My friend Dr. Mohanalakshmi and I stood outside the gates of Presidency College recently, wanting to go in. She lives In England and it was a longstanding promise that I made that I would take her to see our old college. Gazing at the magnificent building on the Marina, we were proud that we were its alumni. It had been freshly painted brick red and grey and looked as good as new, as all Victorian buildings do when given a fresh coat of paint.

Memories that went back more than half a century made Dr. Mohanlakshmi and me tempting to gatecrash and look around our old college. We walked in past the watchman and went into the college. No one bothered us as we sauntered in. But when we entered the building we were in for the shock of our lives. The broad wooden staircase. beautifully carved, that rose from the left and right side of the hall and took you up to the first floor was so coated with dust and grime that you could hardly make out that it was carved of wood. The wooden steps of the staircase had a one-inch layer of caked mud. Framed photographs on either side of the staircase had pigeons living behind them. I thought pigeons lived outside buildings and only sparrows nested inside. I now learnt differently. Their droppings added to the dirt. One photo frame, because of the nests, was in danger of falling down on the heads of those who used the staircase

The two staircases met in the middle of the corridor and a statue of Lord Elphinstone made of marble had been installed in his honour as the founder of the college, but the date when the college was founded was not mentioned. Elphinstone looked sorely in need of a bath.

Presidency College has a hoary past, starting from February 1840, even before Madras University was started in 1857. The present building was opened in 1870 by the Duke of York during a visit to Madras.

As we roamed the corridors and tried to identify our old classrooms, we found that they were divided and subdivided most unimaginatively making the building look dark and dingy and necessitating electric lighting during day time. Sunlight, fresh sea breeze from the Marina, and the view of the ocean and sky from all the classrooms that faced the Marina were completely cut off.

As we walked through the building, we noticed piles of broken furniture, chairs, tables and shelves lying in. One staircase had broken furniture piled from the bottom to the top to a height of about twenty feet.

We accidentally met the Head of one of the Departments. “How can you ever teach in a college which is so dirty and dusty?” we asked. And, of course, we got the stock answer. “What can I do? The college does not get enough money to appoint enough cleaners. We are not allowed to sell even a single bit of broken and discarded furniture without calling for tenders.” Who would want to buy the broken bits and pieces, we wondered. The lorry hire to remove the pieces would not make it worthwhile even if they were given away free. The rubble, I am sure, will go on piling.

We visited a classroom where science was taught. The lab was a joke. You could not really sit on the benches, they were so rusty and dirty. Were they made of iron?

My friend perceptively pointed out that the students were not responsible for the state that the college was in. There were no papers, Coca-cola cans. cigarette or beedi butts or paan spit anywhere.

When I pointed out to a student the sad state of his college, he shrugged his shoulders and said that Presidency College was the last choice of students. I recalled with a sigh those days when students called themselves the Princes of Presidency. Another student said with a cynicism born of despair that all government colleges were like that. “Look at Queen Mary’s”, he pointed out.

Who is responsible for the messy state the college is in? The Principal, the staff, the Director of Collegiate Education? Is this how we should bring up the younger generation?

Can’t the College get a corporate to team with it and ensure its maintenance? Better still, can’t we old students get together and ensure regular cleaning? When can we see some action?