Ramjas College-Reminiscences from the Sixties

Well, Ramjas in mid-sixties was a bit formal as well as forbidding! May be the fault lay with me as I inhaled the first fumes of famed English Literature after sprouting straight out of a school’s Science labs with physical balances encased in glass-houses and beakers emitting torrid acid smells. Having failed to meet the rigors of science, I accepted the sage advice to try my luck with literature. Admission to a college like Ramjas in the heart of North Campus, now a feat in itself, was not as formidable then. We were a class of eleven, six boys and five girls who sat straight in segregated rows and stared at the ‘know-all’ faculty unflinchingly.

Most would remember Dr. Devendra Kohli with his golden spectacles & the elderly, elegant Mr. Chopra, who explained in his silvery voice Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. You couldn’t but be attentive since teachers knew all of you by name! While hearing how Satan fell from heavenly heights, you could find your name squeezed in, once your sight strayed, regardless of whether you had colluded with the devil or not. There was the fatherly figure of Mr. Mathew whose gentlemanly demeanour would disarm even the most rebellious. I recollect vaguely how the boys sat impatiently to see how he explained the lines in a Spencer’s sonnet comparing parts of a woman’s body with flowers. But he neatly skipped the lines leaving them flummoxed. Ramjasians of that era also remember with nostalgia Mr. Vinod Sahai clad in his crisp cotton and uttering crispier one-liners before he exchanged places with Dr. A. Jha of Patna. The handsome Mr. Gondal (we wondered if he owned the Gondal’s Press in CP’s inner circle!) & Mr. Prashant Sinha, a tiff with whom earned me my first and only suspension in life. That’s not counting the additional fine of Rs. Fifty-you could ride to college on DTC for four months with that princely sum.

‘The English Seminar’ could boast of inaugurations by the likes of Nirad Chowdhary. He was actually brought from his ancient abode in Mori Gate to point out how few Punjabis could name the five rivers flowing though the State. The valedictory function was addressed by Prof. Swarup Singh (Photo attached) who rose to become the VC later. ‘Anand Parvat’, the college magazine was much sought by those blessed with creativity and maintained excellence except when it gave space to my contribution in its Hindi section. Govind Vyas, a contemporary, often regaled the students with his hasya-ras. I also recollect vividly the college auditorium resounding with rock music as many bands converged and drew enthusiasts from across the North Campus while courting couples cooed on its periphery.

Ramjas had a closed-shelf library in those days. You had to tell the man at the counter which book you were looking for. Things, however, changed before we left its portals out & you were allowed to look at the spines of books including volumes of ‘Shakespeare Survey’ lined in a row. There was a section upstairs for the ‘seriously inclined’-the wooden partition in the middle enabled the couples to whisper sweet nothings till they were silenced by others. Girls’ Common Room was securely located next to Principal’s Office-both guarded by a Gurkha Bahadur. The corridors were cleared by the principal, Dr. P.D.Gupta himself, with burly seniors running ahead and announcing the arrival of ‘Committee’. The Canteen was more welcoming with its countless teas, bread-pakoras, gossip & cigarette fumes. I willingly picked up the stick & the habit, which took 28 years to kick!

Once Ramjas shut its gate for the day, there was a Panditji across the Gate selling pan & fags and a Chacha’s khokha at Maurice Nagar’s Chowk with its steaming hot bun-omelettes & garam chai before you headed home.

Re-discovering the Joy of Life!

The audience in Shah Auditorium had a unique experience on Sunday. Sister Shivani, as she is called by the members of Brahmakumari movement, explained how people could recapture happiness in their day-to-day lives. Drawing on her interactions with ordinary people, she felt that our ‘remote’ lies within our reach and we can control how we react to situations around us. It is normal for ordinary folks to suffer from a persecution complex and indulge in a blame game. Every one amongst us feels aggrieved in today’s world and takes it upon those who are thought to be responsible for our miseries. Shivani, in her characteristic style, interacted with the audience and made them admit that they had no control over others. However, they could surely choose the way they react to them. Urging them not to carry the unpleasant baggage of the past and use the ‘delete’ button daily, she showed how we can live happy lives and also spread happiness around. The joy lies within us. We have to discard our negative energy and accept those around us with love and understanding. Let us be joyous in spirit and behaviour. The best part of the program was the way she introduced the audience to the art of meditation. Silence reigned in the auditorium whenever she urged the participants to observe silence, look within, to be stable and at peace. When we are at peace within and without, this would automatically lead to world peace, she told a questioner towards the end.

As I strolled out at the end, I wondered if peace & joy were synonymous. The members of the organization, including Shivani herself, choose to clad themselves from top to bottom in spotless white - the colour of peace. Is it also the colour of joy, I wondered. Somehow one relates joy most with children who love colours the most. A child who insisted on saying hello to Shivani declared that she was not the one he saw on TV. ‘Which one is better, she asked him smilingly and he made no secret of his preference: ‘TV wali’.

Internal Emergency

Internal Emergency is back in the news courtesy a book released during the Congress party’s recent plenary, which gives its account of the events of 1975. The news reports reveal that late Sanjay Gandhi, younger son of Indira Gandhi has been largely blamed for what went wrong. These must be references to shifting of slum-dwellers to resettlement colonies on the outskirts, forced sterilisation & bull-dozing in areas near Turkman Gate to shift Muslims to Inderlok. There may be some truth in it since Sanjay Gandhi was not only the active face of Congress party at that time. Most ardent supporters of emergency, including V.C.Shukla, who implemented press censorship & Jagmohan who executed Turkman Gate plan appeared to be directly reporting to him. Curiously many members of Sanjay Gandhi’s coterie, including his wife Maneka and son, Varun, subsequently found place in BJP (see Pankaj Vohra’s piece in today’s HT). One wonders whether blaming Sanjay for what has been described by Advani as a ‘Nazi rule’ is, in part, family politics since Congress is today headed by the senior sister-in-law while the junior and her son are in the Opposition camp.
Needless to recollect that Internal Emergency was hastily declared in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s disqualification by Jagmohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court on a petition filed by Raj Narain alleging misuse of govt. machinery during the polls. I recollect a cartoon by Abu showing the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed handing over the signed declaration from a bath tub and asking them wait if there were more papers to sign. Beginning June 12, 1975, Opposition leaders were taken into preventive custody and many innocent people, including college teachers of DU, ended up in jail. Therefore it is incorrect to put the entire blame on Sanjay Gandhi for a step meant to save his mother from being unseated. The way many people, who occupied prime places later, crumbled like a pack of cards during the police raj was shocking as well as revealing. Barring Indian Express, which had the temerity to leave the edit space empty to protest censorship and invited retaliatory raids as a consequence, the media ‘kneeled when it was asked to bend’. Seminar was the only magazine, which continued to debate the issues freely. The reason, explained by a friend in I & B Ministry, perhaps was the academic nature of its content and small circulation, which posed little danger to those in power. Most people saw Emergency only in terms of punctuality in offices and running of trains and most critics of establishment turned sycophants for the sake of convenience and out of fear. Several diehard activists of political parties, taken into custody under DIR apologised to secure release from prison while those under the more strident MISA spent the entire 18 months behind bars.
Those who were born later and did not see the dictatorial face of Indian officialdom will be amused by the way Emergency affected people at the micro level. Shyamlal College, which was experiencing trouble in the Seventies, got a new Principal, G.C.Ahuja, courtesy DU’s then VC. The Governing Body of the Trust was sent packing and both the Vice-principals were out of sight-one under detention and the other underground. The temporary staff of the Evening College, a part time D.P.E & two office clerks, was removed arbitrarily. There was a curious reversal with new faces, either with an anti-Trust image or keen to acquire one to escape the ordeals of Emergency, thronging the office of the officiating Vice-principal. Colleagues spied on one another and official complaints went to local police alleging opposition to infamous 20-point/ 5-point programs of Indira Gandhi & Sanjay Gandhi. A teacher went all the way to Jammu to help police apprehend the Vice-principal who had fled in time. A senior teacher was summoned from his Kidwai Nagar residence at midnight to explain the ‘RSS connections’ alleged in the college complaint. What was heartening was the way more than half of Evening College refused to be cowed down and even issued a legal notice to the management when wages were denied to the staff to protect the Principal. Signed by ‘I.J.Bhatia & 18 others’, it created an identity for the rebels. Teachers, who were soft-spoken or remained quiet revealed exemplary fortitude when the more militant ones sometimes wavered, felt insecure and needed to be convinced. A few even indulged in double-dealing with the authorities. Emergency became a good example of how people could indulge in vindictiveness or settle personal scores: it brought out the worst in us. Fortunately, a Stay Order prevented the college from initiating any disciplinary proceedings against permanent employees throughout the Emergency. Indira Gandhi lost the election & the new Principal fled the college the same evening with lots of files, never to return.
The wheel had come full circle!