Mangalore: Eminent Aloysian Alumni Awards Presented to Top Achievers

Media Release

Mangalore, Dec 19: The Aloysian Conclave of St Aloysius College was held at AIMIT, Beeri here on Sunday, December 18 at 6 pm. The Eminent Aloysian Alumni Awards were also presented on the occasion.

Padma Bhushan K K Venugopal was honoured in absentia. Dr Shantharam Shetty, vice-chancellor, Nitte University, Alan Nazareth, former Indian ambassador to many countries, Dr Habeeb Rehman, MD, Unity Health Complex and Dr M Mukunda Prabhu, eminent historian were the recipients of the prestigious Aloysian Awards. Dr Dayananda Pai, philanthropist and entrepreneur, who was also supposed to receive the award could not be present due to unforeseen reasons.

The programme commenced with the prayer dance rendered by the MBA students of AIMIT. The lamp was lit by the awardees to mark the beginning of the awards function. N G Mohan, former president, SACAA, Mangalore, and the convener of the Aloysian Conclave welcome the gathering and introduced all the awardees to the august gathering. Fr Jospeh Rodrigues, rector, Aloysian Institutions felicitated the recipient of the Aloysian award and said that they are an example to the present generation of students who need to emulate their leadership and service mindedness and thus reach out to people in need as true Aloysians, who are moulded to be “men and women for others”.

The felicitation was followed by the Conclave address given by Alan Nazareth. Quoting Gandhiji he said, "Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellowmen". Giving the examples of Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji and Mother Teresa, Nazareth spoke of their tremendous leadership and how that leadership emerged from the basic principle of love, transforming them into great leaders. He presented those great luminaries as the models to young people, because they also emerged as world leaders when they were in their late twenties or early thirties. He said “we can do small things but with great love”.

The Conclave address was followed by conferring of the awards to the eminent Aloysians. Dr Derek Lobo, former regional director, United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO) South East Asia region read out the citation of Padma Bhushan K K Venugopal and award was given in absentia. Arthur D’Souza, president, SACAA read out the citation given to Dr Shantharma Shetty; Michael D’Souza, vice president, SACAA read out the citation of Alan Nazareth; Mj Joe Gonsalves felicitated Dr Habeeb Rahman by reading out the citation and Santhosh Kumar Kadri read out the citation of Dr M Mukunda Prabhu. Each one of the awardees was given a crystal trophy, a shawl, a Mysore peta and a bouquet of flowers and fruits in accordance with the local custom.

Each of the awardees responded to the honour conferred on them and reminisced their memories at St Aloysius High School and College, remembering their principals, rectors and beloved teachers who formed them into what they are today. They were grateful to their alma mater for the formation they got while they were at St Aloysius College.

Arthur D’Souza proposed the vote of thanks and the formal part of the programme ended with the College Anthem. Students of MBA section of AIMIT entertained the audience with dances and songs. The programme ended with felicitation dinner in honour of the Aloysian Awardees.

Children of Aloysian Boys home band entertained the audience with nostalgic Christmas tunes.