St. Thomas's Hall

St. Thomas's Hall
Motto "For God and Country"
Established 1937
Type Residential hall
Location Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Colors Maroon

St. Thomas's Hall is one of five residential halls at Madras Christian College in Tambaram, Chennai.

Contents

History

St. Thomas's Hall was built in 1937 and named after St. Thomas who brought Christianity into India. Initially, St. Thomas's Hall did not follow any constitution. In the early years, it was run by the warden and the general secretary of the university. The first warden was Rev. J.R. Macphail, and the first general secretary of St. Thomas's Hall was A. Mohammed Nabi. The present warden is Dr. C. Joseph Barnabas.

The constitution

The hall adopted the Indian system of constitution in 1950–51. The hall constitution was drafted by K.S.S. Sharma, Ravi Varma and Ponampalam.

Under the Indian constitution system, the hall was to function with the speaker and prime minister holding the "highest" posts, keeping in mind the system is based on equality. While the speaker was to function as an elder statesman, responsible for the moral conduct of the hall and the orderly conduct of the general body meetings; the prime minister was in charge of the cabinet and the functioning of the hall in matters of finance and public affairs.

The first speaker of the hall was K.S.S. Sharma and the first prime minister was S. Suryanarayan.

Cabinet (according to hierarchy)

  1. Prime Minister (finance and public affairs)
  2. Welfare Minister & Deputy Prime Minister (maintenance and health)
  3. Information Minister (library, literary and debating activities)
  4. Entertainment Minister
  5. Vegetarian Mess Minister
  6. Non-Vegetarian Mess Minister
  7. Indoor Games Minister
  8. Outdoor Games Minister

Motto

"For God and Country"

Emblem

On top is lamp signifying enlightenment divided by a cross which signifies the Christian foundation of the college.

Song

Come all you gay young fellows, who come from far and near,
Come all you gay young fellows, who like to sing and cheer,
Come all you gay young fellows, and join us one and all,
We're the jolliest fellows in Tambaram, the boys of Thomas's Hall!

O, we are all St. Thomas's Hall, St. Thomas's Hall are we,
we are all St. Thomas's Hall, St. Thomas's Hall are we,
Come all you gay young fellows, and join us one and all,
We're the jolliest fellows in Tambaram, the boys of Thomas's Hall!

We come from Coromandel, from Coorg and Coimbatore,
From Trichy and Trivandrum, Bellary and Tanjore,
We're Hindu, Christian, Musalmaan, of every sort to see,
But where there's a difficult job to do St. Thomas's Hall are we!

And here's to former students, wherever they maybe,
In huts on the Himalayas, in Chatramas by the sea;
We send our Namaskarams and cheer them all today,
And we know that where they're wanted, they'll surely lead the way!

Selaiyur my friend is a non-entity,
Heber is a fish pond, a sad calamity;
Then there are the females — The dodos of Martin Hall
But we are the best its natural, we've always had the edge!

Private bodies

Utsav festival

Utsav is the annual festival of St. Thomas's Hall. It is an inter-collegiate dance competition followed by a rock show. Started in 1984, it attracts the top colleges from the city for the dance competition and get livewire bands to play for the rock showdown. The current Utsav convenor is Jermiah Victor.

Bands

USHA magazine

The hall magazine is called USHA, named after Professor Gandekar's daughter. It is an annual magazine that it was started in 1956; 2006 marked its 50th anniversary.

Tribune newsletter

The Tribune is the newsletter of the hall. The information minister is in charge of editing the articles written by the residents.

Management

The hall has the cabinet ministers to take care of its activities. In addition to this, a block captain is appointed for each block who are responsible for the health and general welfare of the residents of their respective block. A prayer secretary is appointed to take charge of the daily prayers. A gardening convenor in appointed is appointed to oversee gardening sessions of the residents. Thus an effective system of decentralization is followed in the hall.

The hall parliament is a unicameral legislature; general body sessions happen at least thrice a semester.

Amenities

Activities

Traditions

Myths

While there are many myths are horror stories in the hall, some of the easiest to recollect follow:

Cabinet, block captains and convenors

See also

External links