month, a group of students and teachers led by Asok Samajpati gave a presentation on the previous trip to senior members of the Alumnorum Societas, St. Xavier''s Old Boys'' Association.
"The exposure has changed the lives of students, it also changed their outlook to life," ALSOC secretary Noomi Mehta said on Monday. The "Irish experience", it''s felt, would make Xavierians realise what Cardinal Pichachy meant when he spoke of the "debt" one had to repay society.
It was Alumnorum Societas that first mooted the idea of student exchange programmes in 1995 for Class X students. Belvedere College in Dublin was identified as the brother school in Ireland. Students of Belvedere fourth year, equivalent to our Class X, make the annual trip.
Kalyan Chowdhury, an ex-Xavierian and former secretary of ALSOC, and father Andre Bruylants, who was then the headmaster and president of ALSOC, gave shape to the dream and Irish teachers Joe Mc Gavan and Brian Flannery had come to Kolkata on behalf of the Belvedere School to scout for opportunities in April 1995. "Father Bruylants approached the St. Xavier''s Old Boys'' Association to get this program started," Chowdhury recalled.