Alittle over 56 years ago saw me walking through the open gates of that citadel of scholastic learning which went by the name of Madras Christian College (MCC), located in Tambaram. Admitted to the Pre-university class of 1959, I trudged my way to the Hall of Residence allotted to me, Bishop Heber Hall, to be eyed by equally nervous boys who would be my classmates for at least one year. What impressed me was the beauty of the campus. But, what gripped us with a sense of fright was when we were told of the stern nature of the seniors and the impending sessions of ragging for us juniors.
Sure enough, the first week was spent in going through the harrowing experience. At the end of it, all freshers were thrown into the fish pond — muddy water — dug out in the middle of the Hall quadrangle. On emerging from the pond, each was initiated by a tap on the shoulder with a stick, serving as a sword, by the senior-most resident, and made to take an oath of allegiance to the Hall – “Heber for Ever, For Ever Heber, Ever for Heber”. We were then declared legitimate residents of the Hall. There were smiles all around and much bonhomie.
Classes were exciting, because we had the opportunity of being taught by luminaries in different subjects. Principal of the College Rev. Dr J R Macphail was entrusted with teaching us Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in the pre-university class. We were told that Shakespeare was his forte, and we observed him losing himself while dwelling on the virtues of Portia. Most of us would be listening intently, and also trying to write down his words which reflected his exquisite use of the language. Macphail was indeed synonymous with Shakespeare. At the degree level, there was a heady mix of English prose, poetry, Shakespeare (As You Like It, and Macbeth), and the novel The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. Listening to lectures by such scholars would transport me to various levels of ecstasy, and it would be an anti-climax to bring myself back.
Stanley Rajiva’s interpretation of Sohrab and Rustum made me visualise the longing of a father who did not have the good fortune of knowing his son and unknowingly slaying him in single combat. T K Thomas portrayed the reality of the ambitious Lady Macbeth. Thomas interpreted the tragedy of Macbeth as “an exemplary specimen of Sophoclean tragedy as expounded by Theobald”. This had all of us looking at one another, trying to decipher Sophocles and Theobald, later artistically explained by Thomas (Sophocles being one of the three ancient Greek tragedians, and Lewis Theobald a British author who had excelled in the history of Shakespearean editing).
Perhaps, the most illuminating classes in poetry were those taken by Bennet Albert, whom we considered the fountain of learning. The most difficult poem prescribed was John Milton’s Paradise Lost Book II. Thankfully, only some excerpts were included in the course. There is an allegory in it to the effect that ‘sin’ was born out of the side of ‘death’, and immediately after being born, sin chases death and rapes his mother. While leading up to this part, Bennet put the book down, looked at the entire class, and said – “Pay very close attention, we are going to have a rape here!” There was a stunned silence, with none plucking up courage to look at one another, or at Bennet. But, in his matter-of-fact manner, Bennet went on with the poem.
Nostalgic memories come crowding into my mind as I recall the six wonderful years spent at the MCC. The feelings that were always uppermost were those which convinced me that the MCC was my home for a short period, because it gave me much more than what I could ever give back to her.
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