By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 15: The first death anniversary of Founder-Principal of Step By Step School, Bluebell W Marbaniang, was held on Saturday on the school’s premises.
Organised by family members of late Bluebell Marbaniang, mainly her daughter Nina Harkness and granddaughter Nangkyntiew Kimi Wason, the brief but meaningful memorial service brought back memories of the effervescent Bluebell.
Kong Blue, as Bluebell Marbaniang was affectionately addressed, was an active member of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the Meghalaya Women’s Alliance (MWA), Lympung Ki Seng Kynthei, Synjuk Kynthei among others. Members of these organisations were present to pay their respects on the occasion.
Pauline Warjri, team leader of Aaroha, and her student Venetia Warshong sang a duet in honour of Kong Blue while the students of Step By Step too sang for their beloved Principal. Nina Harkness expressed her emotions in a song taken from an Irish poem.
Addressing the gathering, a teary-eyed Nina presently based in the U.K., who could not be present for her mother’s funeral on account of COVID which prevented overseas travel, said, “Most of you here today are friends and co-workers of my mother. You shared a special relationship with her and I am sure you miss her. For me it’s the loss of a mother and only one who loses a mother knows the deep void in one’s life because a mother loves unconditionally. No one can ever love like a mother. Nina shared how heartbroken she is to lose three family members, her two brothers and her mother within a period of 26 months.”
Amy Rangad, who served as Principal of Step by Step for five years after she retired from Pine Mount School, read out a poem she had written to honour Kong Blue.
“We have been colleagues at Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling in the 1960s and Kong Blue always wanted to come back and set up her own school. When she found this space she immediately started a small school which has now grown into a great institution,” Rangad said.
She also explained how Kong Blue was a born teacher and how she allowed students free expression of their talents. “Those who wanted to sing were allowed to sing; those with dancing or speaking skills could do what they loved. That was the kind of teacher that Kong Blue was,” Rangad said.
All who attended the memorial service of Kong Blue had a little bluebell posy pinned to their jainsems and dresses.