The Final Year BE ( 1970-1971)

Before I start my blog on my final year, I must mention an episode in my 4th Year which affected me deeply.

I had a bout of fever when I was in Hassan and as I was recovering, I read "Exodus" by Leon Uris.I read it from start to finish and this book had a profound influence on me.

Readers will remember how I mentioned that I was a fairly regular reader of "Blitz", the Bombay weekly edited by R.K.Karanjia.The 1967 Gulf War had just got over with a comprehensive victory for Israel and Blitz kept publishing articles about the expansionist policies of Israel and how it was being helped by US and UK. My sympathies were fully with the Palestinians and I also felt that Israel was basically a warmongering State.

"Exodus" gave me an opportunity to get to know the other side of the picture and showed how the British actually tried to stifle the birth of Israel in 1948 when they were administering Palestine.This was a state born out of hatred and conflict and surrounded by enemies on all sides who had vowed to destroy it.It still managed to survive and actually went through 3 wars in 1956, 1967 and later in 1973.

Who is right and who is wrong is not for me to judge , but for the first time I had an opportunity to get both sides of the story.

I am mentioning this because we all go through incidents or see and hear things which leave a deep impact on our lives. For me, reading "Exodus" was one of them.

The final year classes started in right earnest in July 1970 and I was determined to do well and get a first class. I again had a single room and started off by solving the question papers of the previous 4 or 5 years.

The educational tour came up and now there was a division among the boys.One set wanted to go to North India on a longer tour and the other set wanted to make a shorter tour at a much lower cost. I opted for the shorter tour and was made the Tour Secretary again.

We decided to go to Goa, Pune and Mumbai. Goa was chosen for its fabulous beaches and for its supposed notriety of having girls sunbathing topless in Calangute beach.I said that there were no industries in Goa to visit but the majority view prevailed.I wrote to some of the factories in Pune and Mumbai and the tour was fixed.

Calangute Beach was all that it promised to be ( remember that it was the time of hippies, LSD and flower children) and offered lots of opportunities for males to satisfy their voyeuristic instincts.

From there we went to Poona by train and visited some factories. I paid a visit to Chik Papacchi who was staying in Kirkee and from Poona we caught the Deccan Queen to Bombay.

I had made a massive goof-up in the arrangements. I thought Greaves Cotton factory was in Bombay and had made arrangements to visit them. When we went there, we found that it was the Office and the Factory was actually in Poona!!

Obviously, we had to take the day off for sight-seeing and I instantly became a hero.I had gone to visit Chambi and MSK who were staying in Haji Ali. Their apartment was right opposite to that of Nadira and Chambi told me stories of how Raj Kapoor would visit Nadira's apartment every year during Raksha Bandhan and get a rakhi tied by her.

I was supposed to get back to Hassan with my colleagues but Chambi threw a temptation my way. She said that she had tickets for a Kishore Kumar Music Night a couple of days hence in Shanmukhananda Hall and also wanted me to take Seeni and Jyotsna to Baroda to spend the rest of the Dasara holidays in Lambi's house.She offered to book the ticket to me too.The prospect of going to a Kishore Kumar night and then to Baroda ( my first visit) was too tempting and so I took the permission of our accompanying Lecturer to stay back.

Another major tragedy took place when I was staying in Chambi's house.Since I was the Tour Secretary and Treasurer rolled into one, the entire tour money was with me and I had around Rs.500 left which I had kept in a pocket in my underwear.One day,I put this to wash in Chambi's house and the maidservant found out bits of paper later on which were actually currency notes.I was in a state of shock and didn't know what to do.

Kanteerava Uncle was also visiting Bombay at that time and he gave me Rs.100 to tide over. Rs.500 was a lot of money those days and I didn't know what I would do to repay the money to my colleagues.

Anyway, I put this behind me and went along with Chambi's family to enjoy the Kishore Kumar Nite. Kishore Kumar had a lot of Income-Tax problems at that time and was doing a lot of these shows to raise money to pay up.

Later, I took Seeni and Josi to Baroda and we had a lovely time with Lambi and Prasanna.

I came back to Hassan and then went to KGF for the Deepavali holidays.Here is where I encountered yet another tragedy.
After bursting all the crackers, I found some that hadn't exploded. I patiently opened up each one of them and put all the explosive powder on to a piece of paper and lit it with a matchstick.My hands were already covered with the powder and when it caught fire, it just exploded and completely burnt my right hand.

I ran from th verandah of our KGF house and did some 200 rounds of our dining table.The pain was so intense and I was just trying to do something else to divert the feeling of pain.When I looked at my hand, it resembled a suttu badhanekai ( burnt aubergine).This was around 12 noon.Dad came home at 1 PM, took one look at my hand and simply said ( You are 19).That said it all.

I went to the hospital the next day and to Hassan a couple of days later. The hand was still raw and I had to cover it with a handkerchief.Any inadvertent contact with any object sent excruciating pain through my hand and sometimes drew blood.

Anyway, the final term was all about studies and more studies. Term drew to a close and as th exams got close, there was a sense of dread as well as a sense of anticipation.Dread because these were really important exams and the marks secured in the final year would go a long way in shaping one's career.Anticipation because we knew that we were on the threshhold of entering the next stage of our life.

I have mentioned before about my coming down with fever on the eve of Theory of Machines exam and how N.A.Ravindranath took me to the doctor on his cycle to get an injection for me.
The fever did come down but I was very weak when I wrote the exam. A fateful one as later events turned out.

Meanwhile, there was also a bit of good news.Dad and mom were now seeing grooms for Rummy and she hit the jackpot with the very first boy she saw.He was B.S.Nagaraj, the third among 5 brothers and a sister.All the 5 brothers were active cricketers and were playing for Jolly Cricketers in the State League. They were staying in Malleswaram.

I got the news in May 1971 that the marriage was fixed for 29th Sep 1971 and went home with a happy heart with my bag and baggage.

More later.

BE---- The Fourth Year( 1969-70)

Here's the blog on my 4th Year.

The results came in Jun and I found that I had a single ordinance in Strength of Materials.This came as a shock to me since this subject was actually one of my strong points.I had also got more than 60% in all my other subjects combined.

We had single rooms in the New Block and this was a luxury that we all enjoyed.Plus, we were now in the company of final year students who also had single rooms in the New Block.The mess continued to be in the Old Block and we had to walk the short distance for our meals.

The notable event of July 1969 was the Apollo-11 spaceship trip to the moon and Neil Armstrong's first footsteps and we all followed this avidly on VOA. I remember dad writing to me that he was also carrying the transistor to his Office to follow the moon landing.

I was made Captain of the College TT Team and was also a member of the College tennis and cricket teams.I actually became a member of the cricket team courtesy Nagabushan.I didn't have the time to attend cricket practice since I was busy with my TT and tennis and asked whether he could take me into the team anyway.He said OK and that was it.

We had a match against Hassan First Grade College and I remember being sent in at No 8 or No 9 with a few runs to get to win.I hit the winning runs and instantly became a hero.

In the next match, I was asked to stand at 2nd Slip for a fast bowler. One of the edges from the batsman flew to me and literally stuck to my hands.Again I was a hero.I then travelled with the team to Davangere and we lost there.

I went to Shimoga with a couple of my team mates to attend the University selection trials for the TT Team but we didn't make it.

I was also made a Joint Secretary for the Educational Tour and we had to write to various institutions and industries to arrange for visits apart from making arrangements for travel and stay.This was a good lesson in organizing things and also a test of our leadership since therewere so many opinions on places to visit and we had to take a decision.

Our route for the educational Tour was Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty-Coimbatore-Cochin-Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Trichy-Madras-Hydrabad- Bangalore.The educational part of it was in Coimbatore, Trichy, Madras and Hyderabad.

In Cochin, my friends and I felt very thirsty and we went to this place called Grand Hotel on MG Road.As soon as we went in we realized that this was a 5 star hotel and we shouldn't have come here.Anyway, we went in and sat down. A waiter in his stiff starched white uniform came up to us and asked what we would have.My friends settled for a Coke but I ordered Orange Juice.
When the bill came, I almost had a heart attack.The others were charged Rs.2.50 for Coke ( it was available at 50p outside) while I was charged Rs.10 for my Orange Juice.

I had such a hangdog expression that my friends chipped in with Re.1 each to try and cheer me up.

I remember buying a foldable bamboo mat for Bhagya in Kanyakumari.

In Hyderabad, I shopped for bangles for mom, Rummy,Sandhya and Bhagya . Incidentally, Bhagya and Anand were staying with us in KGF since Anand had got a job in BEML.

While doing lathe work in the Workshop back in Hassan, a metal piece flew straight into my eye and got stuck on my iris.I went back to the hostel and repeatedly tried to wash my eyes with water but the piece wouldn't budge.By now I was suffering since I couldn't even blink my eye. In desperation, I went to the municipal hospital in Hassan but the sanitary conditions shocked me and I took the next bus to KGF and reached at night.

Next day, mom and I went to KGF Hospital and Dr.C.Rajasekhar delicately scraped the piec away from my eye. I got instant relief and immediately returned to Hassan. However, after 2 or 3 days, I got irritation in the same eye and again couldn't blink. I went back to KGF. Dr.Rajasekhar said thatthe problem was caused by rust particles.He put a solution in my eye and again I got relief immediately.

My parents were so worried about my eye problem that they took a vow to donate a metal eye at the Nanjundeswara temple in Nanjangud and fulfilled this vow at the earliest opportunity.As usual, they didn't inform me about this and I came to know about it indirectly.Typical of my parents.

The 4th year was when I experimented with beer and found that it was not bad. I had also experimented with smoking in my 3rd year and found that this was also not bad but I didn't take it up seriously.

You could say that I've been there and done that( well, almost).

1969 was the Gandhi Centenary Year. I took part in an Inter- College Essay Competition on Gandhiji and won the first prize.There was an Elocution Contest on Gandhi and I won the first prize here also. I remember making a point that it was a good thing Gandhi was cremated otherwise he would be turning in his grave with all the bad things being done by politicians in the name of Gandhism. I expected laughter at this point and made a pause, but there was complete silence.My joke had gone completely over the head of the audience and I was forced to carry on with my speech.

2nd Oct 1969 was also the day dad quit smoking.This was his way of paying tribute to the Mahatma.

The rest of the year passed off uneventfully.There was the trip to Bhadravathi for Deepavali but not much else.

I forgot to mention that I had asked for and got Mechanical Engineering as my Branch at the beginning of the year.
Our Mechanical Engineering Professor was D.K.Satyanarayana Setty who later went on to become the Director of Technical Education. Our other Mechanical Engineering teachers were Sherfuddin,Nanjundram, R.Narayana Rao ( we called him Sobers because he had just returned after doing Post-Graduation in the West Indies), Shadakshariah, M.K.G.Kumar--- to name a few.

That's it for now.

Hostel Life

I had promised to write a bit about hostel life, so here goes.

You must remember that I was just 15 years old when I left the comforts of home to stay in a hostel.This is a very vulnerable age.On the one hand, there is a heady sense of freedom and a feeling that one can do what one likes without anyone looking over your shoulder.On the other hand, there is an incredible feeling of loneliness because of a new place, new friends and the loss of home comforts that one had so far taken for granted.

A lot depends on the kind of friends that one makes.Fortunately for me, Priyan was already there and therefore it did not take me too long to settle in.

The food and climate are two major factors that one needs to get adjusted to very quickly.Hassan was not unlike KGF watherwise and the food was also OK.The servers were Ramanna, Shamanna and Damodaran Nair.

We had a feast on one Sunday in a month when Biriyani would be served and there would be either a sweet or Payasa.We also had Masala Dosas every Sunday and this is where I must have picked up my love for Masala Dosas.

Hostel life also teaches you thrift.The mess bill would be calculated on a per day basis and the average used to come to around Rs.2.30 per day.For a month this would amount to Rs.70.I would immediately send a postcard to dad and ask him to send Rs.100 by return post.Gafoorsab was the postman who would deliver the Money Order and I would tip him Re.1.

After paying off the mess bill, I would have to manage with Rs.30 for the rest of the month i.e Re 1 per day.This included movie tickets (Rs.2.50), the occasional Filmfare or Star & Style, laundry and the occasional haircut.If we fell short of cash, it was common to borrow Rs.10 from our friends to tide over till the next MO arrived.Thriftiness was a habit we soon got used to.

Laundry was a major issue.It was common to have one set of underwear for Sunday,Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and and another set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The "cleaner" boys used to have 3 sets of underwear in a week. Daily change was an unheard of luxury.Bedsheets and pillowcovers were changed once a month.There were some who didn't change their bedsheets at all and the smell would hit you as soon as you entered their room.

Lungis were the standard loungewear then and the boys would sport the most colourful lungis.In fact , some of them could be easily recognised from a distance just by their lungis since this , like the bedsheets, would be changed once a year.

Saturdays and Sundays were meant for going to "town" in the evenings.The boys would line up in the bathrooms for their weekly shave, put on their smartest clothes and walk to town in batches of four or five depending on their friends circle.

If there was no picture to go to, the boys would head to one of the restaurants, order a masala dosa, sada dosa or benne kali dosa and finish it off with a coffee.Boys would either pay individually or there would be a "draw system". Let's say the bill came to Rs.10 and there were 5 boys.Someone would write down amounts of Rs.3, 2.50,2,1.50 and 1 on 5 sheets of paper and there would be a draw and each would pay according to the chit he drew.

We would do "batting", check out the girls and then head back to the hostel around 8 PM, finish our dinner and get back to our rooms.We had to pass through some woods before we got to the main road and so we used to carry a torch to watch out for creepy crawlies.On a couple of occasions, we saw a snake slithering away when the torchlight fell on it.

The more intrepid boys would go for the night show or stay on in town after dinner, watch the night show and then come back.There were no restrictions and boys could come and go as they pleased.

Very deep friendships were formed and you could count on your friends for anything.During my final year exams, I came down with a high fever. As I lay shivering in my bed, my friend N.A.Ravindranath peeped in.I was staying in a single room at that time so no one knew that I had fever.He put one hand on my forehead and immediately ordered me to get dressed and took me doubles on his bicycle to town to a doctor.I got an injection and the temperature came down by next day morning.
That is an example of friendship.

Girls, films, sex,sports and politics ( in that order) were the most discussed subjects in the hostel rooms.Please don't think I'm trying to titillate. I'm just giving readers a glimpse of what goes on in the minds of impressionable boys of that age.

We also got used to travelling on our own,managing without reservations.

Overall, I would say that hostel life or a stay away from home is good as long as one has the right friends

That's it for now.I'll continue with my blog on my 3rd Year BE next.

BE---2nd Year ( 1967-1968)

Before I start the blog, let me test my memory and write down the names of my 1st year classmates:-

M.A.Ravindra, K B Ravi ( this is how he was known in KGF School but he later changed this to K.Ravindranath), H.R.Sripada Sastry, H.R.Sethuram,M.G.Nagaraja Setty,B.Vishakantiah,M.G.Srinivasa Murthy, Sajeer Ahmed,A.R.Manjunath, A.Kulaiswamy,N.A.Ravindranath,Narayana Shanbogue,Ganapathy Bhat,Bhaskar Bhat,Madhukar Kamath,Sudhir,B.K.Murali,C.R.Bhashyam,A.R.Hari Prasad, Chandan Dutta,B.N.Madhusudhana Rao, C.R.Nagaraj,M.S.Krishnan, Joseph Almeida,Hemkumar, M.C.Karumbiah,A.R.Krishna Prasad.I'll probably add to this as and when I remember or when my friends tell me names to be added.

Right, here we go with the 2nd year.The results came in May 1967 and I duly got a 1st Class.

After a holiday well spent, it was time to pack the bags and head back to Hassan.Because we were perenially short of money in the hostel, I would try to pack as many items as possible from KGF so that I didn't have to spend on them at Hassan.I would prepare the list starting from my head down to my toe:-
Hair Oil, Comb,Shampoo,Afghan Snow ( later switched to Pond's Vanishing Cream), talcum powder,razor,Godrej Shaving Round, Shaving Brush, tooth brush, tooth paste, shirts, banians,trousers,underwear,belt,socks,shoes,sports shoes,hawai slippers.
Then the general stuff:- Bedsheets, pillow covers, bedspread,mosquito net,Agarbathi, god photo, foodstuff ( lots of it).
Foodstuff usually consisted of crunchy stuff like Chakli,kodbale,thengolu, ompudi and sweets like kobri mithai etc.Whenever anyone came to the hostel from his hometown, everyone would raid his room and generally finish the stuff right then.To take care of this, I would pack two packets.The one to be raided and finished up was always on top and easily visible and the one I wanted for myself was usually hidden between layers of clothing.

The most challenging task was to smuggle the stuff to my bed after lights out, pull the covers over my head and try to eat the crunchy chakli and kodbale without making a noise and waking up my roommates.

A funny incident happened once regarding food.I was coming to Hassan from KGF and Priyan's mom had given me a packet to be given to him.As soon as I arrived in the room, Priyan and his gang came over and without as much as a by-your-leave, proceeded to ransack my suitcase.After they had finished gobbling up everything, I told Priyan that one of the packages that was demolished was meant for him.

In the second year, I was selected for trials to select the team for Sahyadri Zone for the Prof.M.G.Srinivasamurthy Inter-Collegiate Tournaments that was to be held in Mysore in Oct 1968.

I got through in Tennis along with Priyan and we travelled with the rest of the team to Mysore.The other teams were Karavali Zone,Chamundi Zone and one more zone representing Tumkur ( I forget the name).The matches were held in Maharani's College and there was a bunch of admiring college girls watching our matches.

There were two movie theatres in Hassan, New Imperial and Picture Palace.New Imperial was a little more sophisticated than Picture Palace. I had promised my parents that I would see only one movie per month but found it very difficult to keep this promise.You tell me how I could limit myself just to one movie a month with films like "Teesri Manzil", "Guide","Phool aur Patthar", "Kashmir ki Kali", "Brahmachari", "Mere Humdum Mere Dost". "Neela Akash"."Upkar" etc and heartthrobs like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Vyjayantimala,Mala Sinha, Asha Parekh,Meena Kumari,Mumtaz,Sadhana,Saira Banu. Hema Malini's "Dreamgirl" had released when she was just 16 years old and was already making waves.Even Rekha, a buxom 16 year old, made her debut as Bhanurekha in the Kannada Film "Jedara Bale".

The swashbuckling heroes of the time were Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar ,Dev Anand,Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar,Jeetendra, Dharmendra,Shammi Kapoor,Shashi Kapoor,Raj Kapoor,Manoj Kumar,Sanjay,Feroz Khan etc etc.

Added to this was the pressure to see Kannada films--- mainly Rajkumar movies such as "Bangalore Mail","Jedara Bale","Gandondu Hennaru" etc.Many were the times when I had to see a Kannada film for the second time with my family in Bangalore because I didn't have the courage to say that I had already seen it in Hassan.

And then there were the morning shows on Sundays at half rate where we could see English movies and old Hindi or Kannada movies.

One other event that took place in 1967 was Sathya Uncle's grihapravesha in Bangalore.There was a Duleep trophy match going on at the same time in Central College Ground and my cousins Omprakash,Suresh,Badri and a couple of others totalling 8 people decided to go and watch the match.The caterer had made Poori saagu and Sathya Chikkappa instructed him to pack 8 pooris for each of us with enough saagu.We carried the food packets along and went by bus to central College.At lunch we opened the packet and found, to our horror, that the cook had packed only 8 pooris, not 8 pooris for each person.We didn't have enough money to buy lunch and were wondering how we would manage.Fortunately, we spied T.B.Venkatesh and a few others who had also come to watch the match.They shared their lunch with us----- thank you Venkatesh Chikkappa, after 43 years.

December was the time for soppina kadlekai and the annual exhibition.The exhibition was a great hit because there was a program with tickets called "Bombay Dance" where girls in skimpy costumes would dance and sway to Hindi cabaret numbers. Cheap thrills but that was our only source of entertainment those days.

The next important event that took place in early 1968 was the Grihapravesha of our house "Kesari Krupa" in Jayanagar Extension, Mysore.Dad had applied to the Housing Board and had been allotted a house.The cost was Rs.24000 with Rs.6000 as down payment and the rest to be paid in instalments.I remember that dad had borrowed the Rs.6000 from his colleague Mr.M.C.Ramaswamy for the down payment.I went to Mysore straight from Hassan and returned after the ceremony.

The rest of the year passed off uneventfully and then it was time for our exams.We had a subject called "Workshop Practice" and I probably created a record by being the only student to fail that exam.Here's how it happened.

In "Workshop Practice", we had either smithy or foundry and I drew foundry as my subject for the exam.We were required to make a sand mould inside a wooden pattern according to the drawing given to us.

I finished the mould in the allotted 2 hours and just as I got up, my foot accidentally kicked the mould and it broke into pieces.There wasn't much I could do except hope that the examiner would have sympathy on me.

When the results came, I had passed with a single ordinance meaning I had failed in one subject and that subject was "Workshop Practice".

Another easy subject was "Survey Practice" and one of my classmates failed in that subject.I think he also created a record and here's how it happened.

Survey practice usually had external examiners and one of the examiners was a friend of one of the seniors in the college.This student went to the senior and told him that he had "Survey practice" the next day and asked the senior to speak to his friend.The senior duly spoke to his friend and asked him to "take care" of X, the student, during the exam.He meant it in a good way but the external examiner thought that the senior wanted the senior to be failed and duly obliged him!!! After the results came , X was furious and asked the senior to check why his friend had failed him.The friend said " You asked me to "take care" and I "took care", so what's the problem?" A perfect example of communication gone awry.

Anyway, after the exams I went straight to Bhadravathi to attend Chikka Papacchi's wedding on 8th May 1968.From there,Mom,Rummy,Sandhya and I went to Chitradurga and then I went back to Hassan to collect my luggage and head back to KGF to spend the rest of the holidays.

That's it for now.My next blog will be on the 3rd year( 1968-1969).

BE--- The First Year ( 1966-67)

The first year classes started in July 1966.

Classes were from 7.30 AM to 11.30 AM followed by lunch and then again from 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM.

At that time, there were no girls and so it was an all-boys college.

Hassan is in the Malnad area and is called the poor man's Ooty.The monsoon was on in full swing and it rained continously.

I now came across a new set of boys here and they were completely different from my overwhelmingly Anglo-Indian friends that I had in KGF.

Many were from South Kanara and I was hearing Tulu and Konkani being spoken for the first time.It took me some time even to distinguish between these two languages.

My roommates Murali and Bhashyam were both from Bangalore. Murali was very fond of Hindi films and Hindi film songs and was usually found humming the popular tune of the day.

I had brought my table tennis bat and tennis racquet along and soon got busy playing TT in the evenings.I was always habituated to playing sports and couldn't imagine anyone not being on the playground in the evenings.

I was also prone to walking quite fast and soon earned the nickname " Fast Express" which was also the evening bus from Bangalore to Hassan.

We had two messes--- V Mess and NV Mess and I naturally joined the V Mess.

The standard routine was to get up at 6 AM, go to the basement for brushing and the loo, come back to the room and then take the towel and go to the bathroom.There were only around 8 cubicles, so we had to stand outside the cubicle, knock on it and say "Bucket".The occupant would hand over the aluminium bucket from the top of the door.Then, we had to keep the bucket in a queue for hot water and wait for a cubicle to get empty. Some of the more intrepid boys would bathe in cold water but I was not used to this (even now).

We used to come back, get dressed and then go the mess for our breakfast ---- idli, dosa, uthappam, upma-- and coffee.

The college was about 5 minutes away from the hostel.Around 10.30 AM there would be a small break and all of us would go the canteen for coffee ( 15P).

Lunch would be a sambar, rasam and buttermilk. Afternoons were usually reserved for drawing or labs--- attending a class was a sureshot recipe for dozing off.

In the evenings, we used to play and then go the canteen again for kali dosa ( 15p), sada dosa( 25p) or masala dosa( 50p).

I used to come back around 6.30 PM, have a wash ( no bath, since there was no hot water)and then sit down to do my assignment. One of the favourite exercises was to see whose room had the lights on first, since that meant they were usually studying.These boys were called "kudumis" for being unduly bookish.

The more adventurous boys would go to "town"--- Hassan downtown which was around 3 km away, roam around and come back in time for dinner.

Usually we had other boys coming to our room or I would go to their room and then we would have "class" which was nothing but a gossip session.

There were one or two boys with transistor radios and their rooms would be full on Wednesday nights 8PM to 9PM for the Binaca Geet Mala with the incomparable Ameen Sayani.

No matter how many boys bunked classes on the other days, there would be almost full attendance on Thursdays.This was the day when the girls from A V Kanthamma College for Women came to our college for Chemistry Lab.We would watch from the balconies when they trooped in, attend our classes and watch from the balcony again when they trooped out and then wait for the next Thursday.Poor, poor us!!!!

NCC was 3 days a week with Lance Corporal Padavattan making us go through our drills.Our NCC Camp was at Bangalore somewhere near Jalahalli and the 1st Year and 2nd Year boys attended this camp.There were a few boys who sneaked out every single night for the 2nd show."Teesri Manzil" had just released and was a hot favourite.

I took time off on one of the days to visit Chubbadi Uncle and Indira Aunty and see Anil who was around 5 months old.

In August 1966, I had promised Prabhakara and Premila that I would visit Chitradurga for the Ganesh Habba.At the last minute, homesickness overtook me and I took the train to Bangalore on my way to KGF.

Premila Aunty ribbed me about this for many years saying that she had made lots of kadabu and had prepared a hande of hot water for my oil bath.Anyway, that was not right on my part.

Meanwhile, M.A.Ravindra ( my KGF friend)who was also underage had also joined Hassan and K.B.Ravi joined us as late as Nov for the 1st year.Ravi had these thick glasses and was instantly called Lloyd ( after Clive Lloyd who was touring India with the West Indies cricket team).

I remember one more thing--- I had bought a new drawing board and "T" Square and proudly painted at the back of the board--- A.H.Kesari Prasad, 1st B.E "B" Section, MCE,Hassan.

When I took the drawing board home, T.B.Venkatesh( my uncle) asked me whether I planned to be in 1st B.E"B" Section permanently.

The board passed from me to Bhaskara to Satish( Kamalakshi's son) to Tejaswi to I don't know how many other people.

I came to KGF again for the Dasara and Christmas Holidays.

The route from KGF to Hassan involved catching the 5.30 PM evening train from Oorgaum to Bangarpet and then catching the 6.45 PM Bangalore Express coming in from Chennai. We would reach Bangalore at 8.30 PM, have dinner at the station and then board the Talguppaa coach of the Miraj Mail leaving
Bangalore at 10.30 PM.At Arsikere, the Talguppa coach would be detached and attached to the Arsikere-Talguppa train at around 3AM and we would reach Hassan at around 5.30 AM and then take the jutka to the hostel.
All this when I was around 15, so I can say I've really roughed it out.

Now comes the surprise. After joining class, we had all forgotten about the High Court judgement, not knowing that we had all got admission as an interim measure subject to the final judgement.

In December, the Mysore High Court ruled that the age rules were valid, which in effect meant that our admission was cancelled.

Murali, M.A.Ravindra,K.B.Ravi and I started packing our bags to go home and we even bid farewell to our friends. Within the next two days came the Government announcement that all those who had got admission could stay and the new rules would apply only from 1967. We had got a new lease of life again.

In Feb 1967, dodda Papacchi's wedding was fixed up and I travelled to Bangalore for the wedding which was held at Ubhaya Vedanta Kalyana Mantapa in Malleswaram. I had always been very close to the Saraswathi family and there was no question of missing the wedding.I remember I had purchased a handbag for Papacchi as a wedding gift.The groom was K.S.N.Swamy who was related on my dad's side so the beegaru were well known to us.

The rest of the academic year passed off uneventfully and I pushed off to KGF after the 1st year exams.

In my next blog, I'll write a bit more about hostel life --- not all of it but a bit more.

PUC and BE Admission woes---- 1965 to 1966

I passed my SSLC in 1st Class in May 1965 and applied to KGF First Grade College for PUC ( Pre-University Course) in PCM ( Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics).
I got my admission and classes started in Jul 1965.

For the first time in many years, there was no need to wear a school uniform and there was a sense of freedom. We had 5 subjects--- English,Hindi,Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. I had set my eyes on doing Engineering and , prior to joining PUC, I had been to Mysore during the holidays with my dad.There we met A.Venkateshaiya, dad's uncle and a leading lawyer in Mysore.He told me " Get 80% in PCM and you are assured of a seat in NIE--- National Institute of Engineering in Mysore.

So that was my target in PUC--- get 240 marks out of 300 in PCM.The rest did not matter.

Wonder of wonders--- there were actually 4 girls in our class of 50.One of them was Parveen Wahid who was my classmate in Convent.For the morbidly curious, let me straightaway clarify that she was not the "Z" I had referred to in one of my earlier blogs.The other 3 were some "pavam" girls whose names I do not recollect.

From school, I had K.B.Ravi, Sasi, Achiah, George Abraham, Subramani and M.A.Ravindra to keep me company in PCM.I'm not sure if Len Ryder took PCM or whether he went to History, Politics & Civics or Economics.Need to check with him.

We also had NCC twice a week.Colin Chapman was the Senior Under Officer and he cut a dashing figure in his NCC Uniform and highly polished boots.The best part about NCC was eating the delicious muffins afterwards.

Mrs.Jagadish took Physics and I had to resist the temptation to call her "Aunty" instead of "Madam" since I used to meet her very often at the Club and at social occasions.

Mr.K.S.Vibhakar and Mrs.David took English.Mrs.David had taught us Social Studies in School so she was another familiar figure.I still remember her husband dropping her off at school and college on his motorbike.

I forget who taught us Chemistry,Maths and Hindi.One more reason why we should put our memories down to paper or online.

We also attended our NCC Camp.It happened like this.We were in our 1st year in NCC and not really compelled to attend the camp.However, some of us got a call that the tents had been set up in Gymkhana Grounds and we could join the camp if we liked.I remember that Len, Subramani, M.A.Ravindra, Achiah and I attended this camp.Not sure who else among our group was there.

We had great fun packing and enjoying tent life.Dad and mom also came to see me with mom fretting over the "inconveniences" that I was being put through.I think the Camp went on for a week and included a trek to Bethamangala.The camp also enabled me to interact with some of my seniors who were in BA and BSc.We also had shooting with a
.303 Rifle in a shooting range near the Ulagamadhi Hills close to KGF.

It was in PUC that I participated and won my first Quiz competition which was a forerunner to many other Quiz competitions in my working career.

The term was over in Feb and then I sat down preparing for my exams.Dad used to wake me up in the early mornings and frequently reminded me that this was the most important exam for my career.In a sense it was, since good marks in PUC meant admission in an Engineering College which was supposed to be a passport to a good career.

Dad and mom went off to Bhadravathi to attend Kamalakshi's wedding on 6th Mar( or was it 8th Mar?), 1966 and I bravely plodded on with my studies.

Finally, the PUC exams got over by 20th Mar and I then spent one of the best 4 months of my life visiting Bangalore, Chitradurga and Bhadravathi and attending various weddings.

Mom had prepared Haal Obbattu ( one of my favourite sweets)for my 15th birthday on
21st Mar.In early April, I went to Bangalore and visited the Congress Exhibition.Rummy and I attended Lily's wedding as well as my cousin Thammayya's Chikkappa's wedding and then all of us went to Chitradurga to attend Gayathri's( Shiva's daughter) wedding.The wedding was held in the Dodda Mane and the groom was Ramakrishna whose mother Rathnamma was the sister of Lakshmidevamma ( Appaji's wife).

Rathnamma's husband was a Justice of the Peace( JP) and was the Editor of a Kannada Newspaper.I forget his name and I'm guessing it was Shamanna.He was a very friendly person and treated me as an adult even though I was just 15 years old.

Rathnamma had a shock of white hair with a big round kunkuma and perpetually twinkling eyes.Till now, I have not met a lady who had as much lakshana( grace) as her.

Apart from Ramakrishna, their other children were Shankar( who was then a captain in the Army), Ranganna ( a journalist like his father), Ramdas ( my age and who became a doctor) as well as a daughter who was also called Gayathri.The entire family( parents included) were fun-loving and we all had a roaring time in the wedding.

After the wedding, we all went on a picnic to the Chitradurga Fort and Capt Shankar regaled us with nice Army songs.

From Chitradurga, I went to Bhadravathi in the company of Thammayya ( Vasu--- Saraswathi's son)and we spent a nice few days there in the company of Shankara and Nanjunda.

I came back to Bangalore to attend Kanta's wedding on 6th Jun 1966 at Bangalore and then came home to KGF to await my results.
The results were duly announced in "Deccan Herald" and I had got a First Class with an overall percentage of 72.2% with 78.8% in PCM.I was a bit shattered since I had expected at least 80% and wondered whether this was enough to get me a seat in Engineering.

Anyway, I filled up the necessary forms for applying to the Directorate of Technical Education and was called for an interview on 21st Jun 1966.Dad took me to Bangalore in his sidecar and I carried all my papers with me.

There was a new complication.The prevailing rules had mentioned that I should have completed 16 years by 1st Oct 1966 to be considered for admission to Engineering but I would not have met this criterion.

Anyway, I went and attended the interview.I was already tall for my age ( around 5ft 9")and the interviewers were surprised to note that I would not be fulfilling the age criteria.

I returned to KGF and found that that I had not been selected because I was underage.

Dad was shocked and immediately consulted his uncle Anantharamiah and cousin Mari and filed a writ petition in the High Court.The Court immediately stayed the DTE's orders pending the final judgement and ordered that I and two others should be admitted immediately in an Engineering College.

This judgement appeared in "Deccan Herald" with my name mentioned and so I had already become a celebrity.

Within a couple of days, I got a letter offering admission in BDT College of Engineering,Davangere and I was asked to report immediately.The reality that I would be leaving the comforts of home hit me then and I felt pretty depressed.

I remember that we all went to see a Kannada picture " Badukuva Daari" at Olympia Talkies the evening before my departure and mom wouldn't talk to dad because she was pretty upset about my leaving.

Dad and I travelled to Davangere and we stayed at the residence of M.S.Ramachandra's ( dad's colleague) sister in Davangere.The admission formalities in college were over but I didn't get admission in the hostel.As a temporary measure, I stayed in the room of Hari ( my Nundydroog Mine neighbour) who was then studying in his 4th Year.Hari was already sharing his room with his classmate so I was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Matters continued like this for a week and then I wrote a letter to dad that I was finding it difficult to get admission in the hostel.

Dad briefly mentioned this to his good friend G.N.Krishnamurthy ,a rice merchant in Bangarpet who with his wife had become family friends by now.GNK and my dad were classmates in Central College,Bangalore and revived their friendship after over 15 years.

GNK immediately picked up the phone and made a trunk call to his good friend S.V.Gopala Setty who was the Principal of Malnad College of Engineering , Hassan.
Gopala Setty immediately offered admission in MCE and also said that , if need be, I could stay at his house till I got admission in the hostel. These are words that stay in mind after 44 years because they impacted me so much.

Dad immediately left for Davangere again and came straight to the hostel and asked me to pack my bags since I would be shifting to Hassan.We then caught the night train to Hassan and immediately went to the hostel where my KGF friend Priyan was staying.He was studying in the 2nd year.

The college admission was over and I was allotted Room No 31 in the Old Block of the Hostel. My room-mates were B.K.Murali ( who was also underage like me and had filed the writ petition along with me)and C.R.Bhashyam.

I was relieved that I had finally found a college seat and ,more importantly ,hostel accomodation.

The one lesson that I learnt from this was that steely determination could get you anything and I have to admire my dad's persistence in the face of heavy odds.It's not easy to file writ petitions and go to court but dad was absolutely convinced that he was right and didn't hesitate to spend money.

The admission saga had not ended and I'll be covering this in my next blog when I write about my first year in the engineering college.

Bye for now.