Bosco_Net
Boscoites take to Cyberspace to build links
By Frederick Noronha
PANJIM, 13 October 1999: In a world quickly turning to the potential of cyberspace, the alumni of Don Bosco's in Panjim have taken to the Internet to re-build links among ex-students of this prominent Panjim-based school. Eustaquio Santimano, an ex-student now based in Denmark and working in the software field, has just launched this list on the Internet. It members would like it to grow and connect 'old boys' of various generations across different countries of the globe.
Commented John M. Fernandes from Saudi Arabia: "This is a wonderful idea, I'm sure every Boscoite will agree.... Make it a real Bosco_Net, i.e. not just DB Panjim but DB Worldwide. I was in DB Lonavla and was in fact a Salesian of Don Bosco for 5 years."
Fernandes pointed over the past few years he had a keen desire to get in touch with "the Boscoites I have shared my life with and the Salesians or ex-Salesians I have known".
Other alumni have quickly come on board.
Wrote Sayed Iqbal from Bicholim: "I took admission in Don Bosco night school from 1982-85 when I passed my SSC. Presently I working in the Saudi Arabia as an assistant librarian."
There are plans to keep this list open to all Boscoites -- not just those who studied in Panjim, but even the alumni of the many other Don Bosco institutions around India and beyond.
Ulysses Menezes and Gaspar Almeida, of the Gulf-based non-profit website called Goa-World (http://www.goa-world.net), have offered to publish the new mailing list on their website.
"I am sure this will help to draw even more Boscoites to Bosco_Net," said Santimano.
Bosco_Net aims to function as a low-volume mailing list which has been created primarily to put people in touch with their school or boarding mates from all Don Bosco School's from around the globe.
Details of the Bosco_Net mailing list are now available at the website at http://www.goa-world.net/community/mailing_lists/
Bosco_Net is already playing the role of building links among various former students, including some who did not know of each other before meeting in cyberspace.
To subscribe to the Internet-based mailing list, one has to simply send an e-mail to bosco_net-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Soon, one gets added to the list, and gets various messages put out by ex-students from all over. Currently, the number of members is small, but is expected to grow.
To post a message to all the members of the list, one simply has to send out an email to bosco_net@yahoogroups.com This gets effectively copied to everyone on the list.
Don Bosco's, a prominent educational network run by the Salesian priests, was launched in Goa soon after that order began functioning in Goa following the end of World War II in Italy and the rest of Europe.
Italian priests -- because of the dividing lines of World War II -- were interned in Dehra Dun by the British then ruling India. After the war ended, some opted to shift to the then Portuguese colony of Goa.
Don Bosco's English High School was opened in June 1947, with 36 pupils and three teachers. That grew into a prestigious institution, and its alumni are scattered across the globe in many different professions.
For bringing people together in diverse places, the Internet has a useful role to play. More so, for non-profit initiatives aimed at building the community spirit.
Other such networks have been created too, including GoaNet, started five years ago and now having over 1200 members scattered across the globe, the recently-launched GoansInternational, Konkani-Net, and even GoaIdeas2000 (meant for computer software professionals in Goa and abroad planning to launch a virtual company to interact). ENDS
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