Old is truly gold

Cars are whizzing by, buses are lined up bumper to bumper, impatient autorickshaw drivers are honking to gain attention and space on the busy Post Office Road in front of the City Civil Court complex in the heart of Bangalore's Gandhinagar. Bang in the middle of all this, Central College, however, is untouched by all the chaos. It's buzzing alright, but the buzz is that which comes with erudition, of a calm disposition.A sense of serenity that comes with age - at least 150 years of it!
Though the Central College building itself is not as old as that, the notion of Central College originated sometime in 1858 and it is supposed to have begun as Bangalore High School with only five students in a shed somewhere in the city. It was only in 1870 that it became a college and was christened Central College in 1875 and was affiliated to Madras University.
However, the building itself was built sometime later and completed in 1882. With the setting up of the Mysore University in 1916, Central College became part of the new varsity. In 1964, Bangalore University was established and Central College became its headquarters. Over the years, the university grew and added on new departments and emerging streams.
Eventually, Central College became too cramped to handle the expansion and so, in the 1970s, much of the university and many of its departments were shifted to the Jnana Bharathi campus on Mysore Road. A spanking new administrative building in Jnana Bharathi began handling much of the nuts and bolts of everyday university education.
However, even to this day, Central College's pre-eminence continues and is seen as the face of Bangalore University. And it's not mere tokenism either: nearly 10 departments continue to function out of here.
Central College might not look much from outside, but once inside, visitors are inevitably struck by the old world charm of the place. It is considered to be a protected monument and is actually a group of buildings spread over sprawling grounds, most of which are in the classical Gothic style like St Andrew's Church and Victoria Hospital. The most striking feature is the clock tower, which along with beautiful arches, lovely balustrades flanking staircases, running verandahs and porches, contribute to present an alluring picture. In the midst of this is the Senate Hall which has been witness to important milestones in Central College's journey so far and the place where eminent personalities from all over the world have interacted with students and the public.
In more than 150 years of its existence, Central College has seen many luminaries pass through its corridors and head out to achieve great things in various fields. But probably none will be cherished and proudly owned as much as Sir M Visvesvaraya. During the centenary celebrations in 1958, Sir MV, who was 98 at that time, was honoured as the oldest surviving student and presented with a silver model of the building. No educational institution can ask for bigger antecedents or a better alumnus than that.