Presidency Days

Our member Ms A. Mukhopadhyay looks back on her student days at Presidency College and brings to life a College Street as it once was.


As a student, I spent some of my best days at Presidency College, under Calcutta University. Beyond the walls of the classroom, where the pressures of academia could not reach us, I experienced a sense of freedom hitherto unknown to me.
Next to the main gates stood two large reservoirs of water. We used to call them the tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. We would sit on top of them and spent hours chatting about everything under the sun.
But the moment you stepped out of the gate, you found yourself in fabled College Street, with its hallowed stores selling second-hand books. We would frequent Dasgupta and Co. and Chakraborty and Chatterjee, and the moment we walked in, our heads would bow in humility at the sight of the tomes. I remember greedily eyeing a copy of Gone with the Wind, wishing I could read it cover to cover. Then I won some prize money for excellence in my studies. I bought all my college books with that money and with what I had left over I got myself a copy of Margaret Mitchell’s novel. It still stands on my bookshelf today.
As today, there were eateries and cafés aplenty. We were spoilt for choice between Basanta Cabin, Favourite, Gyan Babu’s shop, and others. And how could we ignore the legendary sweet shops—Bhim Chandra Nag, Bhupati Charan Roy, Jayashree in Bowbazar? Naba Krishna Guin used to sell a pistachio-coloured sweet called Paradise, which was a delight.
College Street was synonymous with the iconic Indian Coffee House. Even in those days it used to be difficult to get a seat there. Inside, the air thick would be with cigarette smoke and replete with the voices of its patrons. Sometimes the odd student would break out into Rabindrasangeet. Our go-to order was a plate of 6 pakodas which was worth 30 paisa! As for myself, I preferred the coffee ice-cream, marked at 60 paisa.
Alongside students from Sanskrit College, we would weave in and out of these landmarks, enjoying the day’s bustle and energy. My favourite haunt was Sarat Book House which was owned by a friend of my Chhotomama. Today they sell academic books exclusively, but in those days they stocked all sorts of genres. I used to walk in and wish I would get a job in the store; I would be able to read books all day!
Once, my friends and I spotted superstar Soumitra Chatterjee making a telephone call in the store. He was an up-and-coming star then, but already a well-known face. We were stunned, as though struck by lightning. We stood right next to him and could not believe our luck. For the rest of the day, we could not discuss anything else.
Now that I look back on those days, I realise that, compared to school, we had very few classes in college. Much of our time was spent on the lawns and atop the “tombs” of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz, intently discussing literature and politics, sharpening our minds among the best from Presidency and Brabourne College. We were young and eager to meet the world on our own terms, and never once considered ourselves any less capable than those in Oxford or Cambridge.

(as narrated to Support Elders by our member)