The voice within.

If it was Kannada and Graphics subjects on one side, then there were all other subjects like MES, Civil, physics on the other side. Civil, taught by SSB and MSP, was normally the first period for us in the morning which meant it was a 45 minute class for us. And if it was SSB, then it was a 30 minute class. I still remember when we three showed to SSB class at 8:40 in the morning. The reason we gave? "Sir.. There was a goods train on the railway track due to which we couldn't cross over and enter the college!" MSP, on the other hand, had a decent sense of humor that atleast made the class a little bit fun.

Physics class was almost equivalent to one full hour's sleep. With 4 different lecturers teaching different topics, it couldn't have been more confusing and boring. While on one side, it was the burnt Bonda going at snail's pace in Optics, there was the Rajdhani Express rushing through the other part of the syllabus. And then, there was the chirkut who filled in the bits and pieces of the leftover lessons. And then there was the Punjabi munda redefining Quantum physics in a way that would make Einstein hang himself. Everybody used to try really hard to stay awake in the class but when it came to Bonda's class, it was impossible. One afternoon, after a sumptuous lunch, we were sitting in Bonda's class. While half the wickets were down, Puttu was sleeping with his head on his desk as though he was being beheaded. Bonda, spotting this, called out -- "Hey you! Last bencher. Get up." Sameer nudged Puttu in the sides and Puttu woke up with a start. Bonda demanded -- "Whay are yhou shleeping in dha class? Whaat is yhour phaather?". This is one thing we never got to know. What does his father have to do with this? You don't attend the class, he wants to know about your father. You skip the lab, he wants to know about your father. :S Anyways, Puttu got up and said " I have a headache sir.". And the Bonda replied -- " Yhou must be hyappy man. Yhou have a head!" ( we highly doubted whether the Bonda had one :P). And then he looked at me and Sameer and said -- " Don't sit with him. He whill spoil yhou guys also." :D

MES was taught by the ever Sarcastic lecturer whose name I won't take here as he is my uncle's friend. :D I still remember the day when he made fun of Santosh Paradi ( I think) in the class while giving away internal marks. He kept on singing "Doni saagali munde hogali.." in the class showing Paradi's Splash Lubricator drawing. 

Workshop was fun. Only bad thing that happened to me was after my first welding session. I never used the protective masks and stuff that were given to us and did all the herogiri in the workshop. At around 2 in the night, I was screaming " I am blind! I am blind! I can't see anything! " and had scared my parents too. My eyes were bloodshot red and I was not able to open them until it was dark around. It took me almost a week to recover from that. Sheet metal lab was always a laugh for us because we had that chotu lab instructor squeaking "Baalu! Baalu!" all the time in the lab for something or the other. Once, he gave Sameer to complete a half done circle joint in one of our sessions. An hour later, we see him screaming at Sameer, "En ree neevu! Circle joint shape maadri andra job kuttgi ne kattrisbitteeralla! Ella waste iddera nodri neevu!". Sameer had actually chopped off the semi circular portion of the job that was supposed to fit into another iron piece with a similar groove. :)

If we were in college and not in class, the only place we were to be found was the sports room. TT, carom were routine. While everyone rushed to the bakery and canteen during the 10 o clock break, we used to run to the sports room. Singles, Doubles, Three on each side, Round robin, we've played it all. Everyday, we had to fight. Puttu, with his never ending Gandhis, and Sameer with his strange smashes, both refusing to vacate the slots when they lose. 

Saturdays, it was Nuggikeri day for the whole college. While the hostelites went in the college bus, we three used to go on either sameer's Kawasaki Ninja ( Kinetic Honda) or Puttu's Hayabusa (Bajaj scooter) or sometimes both. Starting Sameer's Kinetic used to take a decent amount of effort because it needed a minimum of 15 kicks to start. Puttu, had this unusual habit of shouting at any person who used to block his way when he was riding and never once used the horn on his scooter I believe. And as per him, he used to get confused between the brakes and the clutch in the scooter. That explains why I was sent flying off the scooter once in Gandhinagar area when I was sitting behind Puttu on his scooter. In the middle of the road, I was sitting with a bleeding knee and palm, while a classmate of mine from PU ran up to me. I was under the impression that he was going to help me get up when he questioned -- "Hey! Heard your CET ranking was 200 odd? And you took E&C seat in SDM?". Geez.. I so wanted to kill that guy.!

Exams, the less I talk about them, the better. The best part of the exams getting over was, we could play cricket throughout the day! Starting from 7 in the morning, (yes! 7. I never woke up to study at 7!) going on up to 11 and then an evening session on Sameer's terrace. If not cricket, it was Wrestling. Monday-RAW, Tuesday-Smackdown, Wednesday-Afterburn, Thursday-Bottomline, Friday-Heat. We had to watch all the shows even though they were repeat telecasts. 

Six months had passed in a blur and we were already a semester through in Engineering. :)

The first few days of the first semester were filled with both fun and embarrassment alike. All credits to our senior batch and their ragging. How come both fun and embarrassment you ask? Its fun when you see someone else getting ragged. And now you know why the other component is. :) Anyways, I think we were put in Physics cycle first and to our luck, me, Puttu and Samya were all in the same E division. That meant, the plan we followed on the first day of college was to continue for the next one year to come. I still remember the roll numbers. 520 - Puttu, 547 - Samya and 556 - me. 

Our classes used to start at 8 in the morning and go on up to 12:30 or 1:30 at times. Technically, 8:15 to 12:30 for us as we were very dedicated to being late for the first class in the morning. Unlike other freshers who spent a lot of time near the bakery or at the sports room in college, we three used to run home the moment our classes got over. Why? Cricket! We were a crazy bunch of guys who had to play cricket every single day. We three, along with Shiku (Samya's brother i.e. "Low keep aato!"), mama (Samya's dad, the best player of the lot), Varish and Veeresh (Shiku's classmates). Not even a single day went by with we not fighting over cricket. Every evening used to end with someone or the other cheating to win the match. It was great fun though.

At college, we had all sorts of subjects like MES, Graphics, Physics, Civil, Electrical and the good old Math. The only misfit in this lot was the Kannada class. :D Started specifically for the Northees to learn some bits and pieces of the local language, the best part of the Kannada class was that we got to talk and curse everyone in Kannada. And in case you didn't know, Puttu, who has studied in CBSE for like lifelong, was as confused as ever whether he came under the Northee group or the Local group when it came to Kannada class,simply because he had finished his 12th from Noida and not learnt Kannada in past 4-5 years. Nevertheless, it was fun to see Puttu asking doubts in the Kannada class. I recollect one of the lessons from our syllabus which was something like " Ane halla dalli hudugiyaru". As soon as the professor started with this name, we were all giving 90mm grins to each other. I specifically recollect one thing that happened at one of our Kannada internals. Yes. They had internals for Kannada as well.! Puttu, who is as fluent as TV anchor Aparna in talking and cursing in Kannada, was not that familiar with the Kannada script and hence for him, writing his Internals in Kannada was a wee-bit difficult. So, right in the middle of the test, he got up and asked the Professor " Saar.. Kannada nyaga dhodda Pha henga baritaara?? ". The moment he said this, he knew that he was going to remember that Internal for the rest of his life. :)

Graphics class was a different world altogether. While most of us struggled to spot the teeny weeny dark figure moving around in the class, students playing in the college field could almost hear the high pitched voice of DRR yelling at a student for not sharpening his pencil or not getting his own drafter to class. Graphics classes normally started at 2:15 in the afternoon which meant 90% of the class was on the brink of dozing off. Most classes had a lecture for the first half an hour or so and then, we were supposed to solve some problems. There were two incidents from the graphics class that we laughed at all the time, one involving Samya and the other one, Puttu. 

One afternoon in the class, we were solving some problems given by DRR while Gadad sir and DRR were having a look at each of our drawing sheets. Sameer on that day, had forgotten to bring his eraser and finally had to resort to a stray piece of rubber that was lying on the floor in the class. From its looks, it appeared that the eraser was run over by at least two to three batches of students who had attended the graphics class that day. So Samya picked it up and used it during the course of the classwork.The moment DRR came to Samya's desk, he let out a shriek and shouted -- "En ri idu? Nimagenu baralla! Your drawing is so shabbby!". Every student in the class sat up with a jolt hearing the scream thinking that Sameer had just put a HB pencil through DRR's stomach. At that moment, Samya replied back to DRR with a wide grin -- "Sir.. My drawing is not shabby. Its the drawing sheet that is shabby.." :D

The same day, DRR was handing over roll number-wise our drawing sheets that contained our homework that we had submitted the previous week. We always looked forward to hearing 520 from DRR's mouth for two reasons. One, to laugh at the way he called out 520. The other, because it was Puttu's roll number! DRR always had a complaint to accompany Puttu's drawing sheet. It always took Puttu a while to realize that 520 was his roll number and he was being called, given the forgetting type fellow he was. The Ghajini of our class you can say.The moment Puttu went forward to collect his sheet, DRR's BP hit 200/140 and he started screaming like a puppy run over by a scooter --" En ri neevu.. Ond sheet alli Onde drawing na moor sarti maadiddera? Henge ri correction maadodu??". The moment me and Samya were waiting for had come. We were waiting for the showdown between Puttu and DRR. For a moment, we thought Puttu was going to catch hold of DRR and give him a choke slam on the drawing table. But then, we heard Puttu calmly telling DRR -- "Saar.. Naan front page alli aa diagram maadirodanna martbittidde!".. :D 

September 15, 2002.

"Puttu..! Ent hodithu.. Lagoo elo..." ( Its 8! Get up..).. I was still shifting sides on my bed when I heard my mom say this for the 6th time that morning. Everybody knows its difficult to change something when you have been following it for quite sometime. I was no different. I was used to getting up at around 10 everyday during the holidays after CET. But that day, it was different. It was supposed to be my first day at Engineering! The moment this hit my head, I sat bolt upright on my bed. I was supposed to be at college by 10 and I was still in my bed! I got up and started getting ready while all the planning that we had done the previous day was running through my mind. Sameer was to come to my home at 9:15 and together, we were to go to Puttu's house. From there, we three were supposed to go to college. 

This part went as planned and we were in college by around 9:45. As we walked towards the main entrance, we saw that the entrance was fully crowded. There were parents and students, perplexed alike in trying to find the place where the welcome ceremony was to be held. Here and there, there were small groups of guys and girls, friends from PU college perhaps, looking for the Auditorium. Everyone was either seeking directions from the guard at the main entrance or going around looking for the Audi themselves. Finally, everyone started moving to the left of the main entrance, and we three, hoping that it leads to the Audi, followed suit. On the way, I met a few more friends of mine from my PU and tuitions, Vikya, Adi, Boka Vijya, Santya kulkarni, Sameer Joshi etc..

Very soon, the audi was packed and the welcome ceremony began. Invocation song, guests' intro, speech, chief guest addressing the students.. It went on for around two hours. I managed to gather nothing out of the those 2 hours except that we had a lunch organised and a department tour at 2 o clock that afternoon. I looked around and I saw the same "Lunch and Department tour in the afternoon" look on Puttu and Sameer's face. 

The best part of the ceremony ending was the lunch. :D I think the lunch was arranged at the hostel (I don't exactly recollect. Growing old you know. :) ). We all ate to our heart's content at the hostel and then started roaming around the campus. It was around 12:30 and we still had ample amount of time before the department tour. So, continuing our habits from PU, me, Sameer, Sameer Joshi, Puttu and Boka Vijya came out of the campus to the nearby Tapri. Vijya and Joshi went in and asked "eradu Raju kodri..". Little did we notice that there was a gang of around 6-7 guys sitting outside the tapri, smoking. When Joshi and Vijya came out, we started discussing what to do until 2. A dark tall guy from the smoking group overheard someone say "Department Tour" and that was enough for him to know that we were freshers. That's it. The guy got up and asked all of us to come into the tapri. Even after this, we never realised that they were our seniors.. Joshi, with usual arrogance refused plainly. Then the other guys from the group started getting up one after the other and soon, we had no choice but to follow them inside. Puttu, who was in a different world altogether, almost told the dark guy " Eh hogole..! chaa maaravne.." thinking that he was the guy selling tea at the Tapri. 

30 seconds into the Tapri and we all knew that this was going to be our first ragging session. The usual intros, tell me your name, "abey baap ka naam nahi bolega kya? Poora naam bata!", which PU college, which branch followed. Then came the worst part.While one of us was asked to measure the length of the tapri bench using a match-stick, the others were asked to say ABCD backwards. Some were asked questions like "what is the Integral of Body?". While everyone was struggling at their own tasks, I got pulled out of the lot solely for the fact that I was from Suku's tuitions. For the people who dont know, Suresh Kulkarni (referred to as Suku most of the time) is a slightly funny but brilliant Mathematics teacher and the founder of Suresh Kulkarni tuitions in Dharwad. Along with Hanchinmani tutorials, it is one of the top tuitions in Dharwad for PU students in Science stream. The guy who had singled me out was also from the same tuitions and so decided to get a bit of "Suku"ness out of me. Suku always had this funny way of talking to himself while teaching, turning towards the board and doing weird hand gestures while calculating something etc. We were so used to his idiosyncrasies in the tuitions that some of us used to do that everytime we spoke about Suku. The senior guy, who also knew this, asked me to do all these things in front of the 6-7 member senior crowd. The ones who knew Suku were laughing their heads off while the ones who were new to this were laughing hard just for the reason that it looked really stupid.! It was just so embarassing for all of us that we kept looking at our wrists all the time hoping that its 2. But as always, when you want time to fly, it seems to be running at half its normal pace. Finally, when we were let off, it was 2:15 and all of us were late for the department tour. Perhaps this laid the foundation for we never going to any class on time throughout engineering. Not even internals.

The moment we were out of the tapri, all of us rushed to the campus without even looking back once, fearing that we will be called in for one more session later. Once we reached the main entrance, I and Vijya left for the E&C department while Sameer left for the ME Department and Puttu to the CSE section. There was an intial briefing about the department in some classroom that went on for an hour post which, we were taken for a visit to all the labs.Finally, when the whole thing got over, it was close to 4. As soon as Sameer and Puttu were done, we rushed back to Sameer's place just to make sure that we are not spotted by any seniors in college.

That evening whizzed by with each of us recounting the ragging incident and each of our tasks. Puttu was still in a dilemma whether the dark guy was truly a senior or the chai wala at the tapri. I was still laughing at the way I imitated Suku. All in all, it was an eventful and unforgettable first day at college for all of us. :)