C1_1990_Part_2

We became S5-C1 and we grew bolder. S5-C1 and S5-C3 rivalries became prominent. Some of the C1 guys used to irritate C2 guys by throwing pebbles on the asbestos roof. C3 Guys were always stuck inside their class and have a 'Panchara'(Buttering up the Girls). Some where between S4 and S6, Chitra stood for the Vice(Wise) Chairman's post during elections. We campaigned for her. She won. Well she would have won any way as she was a 'Pavam'. I was replaced as the Class rep with Gopan. When there was a tie, I voted for Gopan and not for me. This was for keeping Peace(piece) in the class. The Great South India trip was planned. Gopan took up the lead with Hari.G (Ochira) and Ashokan. I think Hari.G went on a Pilot trip for checking the security arrangements for the C1 VIPs. After lot of hassling and persuasion we had Upendran sir and his wife in the party.

Back after the hectic South Indian tour. It was time to resolve the New Year celebration incident which started from Bangalore. A class meeting was arranged to resolve it. Everybody's version of story was heard.I don't know who all were involved in it. But I remember some of my friends blaming me for starting it. All boils down to ego and teenage mis-adventures of Kuluthur Kamalahassan's and few others Balalelas. After the meeting Bindus and Devishuba made the decision not to join the All India tour.

Life rolled on. Some things were forgotten. The Guys were invited for the Ladies Hostel day celebrations. The Girls were invited for men's Hostel day. I got drunk and was telling stories and next day everybody made sure that I did not forget what told. They kept repeating what I told during the MH day. I remember buying one of those smelly sweets to my parents. This was to make sure that it is not alcohol smell but the smell of the sweet. In the meantime I also used to attend the Women's college and All Saints College' celebrations.

Labs were more fun than theory. University exams and other departmental semester exams made us toil day and nights. Writing records combined studies. Occasional visits to Anand's house for Cricket and late night movies. Once in while the strikes. Some for no water. Some for postponing the exams. New Batches were added and once a while we kept interviewing the freshers. The tuitions, the ego clashes between lectures. Life moved on.

I introduced the gallop polls in College elections for the first time. A sample survey was conducted to know the voting patterns to predict the winners. To escape from the beatings of the losers I had to run away before the elections were out. Gallop poll was more like starting a sweet talk with pretty girls.

We made friends with few pretty seniors. A junior was so scared of me that she used to wish me whenever she saw me. I saw her at an exhibition and she wished me there as well. All the fun Life rumbled on.

When we were S6 we moved from the Asbestos shed to a terraced room behind Computer engineering department. Few of My classmates like me also started accumulating back papers called 'Supplie and Criti'. Some dropped out. Our S6 class had 2 entrances. One day we pushed a lamb in to the class through the back door and entered the class via the front door. Natrajan sir turned to the class after writing something on the board; He saw a lamb in the class. He turned around to see if I was there in the class. But somehow he came to know that I was responsible for it. He reduced my session marks. Finally I had to go to his home and beg him to increase the marks else I would have never passed. It was the day of Island Express accident at Ashtamudi Lake, so he felt a bit of sympathy and increased my sectionals mark for Construction engineering. Biju and Anwar one night decided to kick all the gates at Sreekarium. They were given fine bashing by the locals.

Finally we became seniors and moved to the civil main block. Our class was next to HOD's room. We gradually became theoretical engineers. As we reached S7 it was time for the All India tour. A new principal told that if only C1, C2 and C3 made a combined tour the trip will be approved. He informed this to the Tour Clerk. Many never liked the idea. We went personally to the principal, but he did not Budge. Directorate of Technical education (DTE) has to provide funds for the All India Tour so Principal's approval is a must.

This is what happened after that. I went to the administration department on the day Tour Clerk was on Holiday. I told Superintent that Principal has asked to send the Tour approval request to him for signing. Superintent prepared all the papers and gave the papers for Principal approval to the Peon. I know that if Principal sees me, he will never approve it. The Principal signed the letter. Immediately I took the letter to DTE office. My friend's sister was working there. She did all the formalities and got the funds approved from Director. I took the approved letter to the Principal saying that the Tour and Funds have been approved. Principal only realized his blunder, but was late. He gave a good lecturing to Superintent who did not speak to me for a while. Once C1 got the approval C2 and C3 also got the approval.

A fun filled All India tour got over. My mother caught me with bottle of Cashew Fenny meant for Gafoor (He was from Architecture who joined us for the tour). Some who made the decision of not joining the tour might be regretting it. We started concentrating on studies again. Biju and I were the combined study mates. Anwar also used to join us.

Puncharia sir never liked me. That is what i think. He made me write the record 4 for 5 times. I got annoyed with him and said that I am not going to write the record even again, but things were sorted out later. Foundation engineering had an attender Narayan who was more powerful than HOD. It was very difficult to please him. Sebastian sir used to give advices to me once a while. So also Devishuba and the Bindus used to advice me. The HOD Krishnan sir and I were always at logger heads. But that was me...

7th and 8th semesters were serious days. We also had the golden jubilee celebrations. We prepared the Aruvikara project. It was hard work but enjoyed a lot. We had a new teacher called Jane. She caught me and Biju discussing during exams, but we told her that as we did combined study we also had to discuss during the exams. As a penalty she reduced my sessionals by 1 mark. We used to have extra class. Some one used to bring something or the other to eat.

Devika stood for elections as a Vice chairman candidate. She won by 4 votes. My gallop polls showed she will loose by 3 votes. 4 juniors who were supposed to vote for Sonia did not turn up for voting. I decided to stand for Civil Department secretary election. After Radhakrishan bribed me by giving me a treat at Lords and I withdrew from the contest. The Decision to stand and to Withdraw was mine only. On Civil engineering day we had mimicry by Kalabhavan troop. Few film stars attended it.

8th semester always saw a one day trip by us. Almost everybody turned up for the trip. We made the food for the lunch. It was a memmorable one. I remember a professor who accompanied stole someone else alcohol.

We had project work for 8th Semester. I joined with Anand to do Stress Analysis. The project started off seriously. We had the final year celebrations an elephant parade. A tug of war and the Rope broke. But days of not taking studies seriously caught up with me. Got myself in the web of 'Supplie and Criti'. I was not able to complete my final year project. I had attendance shortage and finally forced to repeat 8th semester. S8-C1 celebrated the final year's day at Veli. My successful friends moved on. Anand was the class topper.

I confessed to my parents about the mistakes I made and asked them to give me a chance. Since I told them the truth my dad agreed to give me a chance. I was able to complete my engineering not with flying colors but was colorful.

I learned a lot of things in Engineering. It prepared me for the challenges ahead. I still believe my engineering college days were my golden days....