Khalsa students excel in class, on the playing field

If you are looking for a college that offers good sports facilities, Guru Nanak Khalsa College is the place to be. Located at King's Circle, Matunga Road, the college is known for its achievement in sports.

Offering a host of facilites and training for cricket, basketball, hockey and rifle shooting, the collge has national level players coaching aspirants. Two of its students, Dinesh Salunkhe and Iqbal Abdullah, are playing for Indian Premier League teams Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.

But Khalsa College is not far when it comes to academics. Come June 2008, the college will offer MCom in e-commerce, a BSc in bio-informatics and herbal sciences and a postgraduate degree in nutraceuticals.

"What we want to achieve is a sense of equality and secularism. By setting our cut off quite low, we invite students from all backgrounds and then we take it on ourselves to groom them," said Rajinder Kaur Patheja, vice-principal of the college.

The college has a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) rating of B++, with 2,000 seats at the junior college level and 5,000 at the degree level.

The college has associations, clubs and societies for theatre, music, film, trekking and a vibrant National Cadet Corps and National Social Service squad. The annual cultural festival,

Nazrana,

is in December.

Deepak Kumar, the joint secretary of the student council, said: "The college offers so many extra-curricular activities that everyone can find something to do and excel in."

College sports director Gurbax Singh is a former hockey Olympian who played in the Mexico games in 1968. Students say the library is their favourite hangout. Besides housing over 70,000 books and journals including some rare copies, the library also has the largest collection of books on Sikh history and religion in Mumbai. Apart from the main library, there are also smaller departmental libraries and nearly 500 books are added each year.

Guru Nanak Khalsa College of Arts, Science and Commerce

Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Arts, Science and Commerce, Matunga, Mumbai - 400019

Tel: 24096234, 24096635

Web:

gnkhalsa@bom3.vsnl.net.in

The Past: Guru Nanak Khalsa College was founded in 1937 and is managed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee of Amritsar. It is the first college to be established outside Punjab on the advice of social reformer and constitutional expert Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The funds for the land and the building were provided by the management of Gurudwara Shri Nankana Sahib (now in Pakistan), the birthplace of Guru Nanak Devji.

Best known for: Sports facilities and its rich tradition. The India women's national field hockey team that won gold in the Moscow Olympics had many players from the college. The college has 30 different sports teams playing at the state level.

Alumni:
Actors Akshay Kumar, Kabir Bedi, Anant Mahadevan, Dilip Kumar and lyricist Gulzar.

Cut off:
Science: 75-80 per cent
Commerce: 70-75 per cent
Arts: 60-65 per cent

Alumni speak:
"Some of my best college years have been spent at Khalsa College. The best part about Khalsa isn't the sports facilities, multiple clubs and associations, the freedom, the campus or the infrastructure, but the fact that they managed to keep us in class in spite of all this!"
- Anshul Vaidyanathan, software engineer, Capgemini India

Expert Quote :
"The managament has changed recently and the facilities have been improved. Khalsa has immense potential to excel and to grow. I have met the principal and I think he has a very dynamic personality."
- Rupa Shah, former vice chancellor, Mumbai university