India, Sept. 8 -- Suddenly, clamour of shoes and tongues. Students are storming into the empty classroom, pithu bags on shoulders, all gabbling as they squeeze between the benches. One young man climbs over a bench instead of walking around it. Another holds a black folder above his head. The room has rows of wooden benches, ceiling fans and what appears to be a projector. The blackboard shows the white chalk words from an earlier lecture: "Great Depression," "Paul von Hindenburg," "Hitler takes over the Reich." This is Aryabhatta College, close to Satya Niketan in South Delhi, where a building housing college students collapsed on Sunday. Many students in the capital live away from home, in small rented rooms. The tragedy casts a shadow over the ordinary spaces in which college life unfolds. Among them is the classroom: a place of lectures and waiting, badmashi and play, whispered conversations and pin-drop silence. The observations that follow were gathered over time, during different visits to Delhi University colleges. At St Stephen's College, an empty classroom one afternoon is quiet except for the infrequent footsteps in the corridor. Framed black-and-white portraits of former teachers hang on the walls-Pt Lachhmi Dhar taught Sanskrit from 1916 to 1953; S Azhar Ali taught Arabic and Persian from 1916 to 1948. The college's vintage appeal also shows in the classroom's old-fashioned tumbler switches. Meanwhile two dusters are lying on the teacher's table. The students' desks, like students' desks everywhere, bear scratchy graffiti, including some unprintable words. The bell rings. Students soon enter. A lecturer is expected any moment. At Hindu College, students are using a classroom between lectures to rehearse for a play. One actor is standing before the blackboard, right arm stretched out in a romantic gesture. Another is sitting on the teacher's table, leaning forward. In the next scene, an actor is sitting on the floor, right hand covering her face. A student is watching critically from a desk, chin resting on his hand. Another college, another scene. The classroom is packed. A playful young man is kneeling in the central aisle between the desks, his back arched, both arms raised, hands clasped above his head. He is performing the "naagin" dance, entertaining his classmates before the lecturer arrives. Back at the classroom in Aryabhatta College, the lecture is over. A few students are still hanging out in the classroom, discussing Mr Collins's proposal scene in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. The corridor outside is quiet and the world appears to be safe. PS: The photo showing a classroom at St Stephen's College, snapped some time ago...