who fined the students for violation, but increased the monthly scholarship with an equal amount when students pleaded for remission.
By Vijay Sabharwal
Kurukshetra. Memories of college times flashed through my mind when, as a member of the Kurukshetra University Court, I recently had the honour of participating in the University’s Convocation Procession.
I was a student of the first batch of B.Sc. Hons (Physics) cohort at the Kurukshetra University, in 1962. The Vice-Chancellor, Hardawari Lal, had left to join politics and Lala Suraj Bhan had recently joined as Vice-Chancellor of the University.
I remember Lala Suraj Bhan as a Vice Chancellor who not only helped to establish the budding university from 1962 to 1965 but also left a long-lasting impact on the young students, many of whom went on to scale the heights of their respective careers.
Lala Suraj Bhan was an eminent educationist who remained Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University Chandigarh for three terms and retired from there in 1974. Later, he became the President of the DAV College Managing Committee, New Delhi, till his death in 1980. He received his first master’s degree in English literature from Panjab University, Lahore, followed by a second from London University. He started his career as a lecturer in English at the DAV College in Lahore and, after Partition, became Principal of DAV College at Jalandhar.
He was a very soft-spoken but strict disciplinarian, who was much-loved by students for his fatherly guidance and advice. He had one-to-one relationships with talented students and introduced scholarships for students to fulfil their ambitions and achieve heights in their careers. The world-famous ghazal singer Jagjit Singh was one of his students, as were several sportspersons, like triple-jumper Mohinder Singh Gill, Hammer-thrower Nirmal Singh and Harinder Gill, and William Massey, who all won laurels at the international level.
A few incidents personifying his character came to my mind when the other day one of my friends Amarpal Singh, who was a national-level sportsperson during student days, recalled an anecdote from that time. Led by Nirmal Singh the hammer thrower, a few sports students living in the hostel wrapped themselves in bedsheets and went from room to room collecting money for movie tickets during the night, violating hostel closing time. They were caught by the hostel warden and paraded to the Vice Chancellor Mr. Suraj Bhan. He fined them Rs 150/- each but when the students pleaded that they were not in a position to pay such a heavy fine, Lala Suraj Bhan increased their sports stipend for one month by exactly that amount.
Once, when Suraj Bhan was passing through the office of the Registrar, he found that a fan in an empty room was switched on. He immediately ordered the removal of the fan. After one and half months, he mentioned to the Registrar that his PA seemed to be a stubborn person who preferred to work without a fan rather than apologising for his mistake. The registrar explained that, in fact, his PA has apologized daily to him but said he was too ashamed to face the Vice Chancellor for seeking forgiveness. The VC expressed surprise but then allowed the Registrar to put the fan back in the PA’s office.
Suraj Bhan ji was very fond of ‘chatti ki lassi’. My father, Dharambir Sabharwal, had offered to deliver such lassi daily to his residence from our family dairy, and he had assigned me the job of delivering said ‘lassi’ at VC’s residence on my way to the college classrooms. A few months in, when Lala Suraj Bhan came to know that his friend’s son was delivering the ‘lassi’, he ensured that he would walk into the lawns of his house at the time of my arrival to respond to my ‘namaste’. To this day I remember the warmth of the great teacher that Lala Suraj Bhan was to many of his students and colleagues, alike.
