Disaster geography is now an important sub-discipline of its mother discipline. But it seldom includes urban locations. Satya Niketan in south Delhi, where a building fell recently, deserves a geographical look. Not far from this colony are two prestigious high-end hotels, Maurya and Taj.

The building that crumbled was serving as a hostel for students enrolled in nearby colleges. Not for nothing is it called “Satya” — just in case we forget that education is all about truth. The seven colleges located within a short distance of this colony are among the most reputed institutions of learning associated with the Delhi University. Its South Campus is close by. Then there are embassies and posh embassy schools. The contrast between a poor, wobbly structure and the seven-star hotels standing tall nearby is not easy to miss. However, certain latent aspects of academic induction of the young in contemporary India deserve recognition.

That hostel life is part of the academic experience is tacit common knowledge, but it is seldom articulated. The same university or college can mean very different things to the same batch of students, depending on who lived in the hostel and who dealt with the realities of a rented room. I am not talking of the nostalgia that hostel memories inevitably carry. Nor am I referring to matters........

© Indian Express