Heritage and Horse Sense

Mercifully the strong opposition to the demolition of the Cotton College hostels to build new ones in their place has almost evaporated. The ground for the opposition was ‘heritage’. This was perhaps carrying things a bit too far. Quite often nostalgia is confused with heritage. “If those hostels were good enough for our ancestors they are good enough for us.” The hostels we are talking about are tin-roofed eye-sores very poorly designed to be suitable for the residence of college students. The British government obviously had very discriminatory notions about what constituted good hostels for students of Delhi, Mumbai or Lahore and students of Asom. The Cotton College boys’ hostels had no bathrooms and very primitive latrines. It had no proper place where students could shave. So the ablutionary functions of the morning had to be carried out in three places. The boys would bathe out in the open drawing water from open reservoirs. This is indecent for the premier college of the State in the 21st century. Ten years from now, almost every college student will probably use a laptop computer. The present hostels, with rooms accessible to all and sundry, will simply not do. We need hostels designed to make students comfortable. We need hostels that have good bath and toilet facilities that are not located separately. We also need secure rooms that can be locked. These old, dilapidated hostels should make room for multi-storeyed structures that will release space within the compound for courtyards and tennis or badminton courts. Perhaps there will be space even for a swimming pool. No one is recommending luxury for college students. However, there is no reason to make a virtue out of discomfort or hardship just as our politicians seek to make a virtue out of other people’s poverty. Let us reserve our enthusiasm for heritage more for matters of the mind than just material adjuncts like some old tin-roofed hostels. THE SENTINEL