[Moving away from our principle focus on the more revered NLUs, we bring to you this piece from a place that is lesser known, but perhaps just as good – HNLU Raipur. This article reads not merely as the description of a college, but also as the elucidation of a philosophy that we, settled in our big school culture have perhaps forgotten. This impassioned account has been written by Subhro Sengupta, a second year student of the college. He describes himself as a constant dreamer of sorts, and does not guarantee that this article will be free of interlacing dreams and his constant mental ramblings. Enoy! - Pranav Agarwal]

I joined HNLU on sometime in June 2012. It was a scurry of thoughts and events – quitting my old college and getting on a train to Raipur with just two hours prior notice.

Fact: I never got the chance to make a Bank Draft or buy a train ticket. Those of you who say life is difficult as you “couldn’t get any flights for Monday”; I reached Raipur sitting on the floor of a second class train compartment, carrying a very hard earned one lakh twenty thousand rupees in cash.

Such was the urge. You didn’t even know what H.N.L.U was at that time, you may ask?

You don’t need to. HNLU is like a calling. It finds you, like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. You do not choose, you are chosen.

Why HNLU?

I still remember taking the wrong route to college for the first time and walking a kilometer with 3 bags. Sounds tough, but it was worth every moment.

At a distance I saw a dream unfurling. I could see my parents and their tedious walk through those thirteen years of their sons schooling. After years, I could see my dad in his happy musings waiting to catch hold of someone – whether it was the local panwallah or ancestral relatives in the Bankura district. What was this Law School phenomenon – Mamata Banerjee, Buddhadebh, and Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi had been replaced by new terms of gossip – National Law School of India University, N.R Madhava Mennon and Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh & Shroff. Even my 80 year old grandmother who had never been beyond Naini in Allahabad now knew of a place called Shamirpet and graduates who earned “lots and lots of Money” (She couldn’t really grasp the idea that people can earn 16 lakhs per annum in salary – but neither could we until now)

I remember the first time one of my Uncles came to drop me off at Howrah. He looked at my mother, who was waiting for her son to go a thousand kilometers away to an unknown state where none of the 4 generations of my family had ever set foot, and mentioned in a proud undertone – “Your son is going to become a barrister. And someday he will end up as a magistrate…”

But why am I deviating into all this? I am supposed to tell you about HNLU, the wonderful buildings, air-conditioned classrooms, hefty salaries and make way.

That has been done a little too often. I decided to tell you about the flame that this University is – the intrinsic struggle that it represents. There are enough and more William Lowell Kane’s in the planet, but as HNLU undergrads we have decide to be the Abel Rosnowski’s of the world.

“Fly like a Butterfly, sting like a bee.”

Every forum, every corner in the Law School fraternity in muffled voices speaks of the “HNLU strikes”. Does anyone ever want to know the truth? Not exactly. They are quite happy to remain with the mudslinging.

Truth: In 2009, the students found irregularities with the administration, its policies and its activities, and decided to change things once and for all. Change is disruptive and this process led to a hunger strike that brought this University together, made it into a brotherhood, and gave birth to one of the most powerful Student Associations in this Country – powerful enough to administratively run an entire University, intellectual enough to write its own constitution, and persistent enough to get recognition from the State Government. Today, the SBA or the Students Bar Association runs every major function in the college – from mooting to placements, from hostel food to hostel maintenance issues. You might call it radical, but in HNLU the power lies with the Students – even if it relates to disciplinary action. (In HNLU, most disciplinary matters are decided by a student Disciplinary Committee, or the DisCom as it is popularly known)

We love our freedom – we value it more than anything – and that is why raised our voices to protect our rights. If that should be an issue in a “Law” University, we better close them down and rename them “National School for the Blind”. Kanoon toh Aandha hi hain na…

Why do we call it a family?

Someone told me before joining the law schools – these are professional institutes. Competition is cut throat and people tend to be rich, ruthless and snobbish.

I tell them – come to HNLU and we will get you a doctor for the eyes.

In a world where people never cease to run, life here is idyllic. It’s not just a fluke that we have a lake in the background. From the B- Block on rainy days, you can still see the unhindered view of the sky. People meet their first girlfriends here, have their first kiss, first date… many firsts.

Walk to Shanti Nagar as you get wet in rain or stare at a starry sky at night. On some nights when you just want to be alone, go to the terrace – lie down on the still warm parapet as you see what the skies hold for you. Trust me; at the end of the day when you have to spend five years in a place, you judge it by different parameters. You can’t be happy in a constrained space even if Amarchand is written on the walls and they import faculty from London.

Life; we build what we live in.

One thing that HNLU offers everyone is a choice – to excel – in my case to sleep, moot occasionally, write once in a while and just roam around.

You will not find a constant strain that defines these people. It’s like Carnatic music – all the swaras come together and co-exist to make one tune.

We celebrate life over here every day. Where else do you find people celebrating the marriage of the mess contractor? (He did give us a gala dinner for that!) We just need an excuse to celebrate.

If you are joining HNLU, one pre-condition is thetolerance for alcohol – One has to get sloshed on birthdays, recruitments, and birthdays – with seniors, super seniors, juniors, the list is endless.

I remember one of the younger Professors commenting on a pass out’s photograph (Which was that of a plethora of bottles collected over five years) – “Teachers nahi dikh raha hai…” Somewhere else the story would have ended here, but since this is HNLU, a still more humorous soul replied “Sir, aap hain naa…”

Some might say I am partial. I am. Why shouldn’t I be?

India essentially sees the Law School phenomenon as an assembly line for corporate Lawyers. We manage to stand out. The situations here force the eclectic to squirm out of you. Placements are for everyone – we love carving a niche, creating a job for ourselves where we are invincible.

Audacity? Yes.

Overconfidence? No.

If you want air conditioned class rooms, Manupatra, “100% Placement” figures, “continental cuisine” in hostels… there are umpteen number of colleges that can provide that. I dare not call those institutions Law Schools. If you want to be a fighter in the ring that lies in the world out there, we will be waiting for you this semester in our auditoriums as the Academic Year commences. Be there.

Subhro Sengupta,
Batch of 2016,
HNLU – Raipur.