Life in St Edmund’s College, Shillong

Serene surroundings with beautiful Assam type building and quite a number of gardens surrounded by hedges marked St. Edmund’s College. On the other side was the famous St. Edmund’s School.

What made St. Edmund’s unique was the Principal himself used to mow the grass and trim the hedges. He used to type the notice himself and nail it on to the Notice Board himself. He used to ring the bell himself. Right after ringing the bell and rush off to check all the classes with the routine of the whole college glued to the cover page of ‘practical note books’ with a swish of the cassock. We watched the same characteristics with Bro Shannon when he took over as the Principal. Of course Bro Vieyra was always followed by two huge dogs, which used to be there inside the classroom too. Both Bro Vieyra and Bro Shannon were idols to be emulated. As was their wont they used to mow the grass in the gardens as well as the playgrounds. It was a normal sight to find them trimming the hedges around the gardens. The Principal was always busy. Whenever he was served tea he would let the tea get cold, finish it in one gulp and resume his work. We had to address the brothers (our teachers) as ‘sir’, as is the tradition in India to address teachers.

The Principal, Bro R.B. Vieyra used to teach us both English and Chemistry. Prof Purnendu Bhattacharjee, Prof Dulal Bhattacharjee and Bro M.G. Shannon (Vice-Principal) used to teach us Physics, Prof Banamali Das Purkayastha Chemistry, Prof Mithila BHattacharjee English, Dr Dilip Lahiri Bengali, Prof R.B. Gurung, Prof Dinendu Bhattacharjee and another professor were in charge of Biology, Prof Jayanta Lahiri and Prof Biswas Mathematics.

We had a Games Secretary who was from Singapore. The time in his watch showed Singapore time. Whenever anyone wanted to know the time he would look at his watch, calculate & find out the time in India and tell! There was a recess everyday from 12.15 pm to 12.30 pm. On one occasion he called for a meeting during the recess. We had to assemble near the Notice Board. The Principal arrived and the Games Secretary started his speech. He said, ‘Last year we won the inter-college Badminton championship but there was hardly anyone to clap for us. Though St. Anthony’s College lost to us in the finals but nearly the whole stadium was clapping for them. For us, the prize was big but the path was narrow but for St. Anthony’s the prize was small but the path was big.’ The principal said, ‘The place where I was brought up people make you mad for games. Earlier a whole week was marked as College Week but no one used to turn up. Now, first half of everyday during College Week was devoted to studies. The second half was for games and sports. But sadly students leave the college after the first half. A dead person has not interested in anything. As you are not in anything you are also dead. Everybody may not play but there should be someone to cheer. I would like to see everyone in the field this time during Inter-College sports.’ These speeches had tremendous effect on us. During the next Inter-College Sports we found students of St. Edmund’s everywhere. We won most of the games and in most others we became runners up. St. Edmund’s was adjudged the overall champions. Then there was no looking back.

19/01/2019

I was a student of B.Sc then. One of my classmates wanted to bunk classes. There were three exit points – one towards the back which led to a market place in a place called Laitumkhrah, another towards the main gate and the other leading towards New Hostel and beyond, this again forked out near the Squash court towards BT hostel. He was possibly trying to take the third option and was in the narrow lane by the side of the Principal’s office. Bro Shannon, the then principal, rang the bell and started rushing towards the Library building which also housed a few classrooms and the physics laboratory. And very naturally they met face to face. The principal blurted, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Biology lab, sir, I have a Zoology class, sir’, came the prompt reply. ‘You are from 1^st year B.Sc, isn’t it?’ (He had an uncanny knowledge of knowing every student by name and class.) Bro Shannon brought out the routine from under his armpit and checked the B.Sc 1^st year routine. ‘You have Chemistry. Why did you say, Zoology?’ He held my friend by the neck and took him to the Chemistry class. Chemistry class was housed in the Assam typed building, which also housed the Chemistry laboratory. ‘Sir, please take him in.’ Bro Shannon asked the teacher.

On another occasion, Bro Shannon was making his rounds after ringing the bell. He didn’t find a teacher in one of the classes. On query it was found that it was Prof Hassan Yousuf’s class, who took history. Prof Hassan Yousuf was the person who had defeated first Indian Chess Master Manual Aaron, when the latter had come to Shillong and played with some ten players at the same time. He used to be normally found in the teachers’ canteen (which was behind ours) and playing chess. Bro Shannon went to the Staff room collected the attendance register of students, a duster and a few pieces of chalk and went to the teachers’ canteen. Very quietly, keeping the collectibles on the table where Prof Yousuf was engrossed in his game, very politely said, ‘Sir, I thought you had a class!’ Prof Hassan was not seen anywhere near by the next second.

Prof Aga Ahmed of the Department of Economics was always late and naturally students wouldn’t wait very long. They didn’t have the courage of staying outside the class for long too. They would disappear fast! Not seeing the students Prof Aga Ahmed would leave. Bro Shannon had been watching this for quite sometime. One day, he picked up his lawn mower and started mowing the grass in the garden facing the class. It was the wont of all the Principals of or college to mow the grass whether in gardens or the football fields and trim the hedges. Prof Ahmed was late and seeing the Principal around most of the students disappeared. Prof Aga Ahmed came and not seeing the students in the classroom tried to leave. To everyone’s surprise Bro Shannon sprang from almost nowhere and catching the Prof by the waist and thrust him inside the class saying, ‘Not this time sir!’ Prof Ahmed never ever missed a class.

Pre-University or present day Higher Secondary (or +2 stage after class X) was taught in colleges those days and all the top ten positions in the University merit list in Pre-University (Science) was ‘reserved’ for students of St. Edmund’s. Only on the rarest of rare occasions one position went to some other college. Getting results was very difficult those. People had to visit the Telephone Exchange to get their results. Two boys went to meet the Principal and inform him of their results. ‘Sir, I have stood second and he has secured the fourth position in the merit panel’. Bro Shannon punched in their tummies and the poor boys fell down, hurt they were physically but more confused thinking what better result they could have brought! The principal picked them and apologized saying, ‘I was so happy that out of my happiness I punched you!’ What a principal! The rapport was never to be broken in their lifetime.

After my masters I joined a college in Nagaland. Somehow, whenever I met him after, he used to shout taking off his cap with his left hand and extending his right hand for a warm handshake, ‘Hey, you from Mizoram!’ Every time I had to correct him saying, ‘Sorry, sir, I work in Nagaland and not Mizoram!’ But he would repeat the same mistake over and over again!

Bro Shannon as a teacher of Physics volunteered to show us the cathode ray experiment, which is never shown in any college I was told.