Cuttack: The Ravenshaw College, the premier educational institution of Odisha, is far ahead of time, said Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien during the College's alumni meet here on Sunday.

"The 21st-century world has realised that Knowledge is power and it was the basic invocation during the establishment of the Ravenshaw College in the year 1868. Hence, it is proved that Ravenshaw is always far ahead of time. The misuse of knowledge is the misuse of power," the TMC leader said while addressing the alumni of the grand old educational institution at the memorial lecture of the Ravenshaw Alumni Association in Odisha's silver city yesterday.

During the function, O'Brien recalled his close association with the Ravenshaw College and the city Cuttack. He said that as his grandfather (mother's father) AP O'Brien was the lecturer of the Ravenshaw College, he gave his consent without hesitation to attend the very special programme at the Ravenshaw College here.

Lauding the programme, the politician urged the alumni to do many things for the development of the college.

Extracting a famous line 'miles to go before I sleep' from the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by the American poet Robert Frost, he said that the former students of the Ravenshaw College have to walk miles before they sleep.

Rajya Sabha MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, is the former president of Ravenshaw College students union, urged the alumni for their cooperation in building the second campus of the Ravenshaw University as a 'fully residential campus' and shrine of the education. Apart from emphasizing the annual programme, he said that all the alumni should join together for the development of the Ravenshaw.

Several known personalities including eminent writer Bibhuti Patnaik, former minister Prafulla Ghadei, Ravenshaw Chairman, Council of Deans (CCD) Sangeeta Rath and Ravenshaw Trust chairman as well as former DGP Amiya Bhushan Tripathy were present at the function yesterday. Around 200 alumni attended the meet this year.

Notably, the General Council of the Students Union of Ravenshaw University has decided to conduct the alumni meet on last Sunday of January every year.