Hailing Saraswati

One hundred years ago, the management of one of the subcontinent’s earliest Parsi girls’ school, The Alexandra Girls’ English Institution (School), paid homage to the Hindu deity of learning, Saraswati, and the deity Ganesh whose name Hindus invoke when starting anything new. A poem titled Pupils of the Alexandra Institution composed on the occasion of the School’s diamond jubilee in 1923 by Cursetjee Manocjkee Cursetjee was shared with Parsiana by principal Kashmira Sarkari.

Clockwise from top r: erstwhile edifice of The Alexandra Native Girls’

English Institution Photo: Preeti Chopra;

Darab Sethna; Serene Manockjee Cursetjee; Jehangir Boman-Behram;

Cursetjee Manockjee Cursetjee; Manockjee Cursetjee

"Hail! Goddess mother Saraswati!/ All hail! Thou Lord Ganesh!/ Your loyal subjects we have learned to be —/ Pupils of th’ Alexandra School./ We are girls you’ll find all smart and wary,/ Fresh fro’ the Alexandra Seminary,/ Famed for its genius tutelary/ Girls of the Alexandra School./ Our historic School as we well know,/ Was founded just sixty years ago/ By Maneck bin Khorshed true hero/ Girls of the Alexandra School./ Pupils of the Alexandra School are we,/ Celebrating its diamond jubilee —/ Sober and sane as we are taught to be —/ Pupils of the Alexandra School.”

Cursetjee Manockjee was the son of the Institution’s founder Manockjee Cursetjee and was the first Indian to be admitted to Oxford, states the School souvenir of that year. Appointed president of the School, Cursetjee Manockjee "contributed greatly to the progress and welfare of the School.” The main hall of the School is named after him.

Cursetjee Manokjee expressed confidence in the future of the students with these words: "So equipped we will enter the lists,/ As doctors, teachers, clerks, artists,/ Musicians, authors, journalists -/ Girls of th’ Alexandra School. In our Municipal Civic bark/ In the Legislative Council’s Ark,/ We will make full sail and leave our mark -/ Girls of th’ Alexandra School.”

Stanzas from the poem were read out by then principal Yasmin Kavina at an event commemorating the 160th anniversary of the School’s founding (see "Alexandra is 160,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 21-October 6, 2023).