Memories of some remarkable years
Sunday 29th
June 2025 Day 23206
High School & College
days. 1974-1984 Chembur, Bombay and IIT Madras
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In
SIWS Wadala till Class VI. Shifted to Shrinagar CHS in 1974 for Class VII and
beyond.
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General
Education Academy, Chembur.
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Walking
above the tracks on the overbridge at the railway station to school. 20
minutes’ walk.
-
Nataraj
Theatre. Passed by many times. Not seen a single movie there!
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Vacation
trips to Trichur by train. Hold-All, packed food, Chikki at Lonavala, Bathing
at Arakkonam, curd-rice and lemon-rice in a banana leaf.
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Singing
Surangani when Bina manni came to Grandpas home after her marriage to Ambi
mama.
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Made
Nankatai at GEA.
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Getting
hauled before the principal for some trivial fun during cooking class.
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Chemistry
in the Chemistry Lab !!
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Shopping
for veggies etc along with dad and mom at Chembur.
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Buying
Phillips coffee powder. The aroma of fresh coffee powder.
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Buying
rice, wheat and sugar etc at ration shop.
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Carrying
wheat to the chakki for grinding into flour.
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Reading
Oliver Strange’s SUDDEN and Perry Mason novels
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Circulating
library Famous Five, Secret Seven, James Hadley Chase etc
- Playing Cricket in the ground at Shrinagar CHS.
- Losing my special steel scale / ruler at GEA. Getting hassled by Dancing, Vishwas Pathak, Sudhir Puthran. Keeping them at bay.
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Doing
well in the 10th Standard exam in 1977.
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Getting
admission to SIES College Sion. Travel by train to Koliwada Station (GTB Nagar)
and then walking to SIES.
-
No
more school uniforms.
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Hustle
and bustle in the local trains. Sometimes changing over at Kurla station.
Harbour Line and Main Line changes.
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Laboratory
classes at SIES!!! What a “chemistry” there.
-
Aggarwal
classes at Dadar and prep for IIT JEE
-
1011
A.I.R in 1979. Choice of IIT-B vs IIT-M. Good sense prevailed and selected
IIT-M
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Hostel
days at Mandakini Year 1. July 1979 onwards. Room 224.
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Learning
to cycle with Ramesh
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Learnt
to swim and play water polo.
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Weight
training at the gym.
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Early
morning jogs at the stadium.
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Eggs,
Beef, Fish, Chicken in the hostel mess.
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Bald
hair-cut, sling bags and bicycles.
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Cigarettes,
Beedis, Liquor, weed.
-
Jethro
Tull over pot-speakers.
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Working
out in the room Saras 260.
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Saturday
night movies at OAT.
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Books,
VCR tapes etc.
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Photography
experiments.
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Plain uthappam
and red onion chutney. Heavenly indeed.
-
Veg
biryani with fried pieces of bread squares.
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Milli
pouches at Taramani.
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Special
treats at Liu’s Waldorf.
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Train
travel Madras to Bombay and back.
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1979 –
1984. The five years that made me a bold man.
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The
best five years of my life till then. Friendships forged for a lifetime.
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The
Mukand Iron and Steel internship. Their canteen food!
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The
BARC internship and their Scanning Electron Microscope!
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GRE,
admissions, placement opportunities. The Eicher job.
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Plans
for Faridabad and Delhi.
Hostel life 1979 – 1984. While I learnt how Steel is made, those five years made me.
Deepest gratitude for AIR
1011, IIT-M admission, life at Mandak and Saras.