From the Class of 1974

An ex-student of St Columba’s shares his journey of protest with the future of tomorrow

Who is the most popular role model at St Columba’s school, Delhi? Top actor Shahrukh Khan. Bollywood’s most successful star is an old-Columban and a part of folklore here. He received the sword of honour for best student, and captained the football, hockey and cricket teams. Now every second student wants to be like him. “Everything he does inspires me,” says an earnest 13-year-old trying to explain why Khan is such an influence. “He contributes to charity,” says his classmate.

In Harmony: at St Columba’s School

On February 4, over 250 students of Class IX participate in a workshop under Tehelka’s Social Responsibility Initiative. They swap views, listen to each other and interact with the Tehelka team and the guest speaker, environmental activist and former Columbian Ravi Agarwal who was back at his old school after 30 years.

The boys cheer as Ravi, from the class of 1974, shares his long journey since school with them. He left school to become a communications engineer, he tells his young audience. Then armed with an MBA he joined the corporate world. But he moved on to start his own business “because the private sector was not challenging enough … (because) I didn’t want to think only of climbing up the corporate ladder, going from an executive to the general manager … from changing my Maruti 800 for the next big car, maybe an Opel Astra … this is not all I wanted to be thinking about. This country has given me so much freedom.” It was then that he stumbled into activism, Agarwal tells the boys. A passionate birdwatcher, he was in Bharatpur when someone asked him to help with bird counting in Delhi. There has been no looking back.

In 1994, he was at the forefront of a citizens' campaign to save the Ridge, a 15 million year old mountain chain that ends in Delhi, from the Delhi Development Authority. The authorities had to relent. Delhi’s green lung is now a protected forest. “Don’t ever think you are alone, you can’t do anything,” he advises. “It is important to do the right thing.”

The boys hang on to every word. They lap up Ravi’s exhortation to “live life without fear”. He invites them to visit his NGO Toxics Link, which looks at issues of waste management. He tells them that his training as a communications engineer helps him in his work today. “I run the organisation with the skills and training I acquired in a complete different area. It’s not like I am not an engineer (anymore), or I have forgotten business management. Engineering taught me different ways of how to think about things, how to analyse …” According to Ravi, all you have to do is “believe in something” to achieve your dreams. He winds up with a special message about his old school. “The greatest value the school gave me was a lot of confidence, a lot self-esteem, a lack of fear,” he concludes. The students applaud as he walks off the stage.

The clapping is also non-stop at the end of an AV that kicks off the workshop. Interviews with a cross-section of students have been edited into the AV. There are occasional hoots of laughter too in the darkened auditorium as the boys watch their classmates talk on camera about their dreams of what they will do when they grow up, and about citizenship. A boy says: “I will join the family business but before that I will do something I really want to do.” It sparks a discussion. Some boys say their parents and teachers know best. Others believe it is important to do what you want to do. “There’s no point in going into a profession unless YOU are interested,” says one young person very assertively.

What does it mean to be a citizen of India? Many boys are part of the Interact Club at school, working on projects involving the less privileged. Most would like to contribute in some way. The most cynical views are reserved for politics. “Your voice doesn’t carry,” says a student. “Once the chief minister came to our area. The place was cleaned up for her visit. Why isn’t it done the rest of the year?” Politicians are blamed for India’s rocky relations with Pakistan. “We children can’t do anything,” according to a boy in the audience. So does anyone want to be a politician? Only one hand goes up. “I am an expert at lying,” he says facetiously. Nobody laughs.

However, they laugh and cheer Val (Valentine) Shipley, ex-member of the rock bank Silk Route. He has the whole class rocking to protest music. The auditorium reverberates to Blowing in the wind, the anti-Vietnam war song by Bob Dylan. “How many of you know Mr Dylan?” Val asks before launching into the song. Several hands shoot up. But there are many more for Kurt Cobain, icon of many in the auditorium. “Do you know he did drugs?” Val quizzes. “His songs are the greatest,” replies an exuberant young fan.

The school has its own band. The Irish rock group U2 is an inspiration at St Columba’s. Why? “Bono (singer/activist) uses the power of music to communicate,” says a student.
The boys are thrilled by Tehelka’s twin invitations: to write a song on any issue for release as a CD; and propose a social work project that will be supported by Coke. The boys don’t want Val to stop. When he does they shout: “Three cheers for Tehelka. Hip, hip, hooray!”

“Please come back,” says a teacher. “I’ve never seen the boys so excited.”