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Maharaja’s. We went to Ooty with our Pre-Degree batchmates. I remember that we halted at the Trichur Zoo and that we bought More cigarettes in Coimbatore.
In Kovai Biju was our guide. There was this restaurant that he knew and he took us there for dinner. When the food was served Biju decided that we had come to the wrong place – the plates weren’t warm – and we scrammed from there.
Sangham at the Botanical Gardens
TV, Jose, Aby, Biju, Babu & Mookkan, during his Complete Man period
TV, Jose, Babu & Shibu
It was in Ooty that I first got a taste of kothamalli, and the intense dislike I developed for that continues to the day…
After lunch we went boating. While everybody else managed to row all around the lake, Sangham drifted in circles a few metres from the shore arguing about the right technique…
Takes a lil while to load. But worth it.
The view from our hotel. A Composit image.
Sajeev helped me survive the roller coaster ride these last four years.
Thanks mone!
In the beginning there was ragging. Then suspension and samaram. The college authorities refused to budge and the students decided to storm the DB.
Next scene. Exterior. REC campus. Mid-morning. Students being chased and pummelled by cops. Cut.
We regrouped in our hostels, built barricades, laid traps, locked the gates and waited for the attack…Then the cops left the campus, and the students celebrated by wrecking the workshops and labs (Sometimes, I guess there just aren’t enough rocks. Ask Forrest Gump). When the adrenalin subsided we sneaked out through B Hostel kitchen, scaled the wall, stopped a passing bus and left for Calicut.
Guess Shakeel and Sreeku were with me. Our plan was to take the night train to Cochin. A lot of time to kill, instead of hanging around the railway station – who will chat with Mech guys, anyway? – we decided to go for a movie…After we left, the cops came and rounded up all RECC-ians waiting in the railway station. Earlier, all the guys who stayed back in the hostels had been taken into custody.
We were lucky to escape on that day. But we took many years to exorcise the demons spawned that day…
My academic performance followed a sinusoidal curve; a high was always followed by a low – and it was quite a roller coaster ride for my folks. In the high school, when the Eapens and Urumeses got serious about studies – and when I discovered books big time – my rank, which always hovered around 4, dipped to the early teens. But I recovered in time for SSLC.
Pre-Degree in Maharaja’s was quite unlike Rajagiri. The faculty didn’t care if you attended the classes, no tests, no report cards. Heaven. And while the Sangham averaged 98% in the first year, all I could manage was 98 out of 140. (The day after the results broke, when we were hanging out near the cycle stand, Panku of Physics came over and enquired about our marks. Biju, Jose, TV, everybody went 97, 98, speaking percentages of course. When my turn came, I said ‘98’…bwah!)
Bijubhai, Feb 1981
Second year was much better thanks to Biju who made me join the classes of Iyer Sir and Ramaswamy Sir. Along with the second year stuff, I ‘improved’ my first year papers also. Finally the big day…results…and the college office refused to hand over my marksheet as I did not have my hall ticket. After much wrangling, they agreed to issue the marksheet if I produced my first year marksheet. I rushed home, picked up my old marksheet, got back and collected my new marksheet – 94%, boo haa haa.
I bounced out of the room, and in front of my batchmates who had witnessed the whole drama, tore my old marksheet to pieces, and threw it into the wind. I believe the crowd applauded…
A low was right around the corner; I flunked Engineering Entrance.
A short glossary. Mainstream media has since adopted many of these…
(New entries highlighted)
Shappadu – Grub
Sabhalatha – Crap
Poth – Sleep
Pushti Shappadu, Pushti Sabhalatha, Pushti Poth – Our guiding principles
King – Expert
Prince – Getting there…
Petti pack – fresh
6 – A form of transportation
Culpable homicide not amounting to manslaughter – ’80s driving style
Ketido – Concert speakers
Thickness – Measure of crowd density in a bus
Addendum diddendum dish – Mech Engineer’s drum roll
Used to be my life was just Timoshenko and Young – MS1 Theme Song
Jaam session, panchi panchi – Ritual chant to get into mood
Kilivathil – After-hours booze shop
Sea King – Before-hours booze shop
Second Show – Mercy
Maraambal, Pambu, Anaconda – Stages of soberness
Cheettukali – An attempt to reach 50% of bill amount, practised in bars, etc.
Usth – A form of entertainment
Ustad – An expert in the above, as in Ustad Jabbar Patel
VK – Servant
Onth – Ugly babe
Vawwals – Acrobats
Bonji – Lime Soda
Please Rice – I will have rice, preferably Staff Rice
Bhai – All purpose suffix, as in Rojobhai, bouncerbhai, etc.
Lissy – Heroine of the movie that my friend’s cousin’s neighbour saw last week
Boo Haa Haa – All purpose greeting
I might have missed out many words & phrases. Contributions are welcome. Boo Haa Haa
Once, the night before a 3rd sem exam, when black coffee and cold showers couldn’t keep us awake, Vinu, Pattar and I tried a desperate measure – ‘dry shave’, hoping the cuts and nicks will ward off sleep long enough for us to read our portions. It didn’t work for me – FM became the first paper I ‘skooted’
For Vinu, shaving at 3 am in the dark B hostel loo was definitely a moment of epiphany – he cleaned up his act and never mugged with me again!
Babu Kuriakose 