DUB Speak

Beyond the Obvious: Jesus and Mary College

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Jesus and Mary College is a women’s only institute situated in one of Delhi’s most well kept areas, Chanakyapuri. Only a kilometer and a half away from the hustle and bustle of other south campus colleges like Sri Venkateswara, ARSD etc, Jesus and Mary College enjoys the privilege of being an on campus college, yet has a quaint atmosphere with all the embassies around.

There are quite a few things that set Jesus and Mary College apart from most Delhi University colleges. The college was founded in 1968 by a Roman Catholic congregation, and is one of the only two Christian minority college in Delhi University, the other being St. Stephen’s College. The college is also one of the few in the University that is not affiliated with Delhi University Students Union, but has a strong and independent students’ body of its own. Unlike many other DU colleges, Jesus and Mary College has very strict attendance and discipline policies.

Spread over 15 lush acres, the college undoubtedly has one of the best infrastructures in all of DU. The ongoing construction of new classrooms has certainly hampered the current beauty of the campus, but the newly renovated library makes up for some of it. Jesus and Mary College’s library, which was already very expansive, is now state of the art, multi-storied, and almost fully digital. The huge multi-purpose hall, which was inaugurated in 2006, is something every Jesus and Mary College student is extremely proud of. The canteen, which has undergone several management changes in the past few years, is doing extremely well. Apart from the regular samosas, chhole bhature, chilly potatoes etc, the Coke Station stocks food items ranging from sour punk to Starbucks coffee and Häagen-Dazs ice cream. There is absolutely no dearth of hang out points for JMC girls. Apart from the well stocked canteen and famous Bhel Puri, Satya Niketan and Yashwant Singh Place are just a short auto ride away. There’s also Taj CCD, which is like a second home for lots of JMC-ites and their friends. Since the college is in quite a prime South Delhi location, Khan Market, Hauz Khas, Saket, Dilli Haat, Sarojini Nagar are all on our ‘hangout spots’ map.

Another thing JMC girls take extreme pride in is their performance in sports and other extracurricular activities like western dance, drama and Indian music, to name a few. The college has consistently been winning sports accolades like the Vice Chancellor’s trophy for many years, with the most recent feathers in their cap being the DU Inter College Tennis Tournament, Apurvi Chandela, a final year student winning the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event and Manika Batra, securing the 4th place in the women`s singles table tennis, both at the 2014 CWG, Glasgow.

A very important aspect for any college is the crowd it houses. The college is renowned for having the right combination of beauty and brains. The college celebrates individuality, and successfully breaks many stereotypical beliefs every day: no, we girls don’t dress up for guys, we do it for ourselves; yes, we’re equally likely to show up in our track pants when we feel like it.

[email protected]; 'Trying to unlearn one societal belief at a time, I'm passionate about topics of feminism and atheism and have recently started discovering nihilism. If I were to reconstruct the world, I'd start by mixing in a little more compassion and a lot of space for intelligent conversations.'

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