It all started with a mail from Akkur with impressive list of Batch of 98 planning to visit the College. While it was a bit disappointing to see the lack of gender diversity in that list, I was quite enthused at the possibility of playing Volleyball (Cricket as a stretch aspiration). As expected, Naresh from my batch showed enthusiasm to join and Ramki also was interested. I was sure that, I am not the only odd-man-out in the trip with Naresh and Ramki keeping company from our batch.
This was followed by regular updates from Akkur and others on logistics, calling few others also to join etc., I was all excited, almost feeling like going home after a long time. To my pleasant surprise, Soma from batch of 98 called me one evening (after a gap of 5+ yrs ??) and was all excited to go to college and play cricket. We had a nice "mutual leg pulling exercise", which is THE normal way we always talked to each other. Hearing the excitement and long chat, I was very sure, Soma is not going to join the trip :)
Over to the next stage, we had some unfortunate last minute drop outs like Naresh and Paalai, who were working over-hard to maximize the shareholder value for their respective companies :)
20th Friday was day of logistics and figuring, who will meet whom and how we would drive down to college etc., With last minute drop outs etc., it was 7 folks from Bangalore and 3 or 4 from Chennai. Tamil from our batch was to join the Chennai batch in the last minute and this was communicated to CAS and Sampu (Or was it really ?). We all got together on 21st morning by 3:30 am (Yes, 3:30 am IST) and started to driving with an aim to get to college by 10:30 am. It was Racchu, Raaga, Akkur, Raghu (Batch of 97), Ramki, Tiju and self, who anchored off the coast of Bannerghatta Road at around 4 am, that morning. Calling Chennai gang, we found something funny. They got confused between Tamil (Batch99) to Muthamil (Batch 98) by waking up the later at 4 am and asking him, if he was ready. I will let the readers imagine the conversation ..
The Ride itself was quite so much fun starting with Ramki asking for a break hardly 60 minutes into the journey. We got to see what Ramki ate that morning. Adding more spice to the journey, Racchu's Innova refused to start after that break. We all had to show our fitness by pushing the vehicle a good 3 to 4 times to have it started. It was clear that the journey will test our physical endurance. I am sure, we had to repeat this skill at least 4 to 5 more times, what with Racchu switching off the engine, every time we had to stop with the assurance that, he never needed to push the vehicle.
With constant pestering by me and Raaga, Racchu stayed under 120km/hour. We safely landed in REC, at around 11 am. Not to our surprise, the Chennai gang landed much ahead of us, with brief stop over at Theppakulam, with some photo session etc., (Just to re-state., CAS/Sampu seems ot have taken maximum photos with Zero published till date). It was utter disappointing to see CAS in bland black t-shirt and shorts. The Innova gang was all super sure that, we will see CAS in some three-forth in Orange color and green dots etc., (Proves that CAS calmed down in life ??). It was an nice quick session of hugs and shake-hands, having met and seen people each other after a decade or so. CAS, Sampu, Balaji seem to have not changed one bit.
We were informed that students were waiting at the lecture hall (EEE lecture hall, which is air-conditioned, now ??) . We quickly refreshed and went in to the hall. It was nice to meet Nicky and few other profs, who run the department now. It was interesting to see that 15 yrs has not done too much damage to folks like Nicky and SRB, while we have all clearly aged that much. We had quick intros and ACCUMEN (Intra-MCA session to hone their skills in debates, coding etc., ?) was declared open by Nicky. We were also forced to get on to the stage and introduce ourselves and offer some advice.
Some highlights from the session were:
It was lunch time and we all moved to Dept new building (Pretty big and nice), where we happened to sponsor lunch for students and staff. I didn't realize the need to sponsor, until I ate the breakfast in the Mess, the next day morning. :)
It was a nice gesture from Akkur to have initiated this. We had a nice time eating and interacting with the students. I could see the students enjoying the food. (again, the reason goes back to how pathetic the food is, these days in college mess). We had free flowing interactions where we all met students informally. I happened to meet few folks who had questions/points like
We went back to Dept again after lunch and Nicky shared the current syllabus and asked for suggestions from us on subjects/papers. In my opinion, the syllabus has been revamped quite a bit and seems like there are lot of electives etc., This seemed like a good affirmative step forward. Seems like the next hurdle would be have some guest lectures or Alumni offering to teach to deliver those courses well. Raghu at some point was thinking of a possibility, where we take a break from job and teach for a semester etc.,
We went back to EEE Lecture hall, where we had all 1st years introducing themselves, starting with their 10 digit roll number. For whatever reason, it seems like everyone needs to remember their 10 digit roll number. To our shock, at least 50% students are from MP where there is a Training center, which trains students very well for NIMCET (all india MCA entrance for Govt colleges ?). Diversity is the essence of RECs but seems like that got diluted a bit. There were 2 folks from TN, 2 from AP, Zero from Kerala (Yes Zero. We would have cared least about mallu guys but Zero mallu girls) This will leave little to no chance for a Odisha guy to hopefully find a Bengali or Mallu girl and "commit". Anyway, that is only a part to the bigger problem.
This continues to be long session where students had questions, shared some of their woes and towards the end, few folks sang for us. IMHO, we did end up scaring them on how they should prepare for campus interviews etc., anyway, all in right intent. :)
This was followed by a quick tea session at snacky's (The tea shop close to our old dept building). Some of the us had the noble goal to play volleyball and re-live the times. We had a good session of volleyball for 1 hour or so. We joined the College team and played with them. All this while, some of the smarter visiting lot had good kadalai session with 2nd years. (Proofs included) As you would see, we got to play the game in flood lights, which itself was quite a kick. Living in Bangalore for long, I really enjoyed the nice cool evening breeze of Trichy. The true craving for water was felt by most of us, after a long while, I guess. (This feeling may not be new to Chennai folks..)
This is when the most responsible folks from the group reminded of the mandatory task that we had to complete. Guesses ??? The BEST club rituals. The folks were so much duty-bound that, they didn't let some of us wash and change from our Volleyball session. We right away headed to Sangam hotel, near Central bus stand. This is where the more fun Began... Pls await for a week to see the fun unfold..
Few tit-bits from next part:
1. Tiju makes Racchu run, all of a sudden
2. Balaji becomes Lord Buddha
3. CAS has some Paalparai delicacies
4. The Aaloo parata's in Megha Mess
Ranadheer Velamuri
MAA9612
P.S: Link to Ramki's photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/106906967652700975030/RECTTripSept2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmBx_LNx5yMRw&feat=email#5927117882300959794
This was followed by regular updates from Akkur and others on logistics, calling few others also to join etc., I was all excited, almost feeling like going home after a long time. To my pleasant surprise, Soma from batch of 98 called me one evening (after a gap of 5+ yrs ??) and was all excited to go to college and play cricket. We had a nice "mutual leg pulling exercise", which is THE normal way we always talked to each other. Hearing the excitement and long chat, I was very sure, Soma is not going to join the trip :) Over to the next stage, we had some unfortunate last minute drop outs like Naresh and Paalai, who were working over-hard to maximize the shareholder value for their respective companies :)
20th Friday was day of logistics and figuring, who will meet whom and how we would drive down to college etc., With last minute drop outs etc., it was 7 folks from Bangalore and 3 or 4 from Chennai. Tamil from our batch was to join the Chennai batch in the last minute and this was communicated to CAS and Sampu (Or was it really ?). We all got together on 21st morning by 3:30 am (Yes, 3:30 am IST) and started to driving with an aim to get to college by 10:30 am. It was Racchu, Raaga, Akkur, Raghu (Batch of 97), Ramki, Tiju and self, who anchored off the coast of Bannerghatta Road at around 4 am, that morning. Calling Chennai gang, we found something funny. They got confused between Tamil (Batch99) to Muthamil (Batch 98) by waking up the later at 4 am and asking him, if he was ready. I will let the readers imagine the conversation ..
The Ride itself was quite so much fun starting with Ramki asking for a break hardly 60 minutes into the journey. We got to see what Ramki ate that morning. Adding more spice to the journey, Racchu's Innova refused to start after that break. We all had to show our fitness by pushing the vehicle a good 3 to 4 times to have it started. It was clear that the journey will test our physical endurance. I am sure, we had to repeat this skill at least 4 to 5 more times, what with Racchu switching off the engine, every time we had to stop with the assurance that, he never needed to push the vehicle. With constant pestering by me and Raaga, Racchu stayed under 120km/hour. We safely landed in REC, at around 11 am. Not to our surprise, the Chennai gang landed much ahead of us, with brief stop over at Theppakulam, with some photo session etc., (Just to re-state., CAS/Sampu seems ot have taken maximum photos with Zero published till date). It was utter disappointing to see CAS in bland black t-shirt and shorts. The Innova gang was all super sure that, we will see CAS in some three-forth in Orange color and green dots etc., (Proves that CAS calmed down in life ??). It was an nice quick session of hugs and shake-hands, having met and seen people each other after a decade or so. CAS, Sampu, Balaji seem to have not changed one bit.
We were informed that students were waiting at the lecture hall (EEE lecture hall, which is air-conditioned, now ??) . We quickly refreshed and went in to the hall. It was nice to meet Nicky and few other profs, who run the department now. It was interesting to see that 15 yrs has not done too much damage to folks like Nicky and SRB, while we have all clearly aged that much. We had quick intros and ACCUMEN (Intra-MCA session to hone their skills in debates, coding etc., ?) was declared open by Nicky. We were also forced to get on to the stage and introduce ourselves and offer some advice.
Some highlights from the session were:
- CAS tells the folks that he spend 16+ (or was it 20+) in a day doing projects (God knows what projects)
- Sampu giving a nice management speech (quite a hard talker now. Not the one, I knew)
- Balaji talking on being "relevant" and "current" (not sure, if I got the words right)
- Raghu had some simple yet effective suggestions both to students and staff
- My Self talking on diversity and other management gyan
- As expected Raaga had some sound/serious advice on being very academic etc.,
It was lunch time and we all moved to Dept new building (Pretty big and nice), where we happened to sponsor lunch for students and staff. I didn't realize the need to sponsor, until I ate the breakfast in the Mess, the next day morning. :)
It was a nice gesture from Akkur to have initiated this. We had a nice time eating and interacting with the students. I could see the students enjoying the food. (again, the reason goes back to how pathetic the food is, these days in college mess). We had free flowing interactions where we all met students informally. I happened to meet few folks who had questions/points like
- Why should there be quantitative aptitude in company selection criteria
- Their deep exposure to FB but never heard anything like LinkedIn etc.,
- Lots of students from Bihar/Jarkhandh having tough time to eat the food here (No North Indian mess concept now)
We went back to Dept again after lunch and Nicky shared the current syllabus and asked for suggestions from us on subjects/papers. In my opinion, the syllabus has been revamped quite a bit and seems like there are lot of electives etc., This seemed like a good affirmative step forward. Seems like the next hurdle would be have some guest lectures or Alumni offering to teach to deliver those courses well. Raghu at some point was thinking of a possibility, where we take a break from job and teach for a semester etc.,
We went back to EEE Lecture hall, where we had all 1st years introducing themselves, starting with their 10 digit roll number. For whatever reason, it seems like everyone needs to remember their 10 digit roll number. To our shock, at least 50% students are from MP where there is a Training center, which trains students very well for NIMCET (all india MCA entrance for Govt colleges ?). Diversity is the essence of RECs but seems like that got diluted a bit. There were 2 folks from TN, 2 from AP, Zero from Kerala (Yes Zero. We would have cared least about mallu guys but Zero mallu girls) This will leave little to no chance for a Odisha guy to hopefully find a Bengali or Mallu girl and "commit". Anyway, that is only a part to the bigger problem.
This continues to be long session where students had questions, shared some of their woes and towards the end, few folks sang for us. IMHO, we did end up scaring them on how they should prepare for campus interviews etc., anyway, all in right intent. :)
This was followed by a quick tea session at snacky's (The tea shop close to our old dept building). Some of the us had the noble goal to play volleyball and re-live the times. We had a good session of volleyball for 1 hour or so. We joined the College team and played with them. All this while, some of the smarter visiting lot had good kadalai session with 2nd years. (Proofs included) As you would see, we got to play the game in flood lights, which itself was quite a kick. Living in Bangalore for long, I really enjoyed the nice cool evening breeze of Trichy. The true craving for water was felt by most of us, after a long while, I guess. (This feeling may not be new to Chennai folks..)This is when the most responsible folks from the group reminded of the mandatory task that we had to complete. Guesses ??? The BEST club rituals. The folks were so much duty-bound that, they didn't let some of us wash and change from our Volleyball session. We right away headed to Sangam hotel, near Central bus stand. This is where the more fun Began... Pls await for a week to see the fun unfold..
Few tit-bits from next part:
1. Tiju makes Racchu run, all of a sudden
2. Balaji becomes Lord Buddha
3. CAS has some Paalparai delicacies
4. The Aaloo parata's in Megha Mess
Ranadheer Velamuri
MAA9612
P.S: Link to Ramki's photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/106906967652700975030/RECTTripSept2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmBx_LNx5yMRw&feat=email#5927117882300959794
