Missing pint bottle

One day while we entered hostel, the security of MH was seen pinning a circular in the notice board. The circular signed by Principal stated that alcoholic drinking inside the campus is prohibited with immediate effect. We all laughed reading the joke pasted on the notice board and made ourselves ready for playing ‘keech’ our official card game. After some time Oolan and poocha dashed into the room with a serious red face.

“Have you seen princi’s notice?” Oolan shouted as if the circular demanded all of us to wear underwear inside hostels.

“What is the big deal in it?” asked bosch.

“We should not allow the princi to interfere in our personal matters.” It was poocha who said this.

“We all saw this notice and ignored it right away. Even princi knows that none of us will stop drinking by seeing his circular. He too has graduated from an Engg college and he knows all about young students like us” Jotha tried to console Poocha.

“No we should protest”. Pothan told this as he entered the room.

Protest is a very appealing word. Protest means strike and strike meant a legitimate full day keech in hostel. But serving a strike notice for such a reason – Principal to stop interfering in students personal matters / eating habits could be awful but possible.

“Lets collect money from all hostelites and create a mega vellamadi event tonight in the MH portico” Oolans red face was seen gleaming with joy as he said this.

“So no strike..?” Liju said in a disappointed tone.

“No. We will have this vellamadi as a protest”. Pothan told this and the three walked out and we continued with our keech.

Though the proposal of Oolan was not as appealing as a strike, we never said no to any vellamadi. But why the trio gave undue importance to such a silly matter arouse suspicion in the keech table. Keech became interesting and our mind got fully occupied in the keech.

Oolan, Poocha and Pothan gathered money from all hostelites and with the collected amount, one full bottle and one pint bottle of ISLAND Rum arrived hostel. Both the bottles were displayed in the news paper reading table and the vellamadi was scheduled to start at 8.00pm. We few kept our eye on the pint bottle. Our idea was to move the pint bottle to our room, without getting caught in the eyes of the three organizers and other inmates and drink from our room peacefully. KD was assigned the duty to steal the pint bottle at a convenient time and we all tried to divert others attention from the bottle. When KD approached the table he was surprised to see the pint bottle got disappeared.

Daivame… Kaduvaye pidicha kiduvayo..?

We all searched for the pint bottle in the entire hostel. Though nobody knew our plan of stealing the pint bottle, we felt ashamed that somebody did the trick before us that too in front of our eyes. Moreover the fact that we cannot locate the bottle added more to the grief. While we searched for the pint bottle the full bottle was finished in the portico and we didn’t get even a drop from it. The organizers, Poocha, Pothan and Oolan were seen furious when they learnt that the pint bottle was missing.

The trio organizers offered a treat in hobnob for those who found the missing bottle. Next few days we kept our six senses open to see whether any pint bottle (empty / full) emerged in the hostel. All the drunken people were interrogated to know the source of the spirit. All our efforts were in vein. The bottle remained hidden.

Friday evening, waiting for Venad express at railway station, I saw Poocha, Oolan and Pothan with a 1 Litre pepsi bottle sitting at a remote place, sipping pepsi. Seeing me Poocha offered me the bottle with a wicked smile. I tasted the pepsi. It was mixed with Rum. The mischievous smile in Oolans face told me that the organizers had different intentions that day. However the contents of pint bottle which made us sleepless for few nights was at last recovered in the pepse bottle.

The Expense Report

Liju came with a rather strange request; accompany him to kottayam town for buying rope. "silly!. Why can't he buy it from here".On a sunday morning with an empty purse you just don't want to be bothered. I explained him my financial situation, but it was not enough to deter him. After 20 minutes we boarded the bus to kottayam.

We got seated and he started the conversation by informing me that he had searched for rope near college, but found them too expensive. Later the conversation drifted to sports meet starting next day. KD was the sports secretary of our college union and sports meet was a prestigious event, may be the most important event of his college life. Though Liju was KD's roommate he was not too interested in the topic."His humility is stopping him from bragging on his role".

After alighting from bus Liju took me to a juice shop nearby and ordered for two apple juices."Having apple juice is refreshing in the peak of summer". He lit a cigarette and offered me one. As my hands fumbled with the matches, he took the match from my hand, lit it and touched it to the trembling tip of the cigarette dangling precariously from my lips. Although he was known as rich, his generosity was doubted by many including me."Everything seemed to be changing".

We found a reputed shop and after long bargain bought two sets of ropes costing 12 rupees. We reached 'Khana-khazhana', the famous and costly hotel in the heart of the town and one of the favourite hang outs for RITans."I have to be happy with an ordinary meal". The place was packed upstairs and downstairs. We waited for a seat and the smell of fried chicken watered my mouth. To my surprise, Liju ordered for two chicken biriyanis and a chicken kabab. This made me suspicious and felt like things are getting out of control. I hesitated for a second, understandingly he said "I will pay". I got overwhelmed with gratitude."Even after knowing him for so many years I felt like dealing with a complete stranger". I thoroughly enjoyed the food. After finishing it, Liju ordered ice cream! ."A perfect finish to an excellent dining experience".

"If u judge people you have no time to love them" I understood why Mother Theresa said this. I was doing the judging all day; doubting his integrity, mocking his intentions. I decided to enjoy the moment and thanked him from bottom of my heart. We reached back to the hostel by evening and I immediately slept.

A loud argument woke me up and I went to corridor of the hostel. I could hear Liju's voice from his room."Last week when I bought gifts for sports meet from Kottayam, you asked for proof before refunding the amount I spent. This time I had gone with Joseph. You can ask him for any clarification. I want the refund by tomorrow". As I reached the room, Liju stormed out of it after handing over a piece of white paper to KD, our Sports Secretary. The writing on that paper was not clear to me from that distance. I wondered "Why was Liju so upset about the refund of Rs 12 ?"

I went close and read the paper in KD's hand.

Expenses:

Bus fair -Rs. 08

Juice -Rs. 20

Cigarette -Rs. 10

Lunch -Rs. 60

Rope -Rs. 12

Total amount to be refunded -Rs.110

Sunny morning, lazy minds, a catalyst and a parker pen

We the 8 semester students and inmates of top floor of RIT mens hostel were still in bed, lazy n cozy when we heard someone shouting at a sight which was never seen there before.

A well dressed man, could be a Bank manager or an Officer in Govt service (as inferred from his appearance) was coming towards the hostel with his ward, a boy of 17+ years old, neatly dressed in tucked in shirts, full sleeve an expensive leather belt and black formal shoes and a parker pen on his pocket.

Let me first say that no juniors were permitted to enter the premises of men’s hostel. Rather, they didn’t have the courage, even to look to the side of MH while they were in the first years of college life. Now a boy ushered by his father (that too just after filing an application) was coming to evaluate the hostel and its facilities (which could be a part of the evaluation program that included labs, classrooms, library, quality and make of machines / instruments installed in labs etc) so as to decide whether the college equipped to fetch him a BTech degree and fit for him to live his next 4 years.

For us this sight was really enterprising. It turned out as a catalyst which triggered our ‘seniorist’ instincts and we jumped from our bed and darted towards the lounge. There, we found them asking our juniors, 4th semester students, about mess timings, mess workers, cleaning schedules and quality of food etc. The much annoyed interviewees were rejoiced to see us marching towards to them to take control of the situation. They retired and peacefully settled in the big news paper reading table which served as their gallery for the forthcoming events.

We got split into two groups. While one group stayed with the father and answered his questions, other group took the boy to a corner. The group with the boy, made guesses on the brand of the shirt and in order to confirm he had to remove his shirt and show it to all. To make guesses on the length of his belt, the same was also taken out. While removing his shoes, the fathers’ eyes fell on his ward and came for his rescue. Bit tensed on this sight, he advised us to consider him as our younger brother and reminded us of our duty to protect, guide and help him realize his dream of becoming a ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’ engineer.

Soon our colleague, an intellect who scores 80+ in all university exams but 50- in all internals and to whom calculator was a luxury, rose up and told them that, to master engineering one should unlearn all what he learnt earlier. The pride earned when he got selected to a premier college has to be shed out. Praise which fell on his ears while he ejaculated his CEE rank to his family members / friends has to be forgotten. Competitive spirits which helped him secure a good rank has to be buried and capability to gel with his colleagues shall be practiced.

Father and son thought that, what happened was “the unlearning activity” and left the hostel in peace. But to us the real fight started as we were to find out who became the new master for that parker pen.

Preface

14 years ago, there were only 14 engineering colleges in Kerala. One of them was at Pampady, a sleepy town near Kottayam, beside the KK Road. The college was under the shades of rubber trees and surrounded by hills. Like its students, the college was also in its developing period Buildings were only slowly coming up and so were the labs. There was only one permanent building - that was the Civil Block. That was where the seniors had their classes. The office staff and the Principal sat out of a temporary office building near the entrance. There were only 4 branches (Mech, E&C, EEE and Civil) with batch strength of 50 each. For S1-S2, there were two temporary class-rooms at the foot of the hill that houses Mech Block and the Workshop, and another classroom inside the Workshop building. The time table was scheduled in such a way that at least one batch was out for Geometrical Drawing, Workshop or such classes that are outside of the classrooms.

In 1998, a group of students joined that college. They were the first batch to have had all Lab classes in RIT itself (the seniors had to go to MA College, Kothamangalam to see how machines work). During their time, the administrative block, the Mech Block, the Library building, the Canteen etc. came up. The dependence on the PTM School ground for games was replaced by a small ground within the campus (they called it K. R. Narayanan's Varavu Memorial Ground because the ground was initially prepared for hosting the then President of India, Shri. K. R. Narayanan to formally inaugurate the college in a function which, never happened of course). They grew along with the college and by the time they were ready to face the world, the college had also grown independent.

The four formative years of their life they spend with this college. The college was part of their life. The ragging sessions, classrooms, hostel, canteens, library, drawing hall, festivals whatever it be, everything left lasting impressions in their minds. They were part of everything. They felt the pulse of the college in every heartthrob. They remained true to each other. They lived together, they dreamed together and enjoyed the happiness of being together - for four long years.

In 2002, they moved out from the college. With heart full of memories, they stepped into the life that awaited them. Life that was truly molded by the college, in return to their love. College days retreated into their memories and they donned a nostalgic smile whenever they met and recounted the times which were so dear to them.

10 years later, looking down the lane, those funny deeds arouse the same depth of nostalgia. Scribbling down those funny deeds, they could hear someone from deep inside their heart saying, “those were the best days of our life”.

We are sure; these stories will take you too to your college days. Those innocent, youthful, colorful days of your life.