Thursday, May 25, 2017

Legendary Men by Roshan D' Cunha

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.

Roshan D'Cunha
Ex-student and Ex-staff





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