Silver
Jubilee
Reunion
of the 1974 Batch
BY
K Joseph
Antony
(’74) in Chennai and
many more
O
Batchwalon
Three
Days from now
You
will be more disappointed
By
the things that you did not do
Than
by the ones you did do
So
throw off the bow lines
Sail
away from your safe harbour
Catch
the desert winds in your sails
Explore,
Dream, Discover, Get Together
Meet
for the Silver Jubilee Celebs
During
Oct 1to 3, 2004 at Pilani
Thus
spake Nattu, now Dean Sir, B.R. Natarajan, as he gave a last and
final call.It began almost three years ago, with a Yahoogroups
called BITS7475, which drew our batchmates now dispersed all over
the world, together, over the Internet. Its objective
- the Silver Jubilee Get-Together in 2004!! That set the
stage and over these three years, it built up our appetite for a
long-awaited reunion.
CSG
(Chandrashekhar Goel) for whom ‘organizing’ breeds genetically
moved a motley
Delhi
crowd into the
challenging task of mobilizing. It was easy. Along came Chaw
(Chawla), Mukesh Asija, Ujjesh Sinha, Atul Jain, Satish Bansal,
Ramkaran Goel, CK Agarwal – could anything go wrong? Even Murphy
decided, it was vacation-time.
For weeks, we searched
each other out, on email, on telephones. Spouses watched
helplessly as we hurled expletives across the planet,
re-connecting. “Batchwalon” (fashioned from the sholayesque
“gaonwalon”) we called each other. Roop (E. Roop Bhaskar Raj),
Rajiva Agarwal, Deepak Marwah, Sudipto Dasgupta, R.K. Vaish,
Nagendra Venkaswami and so many, many others, alternately cajoled
and threatened, till a hundred of us agreed, and willingly
submitted to Chawla’s extortionist methods, and paid up for the
trip. (It is believed that he charged extra to some, promising an
item number on the bus.
Even
the aftermath has been delightful. We have a humungous collection
of quality photographs, and some wonderful writing. Winston
Churchill might have said – Never before has so much been said
by so many ... about so little!
So
the compilation has been agonizing - what to include, what to
leave out – varying styles, diverse views, the Bresson’s,
Kafka’s and the Ghalib’s of our batch - and in the end (back
to GB Thomas!) have a “piece-wise continuous polynomial”. Read
on...
kuch
beete hue lamho se mulakat hogi
kuch
adhoori rah gayi baton ki shuruat hogi
yaad
aeinege ve kisse ve fasane phir sab
jab
pacchis saal bad hamari aur tumhari mulakat hogi
kuch
to badal gaye hain hum bhi tum
bhi
rago
main vo furti khoon main vo ubal to na hoga
lekin
is baat ka yakin hai ai dost
ki
hamari dosti main itne saalo ke baad
purani
sharab ka khumar to hoga
Poet
- Aniruddh Srivastava
Article
I.
A log of
the Silver Jubilee
Reunion
of the 1974-79 batch
By
Soumitra Chakravorty (’74) in
New
Zealand
30th
September – The Beginning
The
reunion began in
New Delhi
with a fabulous dinner,
hosted by our
Delhi
batch-mates, on the eve
of our Pilani departure.
We
were welcomed at the venue on Janpath by our dear friend, Chander
Shekhar Goel, one of the main organisers. It was rather useful net
practice for him. He has a son-in-law and a baraat to welcome, for
his daughter’s forthcoming marriage in December 2004.
Seeing
so many mates after 25-26 years, handshakes, hugs and backslaps,
was the most contenting hors-d’oeuvre anyone could have desired
and this was followed by a decent supply of drinks and a
mouth-watering, sumptuous meal.
The absentees would be
envious of the convivial company, the refreshing and encouraging
liquids, the delicious food, a few PJs and the lachchhas we have
had on that delightful evening. Everything flowed like a finely
matured wine until the last group among us left the venue at
1 am
.
1st
October - A Nostalgic
Journey Begins
We
began to assemble at
Sri Aurobindo Place
from
9.30am
onward. Many
batch-mates, who could not come on the previous day, arrived in
New Delhi
by planes and trains
that morning. More handshakes, hugs and backslapping followed.
Each
of us wore a collarless T-shirt designed by our illustrious Tapan
Desai (Tubby) and it was a sight to behold.
Almost all of us have grown physically over the last
quarter of a century and in some cases the growth has been quite
substantial. We now have the bodies that can indeed bring out the
full potential of a well-designed T-shirt!
Our caravan finally left
Sri Aurobindo Place
at around
11.30am
resembling a north
Indian baraat minus the bridegroom, comprising two air-conditioned
buses and several cars. Bus no.1 had a few die-hard bridge players
(Sudipto Dasgupta, K Joseph (Jose)
Antony
, E Roop Bhaskar Raj and
a few others) who promptly occupied the rear seats and started to
play without delay.
We had with us, a cassette of old gems sung by Dinesh Sharma,
Azhar Kazmi, Shanti Vaidyanathan, Soumitro Ghoshand a few others
at Saigal Nite 1977 during which the singers were most ably
accompanied on accordion by our very own Moif (SN Mahapatra). We
enjoyed listening to this tape on our nostalgic journey.
We picked up a few more mates in Gurgaon and continued on to
Rewari where we stopped for lunch.
Lunch was no mean feast at all.
Compared to the bus no.1,
the entertainment in bus no.2 was a lot more boisterous. Everyone
(including the spouses and children) was enthusiastically
participating first in the Dumb Charades and later in Antakshari.
Among the chief entertainers were Anirudh Shrivastava and Sunil
Marda who really stole the show although the rest were not too far
behind.
There was a
short stop between Mahendragarh and Satnali to enable emptying of
the gradually weakening bladders and to fill in some empty lungs
with carcinogen. There was another long wait at the Haryana -
Rajasthan border to pay taxes but we soon reached Loharu, and were
on to the home stretch - the last 25 km nostalgic Loharu-Pilani
road.
We arrived in Pilani in
no time and were treated to a running commentary on the bus’ PA
system by Sunil Marda who had studied in
Birla
Public School
prior to entering BITS.
Nutan market has changed with modas replaced by moulded
plastic chairs, a greater number of shops with shutters, a lot
more vehicles around and a much bigger bus stand.
It
felt great as we entered the campus main gate beneath the
welcoming banner and our onward journey came to an end at VFAST
hostel some 100-150 m to the left from the main gate.
As
we alighted from the bus, we were greeted first by our very own
good mate Dean Nattu or Professor BR Natarajan (who was perhaps
awaiting our arrival as eagerly as we waited to see him), Prof. RK
Mittal and Dr KC Chandoke (the then Gandhi Bhawan warden). More
handshakes, hugs and backslaps followed as we met our other mates
who had arrived earlier from Jaipur and other places.
Then it was time for
welcome by a girls’ band of the nearby
Padia
School
. The girls were at their
best and we were indeed privileged to be welcomed like this. Dean
Nattu thanked them on our behalf and then it was the time for a
2-minute silence to remember our mates who had moved on before
this reunion.
As
the girls played the first two notes of the Beating Retreat, we
fell silent. This was a poignant moment for us and a few tears
were shed as we remembered our good mates who moved on before the
reunion. The silence ended with the girls playing the last two
notes and then we made our way to enter VFAST Hostel and register.
Next,
came the welcoming tilak on forehead by the volunteer students of
present generation, registration, filling of a few forms,
receiving our welcome packs and room keys. A quick trip to the
room to offload the bags and we were in the VFAST quadrangle for
refreshments of Pilani delicacies and entertainment by local
artists.
Playing
of the ektara and other instruments, folk dancing and singing of
the old Rajasthani folk songs such as, ‘Gori ko pallo
latke…’ reminded us of the good old times we had 25-30 years
ago. Hemant Daga had carted loads of raj-bhog all the way from
Bikaner
for the occasion.
It was then time to clean
up and make our way to Shiv Ganga for rest of the evening.
Needless to say, the evening was rather agreeable and upon
completion of the proceedings, we staggered back to VFAST via
Connaught
at around
11-11.30 pm
.
During
this time, a few absentees were contacted on mobile phones and
subjected to collective earful at various times as the evening
wore on. The sensible ones relented and promised to show up the
following day whilst others who still could not make it were
missed.
2nd
October - A Magic Day
Many of us got up early
and went for a walk around the campus – generally visiting the
places we wished to, particularly
Saraswati
Temple
and our old hostels.
We also watched school children celebrating Gandhi Jayanti at the
Gandhi Statue.The
hostel rooms and furnishings do not seem to have changed much
except for the addition of a high speed communication link, a
personal computer and steel doors for the wardrobe. The bogs have
tiled walls and hot water supply from a solar heater mounted on
the roof.
The
breakfast was at RPA mess. From there, the BITSAA Secretary
Shivali and her team of volunteers led us for an Institute visit.
Some of us borrowed bicycles from the inmates of Ashok
Bhawan and made good use of them on campus roads.
We
went from RPA mess to the UCO Bank,
PO
and stopped at the Workshop. It appears that not much has changed
from the days of Prof Raghunath, the Workshop Superintendent of
our times. Then on to the Faculty Division No. 1 which used (and
even now continues) to accommodate the Arts, Computer Science
(Information Processing Centre), Civil and Chemical Engineering
departments of our times.
The
most noticeable change was the absence of those monstrous card
punching machines, the gross IBM 1130 processor, IBM 2501 reader,
the IBM 1403 printer and the associated paraphernalia that used to
occupy so much space. Whilst the glass windows appeared to be the
same from our times, the Centre has been remodelled to accommodate
a large number of computer terminals.
Next,
was a visit to the spanking new library whose architecture seems
to have resulted in many accolades for BITS.
From there, it was to the new lecture complex where
everyone piled in to a lecture hall and listened to Dean Nattu
delivering an impromptu lecture to the lot of Munnabhai MBBS (Mian,
Bibi aur Bacche Samet) who had descended to Pilani that weekend!
We then made our way to
the steps of the Audi where a few informal photos were shot before
proceeding to the Central Lawn to plant saplings in memory of our
mates who moved on before this reunion.
Whilst the holes were
being dug for the saplings, few of our batchmates joined in a BITS
style cricket game with the present generation of students and
showed to the youngsters that ‘samay ka deemak hamare hatho
ko major nahin kar paya’!
Nevertheless,
it is a pity that the present lot, use proper stumps instead of
the room chairs we used as wickets. Some might see this as a sign
of progress!
Smarajit (Toy) Dey delivered a short impromptu speech before a few
chosen from amongst us planted the saplings. As Toy said in his
speech, this was not a time to be sad since we were celebrating
the lives and achievements of those mates by planting something
permanent that we hope will grow tall with the passage of time.
It
was then to the Museum steps for the formal photo sessions. Around
this time, Nitin Pandit (Pondy) and Vinay Gupta arrived. More
handshakes, hugs and dhaps on the back, and we finally got on with
the photos.
It was now time for the
legendary Saturday lunch at RPA mess and then a few hours’ quiet
time for some whilst gyan-daan (career counselling) sessions for
others such as, SP Kothari, Raja, Debashish Ghosh, Deepak Marwah,
Sanjay Dharwadker (Dharu) and a few other learned batch-mates.
It
rained a little that afternoon bringing in a cooling respite from
the heat. The day marched on and soon it was time to go to the
Audi for an evening we ought to remember for the rest of our
lives.
Shivali,
the BITSAA Secretary, welcomed us and then handed over the
proceedings to our own Dharu who took over as the Master of
Ceremony for rest of the evening.
Needless
to say, good humour, wit and albeit a few PJs, flowed from
thereon. Dean Nattu projected and read out messages received from
some of our illustrious batchmates who could not make it to the
reunion. The director Dr L K Maheshwari addressed us. The General
Secretary of the Student Union and Raja (representing us) proposed
a vote of thanks.
A highlight of the
evening was the honouring of 26 teachers of our times by various
batch-mates, which was the least we could do for those who had
taught us then.
The cultural part of the
evening was a smashing hit. The present BITS Music Club has a
depth and width of talent, which was certainly lacking in our
times. They put up a very entertaining evening, which was a hard
act to follow. Nevertheless, Moif, Mrs Surabhi Mishra, Miss Milind,
Hemant Daga, Miss Pooja Natarajan (8 years old and the star of the
evening), plus Mr and Mrs Sunil Marda made us look good.
When
the cultural programme ended, it was time to go to the cafeteria
for dinner with the faculty. We returned to VFAST at around
11.30 pm
, carried on with
lachchhas among various groups of mates and at various locations.
Some of us
returned to VFAST around
1.30-2.00 am
but were re-directed to the
All Night Canteen (ANC) for more chais where Dean Nattu was
presiding over the proceedings. At that time of the night, the NC
had some 30-40 batch-mates and spouses. When it finally closed
around
2.30 am
, we returned to VFAST
carried on with lachchhas until
3 am
when most of us called it
a day!
3rd October
- All Good Things Come to an End
Once again many
batch-mates got up early and went for a walk around the campus to
enjoy the beautiful morning one last time. After having the last
breakfast at RPA mess, we farewelled some of our mates in the
first bus who needed to return to
Delhi
early to catch their flights and trains.
A few of us who remained went to the Museum and established that
it had not changed significantly since our times. The lunch was a
Sunday Special at the RPA mess.
We then bought
a few souvenirs from BITSAA, ordered few photos of the reunion,
bade our farewells to the hardworking and wonderful team of
volunteers of the present generation students, Dr Chandoke and
Dean Nattu before boarding our bus. We were farewelled with a
BITSAA souvenir and a boxful of delicious Pilani pedas.
We left BITS
Pilani at around
2 pm
. A truly remarkable event had come to an end!
Article
II.
Some of the
things I observed that are symbolic
By C.M. Ramesh (’74) (Uncle Tom) in
Goa
The
junior Bhawans (Vyas, Shankar,
Krishna
, Gandhi, Budh, Ram) are now all grilled, and the E-shape is now
closed up to form internal quads. (The Bhawans now have a squarish
8 shape). The entrance and exit from these Bhawans are through
central doors that are also grilled and the gates shut at some
time during the nights. No exit/entrance from any part of the
Bhawan's downstairs wings, as used to be the case during our
sojourn there!. Thankfully this is still to apply to the
"senior" bhawans (RP, Ashok, et al. Malviya of course is
now a fortress due to it having become an MB for girls.)
The
Sharada idol in the temple used to be visible from the Audi
entrance looking out. This is now obscured by the tall statue of
GD Birla erected right in front of the temple, so what one sees
from the Audi entrance is the back of GDB's head!
The
library building is an 'aalishaan' modern structure (quite
incongruent with the architecture of the rest of the campus), but
two things struck me as quaint. It is pretty far from the main
academic buildings, and the murals on the ceilings at the entrance
are all paintings of
Krishna
freaking out with gopis!
Strange I thought for the entrance of a library. But that is what
is shown in movies like 'Main hoon na' I suppose.
One sees a lot more sentries around and the main gates to the
institute appear guarded and half shut. Since now the Institute
has a big supermarket within, the need for students to go
elsewhere (esp. Nutan) for anything has reduced and I am given to
understand by locals at Nutan (we had jalebis, kachoris, and chai
there on the morn of the 2nd), some of whom remember the Sardar
Gujral as Student Union Pres days, that it is rare for a student
to be seen there now.
As
Parakram says, there is the ubiquitous Undy visible in the front
of most rooms in most wings of most Bhawans when one winds one's
way through the roads beside each Bhawan.(Can't see them at the
MB's as the wings are shielded from outsiders, and as a
consequence the world outside is shielded from insiders looking
out!)
Arz
karna chahata hun, lekin alwafz nahi
Teri
dosti aur purani yadon mein
kho
jane ko jee chahta hai.
Door
baithe ho pass fir bhi ho tum kitne
Phir
Pilani tere paas aa jane ko jee chahta hai
Poet:
Harish Khullar in
New
York
Article
III.
Reminiscences deep…
By
Sanjay Dharwadker (’74) (Dharu) in
New
Delhi
Thanks,
we already have wonderful descriptions of our reunion – the
write-ups and the pix. After the return, anticipated total silence
for a few days if not weeks, but here we were clamoring for the
story to be told, almost immediately. For Nattu and the Organizers
– a sigh of relief that it was over? No…a loud lament of
emptiness. A Single write-up? Impossible. One hundred souls …500
man-years of Pilani, 2500 man-years of memories…and 300 man-days
of reunion (not counting families). Would have to be James Joyce
and Ved Vyas in one…
But
I try. Since the event narrations are done and still coming, maybe
I omit the details. I try to discover - What is it about Pilani
and us?
For
months we waited in anticipation for the reunion. We traveled,
across the globe, by airplanes, trains, buses and cars and, past
Nutan reach the portals of our most cherished memories. As the
evening fell, we set out on the streets we knew, looking for the
familiar sights – bhawans, bank,
PO
, workshop, insti…
So much looks the same. But like elsewhere in the world, grills
and walls have come up, somehow taking away the openness that was
our Pilani. It is now boys ‘and’ girls all over the streets,
together at the rehris, bhawan gates and elsewhere. In the hostel
rooms, you are not an existential castaway any more, cut off from
the rest of the big world, but are connected now. The Internet
feeds you, I am told, your assignments, your knowledge and of
course, whatever after-hours stuff that you want. The student is
now more business-like – cycling to lectures, cycling to
Connaught
(for
‘pesarattu’ not ‘samosa’), and the endless lachha
session seems to be rare now
We
ate at the messes, and could swear that it was the same where we
left it 25 years ago, even the coolers and washbasins outside.
Perhaps, what has remained most unchanged of all - the dimly lit
corridors and the dimly lit streets. The evening and the night has
the same basic feel. Many of you might remember a souvenir that
Tubby sketched, Jose pixed and we wrote a few poetic lines, which
ended with “…and the pavement stretch dissolves in the dark”
– it still does. Only that time, we wandered on foot, in our
little groups, like lost souls in our own purgatory. Now the more
singular souls flit about on cycles.
One
evening, during the reunion, it came back to me. For 5 years, we
walked the little grid of our Pilani streets, taking turns that
led us to our friendships, knowledge, romance, rejuvenation and
retribution. I remembered reading the Marquez’ classic ‘One
Hundred Years of Solitude’ and writing a letter to a beautiful
Meera Bhawan girl, of how we live our life in cycles – in one
instant, in an evening, in a day. Our 5 years in Pilani were as
though we lived our entire life, end-to-end. The letter had two
objectives – to impress the girl and perhaps enlighten her a
bit. Still don’t know, if either happened.
And
now 25 years later, it seemed as though we did another full cycle.
We took the turns and walked the streets again. Ironically, the
‘chaurahas’ now have sign-posts, to where the roads would lead
– the post-modernists would be delighted that their metaphor is
now a physical reality. For a moment it seemed eternal, and I dare
to say, we seek and almost find, our little version of
immortality.
In
the darkness, round the corner, I hear Salve’s inimitable
laughter, punctuated by his asthma thing. When the e-mails start
flowing, I dream there was one from Mundkur, wanting to know about
a bridge game in the night…
I
stand in the audi and say my pj’s one last time. You all laugh,
perhaps out of charity, and the young ones, under duress from
Nattu’s supari (yeh mota kuch bhi bole to hans dalna kya, sochne
ka nahi), my happiest moments, then and now, I must admit.
At
breakfast and lunch in the mess, we stand in line for our French
toast, Dosa and Aloo Parantha. We drink the tea (or was it coffee)
from the steel tumblers, as though it was theertham and prasadam.
As the pix show, we were a solemn lot - pilgrims, (among the
sambar chawal – there was even a somber Chawla!), believe me.
We
did our Maha Kumbh, took our dips, drink a few drops of the elixir
of life, and move on. But the magic is in the telling of the
stories, and each of us must tell it our own way, a la salim javed
– kabhi comedy, kabhi tragedy, kabhi action, kabhi halka sa
romance.
Article
IV.
The Angst of the Absentees
By
Anupam Bose (’74) (Babuji)
Received
a call from revellers at
Reunion
a little while ago.
Salle log ka vocabulary sudrega nahin ! To try ginger a support
group for absentees - sure, we deserve some vigorous investigation
- but they are in Pilani, and we are not - rubbing salt and mirchi
hamara parampara kabhi raha kya ? Jor se bolo, nahi chalega, nahi
chalega.
Dharu,
devoted some unnecessary time discussing my sexual proclivites
with close relatives ... but what of the others ? Are these
our representatives to instruct the brightest and finest of our
youth in the desert, on the values which carry you through life? I
was expecting Roop to be reeling from seeing his descendant in
Budh actually studying Econometrics, instead of composing
creative make-ups. And Toy, since Class 3 a voice of conscience
turned harami, to check out a room in RP and advise them in
masterful fashion how to take a double finesse. Or Sudipto's
Rajesh Khanna swagger - can these kids' namby pamby hero Saif Ali
Khan even come close. No. NO. Absentees join me in a resounding
No.
But ... but ... always
thought drinking to avoid sadness was too filmi ... this Friday
night its not.
Article
V.
Wonderful
it was... A trip down memory lane.
By Parakram Mishra (’74) in
Chandigarh
Its
going to be a week since we gathered at the Free Mason Lodge and
the emotional hangover persists. I had tears in my eyes… The
journey back started in silence but Jacob had this great idea of
Beer…
The morning walks in Pilani were great. Bazmi, surprisingly was up
early with his camera and I found him lurking dangerously near
Malviya Bhawan (part of the 4MB cache!). Some of us visited the
bhawan rooms we stayed in, and almost ragged the inmates. I woke
up the inhabitant of 274 Ram where I landed up as a fresher and
was tempted to ask him “what
the hell are you doing in my room?” ¨
