Memory of two good days we spent together after half a century
Great Expectations
Forty five years melted away from the minds and hearts of all of us. We longed to be together again, with the rich memory of a variety of experience bubbling up in expectation. Ours was the first batch of Five Year engineering program and the maiden batch of first year students to enter the new Kulathur Campus on the outskirts of Trivandrum in 1961. We suffered through the Chinese war of 1962 and the Pakistan war of ’65 before we left the college in ‘66. We went through many trials and tribulations, recessions and retrenchments after the war, and widespread unemployment that followed. But nothing mattered now. We have all done the best with our lives, and most are happy grandparents. Our classmates came from across the Atlantic just to relive the exciting memory of togetherness. Nevertheless I couldn’t fathom what was in store for us on 22nd September 2011 in Poovar Island Resort.
In the beginning..
Our leaders Kurup and Co. had asked us to assemble in the Institution of Engineers premises and we (Nirmala and me) reached there well in time. The few guys who waited there faced me with a quiz. “Tell me who I am”. It was almost a cakewalk for me. Then a slim gentleman stepped forward (as he did in the NCC many years ago) and put across the query, adding that no one so far identified him. He may have changed completely, with a bald head as smooth as a baby’s bottom, but “Pattalam” George Thomas was unmistakable in his gait and speech. His challenge was squarely met and I beat him hollow. He couldn’t believe it, and you could knock him down with a feather. He wanted to know the magic of my memory and I said, elementary my dear Watson, I have been teaching all these years.
Saviours of mankind
A similar challenge was thrown to me by a stout Achayan from Pala, whom Kartha introduced as Raman Nair. Sitting two seats behind him in the bus I did a quick rewinding and scanning of my memory disk and shouted that he was Tommy, (Joseph Thomas). That wasn’t a bad performance either. Similar competitions were going on in the bus, but reports did not reach me. And then ….Enter Sundaram Reddiar. But for the efforts of Reddiar, India’s population would have crossed two billion by now. It didn’t, thanks to the millions of condoms he produced during his fertile professional career. Another great savior of Mankind was AK Mathew who produced pesticides and saved the crops in the country, multiplying agricultural production by leaps and bounds!!
Transformations and Identity problems
The easiest person to identify was Rajagopal (Potti). He carried a brief case instead of a slide rule and note books and his hair had gone grey. Otherwise he looked as though he was just about to board the college bus. Thin Thoma (KN Thomas) and Kunjappan do not change; they were always like this and will continue to be. Esther Varghese(now Ninan) was the only one of her kind in Mehanical branch, the very first lady Mechanical engineer of Kerala, eligible for entry to Guinness Book. KNC Kurup, (our leader) who had grey hair in first year has a surprising sheet of black hair now, to cover up his baldness (Godrej hair dye sells in barrels now!!) Thankappan Nair (NT Nair now) wore a sparse and almost white beard to match his philosophical thoughts and actions. Thick Thoma (KC Thomas) revealed his identity with his sweet smile. (Never mind he forgot how many kids he had). Ayyappan, the frail little boy who wore shirts too loose for him has the look of a business tycoon (I am told he is one, now) with a substantial bulk and a paunch to match. DV Ravi continues to be the most handsome guy and I could see the women folk still talking about him in hushed up whispers. As he refuses to remove his cap no one knows what lies beneath. Alas! the most handsome guy has gone bald too. Valsa Koshy(now Kuruvilla) smiled and introduced herself and her spouse. Rachel Mathew said she didn’t have to change her surname after marriage. That is lucky, isn’t it? Muralee Mohan Lal was quite shy and preferred to keep aloof except when he had to attend to organizational matters of the program. AK Janardanan narrated the agony of finding a job in the early years after graduation, but all is well that ends well. K A Sreedharan was perhaps the one who enjoyed real professional satisfaction doing a hard core Mechanical engineer's job inspecting factories and boilers and retiring as the Chief of the department. He promptly showed me his displaced thumb when I enquired about it. Murukesan’s thin black beard made him look far younger than he was, and his nickname “Pulse” resurfaced during the conversation. Rashid did not get enough time to narrate his exploits as all ex-service men do. He didn’t tell us how many Pakistani F-16s he shot down in dog fights during the ‘71 war. Madhusoodanan Nair made a brief appearance for a few minutes and vanished into thin air. He did not enlighten us on how he traversed the great circles around the globe over North and South poles, as flight engineer of Air India.
Losses on the way
Our leader Kurup wanted everyone to stand in silence in memory of those who left us during the journey. George Jacob Samuel left in final year itself (on Sept 13, 1965) and his bones are interred in the CSI Church opposite Public Library. Pramod died on the day our final year results came out, but Roy Varghese Paul lived long enough to make a mark in the profession. Pattalam gave a graphic description of Roy’s single minded devotion to duty and how he moved a train to its destination when the drivers struck work in the railways. Sure, he did us proud. Another person who left us was Padmanabhan (EE) whom we used to call Geometry Swamy in first year due to his uncanny knack of solving most difficult problems in Solid Geometry. One day I invited him to sit by my side waiting for KSRTC bus at the AIR Broadcasting station. I drew a ceremonial triangle and inscribed a circle as his seat to honour his skills in geometry. A perfect gentleman of mild disposition, Swamy never showed anger or annoyance at such mild teasing by lesser mortals like me. May his soul be exalted in his heavenly abode. Eugine George of EE passed away in 2006 due to a heart attack. I distinctly remember him. Tall, dark and hefty, he had an identical twin brother in the junior class. As he was good in maths, Prof. Nagappan Nair was fond of him and used to ask him jokingly, "Are you, you or your brother?". Sudhakaran (EE) (son of Prof. Bhaskaran Nair, University College) died around 1996 in the US where he had migrated after graduation. I am told he too died of heart attack.
Celebrities of our batch
Dr. G Madhavan Nair(EE) who launched many rockets and sent a space vehicle to the moon did not attend this program, although he expressed his desire to participate when I met him in Coimbatore. One of the organizers heaved a sigh of relief. Much as he would wish our celebrity member attended, an intolerable contingent of killjoys in the form of cops and black cats wielding AK-7 would infest the place and make life miserable for others. We may not get our old friend Madhavan Nair whom we could treat like the rest.
Despite the intimidating designation such as the Vice Admiral of Indian Navy Leslie Lowe was the same old smiling, affable character who had the time and mind to mix with the crowd. He did not narrate his exploits in the submarine but stuck to mundane things like family and grandchildren. We had lunch and dinner on the same table, and I admired his amazing dexterity with the knife and fork. As for me, I tend to hold them on the wrong hand (A punishable offence by British standards), and never find them good enough to attack a deep-fried piece of chicken. During the conversation he hopefully did not notice that I had given up the eating tools in preference to my god given fingers. Even otherwise I have the feeling that eating with knife and fork is like making love through an interpreter. I have tried several eating tools including chop-sticks with similar success story. I am told that the real hard core Chinese can even drink water with chop-sticks (Don’t quote me)
Remote participation
Thiruvenkitachary (EE) was acting as the medium through which TS Krishnakumar(EE) attended the function in absentia from USA.(Remember Dhritharashtra during the Great War of mahabharatha) Through Achary and me, he got a “ball-by ball” description of the happenings on both the days. He was one person with a great deal of enthusiasm for the event. Poor fellow was trapped in the US, only to return after a fortnight. In Bombay where he lives, he keeps our final year magazine on his table, opens the photo page and circles the face of the guy he meets. There were many circles on our class photo even way back in ‘97. Chacko Chandi, Joyce John and George Philip (Kochu Philip) are the other enthusiastic guys on the other side of the pond.
Self Introductions
By way of self introduction, almost everyone said he or she belonged to 1961-66 batch. Why this redundant statement? After all, we are met here to reminisce our good old days!!(To those who are irked by ‘we are met’: This is not wrong grammar, Abe Lincoln used it in his Gettysberg speech and there is a rule of grammar ‘Mahad-vachanat sadhu’ meaning what great people say is always right). I tried to demur this repetition, but desisted as good counsel prevailed when U.Mani dissuaded me with his “Chumma Iriyeda”. My wife was keen on knowing what Mani’s initial U stood for. I said its expansion was “Unique”. All of us have our doubles living in various spots on the globe. (Read Saramago’s novel “The Double”) But U.Mani doesn’t have any; he is unique, God did not create another specimen like him.
Sense of Belonging
Later I realized that U. Mani was right. There were a couple of guys who, admittedly did not exactly belong to 61-66 batch. Swaminathan PE joined our batch, left midway and graduated later. He said he was more attached to us than any other he sat with. N. Bhaskaran(Bhasi), the industrialist started his engineering with our seniors, and finished with a junior batch, sitting with us briefly during his long journey though the mighty rivers of Knowledge. He took a little more time than the rest of us because he was not excited by Fourier Series and Laplace Transforms and found his strength in Industrial production. Bhasi proved that academic excellence was but a minor gift when it came to success in life. Bhasi’s wife was adjudged the best dressed person in the crowd. Obviously, other women could not express their jealousy, but I noticed some of them pursing their lips and looking daggers at Kartha when he announced it. Of course, Kartha couldn’t care less. Moreover, how would he know? He never looks at women.
Of Farmers and Saints
An exemplary classmate was Sundaresan, who after retiring as Deputy Chief Engineer chose to go back to his roots; literally to the roots. He is living a farmer’s life caring for the roots of his plants, enjoying the growth of new green shoots every morning, breathing the intoxicating fresh air and listening to the Music of Nature in sun and in shower. This is a saintly life, one we all yearn to live, postpone it to a later date, and end up on the eighteenth floor of a city flat, the final tragedy of modern life. Next to saints, of course are teachers. PV Antony (Poovan , his initial, brings back alternating memories of a kind of banana and a loud rooster) made it clear that teachers were a rarity in our batch, with just the three of us opting for the selfless saintly life: Prasanna Kumari (now Panicker) and MPC besides Poovan himself. There is one more in the US: Kochu Philip (Dr. George Chalumthalakkal in Wisconsin). That makes four of us eligible for sainthood.
Stop Press
Many days after uploading this blog our Abraham John (Now he is John Abraham, topsy-turvy like most of the guys going to USA prefer to turn) claimed sainthood for a few more guys, subject to verification, of course. They are Gisuthan (ME), PV John and Unnnikrishna Menon, both EE. Gisuthan's case is straightforward, as he has also a miracle to his credit, the miracle of being a pet student of N Padmanabha Iyer. The other two will remain in the Purgatory for the time being awaiting details or miracles in their favour.
You Too Brutus!!
I was always under the impression that I was a pretty important guy known to everyone, having won the election against our arch enemies of T3 for Vice President of the Mechanical Engineering Association. My bloated ego suffered a jolt when a few guys told me they recollected neither my handsome countenance nor my illustrious name associated with yeomen service to the society. The “most unkindest cut of all” came when Sivamony Moorthy, ordained by Pattalam George Thomas as the youngest looking member of the batch said he didn’t know me at all. My deflated ego cried from inside: “You too Brutus”!!!. Although we never moved very close in the college, Sivamony was a frequent subject of Ayyappan's conversations-frequent enough to excite my memory chord. I still remember this was the guy who married in third year without inviting any of us for the function. Excuse me for my French: J’accuse..”He refused to share any of his rich experience with his classmates and we had to listen to the civil guy Venu who had a similar misadventure too early in life. He left us high and dry without caring to quench our thirst for knowledge.”. (By an inductive logic I concluded that old men looking young are prone to selective amnesia, particularly if they marry too early) Murukesh Babu and his wife were dashingly young and handsome, looking like in their early fifties. Luckily he had no amnesia and was kind enough to extricate me and Nirmala from a near crisis, by dropping us in his plush sedan at TTC on the return trip from Poovar.
A Personal Fiasco
We (Nirmala and me) had a small fiasco. I had read all of Kurup’s mails, but in the same way as I read my students' answer books. Obviously I didn’t get the program right, and thought we would return after the first day and assemble again next day. Result, we both did not carry even a toothbrush to Poovar. Away from everywhere and inundated by the surrounding rivers and the Arabian Sea, there was no way to buy anything. I consoled my wife that even elephants do not brush their teeth and why are you so touchy about it. She got convinced, but if she appears in the same sari next day what would others think? They would think you have only one sari. No I should show them one more. During our state of distress NT Nair came to our rescue and arranged with Murukesh Babu to give us the much needed lift back home. Then we came back to TTC, brushed, bathed and well kempt, ready for the day.
Maitre de Revels
Lunch at the resort was good, so was the accommodation. But in the afternoon our bosses herded us, the sleepy unwilling Lotus Eaters, (remember Tenyson) back to the meeting hall and left us at the mercy of Unnikrishna Kartha. His performance as Maitre de Revels (You should excuse my bad habit of using French words now and then. This habit started ever since I did my PUC with French as second language. This one simply means Master of Ceremonies). Kartha was flamboyant, boisterous, noisy, undemocratic, autocratic, despotic, dictatorial, partial, nepotic (You are at liberty to add more adjectives) and grossly unfair as a quiz master. Rampant favouritism was the hallmark of his decisions. During the quiz program he declared two star performers U.Mani and MPC as rebels just to suppress freedom of expression and to pave the way for his atrocious actions. His PJ’s (Poor Jokes) often became complex (P+iJ) where the joke part was imaginary. (warning: those who slept in Prof. Richard’s classes on complex variables will find it difficult to grasp even this PJ of mine)
Anticipatory Bail
A classic, interesting performance was by Jogan Easaw Mathew who appeared with his wife and a guitar just as big. His dome (hairless and smooth as a boiled egg) reflected the multiple lights of the hall in random directions and gave a tough time to photographers like me. He sang a couple of “Numbers” (singers usually prefer to sing numbers instead of songs) and a last one “Ayyappante Amma Neyyappam Chuttu”, of course in a Western Tune. Luckily Jogan had taken an anticipatory bail from our Ayyappan before performing this “Number”. Earlier in the day an unguarded remark by an innocent member had offended another and the latter, fully charged with emotion and eyes welling up with tears, denounced the former in public. Jogan did well to take his anticipatory bail. You never know when a thunderstorm could break loose.
Discovery of a Singer
Kartha’s histrionics reached its crescendo when he launched his “Anthakshari” between the teams of men and women. When the women’s team led by Nirmala, ably assisted by a chorus (whose names escape my memory) started gaining upper hand the hidden talents of the batch burst out in the form of MPC. His voice boomed in the hall as though Mohamed Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey Kishore Kumar and others had suddenly appeared in person. Then the men’s team had an answer for every challenge from the other side. A thorough Brahmachari during student days, Kartha has of late, become partial to women, unfairly assisting them and brushing aside the superior performance of the Men’s team. As a coping stone on his misdeeds he awarded a “Draw” as the final result. I wondered why Subramanya Sarma (His Highness or Tallness?) did not open his mouth. He remained silent like a ranging rod. In fact he was the person who taught me Rafi’s famous “There ghar ke samne”. People like Thin Thoma were flabbergasted by the classy performance of MPC and asked me why I did not take to singing as a career option. I modestly replied that Yesudas, the most promising Malayalam singer had just begun his career and I should not have spoiled his chances. After all, I had another profession to lean on to.
Guru Devo Bhava:
Imagine meeting Prof. MP Mathew on the way and greeting him with a slap on his back, “Hi, Mathayichan, Howdi, buddy?”. The new generation of students with the present value system may have no qualms about it. But our generation would feel a shock wave passing through our internal organs at the thought of this event. This is because the Indian psyche has internalized the feeling of respect to Guru and this dictum does not remain just a statement in the Vedas. We all wanted to meet our teachers and pay our respects to them. The small function was on the first floor hall of TTC where six of our teachers were present. Dr. R. Ravikumar and Prof. I. Richard came single, while Dr. KPP. Pillai-Varadakumari couple and Dr. Murali-Gomathi couple came in pairs. Professor Richard, despite his endearing charisma appeared aging and was a little hard of hearing. The other five of our teachers were bubbling with energy. I felt our age gap was slowly closing. They did not speak much, but their expression was worth a million words!! After a brief round of self introduction we stood for a group photo in the lawn a few minutes before lunch. Sitting on the floor, at the feet of our teachers was a great privilege for some of us, the privilege of disciples during the period of the Upanishads.
Au Revoir
All good things come to an end, and sure this one did too. But we have resolved to make it more frequent, at least once in two years. But who will bell the cat? That is a trivial, irrelevant and irreverent question. We have our backbone, KN. Chandrasekhara Kurup. On a more serious note, the function would have been drab and lifeless without Kartha. So, gentlemen and ladies we part for now, reposing our confidence in Kuruppachan and his able team to meet again soon with more participants, families and fanfare. God's own country is waiting for you. Au Revoir.
