Chapter 3


We were getting into our 10th Standard…..Everyday were seeing our parents getting tensed….. We were still playful as usual ….. My sisters thought I would be matured once we get into the 10th……..Things went worse….
Most of my thoughts were about girls….I was more concerned about my not so long mush than math …..
More so interested in archanas and Deepas than all the formulas…..
Games took the second slot for the first time in life…..
Following girls from a distance was no longer stupid….
That period of time was kind of special…..the girls who we already known where just the same…..Still the girls vs guys run there……

Me Aruna and Sathya live around the same place our houses were kinda far ….. I need to walk 10 mins or cycle a couple of mins to reach their houses…..

One Saturday I was having a cricket match with a team at 4 o clock…..was preparing all strategies for the match…..all geared up and waiting for the clock to reach 3 30 so that I can start from home as I used to have rules that I cannot go out of the house till 3 30…

At 3 25 I was fighting with my sisters to get out and suddenly the bell rang…..
To my surprise it was Aruna…..ohhhhhhh……She is my class mate more than a friend to my sisters though they also know her…..
She came inside and I didn’t know what to do……Cricket was more important than Aruna( She is a girl who I already knew right!!!) …..has she come to get some books????? Or has she come to meet my sister….they used to talk mostly with each other when they traveled…..probably my sister would have invited her home…..
What if she has come to see me…..I don’t think so ….anyway we weren’t all that great friends…..she is more of a friend to sathya than me…..So the conversations started and she me and my sisters started talking…..
It was 3 35 …..shit……guys will kill me if I don’t go …..I have to go now…..
My legs are already getting the momentum ……moveeee come on …slowly I was about to get up…...stop …sit …Move…..Sit down……I could see my sister having a sly smile on there face……they exactly could see whats happening…..
How can I tell her …… What if she feels bad……. No she wont……I said She might……
Time was 3 40……I said enuf……Aruna……I have a match…..i will go and come…..
You carry on chatting with my sisters…..bye…..I ran off…….hope the match has not started……

The match was over….came back home…..my sisters were damn angry with me…..
Ani-“ is this the way you would treat your friend”…….I -"She came home to meet you folks not me….she is a better friend to madhu than me blah blah blah".,…..Ani gave a bad look……Ani’s looks speaks better than her words like my mom…..It meant stop talking nonsense….and you know that….

Now the fear of hurting Aruna started to raise… Next day I really wanted to go and say sorry to her….went to school……wanted to meet her in lunch…..but in school I cant talk to her….I talk only to boys…..saw her from a distance…she was happily talking to other girls…..in the evening met her in the bus stand…..she said “hi “ as usual…..
And we started talking as usual…..nothing seemed different…..i thought…she doesn’t think a thing…..thank god…..so what I thought was right….She actually came to my house to meet madhu only…….I will go and tell it to Ani……..good now …saved myself from the embarrassment of apologizing to her……..

Year 1997-98

Place AKCE

First year in college had so much …… It was so much fun…..Already there were so many gangs….Things weren’t really good between theni and Thirunalveli guys….Started picking the accent now….can figure out a persons native by the way he speaks……

We had a real big hostel…..and slowly we started complaining the hostel food as well…..

My mom gave me 500 Rs…..the mess bill was 275 Rs….i spent another 25 Rs……so my calculation was ready…..200 Rs savings a month…..so 200*12*4 years makes it aprrox 10000 rs…..wow I thought……I told myself that I would save this money and give it to mom :- )….
One of the best thing that happened in the first year was the hostel election….there were two post….. Representative and Secaratry….
Everybody knew two sents of contestant…..1) Rajkumar and M.S kumar.2) Babu and Sridhar…but there were three contestants…… Nobady knew who were they….
I was working was Raj and MS…..and Babu and Sridhar were from Theni and there friends were working for them…..
Suddenly I see two guys really familiar coming in to our room with both hands together like politicians saying vote for us……:-o ……Sankar and MM Anand…..
I was shocked and surprised it was them….though the way the came into my room made me laugh and that was god damn funny….. and so former took precedence than the latter…..
I asked sankar …..whats happening …..why?….He said there are lot of things I have in mind which I would do to the hostel if I am elected….I asked what???
He said he will introduce daily morning noodles as break fast…..and make sure we get good food….and also told other aspects of menus which he likes…… I understood one thing ….. this guy is contesting for the election just because he wants to eat well….that too the things he likes….. I was wondering why Anand was also contesting…..reason-Sankar’s room mate :- )

The day of the election came……we were waiting for the results…..Raj and Kumar won handsomely….we were so happy and celebrating…..
Then the vote count came…..Raj and Kumar got 75 votes ….Babu and Sridhar got 30 and Sankar and MM Anand ……..ONE!!!!!…..just one vote…..
We couldn’t help but just laugh….This means one of the two guys haven’t voted for themselves……:- ))……..ME shiva(sankar and anands room mate) were rolling on the floors and laughing……
My god….i would never forget the results I thought …..More the way shankar campaigned…..

Chapter 2

Year 1994-95
Place Chennai

Any day we all think about the school mainly our friends and the girls come to our mind….and if you take the thinking forward your teachers come into the picture….
Life is bad without teachers …..I am gonna talk about one teacher in every chapter when ever I need to talk about them…..Though most of them had been great…. I am not gona be publicizing them here….rather its just how things were and they were at that point of time…..
I have already had a comment that I shouldn’t be talking ill of other s in this blog…..Actually that’s not the case….what the reader should understand or rather what I expect them to understand is ….This is just the world through my eyes at that point in time……
Enjoy!!!!!
PT Sir – I don’t know his name….we all call him Peetaan(Rhyme with kaataan). He is the terror of our school. He has a great thrinulveli accent and he has a bullet which when he drives seems like a yama darmaraja in his bull…..
Everyone hates him….Nobody in our school has escaped getting beaten up by him….
But he has a tremendous sense of humor also….
Once Srinath had come late to school…..Though he Is a tam he is from Ranchi and doesn’t understand tamil that well….Peetaan knows only tamil……
Everybody who comes late to school need to give Peetaan a reason before entering…..
So

peetaan : Ennaley Latuuuuu,Engenthuley vara
Srniath : veetlenthu Sir….
Peetaan got really furious : Nanga mattum ennaley kaatlentha varom………bang bang bang in his back…..was sent in after that…..

Most of the time I used to think how I can give a complaint to the police so that they will jail him….And I don’t know He hates me very badly…..
I have several times complained him to the principal through my father….but that hasn’t worked……
I don’t dare go to the principal directly as I don’t have a great name with him either…..
Once In the chemistry class…..Our Chemistry teacher Jain jetsy bai was teaching about periodic table when we were in our discussion…..So she suddenly turned and asked Niranjan “ where do you place Hydrogen In the periodic Table”…..Ninju said camly
“ Anywhere”….shyam got really exited …..in loud voice he said directing his hand to the place between his legs and said “ Anywhere means……Here also vaaaa”……..The whole class started laughing and jain jetsi got really mad ….she asked shyam to get out….and wanted to throw his bag out as well…..When she was about to throw the bag…..I thought I would atleast save his bag……I said “ Miss …That’s my bag”……The next minute…
we were both in the principals room…..seeing each other ….we both were afraid ….both had a laugh going on ….thinking about the joke …..
She then explained the situation to Santhanam …..our new principal….

Principal- “ I have had regular complaints about your class …especially you two….”
Turning to shyam Principal “ Where did you show?…..show now ??? Do it now if you have guts”
Shyam slowly moved his hand and showed where he did…..and started laughing……
He never expected this to happen……got psyched he pulled a glass ruler in his desk and whacked twice in our hands and he said “ You should never forget this “

…..I didn’t ….
It was the joke of the year for all of us……After that didn’t have the guts to get into the principal room….that too to complain about someone…..

Sathya me and Mani used to have tremendous fun together aswell….we used to have a lot of night outs …..mostly we used to study for some 20 30 mins and then fun….
We used to play games and most of the time keep laughing about the jokes we had and the Mani goes about things……One other name for Mani was IIT Mani…..He started preparing and living IIT when we were in 9th itself….
The funniest incident ever happened with Mani …..
We three were playing asusual in Mani’s house…..Mani went to take bath and suddenly a loud shout “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” came from the bathroom….we went running there…..Mani kicked the bucket and It flew and fell in the next compound……
Mani’s thighs got burnt….took him to the doctor…..

Doc : what did you do?Mani : was about to take bath…didn’t realize the water was that hot?
Doc : Didn’t you see the vapours coming ?….why did you pour it in your thighs?Mani: I thought it was ICE COLD and that’s why the vapour…..

Me Sathya and doc all started laughing……and me sathya continued laughing as long as we were with mani…..He got damn irritaited with us…
Told the story to every one who we met at school the next day….




Year 1997-98
Place AKCE


The first day in college was something I can never forget……When it was about time to go to the college I saw everybody in the hostel near the gate…..we were all asked to stand together and were escorted from the hostel to the college….Reason….Ragging…..
Even with that the seniors were calling one or two guys so the idea of being the corners in the line was really terrifying….you can always see my mates who stand in the corner squeezing inside ….afraid they might be spotted and called by the seniors…..

News were flowing that the first year was the toughest part in college. Outside it’s the seniors and inside the staffs lecturers and the professors….. heard they were all a set of people should have been in some mental asylum.
Found out to be true…..that was something to take at that point in time as we always took liberty with our teachers in our school and what ever mistakes we do were always forgotten and forgiven…..here what ever mistake you do will reflect in your lab exams….not only they reduce the marks but also sometimes fail you …..and some where doing the chemistry lab even during there final year……
Sounded really scary …..
None of the professors or lecturers were competent to teach….but were there and talking as if they were the best…..and most of all their English…..
There were 74 guys in my class and 6 karthiks……
We all belonged to the same batch during labs…..all diff people with diff background back home…..
The first day went just getting introduced to the staffs and everybody made sure that we knew who they were……and how nasty they would be if we don’t be disciplined…..
Found out there wasn’t any good looking girl in my class too…..There was one girl Lavanya who was the best of all she looked good for sure…..
Kanthi was also in my class …was from trinelveli….very innocent and nice…..One thing that really gets you exited is the fact that he loved all the girls …….
He once confessed me that if some girl comes and proposed him he would accept irrespective who it is……
Hostel life was really good…..No seniors and no staffs….All from first year so we were all secure….but for the warden who comes during the study hours( 9 to 12 30) to take attendance……
Normally I write letters during the study hours…and do maths in the ED hall…..
And after 10 30 people sleep …..i start roaming in the hostel to find out how the night life is…….
Vijay Saravanan who stay in 317 hates me….and if at all Something wrong is happening in my life and things don’t go the way I want it go and I am wondering why?….. Iknow its his curses playing on me…….
He sleeps right near the window….so everytime I cross his room….I shout in his years and run…,…
He wakes up and he starts shouting…….The way he shouts excites me a lot and make me do it again and again……he keeps shouting in the air without getting out from his bed for nearly 10 mins….sometimes I dance to the tune in which he sounds outside his room and laugh …..and the greatest of all is the fact that he pretty well knows its me…..and I know he knew it…..but he wouldn’t dare asking me that straight…..the next morning he comes and ask me did I hear any sound in the nights….I would say No keeping my face as innocent as possible and he will start scolding about the guy who did that thinking that it will irk me……and you know what happened……..That night even more trouble….
This continued for sometime…..and one day he got really fed up and he jumped from his bed and ran near the door…..I know he was coming to catch me ……Ran fast and jumped into the stairs and went to the second floor……he chased me again…..It was 2 o clock I know nobady would be there awake at that time….turned to my right….oh god what am I doing ….you have only two rooms there 215 aqnd 216 and you cant go anywhwere……I thought to myself today I am cought…..suddenly I saw light flashing int 216….knocked the room………
Said Hi to them and went inside …..slowly closed door…..started having conversation with them…..and also was waiting for vijay saravanan to go up…..
Hi I am shankar …Hji I am Siva….and another guy was MM anand who I knew because we both were in the same section…..There was another guy Sounder….who was sleeping…..
So got introduced to each other….It was Sankar and anand playing chess……
Sankar was the guy who was talking the most…..was wondering why when I was talking to this guy I felt dizzy…..realized this guy shook his head so many times that if we see him we get dizzy…..so sometimes we used to hold his head when he talks…….
So after that day I used to come down to talk and play chess with these guys at 1 o clock in the night…..Soundar….I have seen him only sleeping…..And he doenst know me at all…..
So my night life was something I was always looking for….pranks with Vijay Saravanan….fun in 216…..
Sankar was the wisest of all and the weirdest of all as well,……It used to be pretty cold there in the nights….and he used to sleep without any bed spread over him and below him as well….even though he had one for himself….When I ask him why….He used to proudly say ….

“I am cold Blooded animal”

……hmmmm I used to think……another famous stuff with him was a so called industrial shoe.. He claimed it was his fathers….but we all thought it was his Fore Fathers…..
Ashok was in my class then….Didn’t knew much about him then…..I wouldn’t forget the remarks he made about shankar when I asked ashok about him the day I knew they both were from the same school and class…..Ashok thought for two seconds….and said “ Avan Nalla payyan than ….ana Konja overa yosippan”………How true it was…..

Next chapter Shankar and Anand Election Campaign…….

WONDER YEARS CHAPTER 1

Times had been great then …wondering where to start for I remember every bit of schooling since I was 5…..though it would be too much to start when I was 5….what I would do is to start this from 13 years of my age 9th standard…and also simultaneously will be writing my college days from day 1 J so it will be parallels of the same person with two different surroundings and all different people and of course some special people falling in both the phases…This is totally from my real life though I would add my own imagination and some fictitious characters and incidents when ever I feel like ……That’s something nice about blogging ….no rules its all ours here :-)

Year 1994-95
Place Chennai

Was in my 9 th standard …..for the first time in my life was so exited about finishing my summer holidays and getting back to the school. Not just me but most of my friends and foes in my class…….We were all graduating from half pant to full pant.
Sri Sankara Senior Secondry School. Adyar ……The school building was the early Theosophical Soceity….Some claimed that’s where Anie Besant sat ……..nobody knew whether it was ttue…..anyway that was thrashed that year into a new building…

Now we are big boys of school. I had a tremendous set of friends even then.

Sathya my best pal in my class and he stayed very near to my house . We spend all the time together. He was one guy who I always wanted to emulate ….He was damn good in studies….especially in math and science…….. too good in chess …..in fact the best in school at that time ….In India if you are good in math and science you are considered Intelligent…..nothing wrong with that he was damn intelligent……but in
India if you are not good in math you are done for……you are considered dumb and some remain dumb thinking that’s true….if somebody said he liked English better than math …..He is too damn stupid…..So I had no choice ….loved math and science….

Aruna -she was the only girl with whom me and sathya talk. We both liked her a lot but wouldn’t tell it. In fact we wouldn’t talk to her in school. Infact none of the boys talk to any of the girls ……it was still boys vs girls in our class. But even she stayed near our house so we used to travel together in the same bus and used to have tremendous fun together ….but only outside school….and none of our friends (boys) knew that we spend a lot of time with her as well …..We had tremendous regard for her because her father was Math Scientist :-o
Mani ….He has the most number of nick names a friend of mine ever had…He was 3D mani for the way he tinks everything in 3 Dimension ….michel mani because he sings like micheal jackson( He sings only one song though that too 3 lines but then we didn’t know that too so it was enuf to give a name)…he is “all in all mani “etc etc etc…For me and sathya he was the entertainment …..we like him a lot nevertheless but he had the track record of telling atleast a 1000 lies ina day…..rather it was something difficult to just think that he is saying something true……Aruna hates his because he told everybody in school that she was her rakhi sister……which ofcourse you know what ….LIE.
He stayed near our house as well.
Kaveri The most beautiful girl in our class ….Though she never was part of my life and stories We had a lot of fun around her…..Though everyone found her beautiful and wanted to grab her attention only few brave souls accepted they have a crush on her. And that was enough for us to rip them apart…..

Gana – The most notorious and in my eyes the smartest kid in that class……His pranks made the school days…. Some teachers enjoy his pranks and some don’t .That doesnt really matter …anyway he was on his own ….we had a great time anyway.

Rajesh- Buddi we call him with love …his specs is his idendity and that’s why the name ..Rather A buddy. A is his initial…..He is very powerful and he acts really crazy ……and tremendous fun. Actually we all act crazy but people like Buddi make us sensible.

Shyam- Nobady can forget him….he has a big mouth and a tooth of his broken in the front ….So he looks really animated….And he had the habit of talking English like Tamil….So that was tremendous fun…..if you don’t eget what I say….he says stuff like “My name is shyamu….where is the ballu” stuff….

There are lot more fantastic people who will be coming in and going…..but these are the characters which flash in my mind at this point in time….Anantha,Sai, sudharshan,Badri, Thatha, we will see about them when required…

Next blog Be ready to see about my Teachers, Principal and staffs….:-).



Year 1997-98
Place AKCE


First Day in AKCE….Arulmigu Kalasalingam college of engineering….Krishnan koil…..10 kms from Srivilliputtur….60 Kms from Madurai …..450 Kms from Chennai….

The place Krishnan Koil had only one thing there….MY College……and of course will describe about that place when it matters….right now I saw only that…..

I got my hostel room. My father just left me …went till the bus stand left him and for the first time in my life felt Alone….I was really all alone…..in a new place ….everyone was new ….everyone was different……Felt for a second why I did that ….then my ego said be happy this is what you wanted….wanted to get out of my house after the confrontation with my parents about me doing engineering and not doing engineering….and then I said okay to engineering and I decided to move far away from them so that from now on they don’t decide anything in my life.
Was walking from the gate towards the classroom……There was an induction program ….Thats what they said….was looking forward to the induction program……they said it was in C block E D HALL…Didn’t know what it means….E and D …...found out where that was from a college student …whose face told me he has been there for some time….he told me where it was and he enquired my name and Place…….I said “karthik From Chennai….” His face changed when I said Chennai ….Didnt mean anything to me…..felt little weird ….i was nearing the C block,…..Heard a strange song which we hear in those bakthi padam…..Was getting in my ears louder as I was getting near the C block……IT was “Kundrathiley Kumaranukku Kondaattam” coming from the ED Hall……..
My god!!!!! shock of my life……How can they play a song like that for an induction program………………..ahhhhhhhhhh my college life has started …….What have I done …..I have joined a college which is still in pre Independence ERA>…..my youth is gone…What have I done?????????????????? I shouldn’t have done this….Should have stayed in Loyala…did my Bsc there with part time jobs I would have earned money …with lot of good girls around for time pass………all in drain…………Shit…..
Entered the hall….saw lot of parents there in the hall……saw through out the room to find good looking girls ……Second shock …..all were dumb looking….The chauvinist in me told that all were really really dumb….
Went and sat near a guy ….got introduced to him…..SivaPrakasam…..Looked like a 8 th standard guy…..still liked him ….looked cute…I know cute is not a right word for boys….but he was cute……So in the dias my college principal Dr C Thangaraj,My college chairman “kalvivallal” thiru T .Kalasalingam and his son who is also a chairman …don’t remember his name …was sitting……
He was addressing how good the college was and all stories which was never to be found in the college……
And at the end of it when everyone finished talking he asked the parents and students if we had anything to ask .
So the question hour started…..No student had any question thrown….though I am sure lot of guys had the question why that song??...but it was the parents who had lot of question……Lot of dreams in their eyes ……there son/daughter gona become engineer….They will be settled was the thought……
Was waiting for that to get over….wanted to go to my room as fast as possible and write letters to Aruna and Sathya…..So that I can forget the situation I am into…..
But it got continued and went on and on just because of one guy…..His name was SaravaraBava…..Later we found out it was Arun’s father who like his son keeps talking for nothing but anyway make you listen to them as if it was a million dollor conversation…..
He was talking about Ragging and the principal promised it doenst exist there……..
We were taken around the college for tour…..showing us where the Labs ,library etc were there…..The library looked impressive…..Decided this is the place where I would spend my next 4 years……suddenly a great engineer in the future was visible to me…..felt little happy……
Had our lunch in the hostel mess…..the food was good…..went up ….said hi to my room mates…Ganesh pandian from Bodi…..Siva Prakasam from Erode and T V Karthikeyan from Madurai…….
My room number was 315. mine was the last bed and I had a small loft in which I can keep my stuff….next to me was sivaprakasam next to him ws TV and the first bed was GP….we called GP as bodi and sivaprakasam as kozhantha……He hated me for the name ….for he was called kozhantha all through out our college days ....I have the track record of naming a lot of nick names in college…..Usually I call it once and it stays…..

Was Lying down and thinking…..if only I did my IIT class well…..I would have gone into IIT like sathya sudharshan and Sai.
Or at did my school exams well would have been in BITS like Aruna and Nikila….
And more than that missing Aruna was terrible……She was one person I loved the most ……If I had done well I could have gone to BITS with her…..been with her all along…..Kind of a fear was going through me that she might forget me soon…..Nikila was also in my class till 12th…..Never managed to talk to her when in school…..she used to sit in the first bench ….me the last……
She is such a fruit that none in my class liked her…anyway in my class none of the boys liked the girls….never graduated in that aspect till we finished school…....Though we used to tease her with Sathya I knew nothing was happening between them……
Sathya was so happy that he is into IIT…..he came and sent me of in the station with gayathri natraj and Badri…Lot of thoughts …..felt really bad……
Wrote a letter to my mom first……really missed her…..My eldest sister was already married and she was in Bangalore….Missed her a lot …..I used to tell her all stories of school during my school days….we laugh every day in the evenings talking about gana and friends…..All gone…..My other sister who is also elder to me as well was in Trichy…..comparatively near by……
The first day went just by getting introduced to my wing mates and other hostel mates….mostly the questions are Name and which dept….and what is the cut off ….free seat or Payment seat…..
Met two guys from Chennai…..felt little at home…..Victor and Subramanian…..

Victor was kind of I know everything kind of a guy……he was at home because he loves staying at hostel apparently….been in hostel since school days…..Suppini was a real home bird….
He was from prince matriculation in which you don’t grow beyond kinder garden mentally though people score good marks…..
He was kind of strange initially saying things like he thought he would get state first and also entereance first but unfortunately it wasn’t found to be true…….later found his company damn good …..
Made friends with Arun Venkatesh room 317…..victor kanthi selvaraj room 319 and Suppini 320 and suresh 2nd floor…..we were all in 3rd floor exceptr him…..

Slept well that day….

Next blog….about my staffs and my first day in class…..And meeting sankaran siva soundar and MM Anand ….The other side of midnight…..