Nostalgia: About XLRI

The other day I was going through some old photographs and came across one that instantly brought back a lot of nostalgia for me. It was a picture of the Enright Hall, our hostel at XLRI, Jamshedpur, when I studied there from 1972 to 1974.

This residence for the male students at the Institute was named after Fr Quinn Enright SJ, the first Director of XLRI. The ground floor had some faculty offices, a large dining hall which was our Mess ( and often it was in a big mess), a much frequented music room and a canteen-store of sorts. The rooms for the students were in the floors above.

In those days, the girl students were not staying on campus. They lived elsewhere in a rented house, to which they repaired every evening after spending the whole day at the institute. It was considered rather unsafe for them to go back so late alone so they were always escorted by a band of faithful male admirers. They, naturally, came to be known as Escorts Limited after a well known company of those times.

So many memories flood my mind! Of the terrace -where we took refuge in the extremely hot summer months , lugging our mattresses up to bed down under the stars. Of the lawns on the ground floor, scene of many an impromptu Lawn Crowers Meet where guys and girls gave vent to their musical and singing talents. And,, of course of the rooms in between! It was a pretty modern building for those days with US style water faucets for drinking water, elevators and so on.

The XLRI campus had in those days a basketball court, a tennis court and a large ground for cricket, hockey and the like. The Main Building housed housed the offices, classrooms, library, and a small auditorium. While one could pretty much wear what they fancied in the hostel area, there was a rule that shorts were not allowed in the main building. One of our basketball players thirsty after a game headed straight for the nearest water faucet- in the main building disregarding his shorts. As he was quenching his thirst, a hand on his shoulder told him he was about to be pulled up. That hand belonged to the legendary Fr Edward McGrath who told him- as only he could, ” Son, this is Xavier Institute- not Miami Beach!”

At one time some girls lived in rented accommodation at one end of the cricket ground. During cricket matches it was therefore common for the commentator to announce, ” Here comes XYZ bowling from the Kastuar Sisters End”. The other end was the “Co-operative College End.”

The last memory for now is of a dear friend,Dilip Bam, now sadly no more. No party in the Mess was complete without Bam doing his famous dance on the dining table balancing a jug of beer on his head.

Those were fun times! As Mary Hopkin sang in one of the most popular songs of those faraway times, ” Those Were The Days My Friend! We Thought They Would Never End……”