Change Is The Beauty Of Life

Memories of old times stay even after the change

The photo above represents the Jesus and Mary College, (Delhi University) building as it is presently. It is a beautiful sprawling college. It is well-maintained, neat, and clean.

The college has expanded from a handful of 400 students when I joined in 1972 to 2500 presently in 2024. Amongst the teaching faculty, there were barely 25 lecturers. All of them are now retired. The retirement age at Delhi University is 65 years.

When I first joined college, I was very young. I had completed my master's in business studies and worked for a year and a half in a corporate organization.

Now it is a complete change I am a retiree of the college.

The red brick building was very distinguished and the college was so prestigious that students wanted admission there to further their careers. It was said that Jesus and Mary College (JMC) students were in demand due to their mannerisms and smartness.

The building is not as you see it now. It used to be small and open but now look at the change as it is four floors high with more built-in space. One good thing is that it has maintained the exterior with the same red bricks.

It used to be a college with a staircase but now it has modern lifts to move you up and down in the various sections of the college. It has also become convenient for those who experience the physical challenges of climbing stairs. During the good old days, there were no such facilities.

The college had few students and very few Assistant Professors. Those days we were called lecturers, they later changed the nomenclature to Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors.

I have always loved the college and still do so. Change is imminent. There are some good things about changes. Memories of the past keep floating in. It was fun to work there.

My first batch consisted of 25 students only. They are still in touch with me and we meet once in a while. Those students are grandparents now.

Those days we sat below the trees in the open fresh air. Sometimes students joined us for their doubts and discussions and we had a lot of good times together.

The change which is not so fortunate is the increase in the number of students. Our classes increased to 60 students in a class so it is difficult to maintain personal contact with each one of them like we could do with 25 students.

Recently, I was invited by the Department of Commerce where I was the founder member at one time of this department. I was invited to Chair a session at an International Conference on India 2030 Third Largest Economy In the World. The conference was held on the 29th and 30th of January 2024.

I was honored with the invitation. The department still held me in esteem to invite me and give me the honor as their advisor and expert. The transition and the change from being am internal to an external member still felt positive and good.

As soon as I entered the Hall, I was honored with a photo near the beautiful welcome place with the inscription and creative design of the conference.

This hall did not exist when I joined but before I retired it had been constructed and inaugurated. I remember the day of the inauguration. The Multi-purpose Hall (MPH) of the college was formally named the Thevenet Hall and was blessed by Archbishop Anil Couto.

I stood over there and remembered the days when we held academic functions there. I was now on the other side being invited to the same college. What a change from the olden days.

I found the students very smart and so also the young Assistant Professors. Some of them had been my students and were now working there. It is like a feeling of a mother nurturing her children when they come up to you and say

“ Mam I was your student and now I am teaching in this college.” It certainly is a proud moment.

I went to see the library building which was housed on one floor when I was there but is now made into a separate building with sprawling three floors with seminar and discussion rooms. It looks beautiful.

One more change with the changing times was that in the basement of the huge Thevenet Hall, there were computer labs workshops, and discussion rooms.

In the changing times, computers have a big role in the curriculum of every subject. It was necessary to have a facility for this and the college has kept up with the changing times by inserting these facilities for students and teachers.

This was a wonderful positive change. I also saw a lot of trained people actively working on new developments in these labs.

There was one more significant change and that was in sports. The fields had more modern facilities and the college still kept up its position as the number 1 college at the Delhi University for sports.

How things changed from an internal faculty member to an external onlooker of the college.

Many people recognized that I had been part of the college. It gave me a very welcoming feeling while visiting the college. I feel blessed by the universe to have worked in this college for many long years. The feeling of community binding still exists.

The older generation is not shunned, rather their experience and wisdom are given value and the college honors them for their specialization. As the younger generation learns new skills we are happy to pass on what we learned and give back to society the positive feeling of the years when we worked there.

Thank you Jason Edmunds for this lovely monthly theme for February 2024. It reminded me of all my years working in Jesus and Mary College.

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2024.

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