Soumit Dutt (1971)

Ranajoy was aptly termed by John Moore as the "Jewel In The Crown" in a conversation with me. He is easily the best face of SXH in academic circles in Kolkata. He was a racounteur par excellence and had time for everyone irrespective of age or his time. I will never forget the time he spent he spent explaining details to his students at Jadavpur University or to his little daughter in ways only he could.

He was also a tremendous sportsman and it was a sight to see him at the goalbars in Football or playing cricket long after school.

Salute Sir!

Jyoti Prakash (1959)

I was fortunate to be a  classmate of Ranajay, and have lot of memories of this dear friend and  unique leader.

Few anecdotes about Ranajay.

During my time, day scholars were not always given prominent roles in school activities and were not always recognized for their contributions to excellence. An incident exemplifies what a classy guy Ranajay was!  In the local public school (Zila School) I represented St. Xavier's in a  Hindi debate championship and won the first prize, which was supposed to be given to me next week. Ranajay was also in the audience that day. After one week, Ranajay asked me after one of our classes, if I had received the prize. I said no and he seemed upset. He  went and complained to the teacher who represented us in the competition and did not give up his efforts till I received the prize, next week. He did not have to do all this but he did. That's the kind of person he was.

Another incident: Time: March/April 1960. I was at the Calcutta Swimming Club, with a bunch of Xavierans, all students of St,Xavier's College , Calcutta. As we were playing in the water, Ranajay came running to the pool, almost breathless..saying he found out from Fr.Moore that our Senior Cambridge results have been published. We all came out of the pool, wanting to know more. He took my hand and raised it in the air, saying ''Jyoti is number 1 of our class, here in Calcutta". Apparently I was number 3 overall, but the number 1 and 2 were not in Calcuta. I was elated. . He invited all of us to his home nearby to celebrate.   Ranajay had a knack for making people feel good about themselves. Again he did not have to make us feel important; but he did.

Jyoti Prakash

Class of 1959