Report of the Secretary of the Institute for the year 2003 - 2004, placed before the
29th Annual General Meeting of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, held on 31st August
2004 at 3, Regent Park , Kolkata - 700 040
Ladies and Gentlemen :
I welcome you to this 29th Annual General Meeting of your Institute and present before you the Audited Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2004 for your approval.
"We shall call it Lakshmi's House and it will be the Home of Grace" - The Mother wrote in February, 1968. The reference was to the temple that today houses Sri Aurobindo's relics, the home of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture.
What had been conceived in 1968 is now a reality: The Institute and Lakshmi's House have justly and truly assumed the character of a formidable educational, cultural, social and research institution. In 1978, the Government recognized the Institute as a Charitable Institution for education and culture.
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HOMAGE
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The Institute paid homage to Sri Aurobindo on his 131st Birth Anniversary on 15th August, 2003 and to The Mother on her 126th Birth Anniversary on 21st February, 2004.
Arun Tagore, the founder of the Institute, is rememberered in Lakshmi's House as the Mother named our nursery school Arun Nursery. The Institute pays homage to his memory. His birthday on 15th March is colourfully celebrated every year by the children of the Arun Nursery School.
The birthday of Pradyot Kumar Bhattacharya is celebrated every year on 31st August in the Future Foundation School as Founder's Day. The students of the Future Foundation School hold a fete on this day. The Annual General Meeting is also held on this day. We remember him specially today at the commencement of his birth centenary.
Dyumanbhai, former Chairman of the Institute, is always remembered in Lakshmi's House as he was a father figure to all of us. He always took keen interest in our work and kept in regular touch with the activities of the Institute.
Joyadi's 68th birthday was fondly remembered by the school children, teachers, staff and well-wishers on 2.2.2004. In the morning, Ramananda Bandopadhyay dedicated to her, like he has done before, a solo exhibition of his paintings. This exhibition was inaugurated by Ms. Lee Allison Sibley, wife of the American Consul General.
In the evening, at G.D. Birla Sabhaghar. Shri Ranjan Mitter, the Secretary of the Institute welcomed the audience Sri Ramananda Bandopadhay reverentially recalled his close association with Joyadi - how much he admired her as a visionary and a person extraordinaire. Pandit Jasraj offered a highly acclaimed solo vocal recital accompanied by Pandit Kumar Bose on the tabla and Sohanlal Sharma on the harmonium as a tribute to Joyadi in presence of a distinguished audience.
We fondly remember Shruti Ghosh, our beloved Shrutidi who left for her heavenly abode in December 2003. She has been a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother from early childhood . She has also been a close associate of Joyadi and has offered untiring service to the Institute first as the Assistant Editor of BASUDHARA for fifteen years and then as Editor for four years. She was also a pioneer in her endeavour to trace the likeness of Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath. She was very amiable by nature and was famous for her hospitality. She bore her illness with a smile and has left behind an example of simplicity worth emulating.
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