Administering a spiritualistic spin on the Urdu word darsgah [school], writer and playwright Ashfaq Ahmad called Government College, Lahore, a dargah [spiritual shrine] in his memoir Chand ka Safar. While the reverential mode is emblematic of Ahmad’s personality, the comprehensive propriety of Khalid Aftab’s Against All Odds: Institution Building in the Real World is illustrative of his.

Having been part of Government College, Lahore, as a student, as a professor, as its last principal and finally as the founder vice chancellor of Government College University, Aftab shares the ins and outs of salvaging, running, and developing an institution and, most importantly, of taking it through the politico-bureaucratic maze.

The book is an account of Aftab’s trials but not his tribulations, as never does he yield any signs of lowering his chin during the uphill struggle of the development of an institution that held a special place in his heart. With an institutional spin on his special affiliation with Government College, Aftab weaves a memoir of how, with his team of trusted colleagues, he imagined, planned and executed steps that led to the making of an enviable institution.

How the famous Government College, Lahore, established in 1864, became a full-fledged university

The book is a work dedicated to his “special bond with Government College” and a personal account of his unflinching faith in the potential of an institution with a long history. During his childhood, the author used to walk past the semi-Gothic building and its alluring tower used to cast its spell over him. It appeared to him “majestic, wonderful and strangely attractive.” He would peep through the college gate from the Lower Mall and be fascinated by its enchanting pull. Later, he would venture into the college, to take in as much of its grandeur and beauty as he possibly could. His family, too, had held the college in reverence, especially his uncle and aunt, Ashfaq Ahmad and Bano Qudsia.

What is implied, then, is that these early factors instilled in him a love of the institution.

The central thread of the book, as is evident from its title, is the effort that went into salvaging the remains of the former glory of Government College. Along the way one finds delightful, and at times insightful, anecdotes of how small steps of courage and steadfastness, peppered with one’s unflinching devotion, led to enduring changes for the better. The desire to see one’s cherished space develop outplayed the odds in the narrative; whether it was the student leader “Pinky” who had the backing of political leaders, or the more daunting opposition from bureaucracy with its fear of treading off the beaten path as it thwarted the efforts of an “innovative charter” for the newly imagined university, or the influential politicians whose sons were, at times, the alpha mischief-makers. There is even a reference to an ex-prime minister known for his love of food, who changed the topic to the “king-sized prawns” that adorned his plate when the accompanying mayor’s son was called out as troublemaker-in-chief by the author. Those who have still not been able to reconcile with the odd title ‘Government College University’ may also learn about the background to that debate and how the author himself was against naming the institution such.

Throughout the book, one comes across various strategies that were employed by the author to ensure the creation of an environment that enabled its students to develop humane and skilful subjectivities. One such strategy was to acquaint current students with those of the past who went on to become trailblazers. The infrastructure, which in the local setting is mostly considered dull and bland, was given depth and character. An impressive ‘Old Hall’ was renamed the Abdus Salam Hall, plaques with information on prominent alumni were put up on the college walls and efforts were made to acquaint incoming students with those who had walked through the same portals and proceeded to become accomplished professionals, such as the scientists who had been trained in the old accelerator lab of Dr Rafi Chaudhry at the college and who went on to develop Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

Delightful, too, are the anecdotes that reveal how such efforts paid off. Indian actress Kamini Kaushal’s daughter Kumkum Somani suddenly showed up at the institute’s 140th celebrations. She was the granddaughter of Professor Shiv Ram Kashyap, the first head of the botany department. She was elated at seeing her grandfather’s picture in the Bokhari Auditorium and told Aftab, “I will let the people of India know about your unique institution that really honours its former teachers.” Later she wrote to Aftab, “Yours is a truly cultured country that respects educationists.”

A similar desire to establish and uphold traditions of the institution led Aftab — as the vice chancellor — to establish the Minhas Art Gallery in memory of Aslam Minhas as “a special project of great symbolic value.” Minhas was a former arts professor at the college and had dedicated his life to the teaching of the arts without any concern for worldly dividends.

In the chapter ‘Promotion of Humane Culture,’ the author shares interesting anecdotes from his interactions with Old Ravians — as former students of the college are known — from across the border. Most moving is a story of friendship that trumps religion, boundaries and time. On his visit to India at the invitation of some Old Ravians, Aftab met Sardar Avtar Singh Rikhy, a distinguished Old Ravian and an eminent civil servant of India, who had saved a large sum of money from his pension to institute a prize in loving memory of his late friend from college, Sheikh Safdar Ali, for a student outstanding in mathematics and poetry. Aftab fulfilled Rikhy’s wish by instituting the Sheikh Safdar Ali Scholarship in 2007.

The wife of another Old Ravian in Chandigarh, Sardar G.S. Dhillon, told Aftab, “Though he lives in Chandigarh, his soul is in Lahore.”

Meeting with Khushwant Singh is another interesting episode of Aftab’s visit to India in which Singh told the author and his wife that “he was a Pakistani by birth and at heart.” True to his claim, some of Singh’s ashes are buried in Hadali, Khushab district, the author reminds us.

The book is written in accessible and engaging prose and offers a remarkable read not only for those who have been affiliated with the college, but also for anyone interested in knowing about the behind-the-scenes struggles for turning around an important institution. Above all, the book is a testimony of how relationships that are born out of love lead not only to admiration, but also to institution-building in the ‘real’ world.

The reviewer is an assistant professor at the University of Punjab

Against All Odds: Institution Building
in the Real World
By Khalid Aftab
Sang-e-Meel, Lahore
ISBN: 978-9693530360
253pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, August 27th, 2017