An Epic Road Trip-Part 2

Jude was a bit reluctant and argued with them to let us go because we were already very much behind schedule but the Police were reluctant to let us go. What made them suspicious was that we didn’t have any luggage for such a long journey. SK was going to Trivandrum only for the weekend so he didn’t have much luggage with him. Both me and Arun just had a small bag with our clothes. They felt that something somewhere didn’t add up. Arun was wearing a black Lungi and Superman T-shirt. Jude and myself were in our slacks which didn’t give an impression that we were on a road trip. SK was the only guy who was properly dressed. Finally I had to call up a friend of mine from my IAS coaching days in Delhi who was currently an I.P.S officer in Karnataka to let us carry on with our journey without any further delay.

We decided to take it slow so as to get over the harrowing experience and stopped the car to get some tender coconut water. Arun struck up a conversation with the Lorry driver and even got him tender coconuts to be allowed to take some photographs in his Lorry.

 
  

  

Finally in the evening we reached Bangalore. Our dear friend Rakesh a top notch lawyer came to us with food to show his support and wish me luck. We saved a lot of time because of this and were off to Cochin driving through the night. As a matter of fact we had covered close to 1500 kms in little above 24 hours. In the wee hours of Sunday as they dropped me off at my Uncle’s place in Cochin it was a job well done and would later go on to be known as “The Cochin Job” in the lines of the Italian Job.

On the way back there was just one driver Jude and gradually the arduous journey started to take a toll on him. Now for the uninitiated it has to be noted that Arun hardly knew driving at that point of time and didn’t even have a driving license. The Lawyer who got 3 of us to undertake this crazy journey decided to try his luck to persuade Arun to take up the wheel for some time so that he could rest. Moreover, there was a 200 km 4 lane stretch ahead.

  

Understandably Arun was fast asleep, slowly Jude parked the car to the side of the road and woke up Arun . With a fair bit of coaxing and cajoling Jude managed to convince Arun to take up the driver’s seat .Jude in the meantime was cheeky enough to hand over the steering wheel to him and go to sleep for a considerable amount of time.

At one of the Toll Plazas in between, 2 men requested for a lift to Mumbai. The men said that you need not pay the toll tax all the way till Mumbai courtesy because of them. Jude and Arun were perplexed , firstly these guys could be anybody and secondly they couldn’t make up their mind to trust those guys on the road. The hitch hikers turned out to be Army Jawans who were stationed in Lebanon as part of the International Peace Keeping Force. At every toll plaza once they show their ID cards they are allowed free transit. They had come to their respective native places and were returning to Mumbai for their onward flight to Delhi where they were supposed to report. They began narrating their experiences in Africa and slowly Jude and Arun warmed up to them.  Incidentally one of them was a military truck driver, Jude promptly handed over the Steering wheel to him and went off to sleep again with Arun on the watch.

The travelling party reached Mumbai as a new week dawned over the horizon they were dead tired but their minds buzzing. After dropping off the Armymen in the airport they picked up Shilpa who drove them over for an early morning breakfast to a restaurant overlooking the sea. As the couple were gazing into the sea Jude was contemplating as to what was in store for his brother. This was first among his many long distance drives from Mumbai. Jude had undertaken a total of 3 road trips from Mumbai to Trivandrum out of which two were solo and one in a Tata Nano.

As for me the meeting with the girl did not yield a positive result and I lived to fight another day. My mom who had come to Cochin was delighted to know that her younger son and friends pulled out such a coup d’etat. But equally angry because Jude didn’t meet her and say hello to her after travelling such a long distance. Till date SK’s wife doesn’t know the real reason as to why many years back her husband reached for Lunch on that Vishu day and took his flight back to Mumbai after a couple of hours

Years later Jude was having a bad day as a Corporate Lawyer trying to close a deal with an important client. He took a breather and went out for a smoke at that instant he gets a call from Arun who was in Dubai informing him that he had just cleared the UAE driving test and expressed his sincere gratitude to his first driving guru.  Ambrose reminisced “ If I can get those 3 jokers to undertake the crazy trip in a car for close to 56 hours nonstop, covering four state of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala along the way I can very well convince anybody”. He took a deep breath and walked back in to the boardroom to clinch the deal. As for the 3 jokers they realized that Engineering was not their calling and thankfully moved into Managerial Roles. 

At the end of it when I look back that slip of the tongue from Jude where he said that we could go from Mumbai to Cochin and come back within flat 20 hours turned out to be one of the most badass moments in my life. This trip will be the gold standard to which all later trips were compared to.I have often come across instances where after days of planning when we finally undertake a trip it wouldn’t be that great. Most often than not the trips that come out of the spontaneous decisions turn out to be absolutely exhilarating and liberating to a great extent. You just let your spirit soar into the unknown and the rest will be history. The experiences that we have in these kind of scenarios are totally out of the world.  In a nutshell “Great memories are made of impromptu outrageous experiences”.

 Friendship is the one of the vital keystones in a person's life, true friendship overcomes distance, time and what not .Myself, Sreekumar and Arun have known each other for more than 25 years now. We first met at Holy Angels Convent School, Trivandrum during the course of our Primary Schooling then went on to study in Loyola School as well. It also helped that we lived nearby during that point of time in our lives until we completed our graduation. Post that we haven’t been in close contact much because life had taken us all in 3 different locations for many many years. Even today all 3 of us live in 3 different cities but still we manage to keep touch .But true friendships overcome distance, time and what not. It only takes time and a little effort to nurture friendships into something truly special. Come the hour and the men delivered, Period.  

  

If you ask me, one has lived a rich and fruitful life if you are able to tell stories such as these to everyone around you. An experience need not cause an impact at that moment of time but years later when you look back at the memory that is the moment when nostalgia hits you. This trip was undertaken by me and my friends 4 years ago but even today this tale has been told and retold in the countless get-togethers we have been to. That is precisely the reason why I wanted to put this on the record so that this memory does not get lost in course of time.

P.S:- For the travel junkies who are wondering as to which route we took.

Mumbai-Pune-Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Hubli-Davangere-Chitradurga-Tumkur-Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Erode-Palakkad-Thrissur-Cochin

The End

With inputs from Ambrose Jude, Sreekumar and Arun Sudheendran

  
Click here for Part 1

An Epic Road Trip-1

SK working in Pune was supposed to leave for Trivandrum (our hometown) from Mumbai the next day. Since it was a weekend I asked him to come stay at my place and take his flight the next day. I decided to invite my dear friend Arun as well so that we could have an impromptu party at my place on Friday night. Since it was an all Malayali get together the usual suspects were in attendance. Beef, Alcohol, Kerala Chicken Fry and Barotta .The irony of it all was that our guest of honour SK was a teetotaler and a pure vegetarian. All 3 of us were just chilling out at my place when my brother Jude joined us. A law student in Mumbai he had come to spend time with me over the weekend.

Off late I had discovered that being an employed Malayali guy of marriageable age is a tough ask and that too living far away from Kerala.  All of your friends around you are either married or in the process of getting married. My guests for the evening were discussing their domestic travails of their 2 year old marriage and here I was thinking of getting married. My train of thoughts was interrupted by a phone call from my mom who was asking me if I could make it to Cochin(a city 1500 kms south of Mumbai) on Sunday because she wanted me to meet a girl there. I was like what the hell it is Friday night and you want me to reach Cochin within 48 hours. Well you can’t pretty much argue with the boss. We all started looking for flights and trains but because of the of Vishu(New Year festival in Kerala) on Sunday the flights and trains were overbooked.

All of us barring SK were in high spirits since the Party had already started.  Jude pitched for a crazy idea as to why don’t we drive Angelo to Cochin. He said what are friends for if they can’t rise upto the occasion and make things happen. His rationale was that right now it is Friday Midnight if we start from here now by driving nonstop we could reach Cochin in 10 hours. After dropping me if they drive back to Mumbai again nonstop they can come back to Mumbai in another 10 hours. This way Arun will not have to miss work on Monday and Jude will not miss his exam as well.

 Arun pensively asked me if I really wanted to meet this girl to which I replied in the affirmative. SK who had been a silent spectator all along was all pumped up. He cancelled his flight ticket for the next day so as to join us in this road trip. He said that we could use an extra driver for the long journey. Jude the lawyer managed to convince the 3 Engineers on such a crazy idea. Even today I fail to understand as to why SK who was in full senses agreed to be part of the plot. This given the fact that he could be at Trivandrum the very next day without much of a hassle

The journey begins

 

SK, myself and Arun

Jude, the Lawyer

We packed up whatever food was left behind. I took one of the best pair of my clothes, my mind was buzzing in anticipation for the upcoming meeting. We had a pit stop at Arun’s place to inform his spouse about the plan, it was well over midnight. As we parked our car I made a bet with Jude that Arun’s wife is not going to fall for this crazy idea and he is not going to come with us.   Don’t know if Shilpa was too sleepy to even comprehend as to what her husband was saying, nevertheless Arun came back promptly with a change of clothes. Later on we came to know that Shilpa had reminded Arun that they had to renew the lease of their house which was expiring on Monday. He was planning to finish off that task the next day. Arun assured her that he would see it on Monday without fail. Shilpa warned him that he better stick to his word or else they could be homeless after Monday.

 

To our discomfort we realized that we were out of Gas. Even at this hour there was a considerable amount of rush to fill gas. We stopped behind the long line of cars Jude the lawyer again got into action he went to every car in the line and made up a cock and bull story that the guy in the car missed his flight and was not able to go for his wedding. As friends they were planning to drive him to the venue and were short of time. As we passed each of the cars the drivers smiled and nodded to me.

The drive out of Mumbai city was uneventful but we were in for a surprise as we reached the ghat section. We had not anticipated the Truck traffic at this time of the hour. Boy it was incredulous and with great difficulty we maneuvered through the multitude of heavy vehicles. It had been 10 hours since we started the journey. We stopped at the side of the highway for a quick bite of the food that we had with us. As the day dawned we 3 ENGINEERS realized that the LAWYER had taken us for a ride as we had made very little progress. We were nowhere near even half way thorough to our intended destination. Once the reality sunk into each one of us we understood the enormity of the task that lay ahead of us but we decided to soldier on. Jude and SK took turns in driving as I was forbidden from driving because they didn’t want to tire me out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   

After sometime SK’s wife called him to ensure if he had checked in for the flight on time to which SK replied that he was at the airport and it appeared to him that the flight was cancelled. He assured that he would keep her posted and disconnected the call. All of us stared at him with a look of amusement. He had to come up with something innovative to be able to explain as to why he was delayed we all deliberated on the permutations and combinations of the possibilities by which SK would reach Trivandrum on Sunday Morning. Finally after a couple of hours he called his wife and informed her that he got a flight to Bangalore. From Bangalore he would take an overnight bus and would be with her on Sunday Morning. The story sounded believable because it was Saturday afternoon now and at the rate at which we were going we would reach Cochin in the wee hours of Sunday. From there SK could take a train and reach Trivandrum by around 10-11 in the morning.

 

We couldn’t stop for a break but rather continued our journey. We were driving the entire day without a break. We had a flat tyre in between but luckily we were passing through a city so we had help at hand. As we were waiting for the tyre to be replaced Jude noticed that there was a Unisex parlour across the road. With support from Sudhi he managed to cojole me to get a facial in a bid to improve my prospects. Post the facial my face was wrapped in a towel like a jack fruit so that I could be preserved from the hard sunlight. You women will never understand what all we men go through to get hitched.

 

 

The journey continued, somewhere in Karnataka we were stopped by the Highway Patrol which seemed to us as a routine checking. After the initial checks of the license and the papers they were not very convinced about our story. They asked us to come to the Police Station so that they can thoroughly check our car.  Supposedly they had received a tip off that some contraband was being transported via road and that was the reason why they had set up the patrol in the first place.

 To be Continued……

Click here for Part 2

“Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar”-A Book to Remember

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon when I and my wife were roaming around streets of South Mumbai after having a wholesome meal at Café Mondegar. There was a book launch at Kitab Khana, a popular book shop in the vicinity and I had half a mind to attend the event for which I had received an invitation via facebook. There was also another reason why wanted to go there, I had happy memories of that place where I had last visited when I attended the book launch of my younger brother about 4 years back for a similar event .I was filled with pride when I witnessed the 20 year old brother of mine delivering a speech where he was describing his experience of authoring his first book. The train of thoughts was disrupted by my wife’s question directed to me “What next? I am tired”. I told her why not got to a book launch to a nearby book store. She nodded in agreement and said that at least we can get away from the sweltering heat and spend sometime in the book shop which was air conditioned. As we were walking towards the book shop my wife asked how well I knew the author to which I replied that I hardly knew the author and I had seen an invitation in the Alumni page of my alma mater. She stopped in her tracks and asked me if I really wanted to gatecrash the event of someone whom I was only distantly acquainted to. I brushed her objections and walked into the book shop.

 

Once inside I instantly recognized the author from his profile picture in Facebook. As I walked to him I was in a dilemma as to how to address my Senior from school he had passed out from my school almost 3 decades before I graduated from school, in a way he belonged to a different  generation altogether. My wife cringed when I addressed Shibu, the author as Chetta(big brother in Malayalam) she said to me later, you should to have addressed him as “Sir” being very  junior to him. I could see the glint in his eyes when I told him that I was a former student of Loyola School Trivandrum and was delighted to meet him in person because I had already heard about his book earlier. He said there was another Loyolite from his batch somewhere in the venue whom I met later in the course of the evening. My wife’s initial apprehension disappeared after she saw with how much warmth we interacted, I guess that is a feeling only Loyolites will understand.

During his Introduction the author attributed his decision to pen a book to the strong foundation in creative writing that was laid on him during his School days. The spark that was ignited in his mind as a child grew into a burning desire to write a book decades later. This made me proud and I felt that I was indeed privileged to have studied in the same school as him. It was this strong bond that all of us shared with our school that brought me as an audience to this very event even though I hardly knew the author.  The author went on to describe his experiences that he had in the foothills of the Himalayas where he was based due to his vocation which formed the basis of his book. The various people whom he had met during his stint over there have contributed a great deal in mounding the characters of his book. There was something he said that deeply touched me “No matter who you are everyone has a dream and how you live the rest of your life is structured around that dream”. I managed to sneak in a question during the Q & A session where I asked the author what would be his advice to the wannabe writers out there, to which he gave a well-rounded reply. He said you need to have loads to patience and a strong desire to single heartedly follow your passion of writing. He explained that it was only because of his perseverance that he was be able to complete his book. Many a times he had started off to write a book but somewhere down the line it was lost and the book died its natural death in its initial stages of its development.

As the event drew to its close I caught hold of a book and got it duly autographed by the author. Finishing of the book was to be my main mission the following Sunday. I was really excited by the thought because I was once again the boy who loved to read the entire book on a single day without doing anything else. I guess every serious reader would relate to this feeling once you stumble upon the simple pleasures of reading somewhere during your childhood. Off late due to the paucity of time and also because of my laziness I haven’t had the luxury of reading a book for quite some time now. Also I was curious to know what a fellow Loyolite had come up with after burning a lot of midnight oil. I wasn’t disappointed I should say I devoured the whole book of around 400 odd pages within a single day which stretched out well into my Sunday night. As I went through the book I could visualize how painstakingly the author had constructed the plot page by page. How he had interwoven the characters’ lives with the strokes of a master craftsman, ultimately it culminated into a gripping climax. I was greatly impressed by his attention to detail where he explained the nitty gritty of a Hydro Electric Project which formed the back drop of the story. Just imagine the quality of the book if it caught the imagination of a person who hasn’t read many books in the past year or so. The only literature I used to get to read during this time on regular basis was e-mails, power point presentations, excel spreadsheets, reports and the like. Boy it was such a wonderful book that when I retired for the night my mind was buzzing .Thanks to my author friend Shibu I rediscovered the ecstasy that one experiences after reading a brilliantly written book. As a small time writer myself I could very much understand the pains and tribulations that the author might have undergone during the time he was engaged in the painstaking process of writing the book.

autograph

During the course of the event I remember someone asking a question if the author would allow this book to be made into a Bollywood movie owing to the many characters it has. The author gave a tongue in cheek reply saying that he won’t himself make a movie based on his book. He further added that he was not stopping anyone from making a movie to which the crowd broke into an applause. At that time it didn’t make much sense to me as I had not read the book at that point of time .Once I completed reading the book I couldn’t help but notice the depth in which each of the characters of the book had made an imprint in my mind. It never crossed my mind that I was reading the debut novel of an author. Hats off to my new found author friend for coming out with such a masterpiece of a book .I am eagerly looking forward to his next book. I have got to say this, you are a brilliant writer and greatness beckons you in the Indian Literary scene in the days to come. All the very best Shibu Chetta.

Another Monday morning while peering into the laptop reviewing the emails that had piled up during the weekend my mind was fresh and singing a happy tune thanks to “Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar”

 

 

a question to the author

about our alma mater

 

Memories #2 A tribute to my Father

I pen these lines on the eve of the 20th Death Anniversary of My Dad Percival Bruno D'Cruz

I never knew Indian Police Service(IPS) was such a big deal when I was a kid and lived in Gwalior ,Madhya Pradesh. But later in life when I slogged it out for the UPSC Civil services exam I understood what a great thing it was. He had cracked the exam when he was 21 years of age and here I was with the best coaching in the country and a few years older didn't get to crack it. It speaks volumes of his character.

I remember him to be a strict disciplinarian and a total no nonsense guy. He would never take no for an answer from me. He was very particular that I needed to speak English well. I always used to converse with him in English never do i remember talking to him in Malayalam or Hindi. He inculcated in me a very strong value system. I came across one of the letters my Dad sent to my Mom when she was in Kerala. It goes something like this "Angelo the other day told me that he was having the General Science exam as oral but it later turned out to be a written exam when I inquired about it with his teacher I was told that it was never been oral. Angelo had lied to me because he did not want me to make him write. I gave him nice beating and made him kneel in front of the Sacred heart and made him say 10 Hail Mary. He later cried and said he wanted to go to Mamma ". That was how he taught me about honesty just imagine I was only a boy of 6 years then. Just tell me how many parents would do that today at least I wouldn't do it. It was such a novel way of teaching a kid on the importance of being honest.

I have heard from his peers in service from that he was an honest and upright Officer. Everyone who knew him has maintained that he was an exceptionally bright person and was very well read. I have heard from uncle Berky(my Dad's younger brother) that he used to read even the newspaper in which the sugar was wrapped. He always used to encourage me to read even as a kid and I owe my reading habit to him. He was also a very God fearing man.


I had the opportunity of reading his College journal and it gave me an insight into the person he was during his late teens.As a young boy in college he had the same apprehensions that any boy of his age had. He always had the hunger to suceed inspite of all odds and excel in life. What impressed me most was that he was equally good in both curricular as well as co curricular activities.The stack of certificates and a good number of trophies at home bear testimony to this. The other day my younger brother was telling me that he was thinking of quitting the college football team so that he can concentrate more on his studies I wonder what my Dad's take would be on that .He was an excellent orator and Ambrose takes off from my Dad on this regard



I remember reading a letter my Grandmother Mrs Lilly D'Cruz sent to my Dad when he was undergoing training in Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy,Hyderabad. She adresses him as my Dear Police Son and goes on with all the news at Tangassery. And I can't fail to notice how much  pride the mother takes on what her son has become that is something unmatched. It might be close to what my mother was feeling at the book launch of her younger son. I don't know. I recall Uncle Berty(my dad's younger brother) telling me how humble and down to earth their parents were. This humility is something that I have seen in my father as well.I remember with gratitude my Grandparents  Ambrose J DCruz and Lily D'Cruz here.I also would like to state that he was a family man and a God fearing individual.


During my adult life I have always wanted to hear the view point of my Dad on the everyday challenges  of  life, I really miss the man to man talk.  When you are a kid you don't realize what a big loss it is for you. It was the same with me I missed my Dad the most during my teenage years but hats off to my Mom and everyone who helped me through those tricky years.



I would sign off by commending my mother Adil D'Cruz who has done an excellent job in raising her two sons with great fortitude despite losing her husband at a very young age. If it had't been for her we would never be what we are today.


P.S:It was my Mom's idea that I need to write something on my Dad on account of his 20th Anniversary

More similar posts

Memories #1

College Diaries #3

This post is not exactly a about my college days but my experiences when I was the Placement Officer of a well-known Engineering College in Kerala. It is a blow by blow account of a day that would change the lives of  few of my students forever and a memorable one for me as well.

It all started off with a recruitment drive of well-known Software Company which was held on another college a good 4 hour drive away from the institution where I was working in. I embarked on a journey with 84 of my wards in 2 buses.  The first day was not that eventful it was the usual entry test and after everything we were back by evening to college . By night around 9 PM I got a call saying that 42 of my students had cleared the test and had to report for interview the next day. I dragged along a couple of my students from the Men’s hostel  and went onto the college building to check out who all were there. Incidentally these two guys were among the brightest of the group and I was almost certain that they would be among the 42 .They left their supper midway and came with me saying that they were all very tensed up. We started going through the list to our shock these guys names weren’t there.  After the initial setback I got back to the business of informing everyone who had cleared. Owing to the unprecedented number of students appearing for interview I decided to try my luck to get a college bus arranged, with a bit of coaxing and cajoling got the job done.

So the next day we I set out along with 42 of my wards with dreamy eyes early morning. I knew this could be the defining day of my stint over here and also on the lives of the students with me. I decided to make use of the long journey and started giving tips to my students that I had gathered on course of time as I had also been a candidate for a number of campus recruitment drives when I was in college. I had also managed to do a one on one with a good number of students. What I found out was that here were a bunch of kids most of who were going for maybe their first interview and were a confused lot and inexperienced in this sort of thing.  I managed to dispel a lot of their fears and also other myths associated with this entire process. The biggest challenge that I faced was to boost the confidence and morale of the bunch, to an extent I was successful but I had my limitation since it was taxing on my part to reach out to each of the 42 students.  We reached almost in time and the procedures of the day commenced.

There was hardly anything for me to do as the registration and the introduction about the company was going on. I was hanging around the picturesque campus and making the most of my “me time”. By afternoon the students were lined up for the first round of interviews. The tension was palpable on my student’s faces. I decided to lighten the mood a bit and started to chat up with everyone to ease their nerves. I came across a student of mine whom I had not noticed much till now she had an air of confidence in her and had exceptional communication skills. It was a whiff of fresh air among all the students I had met previously met .The moment I spoke to her I knew she would be selected (eventually she did make the cut). All I did was give her a pep talk and she was ready for the kill.  It also made me realize that I hardly knew the bunch of kids who I was in charge of.  As I had mentioned earlier it is manually impossible to get to know each and every one of them.  This incident was a catalyst it set off something on me and I went around trying to reach out to each and everyone present there. I knew that if I could give a final push almost everyone would be able to make the cut.

I came across this guy who was very low in confidence and was perspiring I took him for a stroll and told him to imagine that you are on a date (I knew that his interviewer was this female) go ahead and work your charm on this female don’t think about anything else. That’s all the fuel he needed and he went ahead to bag the job.  Then there were this couple of students of mine who were on their heavier side incidentally their interviewer was also like them. I told them to imagine that they were in a boxing match and told them that  I wanted them  to come out as the victors they went on to win the title. Then there was this student of mine who assisted me in my activities of the placement cell which I headed in college. I had never seen her so tensed I told her to just enjoy the process and the rest will fall in place she made it count.

Like this I went around the interview location giving pep talks to one and all that were under me and giving specific inputs regarding the interview that I could gather from the ones who were done with it. Physically it was very demanding at the end of it I believe that I had at least talked once to all who were present there. The instances that I described above are limited to how much I can recall as this had happened more than 2 years ago.

After all this the wait for the results began the air was filled tension everyone including me were at our wits end.  It was almost 7 PM earlier on the day most of us had gathered in our college as early as 4 am and that coupled with the travelling had left us really jaded. The wait continued endlessly as it is supposed to be. Finally the results were out 36 out of the 42 who were called for interview on that day had made the cut.  There was jubilation all over and everyone was busy congratulating each other it was a job well done in the end. I on my part was really relieved it was a real humbling experience for me. To be delivering on your own is one thing but making others deliver is a totally different ball game altogether.

On our way back we had a whale of a time everyone was celebrating and I too joined in without much ado and believe me I never had so much fun since my college days. Many of my wards conveyed their astonishment to me after seeing how well I gelled with them on their celebrations. It was a memorable day for me .The joy of seeing the ones you are responsible for achieve something is truly amazing and the feeling I had at that time was unmatched which I will cherish for the rest of my lifetime.

  Check out a similar posts of mine College Diaries #1, College Diaries #2, College Diaries #4, 

Life has come a full circle

College Diaries #2

DISCLAIMER :This blog is based loosely on my Engineering college days of University College of Engineering, Trivandrum,Kerala during the period 2003-2007 . This has to be viewed as a piece of art rather than a commentary of my college life . At times I have taken the writer's liberty at the sametime I have tried my level best to stay as impersonal as possible .

One warm afternoon as a boring lecture was in progress I and my friend were discussing about the upcoming excursion when we were pulled up by the professor and promptly thrown out of the class. I had been a studious kid all through my school days that I was never even reprimanded forget being sent out of class and this was a new experience. Well for everything there is always a first time.  Rather that showing any remorse I walked out of the class nonchalantly which was quite surprising considering the background from which I came from. Since it was really hot outdoors we continued our discussion just outside the class room the Professor wasn’t amused by this.  He called us back and made us stand on either corner of the room, boy! That was embarrassing and the worst part of the whole thing was that the guy who actually started this conversation was sitting in our bench and attending lecture as if nothing had happened. This was during the first year of college and I don’t know if my classmates do remember but I will never forget this.

Moving on this was the first excursion that we as a class were undertaking to a well known amusement park in Kerala. As most of us were day scholars hardly anyone knew each other very well and everyone was keenly looking forward to it . I being one of the tour co-ordinators did not want to leave any stone unturned and went the entire distance to ensure that everything went smoothly. Finally the day dawned and we embarked upon the journey with high spirits.  It was a great journey and everyone had really started to get into the mood of the tour. We reached the amusement park and had a whale of a time over there.  As the day progressed a rumour was doing the rounds that some guys from another college or so had allegedly passed some inappropriate comments on the girl students of our class. This pumped up the guys and everyone was really angry. Towards the end of the day as most of us were savouring a treat by the teachers who accompanied us on the tour a group of our guys went up and thrashed the culprits black and blue ,who at that time were clearly outnumbered and were sitting ducks. Only very few people among us knew about this episode.

As we were moving onto the bus all hell broke loose as the guys had regrouped and started attacking the guys from our tour party. All along I was kept in the dark and I had absolutely no clue as to what was going on. My initial reaction was to retaliate but luckily good sense prevailed and I had the presence of mind to safely get the rest of the group into the bus. I had a torrid time doing this because the majority of our group were girls who were shell shocked to even move. Somehow we managed to get everyone on board and beat a hasty retreat from the amusement park.

Only sometime into the journey did everyone gather their wits and slowly the dust started to settle down. Fortunately there were no broken bones or fallen teeth there were bruises a black eye and minor injuries here and there which were not so serious. Hence we didn’t have to make a pit stop at a hospital on our way back.  If my memory serves me right there was someone who lost his spectacles in the ensuing melee (he later came to me saying that he needed reimbursement for this from the tour fund) .When the whole story was uncovered the girls were pretty pissed off with the guys for their knee jerk reaction. Their view was that the situation could have been handled differently. I vividly remember one of my fiery female classmates asking us if we would react like this every single time someone passed comments on them. As always I had to play the mediator and had a hard time to calm down the flayed tempers.

  

 I guess this incident made our class closer as a group and impressed upon all of us the fact that we really did care for each other. I understood that when something of this sort happens it creases the comfort level of a group of individuals by leaps and bounds .During the course of our college I have countless number of times reiterated to my female classmates that they are lucky to have guys like us as their peers. 

The other day when I happened to see a commercial on TV for Gillete which had a tagline ‘Soldier for Women’ it sparked old memories in me. At a time when the entire country is engaged in a debate on women’s safety I wanted to share this particular incident in college. I dedicate this to all the women who I have come across in my life, Jai Ho.

Check out a similar posts of mine College Diaries #1, College Diaries #3, College Diaries #4, Life has come a full circle

College Diaries #1

DISCLAIMER :This blog is based loosely on my Engineering college days of University College of Engineering, Trivandrum,Kerala during the period 2003-2007 . This has to be viewed as a piece of art rather than a commentary of my college life . At times I have taken the writer's liberty at the same time I have tried my level best to stay as impersonal as possible .

On a hot afternoon in December last year  I was standing at the corridor of my alma mater trying to replicate the feeling that I had more than 5 years ago. Things had changed a lot during the ensuing period I had lost hair put on some weight become older and wiser and no more the student of this institution just an alumni like countless others. What made this place very special to me? I was left wondering. I can't find a single reason. Our college situated in as scenic campus in the outskirts of Trivandrum city had a special place in my life. Here is where I learned the tricks of my trade, where I was transformed from a boy to a man the list is endless the nostalgia is too intense for me to objectively think and write so here I am penning down a few lines about my college life that come randomly to me.

I enjoyed the freedom the place offered to me. After 12 years of schooling College was a welcome change. Qualities that were innate in me until then slowly started to come out and there was every opportunity for me to put that in use and I believe that I had used that to the best of my ability. Placement co-ordinator, Tour co-ordinator, Class representative, Events co-coordinator for a Tech cum Cultural fest, anchoring on stage for numerous events, dance you name them and I have done it all. I take this opportunity to thank all my classmates for their support and encouragement all along without which any of this would not have been possible.  

My description of the college would not get started if I don't paint a picture of the surroundings. A campus which acts as a headquarters for the Kerala University around 5-6 acres plush with lush greenery with lot of trees well paved roads a kind of place where you can take your girlfriend around for a quiet  walk after bunking classes. The college as such was not that great it was the campus that made it sexy.  I remember at the end each hour we used to just take off from our classes roam here and there and come back well into the next hour. The guys in our class rarely occupied the front rows in the class the front rows were either left vacant or were occupied by geeky girls.  We guys had in fact monopolised  the entire back row. Who can forget the getaways that we had after bunking classes Kovalam Beach, Madupara(a rock cave), Kazhakootam beach and many others. I  should not forgot the favourite hangout spot of us was  a pond situated  within the campus called as Haimavathi it was supposedly the source of fresh water for the entire campus and it had stories of its own to tell . At times mostly during the afternoons we would retire to this pond to chill out until the end of college hours it was in fact a regular feature during the final year where we used to bunk the labs every week without fail. I still remember the violent reactions from my friends that it so happened that every guy in the class had an attendance of 20 % for this particular lab while I was the sole guy in the class with 70 % + attendance. It was not that I went to the labs regularly but due to the fact that I was a placement co-ordinator and my teachers were under the impression that I was doing some activity related to that. It was not long before they realised my true colours and I slowly started to get pushed out of the good books of my teachers’ .After I left Trivandrum during my stints in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai I have always missed the greenery that I was privy to once.  

Well how I can leave off the political activism of our college. Our college campus was the hotbed of student political activity. It was called the Red fort of SFI(Students Federation of India). I still remember vividly the first strike I took part in .It was not as if I was political active or anything but it was just for the feel it. But that one was special it was during my first year in college we had marched to the office of the Joint registrar or something  of the University from one end of the campus to the other end shouting slogans fist pumping and all. My political activism ended there I being the son of a bureaucrat for that matter loathed politics that was the first  and the last time I did  anything like that.  I remember after that picketing as we were walking back to our classes we were all in a jolly mood joking around and chatting excitedly about our first experience when one of our seniors came up and rebuked us for taking things too lightly and how we had to solemnly and silently walk back to our classes. My class had a fair brand of political activists, during our final year the Chairman, Vice Chairperson and Secretary of the College Union were from my class and for that matter our class enjoyed enormous amount of clout in the College. Our final year tour which was a coup of sorts during that time because no final year batch has gone ever for an official tour is a story in itself.

Check out a similar posts of mine Life has come a full circle, College Diaries #2, 

 College Diaries #3, College diaries #4