Exchanging Fire
The writer is a Washington-based international development advisor and had worked with the World Bank. He can be reached at mnandy@gmail.com.
In January, the university that invoked it’s glorious past was desperate by June to ring in the present when the powers
that be are to decide between whether a part of the institution was to be or not to be.
Pramod da’s canteen is in the eye of a storm. It is an eatery of Presidency College, which has been a centre for brainstorming sessions by successive generations of students whose intellects in their later years enriched the home
and the world.
Pramod da was given a ceremonial ride on a phaeton on the occasion of the college’s bicentenary celebration. Yet now he finds himself evicted reducing dollops of that Presidency charm. For his place of work will soon be transformed into a food court.
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At first glance, the interior of Pramod da’s canteen sports a rather run-down look. The old worn out tables and chairs spread haphazardly reveal their latent charm after several visits to this eatery. Several scribblings on the walls, cacophony of over-zealous students added to its draw.
But the murmur that bemoaned the low-power tube lights are now claiming in a strident voice that these furniture and fittings with the lights thrown in can hardly match up to the food court’s finesse with its comfortable sofas and tables, multicolour lights and soft background music.
Endless hours spent in that shabby space, those brain storming sessions, just whiling away time staring at the walls
and that feeling of content to be able to do nothing… how important can these experiences be? Not quite productive
for a progressive university. That must have been the thought of the authorities.
This conflict is not just of the authorities with a canteen. It’s much more. Pramod da’s canteen versus a smart food court, a modest past versus an alluring future. It has happened in every corner of the city earlier, now Presi’s time has come to decide whether it will give in to paradigm shift in which yuppies feel at home or cling to a tradition which has been the genesis several great ideas including one of “freedom of choice.”
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