May 27, 1901. The dak bungalow of Guwahati, situated on the southern side of Church Field overlooking the Brahmaputra, was full of European planters that day. At about 11 am, a horse-drawn cart drew up to its portico and a tall European gentlemen alighted. In the dak bungalow register he entered his name as “Frederick William Sudmersen, Barielly College.”

The planters in the lobby welcomed him when he said he had come to the town on a new assignment — as the principal of the newly-established college. Little did the visitor realise then that the cottage he had just entered was going to be his address for the next 26 years.

The same summer afternoon, even as the first college in north eastern India was being inaugurated by Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton, Sudmersen was steadily sinking into melancholy as the planter-boarders of the dak bungalow pointed out to him the long range of mud huts which were to be the students’ hostel.

His discomfiture increased when the planters questioned the wisdom of Sudmersen’s coming over to Guwahati from Bareilly and assured him of the “impossibility of finding any place of residence” in the kala azar-infected town. A depressed Sudmersen stayed away from the college’s inaugural function and closeted himself in the cottage for the next three days. “I seriously contemplated returning there (Bareilly) — two or three days passed in depression and uncertainty,” wrote Sudmersen, 50years later in his reminiscences. Fortunately for Assam, the principal decided to stay back and assumed charge of the college on June 1 after a meeting with the teachers at this bungalow.

But the building was not deemed fit for his position.

Soon, an alternative accommodation was arranged for Sudmersen when the Assam Bengal Railway vacated for him a small bungalow at the nearby station premises. But the environment of this new bungalow did not suit Sudmersen and he appealed to the government to arrange for his accommodation “within or in close proximity of the college premises”. The government now decided to convert the dak bungalow, which was situated adjacent to the college, and the two hostels into the principal’s residence.

The dak bungalow had been built during 1883-84 initially as a transit camp for planters en route to Shillong. In fact, from 1874, the planters constituted the chief body of non-officials in Assam who were asked by the government to participate in various local committees for the purpose of development of the local communities, including sanitation and construction of roads. Therefore the planters had to visit Guwahati and Shillong frequently.

The sprawling bungalow could house a dozen persons at a time. It had a lobby, a dining hall and a library. In its adjacent plot of land there was a stable where pony carts were kept and horses along with their coachmen used to take rest. The bungalow had a thatched roof. During the earthquake of 1897, its floor developed cracks and walls crumbled down but the wooden structure was not damaged. The bungalow was thoroughly renovated in the winter of 1897.

Consequent to the decision to converting it into the principal’s residence, the public works department again thoroughly renovated the bungalow as per Sudmersen’s suggestions. Now along with other internal adjustments, one room was converted into the principal’s office while another room was made into a study.

Sudmersen stayed at this house till 1926 with his family and became a father figure of the college, which he nursed with great care from its infancy to adulthood. On Sudmersen’s superannuation in 1926, successive principals of Cotton College stayed here — they include D. Thomson (1926-33), A.E. Brown (1931), D.E. Roberts (1934-37), S.C. Roy (1937-40) and B.C. Sengupta (1940-42).

Trouble started in 1942 when the next principal, H.. Sen, occupied the bungalow. World War II was at its fullest fury and the bungalow and the college hostels as well as some other buildings were requisitioned by the military. Sen had to move out. When the military vacated the premises in 1946, it was partially damaged.

The War Claims Commission estimated the total loss to the college buildings at Rs 48,956. This included the damaged principal’s bungalow.

The cottage was repaired and was destined to be the centre of much creative activity. In 1948, when the Gauhati University was established, the bungalow was made the official residence of the first vice-chancellor, K.K. Handique, a great scholar in Sanskrit and Indology. He entered the bungalow as the first vice-chancellor of the leading university of the Northeast on February 20, 1948.

Handique kept one room for his personal use while most of the other rooms of this spacious bungalow were converted into the vice-chancellor’s office. Most of the important policy decisions in respect of the nascent university were taken in this building. One room was also kept as the vice-chancellor’s guestroom.

The building now occasionally housed different scholars. Though Handique kept a distance from the general public, his doors were always open to the scholars.

The great linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterjee stayed at this bungalow as the vice-chancellor’s guest. The neat rows of books and manuscripts at Handique’s house, prompted Chatterjee to remark that Handique’s lifestyle and discipline should be an example to other scholars in India who habitually converted their houses into godowns.

Dr S. Radhakrishnan was a good friend of Handique. When he came to Guwahati in 1949 as the chief of the University Commission to supervise the works of the newly-established university, he put up with Handique. The two scholars had great mutual respect.

Two years later, when Radhakrishnan came to Guwahati, this time as vice-president of India, to deliver the first convocation address of Gauhati University, he refused government accommodation, preferring to stay with Handique once again at this very bungalow. In his convocation address, deviating from his written speech, Radhakrishnan remarked “Your vice-chancellor is not only a vice-chancellor, he is a great scholar too.”

Handique’s daughter Ahalya Gogoi narrates an anecdote about Radhakrishnan’s stay. One evening Handique and Radhakrishnan were engaged in a scholastic discussion that continued late into the night. At breakfast the next morning, Radhakrishnan remarked that the night had been quite cold. Only then did an apologetic Handique realise that he had forgotten to keep the newly-purchased blanket for the learned guest at the proper place — instead of being laid on the bed it remained locked inside the almirah. At least Handique had not forgotten to keep his friend safe from mosquito bites. A mosquito net was put up over the bed of the guestroom — four bamboo sticks were tied to the four legs of the bed for the purpose.

Handique served the university as its vice-chancellor for three terms and he stayed at this bungalow for this entire nine-year period. Thereafter, it was again converted to the Cotton College principal’s residence — a status that has remained unchanged till this date.

Dipankar Banerjee