'South Mumbai's Walk of Fame'. Review on HR College, Mumbai

If one comes to the heart of Bombay city and sees some bevy of beauties serenading the congruous road leading one to the iconic Eros theater and another to the mighty marine drive don’t be surprised! Welcome to Churchgate where one can find rushing office goers to delivery boys, college drop outs to college toppers, breathless beauties to impoverished children and dreamers to achievers.

Here lie the top four commerce colleges apart from other elder counterparts which now just lie in the relics. When I first came to Bombay in 2003 with all my admission anxieties, I didn’t hear much of H.R College except for the fact that my cousins studied there and so my parents wished for it.

My grandfather longed that I take my admission in Elphiston college, Siddartha college or Bhavans college which represented his times and values. Sadly it wasn’t true because these colleges have now been buried in the pages of history, even though they are still covered by India Today and Outlook surveys as frontrunners for Mumbai’s top colleges. Similar is the fate of Sydenham College which shone in

Asia at one time but now is famous only for its festival and past students with present oblique. That leaves me with Jai Hind, K.C College and H.R. College.

It’s a very tough decision to choose between Jai Hind and H.R but I finally

selected H.R. College out of my instincts and boy was I happy! The Full Name of

H.R. College is Hassaram Rijhumal College of Commerce and Economics but is

widely known by H.R. College or House of Romance. Let me start with

Infrastructure: A first look at the college and it seems like a residential

apartment until you see horde of students with all colorful gaiety crowding the

road, someone munching street food; someone showcasing their DC modified car and

the rest bird watching.

As you push and shove into the college, the campus

welcomes you with a brief lane which starts with an office and with seven steep

steps ends with college canteen, nothing beyond that. The canteen is roof top

which is a smart move by the authorities to cover up their lack of space. There

is lift in the ‘building’ which is occasionally for students who pretend to look

like professors. The library is huge with computers align with it and the

classrooms trendy with computers and projectors in each class. Talks are on for

providing air-conditioned classrooms. The auditorium is ironically smaller than

few of the classrooms but is well equipped. Thus due to clustered space

everything is squeezed in the space bought by the Sind Board in the high end

posh locality. As far as Education, Learning and Placements are considered it is

very well managed by the active and zealous principal Dr. (Mrs.) Indu Shahani

who also happens to be the Sheriff of Mumbai. Various programmes and drives such

as clean Mumbai etc. are initiated by the college which provides a good platform

to the students. The reputation of the college is also on a high with big

corporate houses visiting the campus and offering jobs to a B.com/ BMS graduate.

There are also various summer programmes in the college which are mostly sham

unless one stamps his mark thyself. Also, due to the principal and her good

networks, it edges out other colleges in providing houseful of opportunities.

The college also prides itself on Alumni from corporate leaders such as Kumar

Manglam Birla, Gautam Singhania, Ruia brothers to leading stars of the

entertainment Karan Johar, Suneil Shetty and Aftab Shivdasani etc. The college

has celebrated Raju Chinesewallah who has a tale behind him. He used to sit

outside the college canteen and the students ate the street food more than the

canteen food. So he was roped in by the management and was made the official

chinesewallah for the college. Although the food is great but it is always like

a mob on fire or with scavengers on hunt for food, students flock around and

there is nothing as privacy or space to breathe in. Butterfly Café is never a

canteen but a fish market and prices are always steep. The Drawback of the

college is that due to its elite crowd it is a mixed bag of superficial snobs

along with middle class earthly crowd.

If students have a wish list to study in

a sprawling campus, with a soccer ground then this is the wrong place to choose,

although the college has a tie –up with the Oval maidan nearby. The college has

also won many accolades in the diverse sports such as billiards, scuba diving

etc With distinct years, the college has high cut offs and to add insult to

injury has sindhi quota too. The staff of the college often acts as if they have

been working with the government departments, often pissed off with the

students. The location of the college could be a boon for South Mumbai locals

but it’s a bane for people staying afar, though marine drive serenity, a sassy

crowd, fine placements and high end reputation in Mumbai adds up to all its

shortcomings.