Legendary Men
I dreaded going to school during my Primary school days..!
Fortunately though, things changed for the
better once I resumed at St Joseph’s. In fact, the feeling was one of excitement
and anticipation. Most of us in my age-group felt the same. It was a very
different environment. Thanks to so many of the great Brothers who gave so much
for so little.
Located a little away from the town, with
its large, green campus, St Joseph’s high school, Bajpe was a symbol of freedom
for most primary students in and around town – getting into the high school was
an impatient wait. Together with the physical shift to a new school, it was also
a shift that was physiological where we were morphing from children to turbulent
teenagers (some of us at least!). At this crucial juncture of our lives, St
Joseph’s with its special charism and appeal, played a vital role in moulding
all of us before we left this great institution transformed.
In the school, Edmund Rice spirit was
vibrant. It was kept alive by an equally energetic group of Christian Brothers
who were more of friends than teachers. With their prowess in football and
music, we got attracted to them like ants to sugar. To most of us, arriving
from traditional schools, this was like a cultural shock – for the first time
in our lives we could interact with our teachers and talk to them without fear;
for the first time we were playing sport with our teachers some of whom could actually run faster and jump
higher.
Brothers showed a genuine interest in every
one of us. While at school, they tried to expose us to a million things: sports,
music, art, singing, drama, elocution, calligraphy, gymnastics, indoor games,
movies, etc. - the list is endless. There was so much a young person could
discover about him/herself here…. I could see so many of my classmates grow and
blossom into confident human beings... For those studying there, there was
nothing like St Joseph’s.
Coming from numerous parts of India and
indeed around the world, each Brother brought a special flavour to Bajpe along
with new ideas and thinking. Their
belief and upbringing hardly came in the way of treating everyone equally.
Their mission was education for all, and they lived it well. Many of them even went
out of their way to help the very poor students of Bajpe with the sole motive
that they too got good quality education. I remember the extraordinary
commitment of Brothers towards weak students preparing for board exams –
students were made to stay after school and were even fed so that they could
study a little better.
As we bid farewell to the legendary men, we
celebrate their contribution; we salute what they stood for and we wish them
the very best. I hope the strong foundation laid by the Brothers is built upon
with even better vision, spirit and commitment… I am sure this will happen but
the loss of the Brothers will always be felt in Bajpe.
Ex-student and Ex-staff
No comments:
Post a Comment