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.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
BE---- The Third Year ( 1968-69)
So here I was in the 3rd year with an exam of the 2nd Year to complete.There was a lot of good natured ribbing from my friends because I had failed a simple subject like Workshop Practice.
Mine was the last batch of the 5 year Integrated course and it was commonly accepted that the 3rd year was the toughest of the entire 5 years.
We had new subjects such as Electrical Engineering,Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials , Civil Engineering etc.Apart from being the toughest year, the marks in the 3rd Year would count in getting the Branch allotment in the 4th Year.So there was added pressure.
I now had C.M.Mathew as my room mate and started hanging out with the Shimoga crowd.This consisted of Sripada Sastry, Nagaraja Setty,H.R.Sethuram as well as M.A.Ravindra. Madhusudana Rao was also part of this gang as was C.R.Nagaraja but they were not staying in the hostel.
Nagaraja Setty was my TT partner and many were the hours we spent playing TT with me practicing my attacking shots and him defending.
The notable event of 1968 was the wedding of Sowbhagya with her childhood sweetheart S.C.Anand Rao.This is a romance on par with that of Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranjha etc.
In May 1960, Bhagya's brother Prabhakara got married to Anand's sister Pramila in Sagar and that's when the romance started.Bhagya was a sweet 16 year old then and Anand was a handsome and dashing 19 year old.It was love at first sight and there was no looking back thereafter.
The romance flourished for 8 long years under the benign gaze of the elders and culminated in marriage on 28th Oct 1968. The revenues of the Post & Telegraphs Dept shot up four-fold because of the inland letter and envelopes that these two used .Even when Bhagya spent long periods in KGF, the letters kept coming and going and I was often the guy asked by Bhagya to post these letters.
The wedding took place in Chitradurga at the Dodda Mane and I remember that Prabhakara had got his 5 sisters identical blue silk sarees.
It was in 1968 that I commenced the practice of spending my Deepavali in Bhadravathi and it continued for almost 6 years.
Kamalakshi and Papacchi had got married by then and so I spent Deepavali in the company of Nanjunda, Shankara, Shashikala and Chik Chaya.Great fun!!!
It was in this year that H.K.Nagabushan joined MCE in our 3rd year class.Nagabushan had already made waves as an exciting batsman and had scored a record 314 not out for Bangalore University in the Rohinton Baria Inter-University Cricket Tournament and had already played for Mysore State in the company of E.A.S.Prasanna,B.S.Chandrasekhar,V.Subramanyam etc.He was from Madhugiri and soon joined our group.It was exciting to hear cricket stories from him and he soon became the captain of the college cricket team.
I duly finished my Workshop Practice Exam, represented Sahyadri Zone again in Tennis in the MGS Tournaments at Mysore and applied myself diligently for my exams since I knew it would be difficult.
The hostel would provide tea at 10 PM in the night to encourage late night studying and it was common for students to stay awake till 3 AM poring into their books.
We would be up again at 6 AM and be ready to attend the exam at 9 AM.
I forgot to mention the Ganesha Habba celebrations.We would have the idol installed in the hostel and some senior students would do the pooje followed by a sumptuous lunch. In the evenings, we would go to town to attend the poojas of a big idol near the Bus Stand and also attend the music and dance programs and then come back.
Rummy had started going to College now and Sandhya was also growing up.I enjoyed my frequent trips to KGF since I would get properly pampered by my mom and sisters and carry a lot of goodies back to the hostel.
I also looked forward to the letters I received from home.Dad's letters were business-like and in English whereas mom would always write in Kannada in her beautiful pearl- stringed handwriting.It got to a stage where I could only decipher mom's handwriting in Kannada. Bhagya would also write postcards in Kannada and the first one or two times I got them read by one of my friends because I couldn't decipher her writing.After a couple more letters, I got the hang of her writing.
I duly finished my exams in Apr 1969 and got home for the holidays. As usual I plunged into the routine of swimming, tennis,library, billiards & snooker, shuttlecock and table tennis and movies.
My friends Paranjali and Kumar usually had a big stock of comics and the first thing I would do is go their houses and come back laden with comics---- usually Phantom, war comics, Archie, Dennis the Menace, Little Lotta, Casper the friendly little ghost, westerns etc. The westerns usually featured Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, The Kansas Kid, Buffalo Bill etc.It was always about the whites ( palefaces)fighting and defeating the Red Indians( Apaches, Navajos, Sioux etc).Popular Western novels were written by J.T.Edson, Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour,Luke Short etc. Truly great stories and afforded hours of enjoyable reading.
During one of these holidays ( I'm not sure which year), I got into a typewriting institute to learn typing.I had a very valid reason for this.A lot of girls were attending typing and shorthand classes and I thought this would be a good way to meet some of them.
I'm not sure if it was my bad luck or otherwise, but most of the girls in my batch were the "paavam" type who wouldn't even lift their heads above the typewriter. The only good that came out of this was that I became familiar with the QWERTY keyboard and am now able to type fairly fast.
The good thing is that I'm even now able to remember the initial exercises:-- asdfgf, ;lkjhj etc etc. I did these exercises a 100 times at least and they are standing me in good stead now.
That's it for now.
Bye!!
Mine was the last batch of the 5 year Integrated course and it was commonly accepted that the 3rd year was the toughest of the entire 5 years.
We had new subjects such as Electrical Engineering,Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials , Civil Engineering etc.Apart from being the toughest year, the marks in the 3rd Year would count in getting the Branch allotment in the 4th Year.So there was added pressure.
I now had C.M.Mathew as my room mate and started hanging out with the Shimoga crowd.This consisted of Sripada Sastry, Nagaraja Setty,H.R.Sethuram as well as M.A.Ravindra. Madhusudana Rao was also part of this gang as was C.R.Nagaraja but they were not staying in the hostel.
Nagaraja Setty was my TT partner and many were the hours we spent playing TT with me practicing my attacking shots and him defending.
The notable event of 1968 was the wedding of Sowbhagya with her childhood sweetheart S.C.Anand Rao.This is a romance on par with that of Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranjha etc.
In May 1960, Bhagya's brother Prabhakara got married to Anand's sister Pramila in Sagar and that's when the romance started.Bhagya was a sweet 16 year old then and Anand was a handsome and dashing 19 year old.It was love at first sight and there was no looking back thereafter.
The romance flourished for 8 long years under the benign gaze of the elders and culminated in marriage on 28th Oct 1968. The revenues of the Post & Telegraphs Dept shot up four-fold because of the inland letter and envelopes that these two used .Even when Bhagya spent long periods in KGF, the letters kept coming and going and I was often the guy asked by Bhagya to post these letters.
The wedding took place in Chitradurga at the Dodda Mane and I remember that Prabhakara had got his 5 sisters identical blue silk sarees.
It was in 1968 that I commenced the practice of spending my Deepavali in Bhadravathi and it continued for almost 6 years.
Kamalakshi and Papacchi had got married by then and so I spent Deepavali in the company of Nanjunda, Shankara, Shashikala and Chik Chaya.Great fun!!!
It was in this year that H.K.Nagabushan joined MCE in our 3rd year class.Nagabushan had already made waves as an exciting batsman and had scored a record 314 not out for Bangalore University in the Rohinton Baria Inter-University Cricket Tournament and had already played for Mysore State in the company of E.A.S.Prasanna,B.S.Chandrasekhar,V.Subramanyam etc.He was from Madhugiri and soon joined our group.It was exciting to hear cricket stories from him and he soon became the captain of the college cricket team.
I duly finished my Workshop Practice Exam, represented Sahyadri Zone again in Tennis in the MGS Tournaments at Mysore and applied myself diligently for my exams since I knew it would be difficult.
The hostel would provide tea at 10 PM in the night to encourage late night studying and it was common for students to stay awake till 3 AM poring into their books.
We would be up again at 6 AM and be ready to attend the exam at 9 AM.
I forgot to mention the Ganesha Habba celebrations.We would have the idol installed in the hostel and some senior students would do the pooje followed by a sumptuous lunch. In the evenings, we would go to town to attend the poojas of a big idol near the Bus Stand and also attend the music and dance programs and then come back.
Rummy had started going to College now and Sandhya was also growing up.I enjoyed my frequent trips to KGF since I would get properly pampered by my mom and sisters and carry a lot of goodies back to the hostel.
I also looked forward to the letters I received from home.Dad's letters were business-like and in English whereas mom would always write in Kannada in her beautiful pearl- stringed handwriting.It got to a stage where I could only decipher mom's handwriting in Kannada. Bhagya would also write postcards in Kannada and the first one or two times I got them read by one of my friends because I couldn't decipher her writing.After a couple more letters, I got the hang of her writing.
I duly finished my exams in Apr 1969 and got home for the holidays. As usual I plunged into the routine of swimming, tennis,library, billiards & snooker, shuttlecock and table tennis and movies.
My friends Paranjali and Kumar usually had a big stock of comics and the first thing I would do is go their houses and come back laden with comics---- usually Phantom, war comics, Archie, Dennis the Menace, Little Lotta, Casper the friendly little ghost, westerns etc. The westerns usually featured Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, The Kansas Kid, Buffalo Bill etc.It was always about the whites ( palefaces)fighting and defeating the Red Indians( Apaches, Navajos, Sioux etc).Popular Western novels were written by J.T.Edson, Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour,Luke Short etc. Truly great stories and afforded hours of enjoyable reading.
During one of these holidays ( I'm not sure which year), I got into a typewriting institute to learn typing.I had a very valid reason for this.A lot of girls were attending typing and shorthand classes and I thought this would be a good way to meet some of them.
I'm not sure if it was my bad luck or otherwise, but most of the girls in my batch were the "paavam" type who wouldn't even lift their heads above the typewriter. The only good that came out of this was that I became familiar with the QWERTY keyboard and am now able to type fairly fast.
The good thing is that I'm even now able to remember the initial exercises:-- asdfgf, ;lkjhj etc etc. I did these exercises a 100 times at least and they are standing me in good stead now.
That's it for now.
Bye!!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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).
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).
Friday, July 23, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Cultural Activities in KGF
Here's a brief note on the cultural activities in KGF in the 60s and 70s.
In my earlier blogs, I have mentioned the Christmas festivities at the various Clubs.
There would be sideshows like lucky arrow, coconut shies, chocolate wheel etc followed by the distribution of Christmas presents to the children by Santa Claus and then a Dance at around 10 PM.
We had the May Queen Ball in May.
The month of Aadi ( Ashada) had a lot of songs on Mariamma played on loudspeakers in temples as well as film songs on Muruga.
Every July, the Amateur Dramatic Society would present "Monsoon Mixture"--- a play in English sometimes followed by a play in Kannada.
The English plays were usually directed by Bill Richards.Mrs Richards was a usual fixture in the plays and the other players were Richard D'Costa and B.T.Hoskin.Can't remember the names of the others.I remember the ease with which the male and female characters who played a married couple ( who may not have been husband and wife in real life) would touch each other and give a light peck on the cheek as any normal couple would usually do.These gestures were totally absent in the Kannada plays and even stage couples who were husband and wife in real life would not touch each other on stage.That was the difference in cultures for you.
The English plays were usually comedies or murder mysteries.
The Kannada plays were usually based on dramas written by T.P.Kailasam or G.P.Rajarathnam. I remember "Undadi Gunda" and "Ammavara Ganda" that were staged.
My dad and mom both took part in "Undadi Gunda".The rehearsals usually took place in Skating Rink and by the time the play was staged I knew all the dialogues by heart.
The usual persons who took part in Kannada plays were , apart from my dad and mom, D.N.Gangadhar, K.N.Srinath,M.S.Ramachandra, S.N.Jagadish and B.N.Sreenivas.B.N.Raja Rao was usually the prompter. I remember that my aunt Sowbhagya also had taken part in one play when she was on an extended stay with us.
The other major cultural event that used to take place once a month was a Carnatic Music Concert or a Bharathanatyam performance or a drama that was organized by the KGF Fine Arts Society.All the programs were staged at Skating Rink so it was just across the road for us.I still remember the inaugural performance which was a Carnatic Music concert by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.Other notable performers were M S Subbalakshmi, MLV, D K Pattammal, Kamala Laxman and her two sisters, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Veena Doreswamy Iyengar, T Chowdiah etc.The livewire for all these programs was a gentleman called Mr.Rangaswamy.He used to walk around briskly attending to the smaller details and constantly hitching up his trousers with his hands. I remember making up my mind as a kid that I would get him a belt for his trousers!!!
That's it for today!
In my earlier blogs, I have mentioned the Christmas festivities at the various Clubs.
There would be sideshows like lucky arrow, coconut shies, chocolate wheel etc followed by the distribution of Christmas presents to the children by Santa Claus and then a Dance at around 10 PM.
We had the May Queen Ball in May.
The month of Aadi ( Ashada) had a lot of songs on Mariamma played on loudspeakers in temples as well as film songs on Muruga.
Every July, the Amateur Dramatic Society would present "Monsoon Mixture"--- a play in English sometimes followed by a play in Kannada.
The English plays were usually directed by Bill Richards.Mrs Richards was a usual fixture in the plays and the other players were Richard D'Costa and B.T.Hoskin.Can't remember the names of the others.I remember the ease with which the male and female characters who played a married couple ( who may not have been husband and wife in real life) would touch each other and give a light peck on the cheek as any normal couple would usually do.These gestures were totally absent in the Kannada plays and even stage couples who were husband and wife in real life would not touch each other on stage.That was the difference in cultures for you.
The English plays were usually comedies or murder mysteries.
The Kannada plays were usually based on dramas written by T.P.Kailasam or G.P.Rajarathnam. I remember "Undadi Gunda" and "Ammavara Ganda" that were staged.
My dad and mom both took part in "Undadi Gunda".The rehearsals usually took place in Skating Rink and by the time the play was staged I knew all the dialogues by heart.
The usual persons who took part in Kannada plays were , apart from my dad and mom, D.N.Gangadhar, K.N.Srinath,M.S.Ramachandra, S.N.Jagadish and B.N.Sreenivas.B.N.Raja Rao was usually the prompter. I remember that my aunt Sowbhagya also had taken part in one play when she was on an extended stay with us.
The other major cultural event that used to take place once a month was a Carnatic Music Concert or a Bharathanatyam performance or a drama that was organized by the KGF Fine Arts Society.All the programs were staged at Skating Rink so it was just across the road for us.I still remember the inaugural performance which was a Carnatic Music concert by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.Other notable performers were M S Subbalakshmi, MLV, D K Pattammal, Kamala Laxman and her two sisters, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Veena Doreswamy Iyengar, T Chowdiah etc.The livewire for all these programs was a gentleman called Mr.Rangaswamy.He used to walk around briskly attending to the smaller details and constantly hitching up his trousers with his hands. I remember making up my mind as a kid that I would get him a belt for his trousers!!!
That's it for today!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Landmarks of KGF
Before I go on further with "The Story of My Life", I thought I would write one blog on the landmarks of KGF.Here is where I want the readers of my blog who are/were familiar with KGF to add their bit by writing their comments.Sandhya, get mummy to help. Cornelia--- Pl reach out to your vast circle of KGF friends.I'm sure it'll bring back many nostalgic memories.
Let me make a start from the outskirts of KGF and going in:-
Outskirts
Big Tree--- The tree that has stood sentinel outside KGF from time immemorial.This is the first indication that we are nearing KGF as we come by road from Bangarpet.
BEML Complex----- Includes the factory and housing colony.
Ookad---- A kind of tax checkpost.
Coromande/Balaghat
Almost the first house into KGF was the house of Mrs.Morris.Then the house of Mr.Soggee ( son John and daughter Patty), Renee & Edwin Thomas, Mr.M.H.R.Rao, Mr.S.N.Jagadish( before he moved to the house next to First Grade College).
A Church--- Don't know the name but I went there as a kid and it was lovely.It was on the road that connected Coromandel to Robertsonpet.
Coromandel Railway Station
Dhobi shop--- In the Dhobi Colony on the parallel road from Coromandel to Nundydroog.
( Many were the times when I visited him for my urgent requirements of school uniforms and other dresses which were given to him for laundry.)
Nundydroog
Oriental Shaft--- Disused even by the 60s.
Ration Shop-- near where we stayed from 1957 to 1961.
Swimming Pool
Five Lights
Henry's Shaft
Nundydroog Club
Skating Rink
Ahmed Shop ( Mr.Ahmed with his two sons Amjad and Afzal and daughter Qaisar ( I may have got the spelling wrong).
Oorgaum Railway Station
KGF School
A shaft near KGF School I I forget the name--- Richard's Shaft??)
Philadelphia Church
Gymkhana Grounds
KGF First Grade College
Oorgaum Diary
Bombay Camp
School of Mines
Central Administrative Offices ( which housed the Chairman and MD's Office and later called "Argent").
Electricity Department
Petrol Bunk--- This was the only Petrol Bunk( Gas Station) in the entire Mining Area.
KGF Library
Ooregum Hall ( housing the Club and Theatre)
KGF Club ( including the Golf Links).The approach to KGF Club had the only concrete road in KGF.
Champion Reefs
St Joseph's Convent
KGF Hospital
Catholic Club
New English Warehouse ( defunct even when I was a kid)
Champion Reefs Railway Station ( Opposite the Hospital)
Marikuppam ( Mysore Mine)
Mysore Hall
Marikuppam Railway Station
Andersonpet
Top Line ( Considered a very notorious area--- I don't know why).
Robertsonpet
Robertsonpet ( also called town) was outside the mining area and where all the shops and commercial establishments were located.
Bharath Stores
New Woodlands Hotel ( On a few occasions I used to get lunch from there in a tiffin carrier when we had just returned from Bangalore)
Bapnah's Cycle Shop
Gift Shop ( called Bharathi Stores earlier)
Bhaskar Tailor
Mehta Stores
Mangalchand Phulchand
Krishna Talkies
Gay Talkies
Olympia Talkies
Azad Bakery ( inside the Market Complex)
Nahar Sweets ( the owner's son Dharamchand Nahar was my classmate in PUC).
Petrol Bunk ( owned by J.T.Gopalakrishnan & Sons)
Muruga Temple ( we used to go there at least once a month)
Sree Raghavendra Brindavana
Cyanide Dumps ( Miniature hillocks where cyanide was dumped after gold processing. I suppose they would be called an environmental disaster now).
Would like to get the names of various shafts and their locations that dotted the KGF Mining area.
Am now waiting for the comments.
Kesari Prasad
Let me make a start from the outskirts of KGF and going in:-
Outskirts
Big Tree--- The tree that has stood sentinel outside KGF from time immemorial.This is the first indication that we are nearing KGF as we come by road from Bangarpet.
BEML Complex----- Includes the factory and housing colony.
Ookad---- A kind of tax checkpost.
Coromande/Balaghat
Almost the first house into KGF was the house of Mrs.Morris.Then the house of Mr.Soggee ( son John and daughter Patty), Renee & Edwin Thomas, Mr.M.H.R.Rao, Mr.S.N.Jagadish( before he moved to the house next to First Grade College).
A Church--- Don't know the name but I went there as a kid and it was lovely.It was on the road that connected Coromandel to Robertsonpet.
Coromandel Railway Station
Dhobi shop--- In the Dhobi Colony on the parallel road from Coromandel to Nundydroog.
( Many were the times when I visited him for my urgent requirements of school uniforms and other dresses which were given to him for laundry.)
Nundydroog
Oriental Shaft--- Disused even by the 60s.
Ration Shop-- near where we stayed from 1957 to 1961.
Swimming Pool
Five Lights
Henry's Shaft
Nundydroog Club
Skating Rink
Ahmed Shop ( Mr.Ahmed with his two sons Amjad and Afzal and daughter Qaisar ( I may have got the spelling wrong).
Oorgaum Railway Station
KGF School
A shaft near KGF School I I forget the name--- Richard's Shaft??)
Philadelphia Church
Gymkhana Grounds
KGF First Grade College
Oorgaum Diary
Bombay Camp
School of Mines
Central Administrative Offices ( which housed the Chairman and MD's Office and later called "Argent").
Electricity Department
Petrol Bunk--- This was the only Petrol Bunk( Gas Station) in the entire Mining Area.
KGF Library
Ooregum Hall ( housing the Club and Theatre)
KGF Club ( including the Golf Links).The approach to KGF Club had the only concrete road in KGF.
Champion Reefs
St Joseph's Convent
KGF Hospital
Catholic Club
New English Warehouse ( defunct even when I was a kid)
Champion Reefs Railway Station ( Opposite the Hospital)
Marikuppam ( Mysore Mine)
Mysore Hall
Marikuppam Railway Station
Andersonpet
Top Line ( Considered a very notorious area--- I don't know why).
Robertsonpet
Robertsonpet ( also called town) was outside the mining area and where all the shops and commercial establishments were located.
Bharath Stores
New Woodlands Hotel ( On a few occasions I used to get lunch from there in a tiffin carrier when we had just returned from Bangalore)
Bapnah's Cycle Shop
Gift Shop ( called Bharathi Stores earlier)
Bhaskar Tailor
Mehta Stores
Mangalchand Phulchand
Krishna Talkies
Gay Talkies
Olympia Talkies
Azad Bakery ( inside the Market Complex)
Nahar Sweets ( the owner's son Dharamchand Nahar was my classmate in PUC).
Petrol Bunk ( owned by J.T.Gopalakrishnan & Sons)
Muruga Temple ( we used to go there at least once a month)
Sree Raghavendra Brindavana
Cyanide Dumps ( Miniature hillocks where cyanide was dumped after gold processing. I suppose they would be called an environmental disaster now).
Would like to get the names of various shafts and their locations that dotted the KGF Mining area.
Am now waiting for the comments.
Kesari Prasad
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The KGF Years ( 1963-1965)
These were my High School years and were largely uneventful.
By now we had moved to the house opposite Skating Rink and I used to walk to school and back.
At school, we used to play football ( with a tennis ball)with Achiah, Ravi, Sasi, Kishan Bopiah , T A Stanley etc during lunch time and I used to be the goal keeper.
In the mornings it used to be marbles ( a game called benda) or another game with three holes which was a one on one game with another player.I used to come to school with shiny new marbles and therefore was a sought after opponent. Tony Rowe ( the brother of Frank Rowe whom I mentioned earlier) was a terrific marbles player along with Malcolm Marshall, brother of Rodney Marshall( my classmate).
We had a marbles season, a gilli-danda season and a tops season.Another game that we used to play was with cigarette covers.Players Navy Blue and Berkeley were common covers.Wills Filter Kings and Wills Gold Flake were much sought after and had higher value.
Dudley Pinto ( D.B.E Pinto)was the school headmaster and very popular at that.Assembly was at 8.30 AM after which the Catholics and the Protestants used to break-off separately for their prayers.The others like me used to just hang around till Mr.Pinto asked we Hindus to gather around and recite some slokas.
Our school cricket matches were played at Gymkhana Ground, close to the school. I didn't make the cricket team but I became the official scorer and occasional umpire just so I could enjoy the after -match snacks that we all had at the nearby KGF First Grade College canteen.
There was one hilarious incident that took place when I was umpiring one such match.
Afzal Ahmed was the school cricket captain and a State Schools player to boot.He was batting and I was the square-leg umpire.As soon as the bowler had bowled, there was a slight noise and an immediate appeal by the bowler for caught behind the wicket..I thought the ball had touched Afzal's bat and immediately raised my finger.
Since I was standing behind Afzal, he did not see me raising my finger and was adjusting the buckle of his pad where the ball had actually touched and caused the noise. I had to walk up to him and tell him that I had given him out.He gave me a tongue lashing right on the pitch and asked me whether I knew the rules since only the straight umpire ( near the bowler) could give decisions.I had to plead with him to leave the pitch and said we could discuss the issue later.
The second time was when I was the straight umpire and a ball bowled by a fast bowler hit the batsman on his buttocks.He was rolling around in agony and again I had to tell him to leave the field since I had declared him lbw.He also roundly blasted me asking me whether I didn't realise that the ball was so high that it had hit his bum and here I was declaring him out!! Here again I had to plead with him to leave the field.
Apart from this, my career as an umpire and scorer progressed smoothly. There was only one scare when I was doing the scoring.We had a guy called Martin Price whose hobby was to collect scorpions and centipedes.He would put them in a glass jar, keep it in his pocket and then come over to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Gymkhana Ground pavilion and allow the creatures to have a free run of the pavilion!! So I had to watch out for these creatures while also keeping an eye on the match and do the scoring.
In the evenings during school term, I had the usual tennis/Shuttlecock/table tennis/library routine.
Every March, we had the annual school concert.Every class was allowed to present one program and I used to take part in plays.That's how I got introduced to Mrs.Malaprop
in "She Stoops to Conquer" and I still remember Mr.Pinto telling us that it was the school motto also--- Descendimus ut Ascendimus.
These school concerts along with the debates helped me get over my stage fright and took away my fear of public speaking.
I had mentioned earlier that this was the period when I slowly started realizing that girls weren't such a bad species after all.Ours was a boys school and we had absolutely no contact with girls.Even in the club, we boys ( Raguram,Priyan,Patan,Kumar and myself) used to play separately and the girls would play separately.
My moment of reckoning came on 25th Jan 1965. I was not yet 14 then and we had a Republic Day function at Nundydroog Club.One of the girls who was my classmate in St.Joseph's Convent ( let's call her Z) had also come to the function. She came over to the table where I sat and said " What man, Kesari!! Why aren't you talking to me! Have you become too proud of yourself or what?". In school parlance, "man" was the term used for boys and "child" was the term used for girls. Even today, I address my sisters and girls younger to me as "child".
Anyway, I was tongue-tied when this girl spoke and mumbled a reply saying that it was she who was not talking to me or some such drivel.But I was now in seventh heaven that a girl had actually spoken to me and even made a secret note in my diary for 25th Jan 1965 ---- "Today Z spoke to me".
In today's context, it's almost pitiable that these were the conditions in which we grew up and I suppose I've retained this shyness till today.
Anyway, nothing much came out of this and I was back to my boys only routine.
We finished our 10th Std ( SSLC exams) in March 1965 and then it was a question of waiting for the results and then into college for PUC.
Our school farwell party is an event I still remember. How fortunate that after all these years, I was able to connect with two of my school mates in the past 2 months---Len Ryder and Achiah Appachoo.
In December 1964, we had been on a holiday to Madras and spent 15 days with M.S.Krishnaswamy & Chambi.Their son Seeni was around Sandhya's age ( 5 years) and Jyotsna was just about a year.
Dad and mum as well as Chambi and MSK went off to Safire to watch "Cleopatra".We children were not allowed because it was an "Adult" film and Elizabeth Taylor's heaving bosom was considered to be a bad influence on us.I also remember walking up to Anand Theatre to see " Attilla the Hun".Chambi and MSK were staying at Joshua Street ( behind the Income-Tax Office on Nungambakkam High Road) and I remember being amazed that MSK was spending a princely Rs.5 just for taxi fare to take me to a hair-cutting saloon near Elphinstone Theatre on Mount Road.
The Theosophical Society sessions were going on and Dad was attending these also.
Venu was now in Binny's and we had gone to visit their house in Buckingham Gardens in Perambur.Dad was just around 42 years then and I remember Venu arguing vehemently with him that 42 was too young an age to be interested in Theosophy!!But that was Dad for you. Even in KGF, he would attend Harikathas and Swami Chinmayananda's lectures and was a regular subscriber to Bhavan's Journal. Dad did not wear his religion on his sleeve but he was a walking example of simple living and high thinking.Along with this was his passion for Rummy and 28 ( both card games) for which he was a regular at Nundydroog Club and , of course, Whist Drive and Tombola.
That's it for now.In my next blog, I'll talk about my college years--- both PUC and Engineering.
By now we had moved to the house opposite Skating Rink and I used to walk to school and back.
At school, we used to play football ( with a tennis ball)with Achiah, Ravi, Sasi, Kishan Bopiah , T A Stanley etc during lunch time and I used to be the goal keeper.
In the mornings it used to be marbles ( a game called benda) or another game with three holes which was a one on one game with another player.I used to come to school with shiny new marbles and therefore was a sought after opponent. Tony Rowe ( the brother of Frank Rowe whom I mentioned earlier) was a terrific marbles player along with Malcolm Marshall, brother of Rodney Marshall( my classmate).
We had a marbles season, a gilli-danda season and a tops season.Another game that we used to play was with cigarette covers.Players Navy Blue and Berkeley were common covers.Wills Filter Kings and Wills Gold Flake were much sought after and had higher value.
Dudley Pinto ( D.B.E Pinto)was the school headmaster and very popular at that.Assembly was at 8.30 AM after which the Catholics and the Protestants used to break-off separately for their prayers.The others like me used to just hang around till Mr.Pinto asked we Hindus to gather around and recite some slokas.
Our school cricket matches were played at Gymkhana Ground, close to the school. I didn't make the cricket team but I became the official scorer and occasional umpire just so I could enjoy the after -match snacks that we all had at the nearby KGF First Grade College canteen.
There was one hilarious incident that took place when I was umpiring one such match.
Afzal Ahmed was the school cricket captain and a State Schools player to boot.He was batting and I was the square-leg umpire.As soon as the bowler had bowled, there was a slight noise and an immediate appeal by the bowler for caught behind the wicket..I thought the ball had touched Afzal's bat and immediately raised my finger.
Since I was standing behind Afzal, he did not see me raising my finger and was adjusting the buckle of his pad where the ball had actually touched and caused the noise. I had to walk up to him and tell him that I had given him out.He gave me a tongue lashing right on the pitch and asked me whether I knew the rules since only the straight umpire ( near the bowler) could give decisions.I had to plead with him to leave the pitch and said we could discuss the issue later.
The second time was when I was the straight umpire and a ball bowled by a fast bowler hit the batsman on his buttocks.He was rolling around in agony and again I had to tell him to leave the field since I had declared him lbw.He also roundly blasted me asking me whether I didn't realise that the ball was so high that it had hit his bum and here I was declaring him out!! Here again I had to plead with him to leave the field.
Apart from this, my career as an umpire and scorer progressed smoothly. There was only one scare when I was doing the scoring.We had a guy called Martin Price whose hobby was to collect scorpions and centipedes.He would put them in a glass jar, keep it in his pocket and then come over to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Gymkhana Ground pavilion and allow the creatures to have a free run of the pavilion!! So I had to watch out for these creatures while also keeping an eye on the match and do the scoring.
In the evenings during school term, I had the usual tennis/Shuttlecock/table tennis/library routine.
Every March, we had the annual school concert.Every class was allowed to present one program and I used to take part in plays.That's how I got introduced to Mrs.Malaprop
in "She Stoops to Conquer" and I still remember Mr.Pinto telling us that it was the school motto also--- Descendimus ut Ascendimus.
These school concerts along with the debates helped me get over my stage fright and took away my fear of public speaking.
I had mentioned earlier that this was the period when I slowly started realizing that girls weren't such a bad species after all.Ours was a boys school and we had absolutely no contact with girls.Even in the club, we boys ( Raguram,Priyan,Patan,Kumar and myself) used to play separately and the girls would play separately.
My moment of reckoning came on 25th Jan 1965. I was not yet 14 then and we had a Republic Day function at Nundydroog Club.One of the girls who was my classmate in St.Joseph's Convent ( let's call her Z) had also come to the function. She came over to the table where I sat and said " What man, Kesari!! Why aren't you talking to me! Have you become too proud of yourself or what?". In school parlance, "man" was the term used for boys and "child" was the term used for girls. Even today, I address my sisters and girls younger to me as "child".
Anyway, I was tongue-tied when this girl spoke and mumbled a reply saying that it was she who was not talking to me or some such drivel.But I was now in seventh heaven that a girl had actually spoken to me and even made a secret note in my diary for 25th Jan 1965 ---- "Today Z spoke to me".
In today's context, it's almost pitiable that these were the conditions in which we grew up and I suppose I've retained this shyness till today.
Anyway, nothing much came out of this and I was back to my boys only routine.
We finished our 10th Std ( SSLC exams) in March 1965 and then it was a question of waiting for the results and then into college for PUC.
Our school farwell party is an event I still remember. How fortunate that after all these years, I was able to connect with two of my school mates in the past 2 months---Len Ryder and Achiah Appachoo.
In December 1964, we had been on a holiday to Madras and spent 15 days with M.S.Krishnaswamy & Chambi.Their son Seeni was around Sandhya's age ( 5 years) and Jyotsna was just about a year.
Dad and mum as well as Chambi and MSK went off to Safire to watch "Cleopatra".We children were not allowed because it was an "Adult" film and Elizabeth Taylor's heaving bosom was considered to be a bad influence on us.I also remember walking up to Anand Theatre to see " Attilla the Hun".Chambi and MSK were staying at Joshua Street ( behind the Income-Tax Office on Nungambakkam High Road) and I remember being amazed that MSK was spending a princely Rs.5 just for taxi fare to take me to a hair-cutting saloon near Elphinstone Theatre on Mount Road.
The Theosophical Society sessions were going on and Dad was attending these also.
Venu was now in Binny's and we had gone to visit their house in Buckingham Gardens in Perambur.Dad was just around 42 years then and I remember Venu arguing vehemently with him that 42 was too young an age to be interested in Theosophy!!But that was Dad for you. Even in KGF, he would attend Harikathas and Swami Chinmayananda's lectures and was a regular subscriber to Bhavan's Journal. Dad did not wear his religion on his sleeve but he was a walking example of simple living and high thinking.Along with this was his passion for Rummy and 28 ( both card games) for which he was a regular at Nundydroog Club and , of course, Whist Drive and Tombola.
That's it for now.In my next blog, I'll talk about my college years--- both PUC and Engineering.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Day 23-- USA Diary--- Edison/Jersey City/JFK ( Sun 4th Jul 2010)
The 4th of Jul dawned bright and clear.It was America's Independence Day but the real action was taking place in Manhattan for the Macy's Independence Day Parade and then there would be the spectacular fireworks later at 10 PM.
Varsha had made a lovely Avalakki with curd and then we sat down to finish our final packing.Sachin came down at around 10 AM and then the three of us drove down to Bharath's ( Chaya's son) house in Jersey City.Bharath's wife Ashwini had just arrived in New York 6 days earlier and they had moved into the partment barely 2 days earlier.We had the privilege of being their first guests.
Ashwini had made Puliyogare and Anna saaru along with curd.The apartment is centrally located with everything available nearby and there are plenty of Indians all around with an Indian Store nearby.
Madhura also joined us and we had a nice time together with Bharath and Ashwini.
We all got back to Varsha/Narasimha's apartment around 3 PM and finished the final stages of our packing.
Varsha had packed some sambar rice and curd rice for both Sudha and myself and for Sachin & Madhura since they were leaving direct for Washington enroute to Cary.
We loaded the bags in Narasimha's car and then bid a tearful farewell to Sachin and Madhura ( at least Sudha did).Sachin and Madhura had really looked after us very well and anticipated every need of ours.This was one of the most relaxing holidays we had ever enjoyed and a large part of the credit should go to them for making it a truly memorable vacation.
Varsha came with us inside the JFK Airport while Narasimha went to park the car.We had 11 pieces of baggage ( including one dinner bag which was to be disposed of before we passed thru Security). Fortunately, we were able to check in 6 bags ( only 2 per person are normally allowed) and so our hand baggage was quite easy to manage.
After a cup of coffee, Varsha and Narasimha bade farewell to us.They had been the perfect hosts and made us feel perfectly at home. It was extremely nice of them to drop us off at the Airport and to pack our Dinner also.
Our flight was at 11.50 PM. At around 9 PM we decided to have dinner and opened the dinner packet.As we were having the curd rice with pickle, we noticed a Japanese gentleman hovering around us.We thought he was looking for a place to sit and I offered him a chair.He asked us where he could get similar food and I had to tell him that this was lovingly packed at home and not available at the Airport.Varsha, take note---- you have an alternate career as a caterer available to you!!
The journey home was quite comfortable. We reached Doha at 6.30 PM local time on 5th Jul after flying over Amsterdam and Baghdad. After a brief halt at Doha, we caught the Chennai flight at 8.50 PM and landed at Chennai Airport at 3.45 AM on 6th morning.
It felt good to be back in Chennai and India , more so with Sandeep having shifted to Chennai and Greeshma expected to join him a month later.
As I have been repeatedly mentioning, this was a memorable trip for Sudha and myself and we have brought back a lot of pleasant memories.
Thank you all for following this USA Diary. In a short while, I'll be resuming the blogs on the story of my life.
Kesari Prasad
Varsha had made a lovely Avalakki with curd and then we sat down to finish our final packing.Sachin came down at around 10 AM and then the three of us drove down to Bharath's ( Chaya's son) house in Jersey City.Bharath's wife Ashwini had just arrived in New York 6 days earlier and they had moved into the partment barely 2 days earlier.We had the privilege of being their first guests.
Ashwini had made Puliyogare and Anna saaru along with curd.The apartment is centrally located with everything available nearby and there are plenty of Indians all around with an Indian Store nearby.
Madhura also joined us and we had a nice time together with Bharath and Ashwini.
We all got back to Varsha/Narasimha's apartment around 3 PM and finished the final stages of our packing.
Varsha had packed some sambar rice and curd rice for both Sudha and myself and for Sachin & Madhura since they were leaving direct for Washington enroute to Cary.
We loaded the bags in Narasimha's car and then bid a tearful farewell to Sachin and Madhura ( at least Sudha did).Sachin and Madhura had really looked after us very well and anticipated every need of ours.This was one of the most relaxing holidays we had ever enjoyed and a large part of the credit should go to them for making it a truly memorable vacation.
Varsha came with us inside the JFK Airport while Narasimha went to park the car.We had 11 pieces of baggage ( including one dinner bag which was to be disposed of before we passed thru Security). Fortunately, we were able to check in 6 bags ( only 2 per person are normally allowed) and so our hand baggage was quite easy to manage.
After a cup of coffee, Varsha and Narasimha bade farewell to us.They had been the perfect hosts and made us feel perfectly at home. It was extremely nice of them to drop us off at the Airport and to pack our Dinner also.
Our flight was at 11.50 PM. At around 9 PM we decided to have dinner and opened the dinner packet.As we were having the curd rice with pickle, we noticed a Japanese gentleman hovering around us.We thought he was looking for a place to sit and I offered him a chair.He asked us where he could get similar food and I had to tell him that this was lovingly packed at home and not available at the Airport.Varsha, take note---- you have an alternate career as a caterer available to you!!
The journey home was quite comfortable. We reached Doha at 6.30 PM local time on 5th Jul after flying over Amsterdam and Baghdad. After a brief halt at Doha, we caught the Chennai flight at 8.50 PM and landed at Chennai Airport at 3.45 AM on 6th morning.
It felt good to be back in Chennai and India , more so with Sandeep having shifted to Chennai and Greeshma expected to join him a month later.
As I have been repeatedly mentioning, this was a memorable trip for Sudha and myself and we have brought back a lot of pleasant memories.
Thank you all for following this USA Diary. In a short while, I'll be resuming the blogs on the story of my life.
Kesari Prasad
Friday, July 9, 2010
Day 22---USA Diary----Towaco/Plainsboro/Jersey City/New York/Edison----3 Jul 2010
Day 22 was probably one of the most hectic days of our USA Tour in terms of travel.It was especially hard for Sachin as we criss-crossed New Jersey State from North to South and also visited New York in the bargain.
The day started out in a leisurely fashion.We got up at around 8 AM in Renuka's house and took our coffee out to the deck at the back of the house. By 9 AM it was pretty hot, so we moved back inside.
We got ready and then Harjit conjured up some delicious fluffy omelettes with toast and fruits which were very artistically arranged in a bowl.We sat and chatted some more.
Sachin arrived at 12.30 PM from Jersey City where he was staying with Madhura at her cousin Meghana's place.We said our goodbyes to Renuka, Harjit and family and then set off with Sachin down to Plainsboro which is in the south of New Jersey State.
We arrived there at around 2.30 PM.Prajwala and Ashwin ( Sunil's cousiin) were waiting for us with lunch.We had a couple of beers and then sat down to a superb biriyani catered by Paradise Biriyani. New Jersey is full of Indians and some cities like Edison makes one feel as though one is in India.There was even a controversial article about this in Time magazine.
Anyway, we finished our lunch and said our goodbyes to Prajwala and Ashwin and headed out to Jersey City in the north.Jersey City is just across the Hudson River from New York and Meghana and Dilip's apartment is close enough to afford a view of New York's skyline.We had a cup of tea while we went around admiring the apartment into which they had moved in just the week before.
Sachin parked his car near the apartment and we walked to nearby Grove Station to take the subway into Manhattan.We crossed Hoboken ( where Frank Sinatra was born and grew up), Newport, 33rd Stret and then got off at 44th St bang in the middle of the hustle and bustle. New York has a vitality that one must experience.There were crowds as usual with neon lights blazing even though it was only 6.30 PM with bright sunshine.
We walked for a short distance through the theatre district and went to Shweta and Gautham's apartment on 47th St and 7th Avenue.This is as close as one could get to the heart of Manhattan. They stay on the 27th floor and the view from the apartment is fabulous, to say the least.
We clicked a couple of photos as the sun was setting over the Hudson River and then sat down to enjoy samosas, bhelpuri, dahi chaat papdi and delicious anna mosaru, topped off with a glass of wine. Ahhh!!! Lip-smacking.
We all then went to the penthouse on the 43rd floor for a more detailed look at New York's skyline.The lights had come on by now and it looked like fairyland.
Shweta is an avid story-teller just like her mother Lakshmi and soon had us in splits.
It was a lovely and unforgettable evening.We said our goodbyes and wished Shweta and Gautham all the best for their upcoming trip to London and Italy.
We headed back to Jersey City at 10 PM. Sachin then drove Sudha and me back to Edison to Varsha and Narasimha's house while he returned to Jersey City.
It had been a tiring day but we had the satisfaction of making a lot of visits.
We got to bed by 12 midnight and that was the end of Day 22.
The day started out in a leisurely fashion.We got up at around 8 AM in Renuka's house and took our coffee out to the deck at the back of the house. By 9 AM it was pretty hot, so we moved back inside.
We got ready and then Harjit conjured up some delicious fluffy omelettes with toast and fruits which were very artistically arranged in a bowl.We sat and chatted some more.
Sachin arrived at 12.30 PM from Jersey City where he was staying with Madhura at her cousin Meghana's place.We said our goodbyes to Renuka, Harjit and family and then set off with Sachin down to Plainsboro which is in the south of New Jersey State.
We arrived there at around 2.30 PM.Prajwala and Ashwin ( Sunil's cousiin) were waiting for us with lunch.We had a couple of beers and then sat down to a superb biriyani catered by Paradise Biriyani. New Jersey is full of Indians and some cities like Edison makes one feel as though one is in India.There was even a controversial article about this in Time magazine.
Anyway, we finished our lunch and said our goodbyes to Prajwala and Ashwin and headed out to Jersey City in the north.Jersey City is just across the Hudson River from New York and Meghana and Dilip's apartment is close enough to afford a view of New York's skyline.We had a cup of tea while we went around admiring the apartment into which they had moved in just the week before.
Sachin parked his car near the apartment and we walked to nearby Grove Station to take the subway into Manhattan.We crossed Hoboken ( where Frank Sinatra was born and grew up), Newport, 33rd Stret and then got off at 44th St bang in the middle of the hustle and bustle. New York has a vitality that one must experience.There were crowds as usual with neon lights blazing even though it was only 6.30 PM with bright sunshine.
We walked for a short distance through the theatre district and went to Shweta and Gautham's apartment on 47th St and 7th Avenue.This is as close as one could get to the heart of Manhattan. They stay on the 27th floor and the view from the apartment is fabulous, to say the least.
We clicked a couple of photos as the sun was setting over the Hudson River and then sat down to enjoy samosas, bhelpuri, dahi chaat papdi and delicious anna mosaru, topped off with a glass of wine. Ahhh!!! Lip-smacking.
We all then went to the penthouse on the 43rd floor for a more detailed look at New York's skyline.The lights had come on by now and it looked like fairyland.
Shweta is an avid story-teller just like her mother Lakshmi and soon had us in splits.
It was a lovely and unforgettable evening.We said our goodbyes and wished Shweta and Gautham all the best for their upcoming trip to London and Italy.
We headed back to Jersey City at 10 PM. Sachin then drove Sudha and me back to Edison to Varsha and Narasimha's house while he returned to Jersey City.
It had been a tiring day but we had the satisfaction of making a lot of visits.
We got to bed by 12 midnight and that was the end of Day 22.
USA Diary---Day 22---(2 Jul 2010)--Edison/Mahwah/Towaco
2 Jul 2010 ( Friday) dawned bright and clear.It was a Friday.
Sudha and I got up early.Varsha was already up preparing Akkirotti for us.
We had a cup of coffee and Narasimha sat chatting with us way beyond his normal departure time to Office.
All of us got ready by 9.15 AM and then we ( Sachin, Madhura, Sudha and myself)left for Mahwah in Sachin's car.Mahwah lies in the north of New Jersey and it took us almost 90 minutes to get there.The Hindu Samaj temple where Anand's wedding was to take place is set in lovely surroundings with greenery all around and a hill in the background.
The others were already there and all of us males were appropriately dressed in churidar and kurta.
The barat was slightly delayed since the Sardarji drummer had got held up in traffic and had not yet arrived.He duly came at 11.30 AM accompanied by another person holding a magnificently decorated horse.Anand mounted the horse and all of us danced Bhangra style for a short distance up to the temple.
The South Indian style wedding ceremony started at 12 Noon.Before this, Rajani supervised the Gowri Pooje by Tina.After Kanyadhana, saptapadi and kalungura fitting which got over by 2.30 PM, we all adjourned to another hall where the entire atmosphere had changed.Round tables had been set up and we were all allotted table numbers based on the confirmations we had sent earlier. ( Totally different from the Indian scenario where the host wouldn't know whether 1500 guests would turn up for the wedding or 500).
The buffet was served on the first floor and there was an orderly queue for the buffet based on table numbers--- not the kind of mad and unseemly rush we see here in Indian weddings.
The bride's mother , sister, grandparents as well as Omprakash& Sudha, Suresh & Uma, Aamod and finally Anand & Tina made a grand entrance and were introduced to the guests.
There was a short screening of snaps from Tina & Anand's childhood till they got together and then the wedding cake was cut.Anand& Tina had a dance together and then the floor was open to the guests.
It was around 4.30 PM by the time we said our goodbyes to Omprakash, Sudha and all the other cousins, nephews, nieces and Chambi and then we were on our way to Towaco to Renuka's house.It was our first experience of an Indian wedding in America and we felt that there was much to learn from this experience.
We reached Towaco at around 6 PM.Sachin and Madhura changed to normal dress since they were going to Manhattan to meet Sachin's friends for dinner.
Harjit left for Newark Station to receive Meghana who was arriving by train from New York. Angad was home for the holidays.
We sat on the deck at the back of the house and chatted away.Meghana and Harjit arrived at 7.30 PM and we continued to chat away in the living room in convivial fashion.
Renuka and Harjit have a heart as large as their home and we felt completely at home there.They showed us albums of their trips to Spain and Italy and made us more determined than ever to do Europe sometime in the near future.
Sudha was fascinated by the conversation between Meghana and Angad, especially their true-blue American accents.
We sat down to a lovely dinner of Pav bhaji and vegetable palau. Angad had just celebrated his birthday on 28th Jun and we had a cake cutting ceremony after dinner.
It was 12 midnight by the time we finished and it was time for us to retire to bed.
That was the end of Day 22.
Sudha and I got up early.Varsha was already up preparing Akkirotti for us.
We had a cup of coffee and Narasimha sat chatting with us way beyond his normal departure time to Office.
All of us got ready by 9.15 AM and then we ( Sachin, Madhura, Sudha and myself)left for Mahwah in Sachin's car.Mahwah lies in the north of New Jersey and it took us almost 90 minutes to get there.The Hindu Samaj temple where Anand's wedding was to take place is set in lovely surroundings with greenery all around and a hill in the background.
The others were already there and all of us males were appropriately dressed in churidar and kurta.
The barat was slightly delayed since the Sardarji drummer had got held up in traffic and had not yet arrived.He duly came at 11.30 AM accompanied by another person holding a magnificently decorated horse.Anand mounted the horse and all of us danced Bhangra style for a short distance up to the temple.
The South Indian style wedding ceremony started at 12 Noon.Before this, Rajani supervised the Gowri Pooje by Tina.After Kanyadhana, saptapadi and kalungura fitting which got over by 2.30 PM, we all adjourned to another hall where the entire atmosphere had changed.Round tables had been set up and we were all allotted table numbers based on the confirmations we had sent earlier. ( Totally different from the Indian scenario where the host wouldn't know whether 1500 guests would turn up for the wedding or 500).
The buffet was served on the first floor and there was an orderly queue for the buffet based on table numbers--- not the kind of mad and unseemly rush we see here in Indian weddings.
The bride's mother , sister, grandparents as well as Omprakash& Sudha, Suresh & Uma, Aamod and finally Anand & Tina made a grand entrance and were introduced to the guests.
There was a short screening of snaps from Tina & Anand's childhood till they got together and then the wedding cake was cut.Anand& Tina had a dance together and then the floor was open to the guests.
It was around 4.30 PM by the time we said our goodbyes to Omprakash, Sudha and all the other cousins, nephews, nieces and Chambi and then we were on our way to Towaco to Renuka's house.It was our first experience of an Indian wedding in America and we felt that there was much to learn from this experience.
We reached Towaco at around 6 PM.Sachin and Madhura changed to normal dress since they were going to Manhattan to meet Sachin's friends for dinner.
Harjit left for Newark Station to receive Meghana who was arriving by train from New York. Angad was home for the holidays.
We sat on the deck at the back of the house and chatted away.Meghana and Harjit arrived at 7.30 PM and we continued to chat away in the living room in convivial fashion.
Renuka and Harjit have a heart as large as their home and we felt completely at home there.They showed us albums of their trips to Spain and Italy and made us more determined than ever to do Europe sometime in the near future.
Sudha was fascinated by the conversation between Meghana and Angad, especially their true-blue American accents.
We sat down to a lovely dinner of Pav bhaji and vegetable palau. Angad had just celebrated his birthday on 28th Jun and we had a cake cutting ceremony after dinner.
It was 12 midnight by the time we finished and it was time for us to retire to bed.
That was the end of Day 22.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
USA Diary---- Day 21--- Edison/Staten Island( 1 Jul 2010)
We had a good night's sleep and got up at 7 AM since we had to go to Omprakash's house in Staten Island at 10.30 AM for the Devarasamaradhane.
Narasimha had got up early at 6 AM and was busy helping Varsha to prepare Masala Dosai--- I presume Greeshma had kind of told them that this was a favourite dish of mine.The Dosais were delicious with the onion-potato palya and chutney. Narasimha left for Office at 7.30 AM and Varsha was working from home that day.
Sachin dropped Sudha and myself at Staten Island which was barely 20 minutes from Edison.Omprakash and Sudha have a lovely sprawling home and the Devarasamaradhane ceremony was held in their basement with a Kannada speaking shastrigalu in attendance.
All the cousins were already there and we had a gala time together.We came to know about Vinayaka's specifications for a girl and will try to help him find a girl that meets these specifications.
The function over, we were treated to a delicious habbada oota which was catered locally.There was payasa, obbattu, majjigehuli, saaru and then anna and mosaru.
We were also treated to villyedhele--- a lovely pan.
After lunch we all got together and had an impromptu music session. Sudha sang a couple of songs and Anupa did a choreograph of "Darshan dho Ghanshyam" to Sudha's singing with Sudha showing a few dance steps.
A good time was had by all. Sachin and Madhura dropped by to pick us up and then we went back to Varsha/Narasimha's house. The road goes past Newark Airport and it was nice to see aircraft stacked one behind the other and awaiting their turn to land.
In the evening, we just sat and talked. Narasimha is an engaging conversationalist and we had a lovely meal of baby carrot/soppina huli and anna mosaru.
Narasimha has a massive collection of DVDs ( both films and film songs).We saw the film songs of Shankarabharanam and enjoyed them. At 10PM, we suddenly decided to go in search of Coldstone icecream.We drove for about 40 miles in two cars only to find the outlet closed. We settled for Baskin Robbins instead and enjoyed our ice creams and returned home tired but happy at around 12 midnight.
That was the end of Day 21.
Narasimha had got up early at 6 AM and was busy helping Varsha to prepare Masala Dosai--- I presume Greeshma had kind of told them that this was a favourite dish of mine.The Dosais were delicious with the onion-potato palya and chutney. Narasimha left for Office at 7.30 AM and Varsha was working from home that day.
Sachin dropped Sudha and myself at Staten Island which was barely 20 minutes from Edison.Omprakash and Sudha have a lovely sprawling home and the Devarasamaradhane ceremony was held in their basement with a Kannada speaking shastrigalu in attendance.
All the cousins were already there and we had a gala time together.We came to know about Vinayaka's specifications for a girl and will try to help him find a girl that meets these specifications.
The function over, we were treated to a delicious habbada oota which was catered locally.There was payasa, obbattu, majjigehuli, saaru and then anna and mosaru.
We were also treated to villyedhele--- a lovely pan.
After lunch we all got together and had an impromptu music session. Sudha sang a couple of songs and Anupa did a choreograph of "Darshan dho Ghanshyam" to Sudha's singing with Sudha showing a few dance steps.
A good time was had by all. Sachin and Madhura dropped by to pick us up and then we went back to Varsha/Narasimha's house. The road goes past Newark Airport and it was nice to see aircraft stacked one behind the other and awaiting their turn to land.
In the evening, we just sat and talked. Narasimha is an engaging conversationalist and we had a lovely meal of baby carrot/soppina huli and anna mosaru.
Narasimha has a massive collection of DVDs ( both films and film songs).We saw the film songs of Shankarabharanam and enjoyed them. At 10PM, we suddenly decided to go in search of Coldstone icecream.We drove for about 40 miles in two cars only to find the outlet closed. We settled for Baskin Robbins instead and enjoyed our ice creams and returned home tired but happy at around 12 midnight.
That was the end of Day 21.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
USA Diary--- Day 20---- Washington/Princeton( 30 Jun 2010)
We woke up at the Renaissance Hotel to a beautiful day.The temperature was in the 70s and there was a good breeze blowing.
Sudha prepared Maggi Cup O' Noodles and we made the coffee in the room with the coffee maker.
We had an appointment at 8.30 AM to see the Library of Congress so Sachin took out the car.However, we had a major problem finding a good parking space.In the end, we drove back to the hotel and parked the car. We then walked down the street to Ford's theatre.This is the place where Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on 14th apr 1865.The theatre is preserved as it was in 1865 including the Presidential Box.A person appeared on stage and narrated the sequences leading to the assassination. We were then taken across the street to Peterson House, a lodging house where Lincoln breathed his last.I had read the story of Lincoln's assassination in a Reader's Digest article in 1961 and was fascinated to see it all come alive.
We then took the subway from Chinatown to the Capitol.We were there by 11.45 AM.An intern called Amit had been deputed by the Congressman from North Carolina to meet us and take us around.His name was Amit and his parents were from Bangalore and Mumbai respectively.He was delighted to hear us speak Kannada and spoke a few words himself.He took us around on a nice tour and finally got us passes to the Visitors Gallery in the House of Representatives.
It was now 2 PM and we went down to the cafetaria in the Capitol for lunch.The lunch was paid for by weight ( 75 cents/lb) and we had our fill of salads, garlic bread and also food from the Indian section.
We went back to the hotel, checked out and then left Washington for Princeton at around 4.30 PM.
Sudha and Madhura had changed to Indian dresses for the Mehendi and Sangeet ceremonies of Anand's wedding and drew admiring glances. Traffic was bad up to Baltimore and it was 8.30 PM by the time we reached Somesh's house in Princeton.Somesh is Omprakash's wife Sudha's brother.The house is very large with a nice backyard and we could hear the music as we neared the house.It was lovely to catch up with Omprakash, Sudha, Anand and Aamod, Rajani and Murali, Anil, Manju, Arup and Anusha, Gopi, Josi, Chambi, Abhinav and Samir, Suresh, Uma and Abhilash, Seeni, Anupa and Vikku.Madhura was meeting most of them for the first time and Sachin was also meeting them after a long time.
Samir and Abhinav performed an incredible Bhangra dance complete with costumes, sticks et al.
A very good buffet had been arranged and after finishing our dinner, we drove for around 40 minutes and arrived at Varsha and Narasimha's house in Edison at around 11 PM.They were waiting up for us and had made excellent arrangements to make our stay comfortable.We were very tired and hit the bed soon though I did catch up with my mails and went to bed around 2 AM.
That was the end of Day 20.
Sudha prepared Maggi Cup O' Noodles and we made the coffee in the room with the coffee maker.
We had an appointment at 8.30 AM to see the Library of Congress so Sachin took out the car.However, we had a major problem finding a good parking space.In the end, we drove back to the hotel and parked the car. We then walked down the street to Ford's theatre.This is the place where Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on 14th apr 1865.The theatre is preserved as it was in 1865 including the Presidential Box.A person appeared on stage and narrated the sequences leading to the assassination. We were then taken across the street to Peterson House, a lodging house where Lincoln breathed his last.I had read the story of Lincoln's assassination in a Reader's Digest article in 1961 and was fascinated to see it all come alive.
We then took the subway from Chinatown to the Capitol.We were there by 11.45 AM.An intern called Amit had been deputed by the Congressman from North Carolina to meet us and take us around.His name was Amit and his parents were from Bangalore and Mumbai respectively.He was delighted to hear us speak Kannada and spoke a few words himself.He took us around on a nice tour and finally got us passes to the Visitors Gallery in the House of Representatives.
It was now 2 PM and we went down to the cafetaria in the Capitol for lunch.The lunch was paid for by weight ( 75 cents/lb) and we had our fill of salads, garlic bread and also food from the Indian section.
We went back to the hotel, checked out and then left Washington for Princeton at around 4.30 PM.
Sudha and Madhura had changed to Indian dresses for the Mehendi and Sangeet ceremonies of Anand's wedding and drew admiring glances. Traffic was bad up to Baltimore and it was 8.30 PM by the time we reached Somesh's house in Princeton.Somesh is Omprakash's wife Sudha's brother.The house is very large with a nice backyard and we could hear the music as we neared the house.It was lovely to catch up with Omprakash, Sudha, Anand and Aamod, Rajani and Murali, Anil, Manju, Arup and Anusha, Gopi, Josi, Chambi, Abhinav and Samir, Suresh, Uma and Abhilash, Seeni, Anupa and Vikku.Madhura was meeting most of them for the first time and Sachin was also meeting them after a long time.
Samir and Abhinav performed an incredible Bhangra dance complete with costumes, sticks et al.
A very good buffet had been arranged and after finishing our dinner, we drove for around 40 minutes and arrived at Varsha and Narasimha's house in Edison at around 11 PM.They were waiting up for us and had made excellent arrangements to make our stay comfortable.We were very tired and hit the bed soon though I did catch up with my mails and went to bed around 2 AM.
That was the end of Day 20.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
USA Diary---- Day 19---- Cary/Washington( Tue 29 Nov 2010)
We changed our mind about travelling in Sachin's car on 29th Jun morning.
Late on 28th night, Sachin decided that we would travel by a SUV since all the luggage wouldn't fit in the car.
He googled priceline.com, a website that actually allows you to bid for hiring a car at rates that are far cheaper than the published rates.The bid was accepted and he was told to pick up the car at Raleigh/Durham Airport on 29th Jun at 10 AM.
Meanwhile, Mohan who was our neighbour in Teynampet, Chennai dropped in on 29th morning to see us.Sudha had prepared Avalakki Oggarane and we had this with curd for breakfast.It was nice to see Mohan after all these years.
Sudha, Madhura and I went to the airport at 10.30 AM and Sachin picked up a nice SUV. We transferred some of the already loaded luggage from Sachin's car to the SUV, transferred the precious GPS and the Insurance papers, had our lunch and then left for Washington at around 1 PM.
I felt a little sad at leaving Cary after spending such a wonderful 2 weeks .We hit I 95 and the miles just rolled by. The scenery was the same---- a highway in the middle with forests on both sides. We soon crossed into Virginia State and then stopped over at Starbbucks for coffee and tea.The thindi bags came out one by one and got polished off.
We crossed Richmond,Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Williamsburg--- all towns that were famous in the American Civil War since Virginia was on the side of the Condederate States and where famous battles were fought.
We reached Washington at around 6.30 PM.There was plenty of bright sunlight left and we thought we'd see the Washington Monument first.Unfortunately, ticket sales had closed so we couldn't go up the Monument.We then parked the car nearby and walked through the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial and went to the Lincoln Memorial. This was Sudha's first visit to Washington while Sachin , Madhura and I had already been here in Nov 2008.We spent a good amount of time in the Lincoln Memorial and then went down the National Mall, parked the car and walked up to the White House.
Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, Massachussets Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, Independence Avenue--- we walked through them all.
It was now around 9.30 PM and we were very hungry.We decided to have dinner at an Indian Restaurant before checking in at The Renaissance in Washington Downtown where we had made our reservations.
As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we got the shock of our life. We saw a hugely built African American policeman inside and he was putting the handcuffs on a person who appeared to be either the owner or the manager of the restaurant. More surprising was the fact that there were a couple of patrons inside having their meal and carrying on as if nothing was happening.
We almost lost our appetite then and were wondering whether we should go to another hotel. Finally, hunger won over and we decided to have our meal then.Discreet enquiries later revealed that the hotel was serving liquor even though they had no license and that was why the person was being arrested.One more American experience for this blog!!!!
The food was delicious--- parathas, roti, baingan bhartha, pulau, mango lassi and plain lassi.
We then drove up to the hotel, checked in, asked for a 3 PM check-out and crashed.
End of Day 19 while Sudha was musing over the day's events.
Late on 28th night, Sachin decided that we would travel by a SUV since all the luggage wouldn't fit in the car.
He googled priceline.com, a website that actually allows you to bid for hiring a car at rates that are far cheaper than the published rates.The bid was accepted and he was told to pick up the car at Raleigh/Durham Airport on 29th Jun at 10 AM.
Meanwhile, Mohan who was our neighbour in Teynampet, Chennai dropped in on 29th morning to see us.Sudha had prepared Avalakki Oggarane and we had this with curd for breakfast.It was nice to see Mohan after all these years.
Sudha, Madhura and I went to the airport at 10.30 AM and Sachin picked up a nice SUV. We transferred some of the already loaded luggage from Sachin's car to the SUV, transferred the precious GPS and the Insurance papers, had our lunch and then left for Washington at around 1 PM.
I felt a little sad at leaving Cary after spending such a wonderful 2 weeks .We hit I 95 and the miles just rolled by. The scenery was the same---- a highway in the middle with forests on both sides. We soon crossed into Virginia State and then stopped over at Starbbucks for coffee and tea.The thindi bags came out one by one and got polished off.
We crossed Richmond,Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Williamsburg--- all towns that were famous in the American Civil War since Virginia was on the side of the Condederate States and where famous battles were fought.
We reached Washington at around 6.30 PM.There was plenty of bright sunlight left and we thought we'd see the Washington Monument first.Unfortunately, ticket sales had closed so we couldn't go up the Monument.We then parked the car nearby and walked through the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial and went to the Lincoln Memorial. This was Sudha's first visit to Washington while Sachin , Madhura and I had already been here in Nov 2008.We spent a good amount of time in the Lincoln Memorial and then went down the National Mall, parked the car and walked up to the White House.
Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, Massachussets Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, Independence Avenue--- we walked through them all.
It was now around 9.30 PM and we were very hungry.We decided to have dinner at an Indian Restaurant before checking in at The Renaissance in Washington Downtown where we had made our reservations.
As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we got the shock of our life. We saw a hugely built African American policeman inside and he was putting the handcuffs on a person who appeared to be either the owner or the manager of the restaurant. More surprising was the fact that there were a couple of patrons inside having their meal and carrying on as if nothing was happening.
We almost lost our appetite then and were wondering whether we should go to another hotel. Finally, hunger won over and we decided to have our meal then.Discreet enquiries later revealed that the hotel was serving liquor even though they had no license and that was why the person was being arrested.One more American experience for this blog!!!!
The food was delicious--- parathas, roti, baingan bhartha, pulau, mango lassi and plain lassi.
We then drove up to the hotel, checked in, asked for a 3 PM check-out and crashed.
End of Day 19 while Sudha was musing over the day's events.
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