"It looks like a Mughal palace that has been vandalised," said my 10-year-old son as we took a tour of Presidency College on a quiet Sunday. The architectural nuances might not have been accurate, but the comment was on mark.

The grand staircase with its red carpet seemed much more worn than it had been when I studied there 20 years ago. The stairway was scattered with bird droppings and the majestic statue of Sir Eyre Burton Powell bore a generous coat of dust. The corridors were dingy and the scrolls of honour defaced with students' union posters.

I had come in search of the history of Presidency College, and had found it, not polished and bright, but yellow with age and bearing the scars of indifference. Neglect, it seems, is the biggest vandal. Still, history has to be documented.

The Presidency College is known as the mother of the Madras University as its formation preceded that of the latter by over 17 years. The college was established on the recommendation of the committee of public instruction set up by Thomas Munroe and the resolutions moved by Lord Elphinstone.

It opened in 1840 in a rented house in Egmore called Edinburgh Home. The first principal was Sir Eyre Burton Powell, a Cambridge Wrangler, who was invited from England to take the post. The journey to India took four weeks and Mr Cooper, Principal of Hooghly College, Calcutta, stepped in till Sir Eyre arrived. The salary of the Principal then was a princely Rs.400 per month.

In 1841, the college moved to Popham's Broadway. But not for long. In 1867, a public competition, offering prize money of Rs.3000, was held to select a design for the new college buildings on the Marina. The design was finally done by the famous architect Chisholm, his first commission in Madras.

The granite plaque, commemorating the foundation laying by Lord Napier, Madras Presidency Governor, in 1867, can be seen at the entrance to the college building. The construction took three years and was opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, on March 25, 1870.

By this time, the Madras University had come into existence and Presidency College was its flagship. Initially, there was a Presidency School too. It went out of the campus in 1891. The Honours course in Arts was followed by the equivalent in sciences.

In 1940, the college celebrated its centenary, when the four-faced centenary memorial clock dome with musical chimes - named after Fyson, Principal 1925-32, was commissioned. The funds for this came from old students and citizens of Madras. By this time, the college had had a galaxy of distinguished students including C V Raman, his nephew S Chandrasekhar and Ramanujam.

In 1943, B B Dey became the first Indian principal of the college. Its teachers included Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, S Ramaswamy, Ayyappan Pillai and many other stalwarts.

The college adopted the semester system in 1976 and became autonomous in 1987. The 34th principal now holds the reins of what has become a difficult institution to manage. There are 18 undergraduate and 20 postgraduate courses, with 24 departments. In the last 10 years, several new courses like Master of Computer Applications and Applied Microbiology have been introduced.

A former principal whom I contacted to get inputs for this article told me emotionally, "Don't talk to me about Presidency College. It makes me feel very sad and very upset to see what it has become."

Obviously, something drastic has to be done if students have to enjoy attending classes in Presidency College and if the making of history is to come back into its classrooms.