Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre Art Section held another outdoor session at the Parasnath temple on 12th March (2024). The temple exhibits marvellous artistic inclinations that are displayed in the overall decorative patterns of the interiors and the exteriors. Senior students enthusiastically participated in the session of drawing and painting under the guidance of Mr. Pradip Haldar, Instructor at the Art Section.
Notice & Events
Sri Ma Jayanti observed on 21st February 2024
Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre (New Alipore, Kolkata) and its wings viz. Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir School, Art Section and Sri Ma Library observed 146th birth anniversary of The Mother on 21st February 2024. In the morning, students of Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir arrived to receive toys and chocolates on the auspicious occasion.
Jayanti meditation was at the Shrine in the afternoon. An art and craft exhibition organised for this occasion was inaugurated by Dr. Abhijit Ray, Professor and Head of the Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University. Prizes were handed over to students and staff who performed well and were regular during the previous year. The students, ex-students and staff of Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir presented a cultural programme as an offering to The Mother, a dance ensemble on the unity amidst diversity of India and a drama based on Rabindranath Tagore’s “Tota Kahini” portraying the fallacy of the conventional education system and the need to move to a free progress one. Prasad was distributed at the end of the programme.
The observation of the auspicious occasion moved into the following day, 22nd February, when the Art Section with its students and staff joined in to pay homage to The Mother with a cultural programme and a drama subsequent to distribution of prizes and certificates to candidates who had performed well in the previous year. Both evenings saw gathering of parents of students and guests who witnessed the performances.
Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir team visit to Delhi in December 2023
A team from Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir, during their stay at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi, in December 2023, visited The Mother’s International School, one of the best schools in Delhi as well as Mirambika, a free progress school, both under the aegis of the Delhi Ashram and interacted with teachers and students, saw the conducting of classes and the teaching methods. They also visited L’avenir, a pre-primary school of the Gnostic Centre, had interactions with eminent personalities like Ms. Tara Jauhar and Ms. Amita Mehera during their stay. They also attended a workshop on theatre as a tool for education conducted by Shapno Ekhon, a prominent theatre group of Delhi. The tour was an enriching experience for the team.
Art Section workshop held on 10th December 2023
The Art Section arranges annual workshops where the participants can try different forms of art and crafts hands-on. This is also the time when the Art section remains open to external non-student participants. On 10th December, in a workshop like this, the Art section offered “hands-on training” on Character designing, Quilling, Craft making using paper, jute and waste materials, Clay modelling, Acrylic painting on cotton surfaces, pot painting and traditional art on pottery under the careful supervision of the art instructors. The program was inaugurated by expressing gratitude to the Almighty with Rabindranath Tagore’s verses ‘Anandaloke, Mangalaloke’ and lighting the lamp. The enthusiastic participants of various age groups greatly enjoyed the hands-on experience.
Siddhi Day observed on 24th November 2023
24th of November SIDDHI DIWAS, a significant day for all Sri Aurobindo devotees, the day of descent of the overmental consciousness into the physical, the day after which Sri Aurobindo withdrew to pursue his rigorous sadhana for the descent of the Supramental consciousness on earth and the Mother took charge of the running of the Ashram. The day was observed at Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre with a talk in the evening by Dr. Saurabh Mukherjee, devotee of Sri Aurobindo, Lecturer of Philosophy, Sanskrit College, Kolkata, on the significance of Siddhi Day and its implications in our life when it comes to implementation of the ideas and ideals propagated by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The workers and devotees were present. On the day, every year, Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre premises is decorated with lamps.
Sri Aurobindo as a teacher in the present day perspective – a talk
On the 9th November 2023, Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre organised a programme at the first floor hall of its New Alipore premises, where eminent speaker on Sri Aurobindo and a senior teacher Shri Bhaskar Mukherjee delivered an enlightening talk on the topic – “Sri Aurobindo as a teacher in the present day perspective”. He mentioned about the very specific and successful role Sri Aurobindo played as a teacher though for a shorter period when compared with his roles as a freedom struggle leader and a spiritual thinker and sadhak. Shri Mukherjee in his detailed and attractive deliberation pointed out the uniqueness of Sri Aurobindo’s way of teaching from the accounts of the students and showed how the method he adopted during the end nineteenth century and early twentieth century years are still relevant even today. While discussing on the educational ideas of Sri Aurobindo, Shri Mukherjee revealed before the audience the parallels between those ideas and principles and the ones going to get adopted in the Policy of National Education by the Government of India. Shri Mukherjee concluded his talk with the mention of the uniqueness of Sri Aurobindo as Guru or the Spiritual teacher. The programme was attended by people most of whom belonged to the teaching community, attached to various schools and colleges.
Visit of a team from Germany – October 2023
A team from Germany from Global Social and Marco Polo School comprising of Mr. Axel Brummer, Ms. Iris and Mr. Max Roeder on their visit to India, visited the school Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir on 12th October 2023. Accompanying them were Mr. Kaushik Banerjee and Ms. Suvasri Banerjee of Global Social India. They went around the classes going on, interacted with the teachers and had a glimpse of the effort we undertake at the institution based on the ideas and ideals of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. They sat with the teachers after classes were over when Mr. Brummer shared experiences of working with children in Brazil, Kenya, Uganda and Bolivia and Ms. Iris mentioned some of her experiences as a teacher at Marco Polo school in Germany, while Mr. Max interpreted her talk in German to English. They also showed a video on the importance of saving water which, made here in Kolkata, would perhaps be presented later as a project to the United Nations. The team from Germany expressed their feeling of serenity experienced during their stay at this institution.
Independence Day & Sri Aurobindo Jayanti celebrated on 15th August 2023
Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre with its wings observed Independence Day and the 151st Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo on 15th August 2023. Hoisting of the National Tricolour took place at 8.00 a.m. by the Principal of Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir cum Managing Trustee of the institution. The students of the institution presented a synchronized drill. The staff members of the institution performed a chorus song led by a member of the Board of Trustees, followed by a choreographed dance recital. All students, including those of the Art Section, who were present were given cakes and chocolates. Meditation was held at the Shrine from 10.30 to 10.45 a.m. There was a cultural programme on the occasion, paying tribute to Sri Aurobindo on the occasion with a fusion musical offering by teams under Sri Biswajit Dutta on western instruments and Sri Sudip Chatterjee on eastern instruments. Prasad was distributed to devotees, guests and workers of the Institution in the end.
Dance classes coming up at the ART SECTION
Admission for Session 2024 – Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir
