History

St.Thomas's hall was built in the year 1937, named after St.Thomas, The harbringer of Christianity into India.Initially, St. Thomas's hall did not follow any constitution as of such . In the early years , the hall was run under the leadership of the Warden and the General Secretary. The first warden of St. Thomas's Hall was J.R Macphail and the first General Secretary of St.Thomas's Hall was A. Mohammed Nabi.

Indian Constitution System

The Hall adopted the Indian system of constitution in the year 1950-51 .Under the Indian Constitution system , The hall was to function with the Speaker and Prime Minister as the two most important posts in the hall. While the Speaker was to function as a elderstatesman responsible for the moral conduct of the Hall and the orderly conduct of the General Body meetings, The Prime Minister was in charge of the Cabinet and the functioning of the hall in matters of finance and public affairs.

The First Speaker of the Hall was K.S.S Sharma and the First Prime Minister was S.Suryanarayan.The hall constitution was drafted by K.S.S Sharma, R.Ravi Varma and Ponampalam.

Hall Cabinet (according to hierarchy)

1. Prime Minister (Finance and public affairs)
2. Welfare Minister & Deputy Prime Minister (Hall maintenance and Health)
3. Information Minister (Library, literary and debating activities)
4. Entertainment Minister
5. Vegetarian Mess Minister
6. Non-Vegetarian Mess Minister
7. Indoor Games Minister
8. Outdoor Games Minister

Hall Motto

" FOR GOD AND COUNTRY"

Hall Emblem

On top is lamp signifying enlightenment divided by a cross which signifies the Christian foundation of the college.

Top Left- Crucified palm of Jesus
Top Right- Elephant reaching out to a tree signifying striving for higher ambition
Bottom Left- Maize signifying India's dependence on agriculture
Bottom Right- Dove signifying Peace

Private Bodies in the Hall

Jatra

Jatra is the Theatre Society of St. Thomas's Hall . It was started in  1980 and the first play to be performed was Utpal Dutt's ‘ Hunting the sun'.The last play  performed was ‘The Siren Call of C A Rangasamy' in 2005 under the directorship of Anil Ramaprasad and Satyajit Ranjeev.

STOBA

STOBA , namely St. Thomas's Old Boys Association is the society to maintain the records of  the alumni of St. Thomas's Hall.The convenor is supposed to help out with the details of the address book that is published every year also.

STHLP

STHLP   , namely is the St. Thomas's Hall Literacy Programme.Traditionally, they are supposed to organize debates and such in the hall and also, they have to help out with the distribution of the money collected as donations during Republic Day and Independence Day( where the residents forfeit one meal )

Tennis Club

St. Thomas's Hall is the only hall to maintain a tennis club as such and allow residents to play who have membership in the club. Money is collected through the residents equally and  the money required has to be passed in the General Body Meeting.

Bharati Mandram

Bharati Mandram is the tamil society of St. Thomas's Hall. It's the oldest private body of St. Thomas's. It organizes debates , lectures, seminars mainly to promote tamil culture in the college

‘UTSAV'

Utsav is the annual festival of St.Thomas's Hall.It is an inter collegiate dance competition followed by a rock show. Started in 1984, it attracts the top colleges from the city for the dance competition and get livewire bands to play for the rock showdown.

Bands played in the last three years.

2004- Garage Monsters Inc.,Myndsnare

2005- Junkyard Groove, Bhayanak Maut

2006- Morrison Avenue, Blood covenant, Vishnu

Hall Magazine- ‘ USHA'

The Hall Magazine is called USHA, named after Prof. Gandekar's daughter.It is our hall's annual magazine and it was started in 1956 and 2006 marks the 50^th anniversary of our Hall Magazine

Working of the Hall and The Hall parliament 

As said earlier , The Hall has the cabinet ministers to take care of the various activities in the Hall. In addition to this , a block captain is appointed for each block who are responsible for the health and general welfare of the residents of their respective block.Also a prayer Secretary is appointed to take charge of the daily prayers in the hall. Also a Gardening Convenor in appointed is appointed to oversee the  gardening sessions of the residents. Thus an effective system of decentralization is followed in the hall.

The Hall Parliament is a unicameral legislature and the general body sessions happen at least thrice a semester

Amenities In The Hall

• Flag Post - 16.3 ft
• Hall Pond- 3.5 ft
• Rock Garden( built in 1990)
• Rods for hanging pots
• Sausage seats
• Stone Bench
• Table Tennis tables
• Baketball grounds
• Hall Gym
• Library
• Lounge for reading newspaper, etc..
• Photo Gallery
• Entertainment Room

Hall Activities

• Inter Block Freshers culturals
• Inter Block culturals
• Inter Block Basketball tournament
• Inter Block Table tennis tournament
• Inter Block Badminton Tournament
• Inter Block Volleyball Tournament
• Inter Hall Basketball Tournament
• Inter Hall Volleyball Tournament
• Exhibition Match (Football)- Martin Hall vs. Outgoing Batch
• Exhibition Match (Basketball)- Martin Hall vs. Outgoing Batch
• Freshers Arm wrestling Competition
• Freshers Weight Lifting Competition

Traditions

• Cabinet Train
• Bullock Cart procession on the day of Inter Hall Sports
• Ducking
• Initiation
• Juniors have to be clean shaven at all times
• Juniors have to wear formals inside the hall
• Library and Gym can be used only by initiated senior residents
• Mess Rules like no crossing of feet permitted, no caps allowed, mobile phoned cannot be used in the mess
• Juniors cannot sit on the High Tables in the mess

Titbits of yesteryears

• The block captains were earlier known as ‘Health Secretaries' and ‘Radio In Charge
• The longest serving warden of St. Thomas's Hall is M.A Thangaraj(17 years)
• The place were the library is at present situated was known as ‘Sleeping Porches' earlier
• There are 8 paintings and 6 pictures in the Hall mess
• Earlier elections were done by the Electoral Tribune consisting of the Warden, the Returning Officer and the Speaker
• The present ‘E' block was earlier a campus school and was known as St. Thomas's Annexe

Myths

While there are many many myths are horror stories in our hall, some of the easiest to recollect are -

• The outdoor stage was painted with a picture of a dragon and for some reason it remained there for 6 straight years . no one knows why it was never changed
• Also, the most recent was when a fresher apparently saw a headless apparition near the ‘A' block bathroom downstairs.

Present Cabinet (2005 - 2006)

President- R.W Alexander Jesudasen
SPEAKER- Rosh Mathew John
PRIME MINISTER- Aiyappa C.P
WELFARE MINISTER- Ashiq M.B
INFORMATION MINISTER- Robin Mathew
ENTERTAINMENT MINISTER- Akshay Ashit Lugun
VEG MESS MINISTER-C.Dinesh
NON VEG MESS MINISTER- V. Damodharan
INDOOR GAMES MINISTER- Telem Rishikesh Singh
OUTDOOR GAMES MINISTER- Balasubramaniam

Convenors

Jatra- Aiyappa K.A
STHLP- Vinod
STOBA- Johan John Mathai
Tennis Club- Rohan Cherian Jacob
Bharathi Mandram- Suresh Kannan(Chairman) and Ram Koushikan (General Secretary)

Block Captains

A Block - V. Saravanan
B Block- Mirlang Phanbuh
C Block - Renjith Jacob Varghese
D Block - Anil Abraham

Usha Magazine

English Editor -  Arghya Mandal

Tamil Editor- V. Saravanan