Lessons from college life – and not just from the textbooks: Devayani Shahane Carvalho

Growing up on Grease and its sequel in the 80s, I was part of an era that believed college life to be one of endless romance, glitzy bikes, hip trends and a little bit of academic pursuit. Was it just a dream, or was it all for real? 

At that time, choices were quite conservative: Science, Commerce and Humanities. The Medical and Engineering aspirants chose Science, the budding accountants and number-crunchers opted for Commerce, and the creatively-inclined veered towards Humanities. I chose Humanities and joined St Xavier’s College. Not because I knew what I wanted, or knew what I was. I did not have a clear-cut roadmap in front of me. In fact, I was pretty lost.

Is 15 too early to shed the cocoon? What stage of metamorphosis are you at, caterpillar or butterfly, ready to embark on this new journey? After a shielded life in school, entering college in the late eighties opened a floodgate of new experiences and ideas. With the freedom came responsibility. If junior college was a voyage of self-discovery, the senior phase was one of responsibility – of choosing a subject to major in.

There are two ways of looking at it. One, it is a vast learning experience. You make several blunders and good decisions in choice of friends, career choices and the life you lead – they impact your life and the years to come. An erroneous decision make rich in experience of what one should not do. You could resurrect yourself and take corrective measures. This in itself is a learning process. The other way – not the recommended way but easy to fall prey to – is to get bitter and grudge everything and everyone in life. 

I come from an age when the choice of Humanities is associated with a dismal performance at your boards (in my case it was the Indian Council of Secondary Education: ICSE, from the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai).

We visited the Max Mueller Bhavan, and I enrolled for the first level of a German course. That I flunked out, after displaying no real flair for foreign languages, did not ever make me doubt the usefulness of the course. It opened my eyes to a new vista. 

For the first time I appreciated my parents’ effort in developing a talent in me; through my school years I looked upon my Hindustani Classical vocal training as tedious. But on entering college, I respected the need to pursue another vocation. Not that the humanities stream is less demanding, but it gives you time to dabble in other things. 

In the first two years, we had four compulsory subject (Economics, Sociology, Psychology, English), with choices between Hindi and French; and either Math or Political Science or History. For most students, Economics, Sociology and Psychology were new friends; I had taken Economics as my sixth subject for my boards, so I was relatively familiar with the subject. It was in those nascent stages that one immediately endeared or despised a subject and knew at the outset what the major would be in senior college. I can assert with confidence this choice stemmed more from your liking of the teacher than the subject matter. My Economics teacher taught the subject with such finesse that I knew instantly where my future lay: not in economics per se but in teaching it.  That of course was then; the road ahead of course had many twists in it, and teaching made way for other choices.

Our class was an assortment of students from different colleges and boards. I had several friends from school and developed some meaningful bonds through my junior years. This is undoubtedly the time you forge friendships and get into a group that shares similar academic and extracurricular interests. 

Initiation into new subjects necessitated drumming in of the basics to ensure a strong foundation. These junior years also involved several projects and presentations, which strengthened or severed our ties to a particular subject. 

We were the first batch to ask for a double major of Economics and English Literature. Till then it was an unknown combination; Economics was coupled with Commerce, Statistics or Mathematics. Subsequent batches were allowed to combine Economics and English Literature. The fruits of our effort were borne by the batches to come. 

In my first year I chose Economics, Commerce and Statistics; another blunder on my part. Although analytical thinking in Statistics came easy, I had no aptitude for mastering sheets. I barely scraped through and wanted out of the subject. I was given the opportunity to change to an Economics major on the condition that I did exceptionally well to earn the spot. That’s what I did. In the second and third year of senior college, I did an Economics major. There was an Honours programme, which involved a series of guest lectures, presentations and projects. 

Extra-curricular activities 

Life in St Xavier’s College would be incomplete if there was no mention of the Malhar festival, the inter-collegiate festival hosted on the college -by, for and of the students. Lines were serpentine, and the festival held on August 14 and 15 meant battling the Mumbai monsoons. But that was hardly a dampener. A blend of performing and fine arts, colleges from far and wide came to compete and showcase their talent. 

Basketball and Indian Music were an integral part of college life. This latter presented the best collection of classical music. Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Zakir Hussain...it was paradise. It was also an excellent platform: I gave my first mini baithak and went on to perform at the young artist festival in the college premises. College prom and socials were a highlight. The batch of 1988 was the last to have a prom, after which it was scrapped. 

It was during my college years that Shaheen Mistry, a senior, began her tryst with education of slum children with Akanksha with a mission to provide high-quality education to children from low-income communities, enabling them to maximise their potential and transform their lives. I was ready to volunteer. 

If you are wondering what are the lessons from this piece – that moved from languages and economics to college fests and proms – well, here they are: One, go by your gut not by what the world says – not by what the world decides is the way to go. Two, don’t stress if you don’t know what the future holds for you. Some of the world’s most successful – and happiest – people didn’t know, either.  Finally, always remember: you need to experience life in order to learn. And the more life you experience – including those youthful, carefree days – the more you learn.