Say What You Want Thampu, Stephanians Won’t Stop Loving Rohtas Ji

Valson Thampu, the Principal of St Stephen’s College, just mocked the mourning of late dhaba owner Rohtas ji.

I was sent a Facebook post early this morning.

Penned by the Principal of my alma mater, St. Stephen’s College, Rev Valson Thampu, it is titled – ‘Alumni and Samosa Worship’. Here is an excerpt:

“How come a samosa-wallah is so important,” a venerable friend of mine asked me on phone this morning after reading the newspaper reports on memorial panegyrics lavished on the late Rohtas. Being a man of some understanding he went on to ask, “Did he supply something more than samosas?” I could hear him laugh under his breath....

I felt deeply embarrassed. For a few old boys and a faculty member stomach seems to be all that matters. And that is the condemnation. There is laughter all over the city.

I am sure all of you have bought and even consumed samosas from various dhabas. Have you felt, ever, the urge to worship the dhabawallas, having paid for the samosas?”

I read through it in disbelief (the entire post is here). It seemed incongruous and inconceivable to me that a principal, already at the centre of so many controversies – things like curfew, a student magazine, a contended suspension – would possibly, could possibly mess with the memory of a deceased person. Surely he is capable of understanding that mocking a ceremony of mourning is in extremely bad taste.

How Mourners of Rohtas Ji Were Stopped From Entering College

Rohtas ji (owner of the iconic Rohtas Dhaba of St. Stephen’s College) passed away on 2 February, succumbing to pneumonia. He was in his late sixties.

On 6 February, a condolence meeting was arranged for him in college. A hundred-member strong group showed up for the event – which included noted alumni such as historian Ramachandra Guha and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam. The group was, however, denied entry into the campus as no prior permission had been sought.

We were waiting outside the main gate at around 2 pm when we were denied entry. We called a few teachers who suggested that we should enter from other gates and not mention the prayer meeting as a reason for our visit.

Rohit Bansal, Former Trustee, St. Stephen’s College Alumni Foundation Trust

Ramachandra Guha went on to lambast Thampu, calling him a ‘fascist’ who was “worried about the posthumous popularity of Rohtas.”

The comment was returned in kind by Thampu in his FB post, where he claims “Guha is sulking”.

The Inexplicable Pull of Dear Old Rohtas Ji

For St Stephen’s alumni, it is impossible to dissociate Rohtas and his Dhaba from their college memories.

My memories of the dhaba too are that of Rohtas ji, a wisened old man, with a shock of dirty white hair, plying hungry students with tall glasses of nimbu paani and piping hot gulab jamuns. I remember many a 1.40 pm class that went on too late for us to make it too lunch at the college café. We’d then make a beeline for Rohtas ji’s, who would smilingly furnish hot samosas and g-jams (as they’ve always been called) – usually leaving tabs open for we’d have no money.

We were clearly in illustrious company:

During the State visit to India of General Zia-ul-Haq to College in 1985-86, Gen. Zia walked to Rohtas Dhaba and took out some money which he owed to Rohtas’s father. I think all Stephanians do owe some thing or the other to Rohtas – may be only memories.

Sudhir Singh on the Facebook group ‘Rohtas Dhaba’

Benjamin Gilani, a student of the college in the late 60s – and now an eminent television and theatre personality – has a poem called Stephania (A Poem), which also makes reference to the dhaba, except that in his time it was run by Rohtas’ father Sukhiya.

The poem can be found among the archives of the college’s official website:

...sometimes stephania was
the passage of leftists
rightists,
ists,
and other labels-
always it was sukhia
and the minces and scrambled eggs
just an order away...

Old and new(er) Stephanians remember him as the man who made sure no student went hungry.

I remember how after football practice every day we’d go to Rohtas ji for samosas and gulab jamuns. Often I’d have no money and couldn’t pay him for days. Once my tab ran up to 1,500 rupees! The next afternoon when I went asking for food, he told me gruffly ‘Kitna khayega, pehle paise nikaal’ (How much will you eat? Pay up first!). When I told him I had no money and sat sulking under the tree, he came up to me with a plate of samosas and a glass of nimbu paani and said, ‘chal chal naatak mat kar. Kha le. Tujhe bhook lagi hai (Don’t sulk, eat up. You must be hungry’. He also gave me Rs 50 as a loan and said ‘Kal paise de dena nahi toh maarunga! ‘Such was his love.

Dayal Mazumdar, Batch of 2011

Rohtas, and his father Sukhiya were permanent fixtures in the college. They form annals of nostalgia for thousands of Stephanians scattered over the world.

In an already rife battle between the alumni and Rev. Thampu, was it really wise to bring a century-old college memory into the mix?

(With inputs from PTI)