Page 90 - Magazine Department of B.Ed. 2015

cational Tour; a Memoir
“All Work and No Play, Makes Jack a Dull Boy”
“Well I am here to learn and seek
knowledge and not to have fun and
socialize” proclaimed Saroj to one of his friends,
Atish. Both Atish and Rajni were quite excited to
go on an excursion, officially organized by the
Department of Education, St. Xavier’s College,
Ranchi. Karuna who was patiently listening to
all this supported their view that the excursion
would definitely breakdown the monotony of
regular classroom lectures and would rejuvenate
the spirit to learn more, returning fresh with
happy memories. Saroj continued with the
skeptical frame of mind that the trip would be
merely a waste of time and nothing more. He
had to accompany the ‘herd’ (as this is what
he considered it to be) forcibly as the trip
was compulsory and also because his friends
wanted him to join.
The day eagerly awaited arrived and the dawn of
September 9th 2014 brought forward the smiles
on the faces of the entire ‘herd’. The professors
joined to share the joy and the first whistle of
Ranchi- Howrah Intercity Express thrilled each
one. Waving warm goodbyes to return soon, the
‘herd’ of which I too was a part left for our trip. moved to feel the fine texture of Mysore silk. The
The morning of 10th September, Goa embraced
the Xavierians with hearty welcome and to add
on to the fun, most of the pupils had their eyes
painted red( a conjunctivitis calamity) ready
to paint the town too.It did not even spare our
beloved H.O.D. The black glasses we wore, even
during the night-time made people make fun of
us. Still, everybody enjoyed together especially
‘lungi-dance’ of our ‘thalaiva king’ - Fr. Shekhar. bitterness in the cordial relations they shared.
Next day the atmosphere was calm and somber
Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.
73
Rema T. Das
and we went to offer prayer at St. Francis Xavier
Church. Everybody was amazed to peek at the
preserved body of the holy saint and wrote little
chits for offering prayers at the cathedral with
faith that it would bring peace to all.
The Crew then moved with the Captain to
smell the essence of the Goanese culture on
the cruise. The coconut shell dance, the fisher-
woman dance and the Jazz enthralled each one
of us. Atish somehow felt uneasy and then the
shadow of the “albatross brought ill fate to our
crew” too. By the time we reached our resting
place, he was sick and tired .The sickness
divided us into two groups, one who stood by his
side and the others who knew nothing of it. The
confusion led to conflict. Due to God’s grace,
he soon became fine but the misunderstanding
prevailed.
Our next stay was in Mysore. There we stepped
towards the sandalwood forest, we visited St.
Philomena’s Church, offered candles there and
day in the Mysore palace of King Krishnadev
Rao enriched the historical bent of our minds
and we felt the grandeur of the palace and the
rich heritage of India’s glorious past.
Atish and Saroj could not tolerate the coldness
that had crept in due to what had happened. On
the other side, Rajni and Karuna were bothered
by the conflict too. The clash had brought
But nobody had time to resolve the issue as the
whole herd was constantly on the move. This
‘no- time thing’ kept us in a neutral state of
mind though there were little friendly smiles