Nostalgia ----- College Days - WUS

In a recent comment on the whatsapp, Sashidharan my classmate in New College mentioned WUS in the passing, and all those memories came flooding back. I was in my 3rd year of College doing my Bachelor’s Degree in English. I do not know why it was called Branch 12 in Roman letters! 

Those were carefree days .Frayed jeans , kurtas ,Kholapuri chappals ,a pretty good mop of hair and influenced by the Beatles. I used to live with some classmates in a place called YMIA ( Young Men’s India Association in Royepettah) a sort of small rival to the mighty YMCA.( that would be another story. Now back to WUS.) 

 • WUS or the World Unversity Centre was set up with funding from Nederland.The WUS Centre was established as a wing of the University of Madras, thanks to VN Thiagha Rajan, a former WUS headquarters general secretary in Geneva. University Development • Connection between university and business • Arts and Culture • University and human rights 

All this I know now because of Google ,but I came to know about the WUS from my dear friend Viji ( Vijayanallendran) my classmate – more about him later) when he casually mentioned that his grandfather Mr. TD Ayyasamy retd Secy of TN Public Service Commission had taken over this Institution as the Secretary. He also mentioned that it was a hostel for Professionals, Research/Post Graduate students & foreign students who were doing various courses in the Madras University. 

I asked Viji whether he would put me up to his grandfather for a place in the hostel inspite of the fact that I was an undergraduate . Viji put it up to his grandfather and I did meet him ( the details not clear now),but viola I was admitted & the rest is history as they say.But it did cause heartburn among my other classmates whom I stayed with. 

WUS was(is) situated in multi storied building on the Spur Tank road in Chetpet Chennai, a quiet place (now a congested place).Perpendicular to the WUS building was the road leading to the famous Don Bosco school which opened into the Egmore road and further down to Greams road connecting to Mount road. 

The WUS complex looked majestic in those days where not many high rises were constructed. It had individual rooms. There were many foreign students, so the Hostel had a mess catering to these students and the costs were higher, and definitely beyond my reach, with the limited allowances I got from my father who was a Naval Officer and that time posted in Cochin. I clearly remembered a Buddhist monk in saffron robes from Thailand, during some research on Buddhism,There were two girls from France who were studying French , and an assortment of other students . The place was not filled up yet.Though I accosted them occasionally, did not become friends with them. 

Of course I was awe stuck with all these senior people who were doing higher studies/research. I managed to befriend a Susai Benjamin ( Benji) . He was a tall & lanky person with a goatee. He was doing his PG in the Madras School of Social Work , and was his leftist ideas reflected in the posters which hung in his room. He would occasionally speak on the benefits of communist philosophy quoting Karl Marx. He along with his friends ran a student newsletter, and he would request me to get some advertisements for it. ( Much later I came to know he migrated to Australia and became involved in politics there) 

One of my most memorable time was spent in the library,which was just being set up, books kept pouring in from all over and I was co-opted into sorting out the books to be later put into the the racks duly labelled. I spend a lot of time sorting out the books and in the process came across a gem of a book “Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli. It is a political treatise written in the 16th century although it is relatively short, the treatise is the most remembered of Machiavelli's works and the one most responsible for bringing the word "Machiavellian" into usage as a pejorative. I still remember I would patiently go through it trying to decipher the teachings of the master. I had the great opportunity to read many other lighter books having access to the books being a volunteer. Viji’s house was not too far from the hostel and we would spend many an evening together. 

The result of staying in WUS was that I had to go down to a bus stop on the Egmore Road to catch a bus 23C ( pretty popular bus because it went past three women’s colleges! Every day, I would see three young girls also waiting there. They were students in the SIET college and soon I struck friendship with them, which in those days was not that easy. Our friendship was a light banter and occasional pulling of the leg.Viji too joined us in the same bus and became friends with them and the days went by pleasantly.

 So the sudden opportunity , which my friend offered me ,to stay in WUS gave me a different perspective of life , especially interacting with the inmates from various countries and listening to their stories and expanding my horizon. It was from WUS that I made my journey into the Indian Army.

 But then it’s a different story. P.S . Viji you are welcome to correct me /add to this