Beete lamhein...

Note: All the characters, places and incidents in this post are highly ‘infectious’. Any resemblance to something remotely real, is purely co-incidental. Kya kare bhaiyya, apna batch jo aisa tha?

I swear in the name of all the VTU guides I have referred and all the JC parties I have attended till date, "Engineering is the best thing that has happened to me till date..." Today, when I sit back and refresh my 'hard drive', all the memories are just bubbling out. I am feeling very nostalgic! As I watch at all the wonderful snaps, which were clicked in sheer 'euphoria', on all the occasions which were worth a treat at JC, I simply have nothing else to say but to confess, "College days were THE BEST days of My Life!!"... These 4 years have given memories to cherish which are undoubtedly worth remembering an entire life time. I would like to share a few of them with you :

1. On any given day, JC would surely top the ‘Best places to hangout’ charts of everyone in my batch. All my batch mates owe a lot to this place. All THOSE people who were the protagonists of innumerable creative jokes at JC deserve a standing ovation! So folks, before I move on any further, please halt all the processes running on you system for a while and join me in saying this, "East of west, JC is the BEST..." What more can I tell you about those memorable parties at JC. Woh jannath thi, jannath!!! You know something? Not many in my batch know that the stall is actually called ‘Renukamba Juice Centre’. Hmmm quite a trivia isn’t it?

2. I was once asked by a senior when I was in my I year, "Do you know the MG road and Brigade road of B.I.E.T.?" I was quite a dumbo then, and mumbled some crap and escaped. But 4 years down the line, I know what they were referring to? I truly miss them now. For all those fella BIETians who still walk around with an aroma pseudo innocence, you know whom to ask about it. Don’t you?

3. Schmoozing!! Abh usse accha time pass to aur kuch ho hi nahi sakta? Phokat main time-pass karne ka maza hi kuch aur hain yaaro! All of us would grab the most coveted positions on the ‘chat-stand’ which is THE best place to watch the 2 roads meet (in perpendicular). The place is situated perfectly. It serves the purposes of everyone who come to its shelter, without any discrimination. It has been habituated by many ‘Legends’ over the years, for the most trivial ‘bench warming’ task, to the most daunting task of waiting anxiously to know their fate after attending a written test or interview of a company. rK has churned out N-number of memorable jokes, on all the famous personalities of our college. You name them and they all trace back to this ‘chat stand’.

4. I badly miss all those ‘Namgu-ond-slot-hakrappa’ sessions we used to have in the college canteen. All credits to SM. He is the source of inspiration for initiating the historic ‘Mil-baat-ke-khao-aandholan’. This used to be our mantra ‘Plate-ek-lekin-chamche (spoon)-anek’. Koi pehle plate lekhe aaye ya na aaye, lekhin spoon zaroor pakad letha tha. Yahan par saabhi log mil baat ke khate to the, lekhin coupons kareedna ka saza kisi ek ko milta tha!! Some of my friends later developed an ‘optimized’ strategy called ‘khaao aur khaane do’, according to which they would avoid breakfast at the regular break time of 10:00 a.m. and instead have their breakfast during the 11:30 a.m. break (mostly during the final year) when the ‘threat’ of intruders would be less. I really really miss those slot sessions!!

5. Abh college main fresher ho to ragging wagging to hogi hi. According to the universal law of ragging, "The more the number of seniors you know in a college, the greater is the probability that you will be ragged by the same hey-I-know-them guys!" I wasn’t an exception to this law either. One of my senior who was in his final year (I knew him pretty well) asked me to go to a girl seated at one corner of the reading room (I will speak more about this historic hangout, which used to be the favorite place of students to chill during college hours, shortly. Khair aage ki baat aage...) and get her bio-data. The reading room was quite an action-packed place as always, and I approached that girl (who was probably his class mate) and asked her to give me her bio-data. She looked at me and asked, "Yaar kalsiddu ninna?" I pointed towards the table, where my senior was sitting with his friends. She replied quite sternly (almost in a belligerent tone), "Kodalla anta hel hogu…" When I came back to my seniors, I realized that both the parties knew the consequences of this age old ritual pretty well in advance, and were laughing their heart out. I was out there standing like a Bakra!! Even to this day, this is one the most hilarious episodes in my college life. Every time I remember it, I cherish quite a lot.

6. I mentioned something about the famous reading room of our college previously. Isn’t it? Believe me; if I were to list all the misnomers in the world, in the decreasing order of their appropriateness, B.I.E.T.’s reading room would undoubtedly top the chart! Every guy/gal who has studied (or is studying) at B.I.E.T. would testify my claim. Wahan par kya mahol rehta hai yaaro? Door door tak aap nazre milaao, to aapko sirf chaffers hi milte hain. Except a few misled nerds (who lost their way and landed up there), you will (not even by mistake) find some one who is actually reading. Yeah! People do read there. They read your hands, bestsellers and of course not to mention the eyes of guy/gal seated opposite to him/her. Most of the people can also be found busy messaging their dear ones. I wonder sometimes, are Hutch’s profits staggering record high solely because of these duteous short-service-messengers in B.I.E.T.’s reading room? Chahe jitna bhi ghanta bajalo VTU waalo, yeh log mobile use karna kabhi bandh nahi karne waale. At times, the noise levels in the reading room are so high that even a guy with sony-erricson w700i, listening to his favorite flick (full volume + hands free) would request them, "Arey thoda dheere baatein karo yaaro, mujhe kuch sunayi nahi de raha hai.."

7. I miss all that masti I used to have by bunking classes (whenever I felt them boring) on account of forum activities. It was looked at, as a sort of compensation we claimed, for the shedding those extra gallons sweat in organizing events at our forum. I am proud to say that amidst all the differences we used to have, all my friends were so cooperative. Our forum is one of the vibrant forums in our college. It has given us so much. I owe a lot to all my profis in this regard, and especially to our HOD, without whom all this wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks a lot sir!

8. I used to hangout with sri (my project mate) and enjoy a KT or Badam milk (along with god-knows-how many biscuits) at a tea stall near the high school field. We used to discuss all the matters, remotely imaginable under the sun! The tea and badam milk were absolutely awesome. The stall has currently removed... I would pay any amount to sip a cup of KT again. I miss that hideout pretty badly!!

9. I miss all those anxious moments I used to experience before the results were ready to be put up on the notice board. We used to enquire about the results with the attenders of our department, Rammanna or Rameshanna. They used to reply quite monotonously, "Result bartiate bidu, tali yak kedskotya? En munche display madodrinda number change aagtava?" We used to nod our heads, half pacified by their logic. But the anxiety would still be lingering in our hearts, ready to take a toll of whatever we were engaged at. I still remember how I was taken by surprise when my 6th SEM results were out. I had scored nearly 8 percent more than what I had expected. That’s VTU for you folks! When you fear to fail, you end up passing in flying colors. But when you fantasize to top the class; you will end up being ‘stamped’. (Samjhe nahi ka? You will score just 35!!)

10. I miss all those last bench photo sessions that we had during CIP classes. We used to occupy the last benches in the class and click photos, in angles nothing less than the ones taken in a screen test. I got a golden collection of such snaps! Sri had bought a low-cost but mast-looking goggle, which was used by all the legends of the last bench to pose for the million dollar snap! Even during such boring classes, a minority of dweebs in our class couldn't resist the temptation to jot down whatever crap was written on the black board! Thank god, I already had my share of enlightenment by then.

I have countless memories in my heart. Likhte likhte space kam padjayegi, lekhin yaadein kam nahi honge! Thank you B.I.E.T., for having housed zillions of such memories. Na jaane kitno ki yaadein judi hey is college se? Co-icidentally this also happens to be my 101nth post on this blog. I have finally slammed a ton!

~IT's My Life