THE VERSATILE: VICE-CHANCELLOR

Exactly this was a time of the year, 13 years ago in 2008, spring officially sprung, that I was finally a graduate. Out of college, I was looking forward to pursuing my further education outside the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. My family, however, wanted me to stay back.

- Ikhlaq Qadri

Caught in the quagmire of career, the following months started to give trouble. An uneasiness of uncertainty prevailed upon everything. I had a pervasive feeling of loss until a friend handed me over a brochure of the University of Kashmir. Without getting into the details, a charming face on the edge of the cover page lured me to turn the pages. A naive to know, when I read the message of the person on the page, my broken threads started to join and weave a wonderful dream, again.

A couple of months later, as a new entrant to the oldest university of Kashmir, I found the man on that page in front of me, physically. He was Professor Riyaz Punjabi, a man of his own style, walking down the lane with grace and grandeur.

After completing the admission formalities, we were a group of students, probably 26, who were allotted South Campus, the first satellite campus of the University of Kashmir established in the same year at Fatehgarh, Anantnag.

An equally new experience to the students and teachers, the campus was massive and mesmerizing, but the infrastructure was in infancy and academic activity was yet to start. However, the other side of the fence was extremely active where the Army has a huge base of over 1000 Kanals of land, commonly known as High Ground. The regular firing session sound used to engage us in otherwise silent space over the mountains. At the same time, the sight of students of nearby Army Goodwill was soothing.

Headed by dynamic director Prof Altaf Ahmad Mir, and academic coordinator of Business Administration Syed Rumaiya Sajjad, somehow the studies started slowly in seclusion.