What to expect when over 50 schools under the Bhavan’s banner come together for six days? Well, almost every fun activity you can think of!
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Bhavan’s Gangabux Kanoria Vidyamandir) hosted the group’s 11th National Integration Camp (NIC) between May 7 and 12 with the spirit of unity and integrity as imbibed in Indian culture. Six to seven students each came from our branches in Goa, Amritsar, Tripura etc along with two teachers. And alongside learning, we also forged new friendships.
Morning shows the day
The camp commenced with a prayer assembly and introduction session for the schools. This was followed by a documentary and interactive session with dancer Alakananda Roy, who shared her experience of working with the inmates of correctional homes and spoke of bringing about social change through dance therapy.
Primary students put up a yoga performance along with the Shiva stotram. Secondary students showcased how Tagore had used the concept of Raksha bandhan to unite Hindus and Muslims during the Partition of Bengal by the British in 1905. All students received rakhis from an NGO.
The next day started with an in-house session on stress management by our counsellor Shovona Mukherjee, psychology teacher Sampita Chatterjee and special educator Mita Bera. Next was an alpona workshop conducted by Sudhi Ranjan Mukherjee, a painter from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati university. He guided students in painting alpona on shoras that they later took home.
Anchor Pronam Roy conducted a workshop on public speaking and actor Shilajit Bhattacharjee conducted one on theatre. Students also got to try out some adventure sports like rock climbing and walking on ropes. In the evening, schools put up cultural programmes representing their regional traditions and way of life.
Eco talk
Day 3 commenced with a talk on the environment by Ramesh Chandran of the environmental group Vinisha. This was followed by a poster-making session on the theme “Say no to plastic”. Incidentally, our campus had been decked up for this grand event to represent the culture of Bengal with only eco-friendly items. Students paid homage to the founder of the Bhavan’s group Kulapati K.M. Munshi and learnt about his teachings and influence on our school’s culture.
Participants also took part in a tree plantation drive and were gifted saplings that they planted in the field. The evening saw the host school put up a show on Bengal’s culture. Primary section students performed the Western inspirations of some Tagore songs like Nancy Lee (Kali Kalibolo re) and secondary students sang Bollywood songs inspired by Bengali ones, such as Salil Chowdhury’s Janeman Janeman and Projapoti Projapoti and Chhukar mere mann ko inspired by Tagore’s Tomar holo shuru.
This was followed by folk dances like Gaudiyo, chhou, sari gaan of boatmen etc.
City tour
The next day students were taken sightseeing to Princep Ghat, Eden Gardens and Indian Museum. Day five began with an astronomy session by Debiprasad Duari, director, Institute of Astronomy Space and Earth Science in AJ Block, a self-defence workshop by shotokan karate practitioner Avijit Mitra and jewellery-making by Archi Ganguly, herself an alumnus of Bhavans.Soham P., a participant from Nagpur, loved the taalpatar shepai workshop by Madan Mohan Dutta, a palm leaf craftsman from Birbhum.
“It was very interesting and opened our eyes to this dying art form of Bengal. It taught us about protecting our culture,” said Soham. There was also an exhibition where all schools presented tribes of India in their own interpretation.
Best for the last
The final day of the camp commenced with a probhat pheri on the theme “Mera Bharat, SwachhBharat”. Students had made posters and carried them around in the neighbourhood. This was followed by a review of NIC 2023 and the valedictory session where all participating schools were felicitated with a certificate, memento and a tin of rasgulla as a sweet souvenir of Bengal.
G.V. Subramaniam, director, Bhavan’s, Salt Lake, recalled that the Salt Lake branch was given the opportunity of hosting NIC in 2020. “But it had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. It gives us great pleasure to have hosted everyone this year. We hope we have been able to impart some life lessons to the participants,” he said. The day ended with a flag retreat, campfire and DJ music at night. The six-day event left us with a lifetime of memories and educational experiences.