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

Madras Christian College

The Madras Christian College, commonly known as MCC, is a liberal arts and sciences college in Madras , India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. Currently, the college is affiliated to the University of Madras, but functions as an autonomous institution from its campus...

 in Tambaram

Tambaram

Tambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. It is an urban node. Tambaram is a hub to all major destinations in south Tamil Nadu as it lies on the busy Chennai–Trichy national highway. The highway and the railway line from Chennai Egmore to...

, Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

.

History

St. Thomas's Hall was built in 1937, named after St. Thomas who brought Christianity into India. Initially, St. Thomas's Hall did not follow any constitution. In the early years, the hall was run by the Warden and the General Secretary of the university. The first warden of St. Thomas's Hall 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 the year 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 in the Hall, 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.

Hall Cabinet (according to hierarchy)

1. Prime Minister (Finance and public affairs)
2. Welfare Minister & Deputy Prime Minister (Hall 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

Hall Emblem

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

• Top Left- Crucified palm of Jesus Christ
• Top Right- Elephant reaching out to a palm signifying striving for higher ambition
• Bottom Left- Maize signifying India's dependence on agriculture
• Bottom Right- Dove signifying Peace

Hall 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 Dodo's of Martin Hall

But we are the best its natural, we've always had the edge!

Private Bodies in the Hall

• Jatra

Jatra is the Theatre Society of St. Thomas's Hall . It was started in 1980 and the first play to be performed was Utpal Dutt's ‘ Hunting the sun'.The last play performed was ‘The Siren Call of C A Rangasamy' in 2005 under the directorship of Anil Ramaprasad and Satyajit Ranjeev. Convenor – Mr. Sooraj S.V

• STOBA

STOBA, namely St. Thomas's Old Boys Association is the society to maintain the records of the alumni of St. Thomas's Hall.The convenor is supposed to help out with the details of the address book that is published every year also. Convenor – Mr. Jayan Joy Varghese

• STHLP

STHLP, namely is the St. Thomas's Hall Literacy Programme. Traditionally, they are supposed to organize debates and such in the hall and also, they have to help out with the distribution of the money collected as donations during Republic Day and Independence Day (where the residents forfeit one meal). Convenor – Mr. Vimal Vakeel

• STHNC

St. Thomas's Hall Nature Club, started in 2008 by the 72nd Cabinet is the youngest Private Body in St. Thomas's Hall, Its Convenor is also in charge of preparing the hall for Vatika( Martin Hall's Biennial gardening competition). Convenor – Mr. Stalin Koijam

• Tennis Club

St. Thomas's Hall is the only hall to maintain a tennis club as such and allow residents to play who have membership in the club. Money is collected through the residents equally and the money required has to be passed in the General Body Meeting. The current Tennis Club convenor is Ebenezer Sudhaharan and the co-convenor is A. Kishore.

• Bharati Mandram

Bharati Mandram is the tamil society of St. Thomas's Hall. It's the oldest private body of St. Thomas's. It organizes debates , lectures, seminars mainly to promote tamil culture in the college.

‘UTSAV'

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 played in the last two years:-

• 2003- The Unwind Band and Cyanide Angels

• 2004- Garage Monsters Inc. and Myndsnare

• 2005- Junkyard Groove and Bhayanak Maut

• 2007- C-Road Junction, Molotov Cocktail and Junkyard Groove

• 2009- Bhoomi and Slain

• 2010- Whatever, RhythmX and Groove #3

Hall Magazine- ‘USHA'

The Hall Magazine is called USHA, named after Professor Gandekar's daughter. It is our hall's annual magazine and it was started in 1956 and 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of our Hall Magazine.

News Letter- 'Tribune'

The Tribune is the news letter of the hall. The Information Minister is in charge of editing the articles written by the residents.

Working of the Hall and The Hall parliament

As said earlier, The Hall has the cabinet ministers to take care of the various activities in the Hall. 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. Also a prayer Secretary is appointed to take charge of the daily prayers in the hall. Also a Gardening Convenor in appointed is appointed to oversee the gardening sessions of the residents. Thus an effective system of decentralization is followed in the hall.

The Hall Parliament is a unicameral legislature and the general body sessions happen at least thrice a semester.

Amenities In The Hall

• Flag Post - 16.4 ft
• Hall Pond- 3.6 ft
• Rock Garden( built in 1990)
• Rods for hanging pots
• Sausage seats
• Stone Bench
• Table Tennis tables
• Basketball grounds
• Hall Gym
• Library
• WiFi Connectivity
• Lounge for reading newspaper, etc..
• Photo Gallery
• Entertainment Room
• foosball

Hall Activities

• Inter Block Freshers Culturals
• Inter Block Culturals
• Inter Block Cricket Tournament
• Inter Block Football Tournament
• Inter Block Tennis Tournament
• Inter Block Basketball tournament
• Inter Block Table tennis tournament
• Inter Block Badminton Tournament
• Inter Block Volleyball Tournament
• Inter Hall Basketball Tournament
• Inter Hall Volleyball Tournament
• Exhibition Match (Football)- Martin Hall vs. Outgoing Batch
• Exhibition Match (Basketball)- Martin Hall vs. Outgoing Batch
• Freshers Arm wrestling Competition
• Freshers Weight Lifting Competition

Traditions

• Bullock Cart procession on the day of Inter Hall Sports
• Ducking
• Initiation
• Stooling
• Juniors have to wear formals inside the hall
• Mess Rules like no crossing of feet permitted, no caps allowed, mobile phone cannot be used in the mess
• Juniors cannot sit on the High Tables in the mess

Titbits of yesteryears

• The block captains were earlier known as ‘Health Secretaries' and ‘Radio In Charge'.
• The longest serving warden of St. Thomas's Hall is M.A Thangaraj (17 years).
• The place were the library is at present situated was known as ‘Sleeping Porches' earlier.
• There are 8 paintings and 6 pictures in the Hall mess.
• Earlier elections were done by the Electoral Tribune consisting of the Warden, the Returning Officer and the Speaker.
• The present ‘E' block was earlier a campus school and was known as St. Thomas's Annexe.

Myths

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

• The outdoor stage was painted with a picture of a dragon and for some reason it remained there for 6 straight years . no one knows why it was never changed
• Also, the most recent was when a fresher apparently saw a headless apparition near the ‘A' block bathroom downstairs.
• There is another myth that goes like, the B Block bathroom is haunted.

Current Cabinet, Block Captains and Convenors

• President - Dr. C. Joseph Barnabas
• Speaker - Mr. Philip Thomas

• Prime Minister - Mr. Jithin J. Punamadam
• Welfare Minister & Deputy Prime Minister - Mr. S. Paul Sugirthan
• Information Minister - Mr. Arun Gopinath
• Entertainment Minister - Mr. M. J. Soundar Raj
• Vegetarian Mess Minister - Mr. Mr. B. Alwyn Barnaba
• Non-Vegetarian Mess Minister - Mr. Nijo A. Varghese
• Indoor Games Minister - Mr. Angman Monarch
• Outdoor Games Minister - Mr. Renbenthung Ezung

• A-Block Captain - Mr. V. Pratheep Solomon Raj
• B-Block Captain - Mr. Irwin Selvan
• C-Block Captain - Mr. Jayan Joy Varghese
• D-Block Captain - Mr. Jermiah Victor
• E-Block Captain - Mr. Praveen Sam Thomas

• Utsav Convenor -Mr. Jermiah Victor
• Tennis Club Convenor -Mr. Ebenezer Sudhaharan
• Prayer Secretary - Mr. Poulus Cheranamei