New Years at RIT

Like every place anywhere in world RIT too had its own unique way of celebrating New Year.
I'm sure all of my batchmates have fond memories of the New Year's at RIT.On the eve Hockey ground was choc a bloc with action ,buzzing with excitement.Paltry Sum of money was collected per head to arrange for liquor for whole lot of people.Everyone wanted to be in the organising comittee as lots of booze was siphoned off for late night party for a select few.I was a member in one of such gatherings.Drinks were prepared in huge buckets and all people had to do was dip their glass in the bucket and get a drink.Everything was self service but for preparing the drink..
There was proper arrangement of blasting sound systems churning out latest hip hops and people swaying to these numbers.In the middle of the ground we had a bornefire as it was dead cold in December ..Every year quite a few got there feet burned attempting the Superman stunt of jumping over the fire in an intoxicated inebriated state only to drop a few feet short and right into fire ...Now to top all these there was something very unique to RIT.A marriage band was pressed into Service.It led the way to GH(Girls Hostel) some called it Ladies Hostel.
The crowd following the moving band kept on swelling till we reaqched the Final Destination.The band yatra used to end at GH almost about midnight.Voila Happy New Year

People came back from GH then would sit round the bornefire.doused till morning ...Have breakfast in the mess and then sleep for whole of the day.

This is how it was every year ...

~Goa-97

The shaam's at Shyam Da’s

The shaam's at Shyam Da’s
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I first heard of this place while in first year - the mention of the name terrorized me at that time because all I knew about the place then, was that it was the most popular hangout for all senior batches in college.

My first memories of the place, way back in first year were frightening because of the stressful interrogation I was subjected to at Shyam Da's.

I remember my first time at Shyam Da, it was during the CDS selection. It was after the selection formalities were done and we were to go back, somehow I lagged behind in the line and was conveniently held up for questioning. I detested the place then, only because of the predicament I was placed in.

However as the year's rolled by, these memories faded away and were replaced by an intense fondness for the place. In the evenings I was always at Shyam Da's because of two reasons, the first being inadequate evening snacks in our mess and the second being spare time with nothing to do.

After savoring the delicacies on display for instance veg patties, chicken patties, samosa, cutlet, rum-ball etc I used to settle down with a chaai and a WILLS in a corner with a particular group, after that it was endless gachiyaaing on any topic of choice which grabbed the interest of the group on that particular day. There used to be repeating orders of Tea and cigarette sent out to Shyam Da at regular intervals. Then I used to go to Shyam Da to either settle my bill for the day or get it written down in my khaata when there was a cash crunch.

There were only a few occasions when I have seen Shyam Da empty, otherwise it used to be crowded. People used to sit around in groups, in the corridor, near the staircase, outside the lab and near the spiral staircase. It was the place where so many plans were made, plots were hatched, rumors were started. There was so much laughter, togetherness, and bonding, things, which I have tried to search in vain in other places outside college.

Exam times were no exception, the trip to Shyam Da was never missed even during exam time. For me, it was like an addiction. However during exam times the visit was a short one and did not involve too much of gachiyaaing.

To this day I remember the old man's eyes when I had been to Shyam Da for the last time the evening before we were to leave for home. After the usual rounds I had gone to Shyam Da to settle my bill and enquired of any dues which were pending in my name. I then bid my silent farewell to Shyam Da and thanked him for all the good times he had given me in my four years of college. My eyes had suddenly become misty and the tears were being held back with great difficulty. I touched the man's feet and sought his blessings.

As I started to leave the place I turned around for a last look -

It was dark and there was the usual gas light on the table, the man was pouring yet another glass of tea from his kettle and talking to the person who had asked for the tea.

It was the appropriate end to a relationship with a place, which would always be associated with the best days of my life.

- Prabhu (batch of '97)

One Night Out at Jamshedpur

We were barely two months in already delayed academic session when one evening all of us decided to spend a whole night out of hostel.The adventure kida in us was at its fore.
Me and my five other roomies decided to leave hostel at 8 in the night and then come back next morning.That was all we had for the masterplan to rely on.
In initial days our group was known as "Rebels" (Revengeful Enemies But Endless Loving Sweethearts).I do not claim that it was original but we had adapted it as it epitomised us or so we thought.
We had two Sardar's to content with ..Sappal and Bobby.They were always full of enthusiasm and ready to go any extent if promised good food ,especially Sappal,Rajma was his weakness.
The other people in the group were the jugadu Rahul Bhushan ,apna Tau Rishi Gupta,and the feiry Naga who was very sceptical in the begining but Rahul coaxed him in.
So we set out for a fun filled thrilling night in sight and what ensued did not even come closer to being any kind of Adventure.
We watched an Educational Film at Basant theatre and then went to Punjabi restraunt at Sakchi.We had whole of night ,a night full of promise,ate our hearts out,slowly taking our own sweet time.
Everyone drew blank after that.
It was close to midnight and whole of Jamshedpur was closed.There were'nt any shops opened nor were there any ricks on Road,nor were there any people on road .We were the only people on road walking aimlesly.The silence was broken by occasional humming sound of trucks coming out of Tata factory.We played footbal on road with a round stone that Sappal found.After playing two round of footbal in the middle of the road we decided to implement the next plan in the Agenda.Only trouble was ,we didnt have any plan or any agenda.
We decided to go to Jubilee park and spend the night there,but later decided against it as it would be devoid of people and has a zoo nearby plus it had a lake and were not sure what sort of wildlife we might confront .one person came up with brilliant idea of going to railway station and spending night there.
We finally reached food plaza in Bishtpur and decided to take a vote.It took us two hours to finally decide that we should head back to hostel.So we started walking towards college.There was no conveyance available so had no choice but to walk all distance.
So we trudged our way through the silence of darkness.The jokes and anecdotes that people narrated made the distance small.We were greeted by not so freindly barks and growls of ubiquitous street dogs.That day we realised that there were so many dogs in Jamshedpur and after midnight Jamshedpur became their playground,and any visitor was treated as an intruder.
Eventualy we reached our hostel at five in the morning only to find it locked from outside.We were at the peak of our ragging days and the college authorities locked the hostel from outside to ensure freshers are not taken on a joy ride by the senior batch.
After much cajoling ,the durban of hostel let us in.
By that time whatever kida we had for any kind of adventure was already dead .We were dead tired and no one woke up till evening the following day.
We had had our mis-adventure with memories/lesson to last at least till end of curriculum.


~Amit Singh (Goa 97)

Bye Bye Celibacy !!

There are quite a few people of 97 batch who are already married and some who are about to !!

No matter how much I hate making these kind of Announcements , I cant help it, looking at the alacrity and participation of our batch in mailing/web community.
So here I am writing another post for the batch.

So the list goes something like this.Mind you this is utterly unofficial but not without credentials ;-)

The first person is Ashish Pal.He is currently based in Atlanta in US of A and coming down some time in last week of Jan to walk down the aisle.His is an unique story but I'll have to hold on to it till it becomes offcial.Watch out for the post in the month of Jan/Feb.

Second in the list is Rajeev Srivastava.He is getting married in the month of Feb to his long time sweetheart.I do not know much details about this but be assured I'll not leave any stones unturned to extract goodies.

Third is Sankalp,who is also based in US currently and is contemplating marriage sometime in Summer.This is strictly unofficial news.We may have to arrange a la sathiya marriage.

Fourth in the list is our very own Baba a.k.a Anurag.He has finaly given up the cause and has surrendered to might of goddess of Love.He too is bitten by this Love bug.Planning a marriage sometime in Summer.

Prabhu is visiting a god down south India just to reaffirm his faith in the cause.He too was bitten by the so called bug but the lady turned out to be happily married .

Spoke to Vimala last week, she too hinted at getting married sometime next year.(Strictly unofficial)

So keep your dates free in months to come.

~Goa

Amit Singh is known as Goa in 97 batch.
He is currently a Senior Software Consultant in a leading IT firms