Yesterday was Alumni pride first Friday for grad students at UCSC, and I didn't have anything from my former school.
In fact I have never owned anything that says "University of Pune" (now Savitribai Phule Pune University). I don't think anyone has. University merch is simply not a thing in India, at least not for state universities.
@dev Actual question, do Universities in India have sports teams like the ones in the US do? Obvs not all US university merch is athletic but I bet that's where the basic merch culture comes from
@ricci @dev I feel like in the northeast it’s small liberal arts (+Ivy Leagues) carrying bougie mugs in the bookstore has roots that go way deeper than athletic merch. Before she passed away, my grandmother had amassed a shelf with mugs from every institution her descendants and their spouses had attended, and the prestige of the school was basically inversely proportional to mug size.
@elfprince13 @dev When I went to a workshop hosted at BU a few years ago, they did give me a demitasse cup with their logo on it. I will make no comments with respect to prestige