Gemini Ganesan and his College Days

[Excerpts from THE MCC Magazine]

By Ms. Narayani Ganesh

The Madras Christian College used to be located at Parry’s Corner, close to where the High Court stands today. First established in 1837 by British missionaries as a school, the institution was upgraded to a college in 1865, and renamed ‘Madras Christian College’. A hundred years later, the College acquired four hundred acres of what was known as the Selaiyur forest estate in Tambaram. The institution shifted here in 1937, in a move that is still referred to as the ‘great migration’. Here, Appa studied Chemistry and after graduation, worked as a lecturer-demonstrator for some time before changing tracks.

Other reputed colleges in Madras then were Presidency College, Loyola College and Pachaiyappa’s College, all exclusively for boys. M.C.C was co-educational. Appa was a good student and sportsman and enjoyed the good things of life. The diary he maintained in 1942 has a few gems that reveal the kind of life he led as a college student. M.C.C encouraged extracurricular
activities for the all-round development of its students. Appa devoted generous amounts of time to sports like cricket, tennis, badminton and table-tennis; and also yoga, painting, playing cards, going to the movies, music concerts and eating out – all this in addition to being a fairly good student. In his diary, entries describing the above activities are interspersed with notes of his meetings with lawyers, relatives and others that reveal his family responsibilities; as also entries that record a bit of news from home about his mother, his wife, Bobji, and his friends in Pudukkotai.

Later, Appa became a regular in what we called the “Hoe & Co ritual”. The company, Hoe & Co. produced diaries every year.  After a page for personal memo, it reproduced Cardinal Newman’s exposition on the ‘True Gentleman’, which included such gems as, ‘The true gentleman carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast… his great concern being to make every one at their ease and at home.” And, ‘He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd.’ Also, ‘He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no ear for slander of gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him’.

The next 200 pages of the diary were devoted to the almanac, the panchang, postal and court information, listings of festivals, weights and measures, and members of government. It also had pages, one each for every day of the year, and the last page was left to record ‘Memoranda of things lent, etc’. The beginning of Appa’s lifelong ritual was probably his M.C.C. diary of 1942-43, though he didn’t begin keeping one regularly until 1946. No matter that some entries just said ‘routine’ or ‘nothing in particular’, and others were records of births and deaths, they contain interesting insights into his life and times.

To be contd…

(from Quartoseptcentennial Special Issue, Vol.LXXVII & Vol.LXXVIII)
photo courtesy: The Hindu