India, July 29 -- The rain had been falling since morning, the kind that turns the North Campus roads into shallow rivers and makes every umbrella pointless within minutes. But by nine o'clock, the gates of Hindu College, Miranda House, Ramjas, and Kirori Mal were already receiving them: eighteen-year-olds hauling backpacks, clutching folders of documents, wearing new shoes that were now soaked, and looking simultaneously terrified and delighted about what they had just walked into.

Delhi University opened its new academic session on Tuesday, July 28. Thousands of freshers arrived for orientation programmes across campuses on the first day of classes, and the rain, which drenched the Capital through the day, did nothing to reduce the tur...