The Final Year BE ( 1970-1971)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More later.