Goody Goody days

 Goody goody days !


My name  was missing in  the first list which displayed the names of   students securing admissions in VRCE way back in 1970 but in the waiting list my name was first. Perhaps that was the only time when my name was on the top of the list ! I therefore got admission in the prestigious VRCE in mechanical Engg branch.


I remember my first day of the college of second semester....Yes like   many people  ,for me also the second semester was studied first ! It was the period  of English and needless to say it was interesting for the obvious reason.

The class room was the corner room of then Physics Department.


It will be complete prevarication if I state I was very intelligent student though I was conferred Merit scholarship for the  first 2  years .

We used to go to college on cycle with drawing board on carrier or handle ,T and slide rule on our shoulder and carefully rolled Holland or Scholer drawing sheets.

Being the fan of our then prime minister Indira Gandhi, I had pasted her several photographs on rear side of my drawing board.The new subjects for us in the first year were "Engg drawing" and workshop engg. Since we were required to put down our names in the right bottom corner of every  Drawing sheet we drew, I used to curse my long Surname !


After two years my name got removed from the merit list as there were many studious and intelligent persons in our batch.

The year 1972 was the year of Bobby Fischer ...and  if someone would have  used different yard stick for measuring intelligence, I was very much there in the top 5 .  I am talking about intellect required to play Chess . My rank was 4th and one Mr. Sakargayan and Mr. Maheshwari of our batch were ahead of me. Both are not here and both were academically average students like me .


Inspite of my average performance I became Electrical engineer !Thanks to our  friend JD who was quite   a big mouth and Chatter box then.

( and many believe even now.)His firm belief was, there is rush to get Mechanical branch only because most students are scared to take Electrical branch. (His exact comment was Electrical branch lene ko fatati hai")We had long argument on this and just to disprove him I opted for electrical branch. I was the only person to get my branch changed from Mechanical to Electrical though my  two close friends Rajiv Deshpande and Sanjay Kher had opted  for mechanical branch . We three used to be together all the time in first two years and even later except while attending our classes.Our trio was known to all and many used to envy us. Kulwant Singh Virdi was another friend because he used to live close to my home in Shankar Nagar. Other than these I rarely mixed with anyone except with Suresh Junghare who  was universal friend.With  Suresh and many of his other friends, I saw Johny Mera Nam in " Panchsheel" theater  and that was my first experience of watching moovie from the Balcony !


My academic performance in all the semesters was constant and I used to score in the range of 61 to 63 percent irrespective of any subjects. Greats like Dinesh,Arun Nikore ,Nitin ,Suresh,Pradeep Lothe,Rajiv Kanetkar   and Satish Salpekar used to score  mostly above 70 or 75 percent and over all topper used to be always Dinesh even when he faced adverse unfortunate situation.


From ,8 th semester I developed hobby of playing Bridge in addition to Chess.This hobby was hereditary to me and it gave me new friends . I developed  friendship with  Sudhir Watwe,Rajiv Kanetkar and Raju Muthal . Can you imagine 4 persons travelling on one cycle ? Very few will..... but I had experienced that  many times while going to hostel  to play bridge by bunking classes. There was one Mr Bansal of Civil Engg .He rarely used to play bridge  but used to give his expert comments on every deal we played. In spite of his civil engg branch he was a gem in his intelligence ! I still remember that , just before  I went to give 9 th semester electrical machine's exam I was conducting 6 No trump at my home and my father was my partner !.


In five years of tenure in VRCE our batch faced 6 students' strikes for many flimsy reasons. I think there was understanding between our principal Dr Dokras and student leaders as strike would be called off  after 2 or 3 weeks. The last year strike was however stretched beyond the limit. Many students may not be knowing, that an infamous "locked down" in the final year was triggered by me and my project partner Jagdish Bhuskute.Jaggu was boxer and had an ability to take Chaman Lal head on. The only other person who could do that was Vikas Sohoni who was "Mr. VRCE" .Myself and Bhuskute went to our laboratory ignoring the strike.(By the way in the History of VRCE we were the first to use integrated circuit Chip.)As we were coming out from college gate at about 5.30 pm Jaggu was attacked by three persons. I was very thin then , so they spared me ....Perhaps thinking I may not have ability to withstand the fight. I felt very bad as Bhuskute fought alone and started bleeding. Soon the crowd gathered and attackers disappeared . We then went to police station to longue the complaint. This was an opportunity for the principal who, after giving 48 hours notice ,declared lock down sine die.After over 4 or 6 weeks of lock down a better sense prevailed and the college reopened.Somehow our academic year was saved.During this period Hemant karkare and Santosh Jain were active in signature campaign.

All our professors were nice .I particularly remember Professor Rao of Chemestry Deptt .Prof Koranne of Mathematics deptt. and prof S.L Kulkarni of mechanical deptt who gave me C+ or repeat grade on many drawing sheets which I meticulously drew in the

6th semester.Prof Asnare was exceptionally good and professor Kelkar was ambidextrous (a person who can work with his right as well as left hand with same accuracy)He used to effortlessly write on the board with left and right hand and is always remembered for his this skill. Prof Tekade taught us many things in Social studies including fundamental rights given in our constitution. His classes used to be most entertaining .I discovered that professor Paithankar was great in the field of power system protection only after I left VRCE.


I must mention about Kaka Chaiwala where we used to refresh ourselves and argue on flimsy points over a glass of tea .Many persons used to even copy journals there and I remember Pran Nath Parmar and Rajiv kanetkar who used to even draw graphs of the experiments we did in the Machine lab.They were my partners while doing experiments. Milind Nafde who is now bald had the longest hair in the entire college and when we went for the training after 4 th year we two ate butter chicken or Tanduri chicken continuously for 8 or 9 days in the "Elite " hotel

at majestic circle of Banglore city. The full chicken used to cost only Rs 7 then.


How can one forget that cricket match cheating against Medical College? Exceptionally good bowling of Ashok Bhagwat and stylish left arm spin of our Rajesh Khanna ....I think Suresh Wakhalu was fast baller... Besides that he was the most handsome person in our college ..We indeed witnessed interesting matches against science college in which star players like Anil Deshpande and Prakash Sahasrabudhe were our opponents.

.

I do remember closely fought election for GS in which a real elephant was employed for canvassing perhaps for the first and last time.Many events of our Gathering including one Kawwali and some dramas and debates are just infront of me.. For two years I played back stage worker's role in Marathi 3 act plays and usedœ to be prompter to ensure smooth proceedings on the stage !


Even after over 50 years I remember all the things of those goody goody days vividly.! Even now Sometime I dream that the red hot MS rod in the Smithy practical of first year has disappeared in the oven and I am assigned the task of writing workshop practical books of seniors.After submitting the practical books a worker there used to ruthlessly pierce a big hole in it !


Many persons whose names are mentioned in this write up are no more. Every year I get news of wicket falling of our batchmates.


That is sad but Life is like that .


We all are 70 plus and I wish long healthy and happy life to all.

Inadvertently I might have missed names of many who were nice and kind to me.This is only because the age is catching me.


In the planned GTG more than 50 percent participants will be almost

unknown to me and at least 70 percent of them must not be knowing me. Who knows this could be even the last meeting with many but the dreams of those goody days will always linger in my mind !!

-----Rajendra Phansalkar

Nov 18 ,2024.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enough and Plenty

  ENOUGH  AND   PLENTY Let us first understand ' dictionary  meanings of enough' and plenty seperately.  The word “enough ” can be used as a determiner, pronoun, or adverb, and its meaning depends a little on context. General  explanation... As much or as many as is needed; to the necessary degree. Examples in use: Determiner: “We have enough food for everyone.” (sufficient quantity) Adverb: “She is old enough to make her own decisions.” (sufficient degree) Pronoun: “I’ve had enough of this noise.” (a sufficient amount) So in simple terms, “enough” means sufficient, adequate, or as much as required — not too little, not too much. About Plenty dictionary explains following Plenty means a large or sufficient amount of something — more than what is just enough, often suggesting abundance. Usage: Noun: “There’s plenty of time to finish the work.” (a large amount) Adverb:  He is  plenty smart to handle this job.” (very, more than enough) Pronoun: ...
Read more

Decision Making

Decision Making A decision can be defined as the best course of action—or inaction—perceived by an individual or a group of people at a given time in a particular situation. Interestingly, sometimes the most appropriate decision is not to act at all. Choosing inaction consciously is, in itself, a form of decision-making. Since time, circumstances, and people’s needs constantly change, no decision is ever permanently right or wrong. A choice that seems correct today may appear inappropriate tomorrow. Today’s comforts may become tomorrow’s needs, and what we see as luxuries now may turn into necessities in the future. A particular course of action that suits one situation may prove unsuitable when the situation changes. Moreover, individuals think differently—what one considers right, another may see as wrong. The real nature of a decision becomes evident only after it is implemented, by which time the situation itself may have changed. Every individual faces many challenges in life, and...
Read more

FALL IN LINE

FALL  IN   LINE 43 years back I attended one lecture of noted management expert and teacher , Professor Sharu Rangnekar and later  read his  one small and wonderful   book titled " In the wonderland of Indian Mangers".I honestly feel that no one has described  management style and work culture of  Indian Industries better than professor Rangnekar. Since then I have been a silent observer of the people I have met in various industries. RANGNEKAR described  in the book how people avoid work in the systematic manner.He also mentioned  about 90 /10  formulae stating that  in almost all Indian  industries and offices 90 percent work is done by 10 percent of the employees and balance 10 percent work is done by 90 percent of the employees .When I observe people I try to place them in either 90 percent or 10 percent category . In most Indian industries the basic  management style continues to be " Either you fall in lin...
Read more