THE SPIRIT OF OUR COLLEGE

This is a photograph taken on the day our new building was inaugurated and for purely personal use. Myself along with a few close friends had just finished our lunch packets and were in a very happy mood. The governor who was the chief guest had himself asked for our founder Dr. N.K. Singh, when he heard about him through the Principal’s address. She pointed out to Dr. Singh who was sitting in the audience albeit in the front row. His Excellency, the Hon’able Chancellor of Jharkhand Universities asked him to come up on stage saying “Sir please come over, your place is here.”

We were thrilled that in these days of empty promises the Governor was kind enough to accord our founder the respect that was his due. We then as a group decided to take a photograph to mark the occasion. The sweeper of our college Deenu who saw us posing for a photograph expressed his desire to join us. You can see him sitting on the steps in the right. The lady standing just behind him is a retired colleague of mine whom we are not able to let go.It is me by her side and our former HOD Dr. Nirmala Shukla by my side. Due to a rotational arrangement she has been replaced by Dr. Kiran Shukla but she continues to be our inspiration.In the second row are Viswanath Rao a temporary employee, Dr. Ruqaiya Bano HOD of the Urdu Department, Nalini Mohanty HOD of the Oriya Department and our lab boys Suresh and Kailash. So you can see that it was an assorted group of like minded people.

We were therefore surprised that it found a place in the inner side cover page of the new college prospectus. It made no sense at all. This photo was not representing a particular department or association or founder teachers. It did not also highlight the new building and so what were we doing in the inside cover page of our college prospectus? Oh yes, apart from a colleague who had taken the picture my department (Botany) was fully represented.

We then realized that knowingly or unknowingly the spirit of our founders has been conveyed in the photograph. I do not know if the editors of the college prospectus realized this when they included the photograph.But it is there for all to see. Where else would you get fourth grade employees and temporary workers posing for a photograph along with HODs with no one in the editorial board thinking twice about placing such a photograph in the cover page thereby acknowledging that we in the college treat all employees not as our colleagues but as family.