The call

It started with a simple phone call. A phone call between then College Bursar, Dr. Renish Abraham, and an alumnus who in 2018 had set up an annual scholarship in memory of his late grandparents. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns, the 2020 selection process could not be completed so a decision was needed on what to do with the amount. Dr. Shachi Gurumayum (Chemistry, '98), an alumnus, had set up the MaolKeki Memorial Scholarship to support one bright student with demonstrated financial needs from his native state of Manipur. However, he had always wished to establish more scholarships to support students from anywhere in India. By the end of the call an idea had sparked into being!

Mr. Amit Kumar (Chemistry, '97), original, from Bihar and current, bas. In Texas, USA, was only just waking up when he received a message from Shachi. They met when Shachi joined College Residence back in 1995 and occupied the same room — C10 Allnutt South -- where Amit had stayed as a fresher, giving rise to an age-old College tradition of roombaap (Room Father) and roombeta (Room Son). It only took 50 seconds of explaining before Amit had already agreed to the proposal to initiate a global alumni fund-raising program. And so, the St. Stephen's College CovId-19 Resilience Fund was born. Dr. Renish gave his blessings the day after to make this a formal initiative. Such is the overarching story of 2020 that while this initiative was developing, Professor John Varghese, the College Principal, was himself in hospital recovering from Covid.19 making this a very personal experience for him. By the end of the weekend, the promotional flyer was ready and Ms. Davina Smith, the Secretary of the Alumni Association, made it her first task Monday morning to post and circulate it on various alumni platforms.