CHAPTER II

...contd from chapter I of SUMMER OF '05

all because of dat phool waali shirt!!!

We were made to follow strict guidelines by the authorities, went to mess at a certain time, in a line and returned straight to our rooms, we were not supposed to go to the grounds but still seniors did had their chances, we went out, n were quite regularly caught by them in grounds, outside the college, n sometimes they also managed to come inside our hostel. In the grounds it was all fun…they asked for intro, witty question were thrown at us, we bowled at imaginary batsman…fielded imaginary bowls…even proposed girls with straw of grass in our hands n flowers on our ears…n some how I had that thing, the thing that invited trouble, I was almost always pinpointed from the group, “you in blue shirt, idhar aaa!!!” someone thundered in I was the one in blue shirt…I just hated this…

But it was not all that we had to see…

The real thing was patiently waiting for us…

N it was on 2^nd oct…

It was the day each one of us remembered...well the fort (hostel) was invaded by our seniors…we were arrested n marched towards the senior hostel…n then… ahem…

but after that the little left fear of ragging was gone…today I can say it was all fun. But back then we blamed it all on phool waali shirt of anshul for it…well

as the story goes…

We had planned a trip to noida on dat very day. we were going there a me, abhi,….and anshul with his phool wali shirt on…we saw some seniors n were sure that if seniors will see that shirt they will go mad n we’ll be in trouble, so we decided to delay a bit but then huh!!! All of a sudden some seniors came to our hostel n we all were told to gather in the hall downstairs…

and a small trailer of the real ragging(which later happened at night) was given…so as it was meant to be, we couldn't go, n then finally that night happened…

all said n done…

if now someone asks me wats my take on all dis ragging stuff…well I ll say its not all that bad, all we have to do is to keep our heads in the right place…

all seniors want is respect, so why provoke them by showing disrespect, after all they are seniors…it’s the most basic protocol, we’ll have to respect seniors were ever we are…isn’t it???

And for juniors well they come to a all new place, for the first time to face the world, what will they do if they are not able to face their seniors confidently enough??? This is what these ragging sessions teach them…so face it n learn from it. But there is no place for these arguments now when all these laws and strictness in place. So be it…who cares anymore…

At home…

Hmm…so it was a matter of couple of months only before strangeness of the place was gone, we were pretty much at home. Came our freshers party…and immediately we went for our diwali holidays. We then came back and it was business as usual…exams came an went by…some papers tough some easy…but as it has always been results were…ahhmm…forget it…

Nothing much i can say now…except the fact we had started loving the place n our lives more…

I guess nothing lasts forever

but these will…

§ First hostel fight…picked up by sandeep, sanjeev etc with some dhaba walas…almost half of the hostel boys rallied with them to anand vihar in middle of the night…

§ Our hoax of a spine-chilling venture in some under-construction building near by at night. We actually made most of the hostel believe that we had an encounter with a ghost like figure near a banyan tree there. Thanks to some Oscar winning acting performance by achin, varun and me and subdued but subtle reactions of mohit and abhi.

§ Disappearing of TT net and our warden taking varun, abhi and achin to senior warden. They were yelled at quite badly when our ‘dude’ tried to explain them duty of the guard…

P.S- the net was eventually found in our phantom’s room next morning.

§ Hiding of solanki in his own closet and asking abhijeet to lock him…

And abhijeet, wat a roomie he was, he pointed warden towards the closet…wish I cud show u the posture he was in when the closet was opened by the warden.

§ Crank chart sham by salil…and me throwing him out of our room subsequently…

§ Late night shows in common room of …ahmm u can guess what…even the hostel guards used to come and enjoy. One such show was a must every alternate night during semester exams time!

§ Watching of cricket matches there…the whole hostel seemed to vibrate with the noise generated in common room.

§ What I did to Arun Patwa…sorry friend, I was furious and really wanted to hurt u really but not that bad…

§ Fight with locals at RKGIT college...u can guess the seriousness of the situation by the fact that they came with kerosene n all to torch our college bus!!!

§ Holi inside the hostel. We played for I think 3-4 days at a streach…

And when I was waiting in with a bucket full of water in bhaskar’s room hiding behind his door to drench him, at that very moment warden and some other faculties came inside and caught me when I was about to throw water at them.

So here I am…through with year 1…

At the end of it we were all quite excited …we were quite sick of being juniors, now it was time to be seniors…yeah…“let `em come”!!!

it was the summer of `05

CHAPTER I

yeah it was

‘Engineers’, which was precisely what we wanted to become…most of us if not all. And at the end of it all we’ll not just take home our degree but something which will be with us for the rest of our lives…and that’s experience…and that’s what studying in an engineering college is all about…right folks???

‘Bahot kuch kiya, bahot nhi bhi kar paye,

Yeh char saal kabhi bhool toh nhi payenge

Jo bhi tha. jaisa bhi raha

ENGINEERS toh chalo hum kehlayenge…’

So with dese 4 remarkable years of my graduation commin 2 an end…I wud lyk 2 share sum about d tym dat flew by…

First things first…starting here with year 1

The longest year by far… n I think so because it was vastly different from what we lived in the rest n so memories have sustained a bit longer n is quite vivid…

1 yr…well it was typical…new place, new people, getting caught n being ragged n everything was underlined with a sense of excitement and novelty, we were constantly in the process of discovery. Most of us were away from home for the first time…we used miss our home, sometimes felt lonely too but still the spirits were high n slowly we came to grips to the facts that our lives had changed forever and nothing would be same as before…n it has proved true…

our abode

So coming to our hostel…well not the typical types n that made it so very interesting. it was more of a makeshift arrangement. Hostel was in the building meant 2 be classrooms in future so the rooms were big. Big enough for our own version of cricket matches. All the rooms were on the same floor separated by a channel, which was never closed however.

What the channel managed to do was keep the two sides a bit aloof of each other but more effectively in the initial days only… but still v had our different perception for each other…the east end boys were considered as ‘mamma’s boyz’ n the other end were of more roguish types… though many exceptions existed. I happened in mammas boys side n I do not consider it to be purely incidental

In the classrooms

Days were going by…classes were not very interesting though attending them was not as challenging as they have become today. Had our different set of friends there, n also we had the opportunity to woo the girls which was a bit difficult for us as hostlers…thanks to the dress code n cropped hair…

“Chal intro de” !!!

It always started with this line. Yes am talking about ‘THE RAGGING’

contd...