Chronicles of KGP : A yearning for Learning
250 odd of us started as freshers in 1972. Our friends and relatives were proud that we had made the cut and were admitted to an IIT. I did not know what to expect.
“For us, Starbucks was Sadhu’s shop under the staircase of C block.”
Seems like yesterday that I walked into RP Hall for the very first time. As I alighted from the rickshaw, I saw a senior sitting on the post besides the bicycle gate at RP with a wide grin on his face. I was fresh meat for him.
“I am proud of my alma mater because it has made me, in large part, who I am today.”
Most conversations in the first few weeks started when I heard the two words: “hey fresher” or sometimes “hey bugger”. This was quickly followed by another question: “Hey fresher/bugger, what is your name, dame, fame and shame?” I tried to get creative and finesse my answer every time but trust me, there was no wiggling out. We climbed Mussorie countless times, endured ragging which culminated with a Miss RP Hall contest where two chikna freshers competed for the title. OP may have bad connotations now but it created a wonderful sense of comradery and was a great equalizer in every sense.
OP quickly gave way to the rigorous academics: tons of tutorials and labs. How can one forget the Smithy workshop, pounding a red hot chunk of metal into submission into a precise shape and size using an almost too heavy to lift hammer and an anvil in the torrid summer of 1972? Or the ET lab in the 2nd year? Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics, Laplace Transforms, Fourier Series, Mathematical modeling of chemical processes. We were fortunate to have an academic staff that excelled in their area and made sure we worked hard. One cannot forget the many funda profs who we so revere even today. Others like Dr. Awasti were even involved in student life issues.
“Student life was fabulous. Hall days. Inter IIT meets. The heady week of Spring Fest. Waldies. Chedis. The OAT. Mess duty. Saturday afternoon movies at the Netaji. Thursday morning PT.”
The bhat sessions at Chedis over endless cups of teas or lassi. We pondered over our Profs, courses and worldly matters.
And the music. What a scene it was. Sitting in Surd’s room or Ramz’ room, listening to music on amps and speakers they made themselves. Or the concerts by visiting artists like Louis Banks, the godfather of jazz in India. He came to KGP twice and now is in Bollywood. When asked recently, he still remembers coming to KGP.
I like to tell my wife I am not a fussy eater at all in part because of what all of had to endure at the mess for 5 years. Lunch time was short and sometimes you would not even get served chapatti in that time. And if we did, chances were at least a part of it was raw. One would see uneaten and inedible chapattis flying like Frisbees to land on the window ledges of the mess. The rest of the food lacked taste. For us, Starbucks was Sadhu’s shop under the staircase of C block.
Breakfast and the two special meals in the week were the only food that I looked forward to. I can still smell the aroma of the Sunday special, chicken curry and pulao. Everyone was always smiling standing in the queue for the Sunday special. Wednesday semi special at dinner was mutton curry. We were served fish once a week.
Some of us are now household names. Some of us not so. But each of us carries inside us the passion for creativity, the inquisitiveness, the strive for accuracy and precision and a yearning for learning that is deeply embedded inside us.
As I look around at KGP now, I see a lot of dynamism and energy.
I am proud of my alma mater because I see a lot of dynamism in the student body today, a spirit of entrepreneurship and a gung ho attitude. The institute has branched out in many directions besides core engineering and that is a wonderful change.
I am proud of my alma mater because I see a lot more female students now. I am pleased to see a healthy participation in engineering by women.
I am proud of my alma mater because of the well-deserved recognition it has received worldwide.
I am proud of my alma mater because it has made me, in large part, who I am today.
KGP ka tempo hi hai.
~Sailesh Jantrania
CH | RP |’78
