The admission principal

Entering a college campus fills most of us with nostalgia It transports us to those fiveodd years when filling ten MS Word documents with analysis and lsquoresearchrsquo was the top thing on our toworryabout list But when I step out of the rickshaw to enter the sprawling campus of Somaiya College at Vidyavihar I am lost in a mass of anxious students and even more anxious parents Chaos and confusion rules and most are checking and rechecking that ubiquitous folder holding their documents and marksheets to figure if they have everything they need Itrsquos that time of the year again Principal Vijay Joshi at KJ Somaiya College Vidya Vihar PicAnita Anandu00a0 In marked contrast is the spacious airconditioned office of Dr Vijay Joshi principal KJ Somaiya College of Science and Commerce Everything is orderly and clean even as our conversation is constantly interrupted by edgy students a gathering of the antinarcotics cell in the adjoining room waiting for the principal to show up and a peon carrying a heap of papers for Dr Joshi to sign I walk past the cushy sofas to take my seat opposite him Every other minute he reaches out with his right hand to ring a bell that ushers in the peon who then brings in those waiting in the corridor outside for him A boy sporting a tattoo on his neck and three girls walk in They have all scored between 89 and 91 per cent They got through the first merit list but were too late in paying their fees ldquoIf you miss a train will it come backrdquo Dr Joshi asks the apologetic trio in a way that doesnrsquot make them giggle ldquoWait for the online results If there is still place in the first merit list I will get you the seats because you deserve them If not then I assure you that you will get admission in 12th standard which is more important That is my promiserdquo The students leave They are just out of school and their gait reminds me of the first taste of freedom that comes with donating your school uniform Itrsquos lightly surprising that a principal would take out so much time to answer personal queries I begin to think itrsquos a oneoff incident but more students follow One hails from Bhubaneshwar and his school will not issue a marksheet for another three months He requests Dr Joshi to speak to his school principal over the phone which Dr Joshi turns down and asks for a written application instead Next two boys and an anxious mother have filled Commerce forms online but now want to enroll in the Science stream Another has scored too little to get into the Science stream Dr Joshi is avuncular but firm ldquoThe sad part is that our system is overregulated but undergovernedrdquo he tells me between meeting a steady stream of students and teachers ldquoFortunately the Indian system still places respect in teachers You can barge in to my office at any time to talk to me and I take pride in dealing individually with students After all itrsquos a question of someonersquos liferdquo This might come as a surprise to most of us who have spent our college lives avoiding the daunting figure of the Principal ldquoIn some colleges in south Mumbai a degree is taken just for the sake of it For many students here it is their only escape to a better liferdquo he tells me while a peon leaves a large bundle of post on his table He sighs ldquoThis is another thing I do After I have walked into the college campus and done my biometric attendance around 8 am I take half an hour to talk to teachers to figure if everything is running smoothly These days itrsquos all about how many admissions have been completed dealing with dejected students and keeping a watch on the entire processrdquo With junior college admissions having gone online the chaos has diminished to a great extent But for the principal an 11hourlong workday continues Apart from his daily workload this is also the time of the year when relatives agents political parties student wing members and local goons approach the authorites to ask or sometimes demand a favour ldquoThe best thing about the online process is that itrsquos almost transparentrdquo he explains ldquoBut invariably there will be someone who is related to the lsquosahibrsquo as they put it They flash their cards and even bring in briefcases full of money At such times it helps to take the purist approachrdquo As a principal Dr Joshi needs to maintain peace but at the same time be firm about rules ldquoItrsquos important to understand how much infrastructure a college needs We do feel agitated when people try to bribe us and feel like retorting whether we are on sale But not for a moment can we afford to lose our temper or make a decision that will work against us in the futurerdquo Then there are cases of students who come in bandaged and limping to ask for favours or whose grandparents have suddenly died Once a parent barged in demanding to know why his child did not get the HSC examination form It turned out that his son had failed in the 11th grade had been kicked out of the college and apparently lsquoforgotrsquo to tell his parents ldquoBut our real challenge at the moment is to see how many seats get cancelled and who they will go to Invariably people secure admission in a college and then cancel it when they get into a college higher up on their preference listrdquo says Dr Joshi Those hoping to get on to the minority merit list are shuffling their feet outside Itrsquos also up to the principal to decide whether those who are on the list but have problems with the schoolrsquos Leaving Certificate can secure admission or whether the marks of those who excelled in sports in school actually count Itrsquos exhausting just listening to the million details Dr Joshi deals with with only a stenographer at hand I check my watch Itrsquos been more than an hour Plus I have almost taken up the entire chunk of the miniscule 10minute lunch break Dr Joshi allows himself I prepare to leaveu00a0