It’s a great feel to be a college student, a day scholar, in your own home town, a college where my mother’s brothers, cousins, relatives, a lot of my school mates and Sunday school friends at church studied. The best part was, I could go there just to be with all my school mates whom I missed for 2 solid years. This is where Lekhu and so many of my school friends were doing their degree course.
A student, with no strings attached to studies, as I was pretty sure I will be starting my engineering 1st semester in August and this was just a passing phase to connect. Most of the teachers were known to me as family friends and it was unbelievable fun time, the huge mango tree in the quadrangle. Asoka trees lining the long driveway with green playfields on either side, I had played hockey in the left hand side ground when I was a student at St. Josephs Convent.
I rode a copper sulphate metallic blue BSA ladies bicycle, with a totally sustainable canvas sling bag, with just one A4 size note book which I bound myself in our press, a Reynolds pen which was brought from Muscat by Reginald. A lunch box with rice, sardines (I couldn’t live without sardines …even today), string beans mezhukupuratty, kaduku maanga, chammanthy. A bottle of water for drinking and washing my hand as the Q –ue was quite long and it was messy to wash in the hustle and bustle.
I loved my ride over the bridge and by the side of the railway track in front of the college, I loved trains all my life and after Kayamkulam this was one place I could be close to trains on a daily basis. Some days I used to race with the shuttle trains which slow down so much in front of the college after being held at the signal before entering the periphery of Kollam Station which was just a KM away from the college front gate. Most of the time the students used to get dropped in front of the college, they pulled the emergency chain to walk across.
It was a lot of fun to pedal slow talking to friends all through the driveway and it was just like in the movies I saw in my later years, college campus is real fun place, where boys and girls bloom and mature. For me it was an extension of my convent days, with nuns in school and priests here, they were well respected and there was a lot of discipline that was inherent in the system. Even though I was the only girl riding a bicycle, I never had any problem or eve teasing inside the college. There were many grown up men who tried to cut across and stare outside the campus, and I have dealt with each and every one of them in my own way and soon I just became one among the equals on the road. The only time I had to be careful was, when a bus driver swirled his bus close to me and I had to jump out of the road and ride by the side. But I worked out a way to reach out to the owners and that stopped any such misbehavior by anyone. This was all in the beginning, late 60’s and early 70’s. Thank God my parents taught me to deal with situations then and there, stand up against bullying by any one, no matter who, and not winch Me Tooooooo…..for fame and to shame others after a few decades or even months.
There are so many stories of warden’s and hostels, remembering the warden characters enacted by Innocent chettan and Thilakan chettan in amazing Malayalam movies. I am 100% sure the scripts were all larger than life from the experience of oldies in hostels across the length and breadth of Kerala.
My home, in Uliyakovil, had temples all over, and I had to get onto the main road, Kollam Kottarakkara road at the SV Talkies junction, believe me it was always a challenge getting onto the road towards Kadappakkada side as I have to cut across the road, to be on the left side of the road to ride ahead. The junction where I get into from the side road to my home was a bus stand, and invariably like throwing a broom or a bucket or a shoe in front of the door, the buses stopped right at the mouth of the road blocking anyone who want to enter or exit. The challenges are so many when you reach the mouth of the road, people would be alighting from the bus, people wait to get in, there are onlookers sipping tea or smoking kaja beedi or drinking a soda lime or reading the breaking news which happened 24 hrs ago, at the corner shop, chaaya kada, murukkan kada respectively.
It’s impossible to get past this congregation in normal course, sometimes I felt there should be a perpetual 144 in that corner, Ok now after much balancing trying to step down from the pedal to the ground resting on the machine bar instead of the seat, I wait patiently dragging my foot like a lame dinosaur. Once I free myself from this commotion I try to look left and right but all in vain as the transport bus, lorry, bicycles, bullock cart, unthuvandi, autorikshaw, motor cycles and of course the villains who try to cross my path with their bicycle would be there. This is just one of the reason why I keep saying we need to teach social ethics to students, throughout their curriculum. we do not know how to respect fellow human beings, we are not matured enough for democracy.
I stare at them or ask them very politely but cheekily, Anna that means older one, those days we used Anna more than Chettah, and would tell them straight and direct:
കുറുക്കു വെക്കാതെ അണ്ണാ
ഞാനൊന്നു പൊയ്ക്കോട്ടേ
പഠിക്കാൻ പോകുവാ താമസിച്ചാൽ ടീച്ചർ ക്ലാസ്സീന്ന് ഇറക്കി വിടും
This is asking them to let me pass and not to obstruct my right of way, I have miles to go and teacher would definitely show me to the door if I am late etc….
This worked most of the time, if they continue to harass, I take help from the people around. There are so many ways we try to get things done, even though there were some advances and ragging in the beginning. Soon everyone became normal and kind as they saw there was no point trying to rag me, I was not going to get agitated nor carried away by their sweet nothing talks. If there was a provocative move to touch me or hurt me, then it was a different scene totally. Once I reach the left side of the road then I had to pedal so fast to reach college on time.
TKM students have seen much of me on the bicycle through the length and breadth of Kollam before I walked into college on the first day.
Hence they were all waiting to rag me the minute I walked into TKM, every senior knew of the Bicycle and the fresher coming soon. I don’t have a clue how news flashed those days in 1977 to be exact, with no WhatsApp and messages and mobiles. When people wanted to congregate in the name of a cause, be it perversion or purpose or fun, there was always a way. Social media power, people power, the only sad plight is most of the time it’s used for destructive goals and not constructive goals these days.
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