The principal who had not forgotten his adolescence

Continuing with my series of teasers...
Earlier one is Rebels and Results.

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Polished leather boots always clamped his big toes. With such force he used to walk, the whole concrete corridor would shake like a wooden platform under pressure from a battalion of soldiers. Our principal was more like an army major than an electrical engineer. He had probably forgotten his casual student days. Hari used to claim that he must have been a strict disciplinarian during his college days - just like him. Nobody had the courage to ask him that and it remains a mystery to date.


Exactly at 8.05 AM he would start in his government white ambassador car. His driver was the only driver in that small town to be dressed like a typical Hindi movie car driver. Mr Nandi insisted that he be dressed that way or lose his job. I had this feeling that the driver also enjoyed this special status even though he criticized Mr Nandi behind his back.


At 8.10 AM the white ambassador will take a turn at the main gate and at 8.18 AM the heavy boots will start their long walk from principal’s room in the corner. By the time the sound of boots faded, there will be a list of teachers who missed their first class or came late. Other teachers, the old ones, the new ones and the lazy ones hated Mr Nandi. Nobody wanted to be in their first classes holding chalks by 8.20 AM. But if you missed one class, you will be summoned to principal’s room with the knowledge of all your students. Mr Nandi would just barge into the classroom and politely request the professor to see him after the class. The whole class would have this meaningful sarcastic smile filled with pity. The teachers had no choice but to be on time.

By the way, did I tell you about this ego fight among teachers about their positions, roles and promotions?

“No dad, not now! We see that in our college even today, please skip that!” My kids screamed in unison. “Okay, okay, let me go on…”

So, I went on, about Mr Nandi, whom, personally I considered as one of the best administrators I have seen in any academic institution.

He did his engineering from an IIT, the most premier engineering institute in India. IITians took a lot of pride in their “IITian” status. So, Mr Nandi, just like any other IITian, would not lose a single chance to enforce the fact that he was superior to all his peers, not only in position, but also as an engineer. Most of our teachers secretly admired IITians and always felt lacking in their technical knowledge even though that was not true for many of them.

Anyway, it is not about the teachers fight, I will reserve that for another day.

Kids, it is about how Mr Nandi had not forgotten about his college days.
And knew exactly what the students wanted.

Nevertheless, by his disciplinary actions over time, he had acquired a notorious reputation among his peers, and admiration from us students. That is because we realized that as long as he is at the helm, the college policies can only be student friendly as he understood our pulses.

During our first year in college, all of India saw a major student movement against Mr V. P. Singh’s plan to implement “Mandal Commission” recommendations. There were many deaths, student agitations reported from almost all colleges. And we were not to be left behind.

Among our seniors was Mr S. Shravan, a no-nonsense third year student who loved to remain in touch with contemporary affairs. I suspect he had a desire to be a student leader. But in an engineering college, nobody wants student leaders.

Unless the leader could convince the college management to spend good money to bring the prints of the latest movie for private screening.

OR

The leader could convince the ladies hostel matron to keep the visiting hours longer than usual on special days like Valentine’s day or Rakshya Bandhan. Oh yes, you heard me right, Rakshya Bandhan was a special day, even for the hot blooded teenagers, for specific reasons. Let me keep your curiosity burning for some more time kids.

Coming back to student leaders, certainly, nobody wanted a leader who was serious about making a point. Those kinds of student leaders, who later would play a bigger role in state or national level politics, are not found in engineering colleges. They are found mostly in Arts or Commerce colleges. In a way, the engineering students did not bother much about the country going to the hands of useless goons – as long as they were assured good jobs and nice social status in our poor country.

The general colleges that taught less job oriented courses, play bigger roles in manufacturing powerful leaders.

Shravan would find that out in a bitter way.

His dreams of making national news on Mandal Commission would remain unfulfilled.
Bcause Mr Nandi knew exactly what the students wanted and had not forgotten the days of his adolescence.

“Come on dad, no more build up please, tell us! …”

And I was thinking where I start about Shravan’s heartbreak. I admired the guy, his focus and dedication for the bigger roles in life. And I was one among the culprits, that guilt will only burn with me on my last day.