HR College of Commerce and Economics B.Com Review By Manmohan Totla

Well, I graduated from HR nearly 10 years back. I hope I remember all that I did at the college and how my life was there at the college. HR and Jai Hind College were quite identical as both the colleges had crowd from South Mumbai, a small but nice campus and Marine Drive at a walking distance from the college. So graduation days were more of hanging out with my south Mumbai friends and participating in the events. HR backs various initiatives, and to see how the club culture at the colleges can make people a better person, one should have a look at the colleges of Mumbai. There were infinite clubs at the college and some joint clubs with students from KC, Jai Hind, Sydenham College, and HR. I don't know the cut-off now but then for junior college, it was 85% in 10th. From junior to senior college, just passing percentages were enough, which is a very good rule set by colleges in Mumbai and Pune.

A lot of leniencies as lectures were attended by only 20% of the crowds. Everyone in the group had connections with at least one of those who attend college lectures regularly. This helped us have the question banks and notes and also the practical exam dates. I never saw the notice board as there were whistleblowers or the better word would be informers of the college who would take the stage and announce the important dates. The college falls under Mumbai University and is one of the top-rated colleges of the university. The internal markings were also generously awarded as I still remember I copied the entire assignments and still scored well in all three years.

Well, they carried a smile on their face and would never pass before wishing students good morning or noon. They had the distinction of knowing half the student's name, which was marvelous to me. The faculty noticed any student activity, and if done well, a lot of appreciation from them would definitely follow. Even if we don't attend the lectures, the faculty hardly mind that and persuaded us to use this time in the best possible way we could. They personally attended the club meetings and gave their inputs and ideas on how we can do better on what we are planning. HR faculty were quite charming.

For B.Com, the placement cell kept roaring to apply, but the students had other ideas. I had friends in the placement cell as it was a student-driven cell. They forcefully made me fill the form, and even though banking was not my space, they put my name in there. An interview was lined up without my knowledge, and luckily, I cracked it as well. A lot of coincidences combined with some luck placed me in one of the country's most prominent banks. One needs to have friends at placement cell because it was the friendship that might earn you placements rather than your own skills. I will be fair with this because only 20-25% had the placements and me being in that was only because of friends.

Sorry, there's no place for a hostel at the campus. The campus is quite small, and as far as my knowledge goes, the hostel facility was provided only by Sydenham as the rest other colleges of college street didn't had any hostels.

A small campus with facilities by the dozens. The college campus was nice, clean and even the old building didn't look that old because the college authorities were adamant on keeping that, but they kept on renovating it every now and then. The repair work was on half the year and many internal facilities were changed during our time. The auditorium and the green room got air-conditioning installed and also the capacity was increased. The classrooms also got bigger and better as they reduced the classrooms and managed it by inviting the graduate courses during morning and junior college in the afternoon. The main building had it all from canteen to library it was all in there. The canteen was great and any one could access that. More than the college, it was the atmosphere outside the campus that was more attractive. I hardly went home after the classes as we always had some of the other plans. A place where people come from all across the globe was right in front of us. The marine drive, the 5-star hotels and some great restaurants had our date fixed. Relish was one such restaurant that we had the most outing at. I still claim that is one of the best veg restaurants in the country. Trust me, they haven't paid me to advertise that but I have never had better food than Relish till now.

The clubs, the events never let me have some leisure time. I was associated with 4-5 clubs and even headed one during the final year. I headed the chess club, and we won the major inter-college championships during the final year when I lead the chess club. It's more than academics at the college that made life noteworthy at the HR campus.