My First Day in College

- Nachiketa Satpathy -

I studied in a vernacular school in Cuttack where I was brought up for the first seventeen years of my life. Like most students from eastern India in those days, my English was replete with 'bh' in place of 'v' and 'ph' instead of 'f'. Way back in the sixties, we did not have much osmosis with the developed parts of India. Information was primarily restricted to the local newspapers and the ‘All India Radio’.

So, when after my Pre-university results in 1968, I got admitted in B.Sc. at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, it was a cultural upheaval for me. The college was full of crème de la crème of India. Students from the Doon School, Rajkumar College, and many other leading schools populated the rolls. We had to live in the Residence (mind you, in the propah British traditions, we were not allowed to call it a 'hostel'), and have our meals in the Dining Room and not in a Mess. We were termed as snooty by other colleges. We had not yet joined the DUSU (Delhi University Students’ Union) those days.

Even our girlfriends had to be from Miranda House, and just not any women's institution!

Ragging by the seniors was the most accepted thing. However, unlike the stories we read these days, ragging in Stephen's was more cerebral, occasionally physical, but never ever obscene or harmful. We, freshers, had to introduce ourselves to the senior students. My English with its eastern accent and confusion between words like curtsy and courtesy were cause of great mirth! Out of the blue, I was asked to give the closest square root of 0.9 [incidentally, the answer is the number itself]. At two in the morning, there would be a knock on the door for the fresher. It might have rained the night before. The storm water drainages would be full of mud and water. We would be asked if we knew how to swim. Upon answering in the affirmative, we would be asked to lie down in the muddy drains and pretend to swim!

Initially, I was terrified. We dreaded the midnight knocks. With time, our fears subsided. A time came when if nobody ragged us in a day, we felt that probably we were becoming dull and uninteresting! After ragging us, the seniors introduced themselves, and we were no more expected to address them as Sir.  After a month of commencement of the session, we had the Freshers' night in the Junior Common Room. After this evening ritual, we became Mr. Fresher for all our seniors. That was the end of ragging for us for good!

Those days [1960 -72], Prof. S.C. Sircar was the Principal of the college – the eighth one – himself an old student of Stephen's. He knew my father. Those were the days of the Naxalite movement. We had many students from Bengal and the north-east who simply disappeared from their rooms! Growing a beard was the tell-tale sign of rebellion. I also stopped shaving for a few days. Prof. Sircar noticed this one day, and threatened to inform my father if I did not appear clean shaven the very next day. Unlike today, those days we had very little choice in college. Much against my wishes, I had to shave off my luxuriant beard and moustache.

I used to get Rs. 100 per month as my pocket money. It not only paid for all my mince-cutlets in the college canteen and Sukhiya's barfi, but also allowed an occasional India Kings cigarette after dinner! At the end of the month, just before the next month's pocket money came, my friend Rakeshwar and I would take an auto from the college to Rivoli cinema in Connaught Place, watch an English movie, take another auto to Daryaganj, have butter chicken and naan at Moti Mahal (they have been credited as the inventor of butter chicken in India) and then return to the Residence. Expenses for the entire month and the month end 'splurging' were taken care of by the 100 bucks in the early seventies.


Some prominent politicians from college: Sucheta Kriplani, Vir Bhadra Singh, Vikram Mahajan, Lalit Sen, Inderjit Gupta, K.Natwar Singh, Digvijay Singh, Rao Birendra Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Arun Singh, Salman Khursheed. Some prominent film and theatre personalities from the college:  Ketan Anand, Kabir Bedi, Siddharth Kak, Shekhar Kapur, Amit Khanna, Rajiv Mehrotra, Joy Michael, Parikshit Sahni, Roshan Seth and Safdar Hashmi. Inderjitsinhji, Ashok Gandotra, Arun Lal, Michael Dalvi and Kirti Azad are old students who represented India in cricket. The list of Civil Servants from Stephen's would need a complete volume!

It has been almost 43 years since I left college. I am still in touch with just three of my classmates. I have attended a few ‘Old Boys’ meets. In my time St. Stephen's used to be an all male college. Today, the college boasts of bright students of both sexes. I still fondly remember my three years in St. Stephen's College.

© Nachiketa Satpathy - Member WaaS