Hidden Stories: The Pune institute where MA Jinnah was once chief guest and war patients came for healing

“Ships carried convalescing patients and prisoners of war from the front for treatment at several hospitals in British India, such as the Deccan British War Hospital, Poona. The main building was transformed to contain more than a thousand beds,” says Sohoni. He adds that “it was interesting that the doctors were English, but the nurses were from the Australian Army Nursing Service.

“References can be found in various obituaries of doctors from the early 20th century. Nightingales in the Mud is a book about Australian nurses in different parts of the world during the war. There is documentation of the nurses’ letters mentioning the Governor’s mansion, which is now the main building of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and the city of Poona, which was the cantonment,” says Sohoni.

Visits of importance

A walk under the leafy canopies of the college leads you to the main building, where one steps into a grand hall under the dome, which is marked by columns, period architectural details and a large central staircase. Film buffs will recognise this as the hospital in the film Munnabhai MBBS. The chatter of students and sunlight enter from multiple arched wood, glass-paned doorways.

A marble bust of a man with a slightly crooked tie and a pocket square gazes from one side. This is “His Excellency Lt Col The Right Hon’ble Sir Leslie Orme Wilson” the Governor of Bombay. The bust was presented by “Shrimant Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao alias Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, BA, Chief of Aundh” to commemorate the first agricultural show held in Poona in 1926. Around him are honours boards, such as of the Chairman of the Gymkhana (DL Sahastrabudhe between 1909 and 1911 and, two columns of names later, L M Naik between 1972 and 1974) and Staff Secretary (from V V Telang in 1953-54 to S D Dugale in 1974).

One of the surprising name boards is on the left of the main entrance to the hall. This is a roll call of people who have been chief guests at the institute’s social gatherings. It begins with W H Sharp in 1909 and, after Keatinge in 1911, Hon Justice N G Chandavarkar in 1912, among others, comes to M A Jinnah in 1917. Other familiar names leap out – Jagjivan Ram was here as a chief guest in 1967, and Lt Gen Shankarrao Pandurang Patil Thorat, a legend in Indian military history.

Towards food security

“The College of Agriculture was set up as a Department of Agriculture Science at the College of Science in Pune. It got its own existence as a separate college of agriculture only in 1908,” says Sohoni. It was inaugurated by Lord Sydenham, the Governor of Bombay, in 1911.
It was Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, the social reformer and agriculturist, who had asked the British government to set up institutes for agricultural education and research in India.

“This was around a time when people realised the importance of food security. Through the 19th century in England, a lot of scientific agricultural practices were being promoted,” says Sohoni.

Sir Richard Temple, the then Governor of Bombay Province, worked on establishing the College of Agriculture in Pune. In 1879, the Department for Teaching Agriculture at the College of Science in Pune was set up. The college celebrated its centenary in 2007. It is now officially known as the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth.

“Pune and Bengaluru have a reasonably temperate climate, with three months of monsoon. Most importantly, the water for the whole operation comes from Khadakwasla dam. The Mula Left Bank canal starts off at the dam, passes through Deccan Gymkhana and, eventually, ends up in the agriculture college. So, they already have a secured source of water for their experiments or crops,” says Sohoni. He adds that even when World War I was going on and patients filled its halls, the College of Agriculture continued to function and take forward the purpose for which it was built.