Presidency University celebrates 204th Founders’ Day virtually

Presidencians living outside Kolkata could pay tribute to their alma mater this year, thanks to most events going online because of the pandemic.

Alumni members of Presidency University from all corners of the globe logged in for the 204th Founders’ Day celebrations on January 20, along with current students and faculty members.

The two-hour virtual event that has more than 6,000 views already on YouTube started with ex-student Tilottama Sinha Roy (batch of 1992) and her daughter Shinjini (batch of 2018) singing Anandaloke mangalaloke.

Partha Chatterjee (batch of 1967), who received the Atul Chandra Gupta Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2021, gave the Founders’ Day speech where he spoke about the history of Presidency College.

“Presidency has always been different... On Founders’ Day, we are celebrating all those who made it possible for you and me to become alumni, for you and me to chase our dreams,” said vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia in her inaugural address.

The morning saw rituals like decorating the foundation stone and placing garlands on the founders’ statues. Along with Lohia, alumni association president Sutirtha Bhattacharya, vice-president Bivas Chaudhuri and secretary Amit Choudhury lit the lamp on the college campus.

“This pandemic has closed the doors of the university but it has opened the door of the universe. Usually, people who are in Kolkata would join the celebrations that used to take place in Derozio Hall at the university. The online meet allowed alumni, teachers and students from all over the world to join and celebrate,” said Bivas Chaudhuri (batch of 1980).

The celebrations were amplified as endowment prizes were given to students who graduated last year. “The endowment prizes are distributed every year. The students are to collect the prizes later,” added Chaudhuri.

Vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia lighting the inaugural lamp on Founders’ Day. PHOTO: Presidency University

Roll of honour:

• Presidency Alumni Association Gold Medal: Amlanjyoti Naskar (Department of Life Sciences, UG), Arka Chakraborty (Department of History, UG), Sanjukta Mitra and Ananya Dasgupta (Department of Performing Arts, UG)

• Satyabrata Ghosh Memorial Prize: Anish Majumder (Department of Physics, UG)

• Balai Charan Roy Memorial Prize: Sagnick Mukherjee (Department of Physics, PG)

• Panchanan Pal Memorial Prize: Biswarup Saha (Department of Mathematics, UG)

• Anathnath Dey Memorial Prize: Ujjal Karmakar (Department of Mathematics, PG)

• Sumit Kumar Roy Memorial Prize: Amlanjyoti Naskar (Department of Life Sciences, UG)

• Ahindra Nath Das and Nilima Das Gold Medal: Somasree Roy and Soumya Bunk (Department of Life Sciences, PG)

• Ramani Mohan Ghosh and Moni Basu Memorial Prize: Ritwick Chakraborty (Department of Philosophy, UG)

The annual journal of Presidency University Autumn Annual 2020-2021, edited by alumnus Prasad Ranjan Roy, was released on the occasion.