A sneak peek into the bicycle days

From the albums

The black and white picture was taken in 1970 during our graduation day celebration in the college campus. The coloured picture was taken recently when some of us, old friends, got together.

All of us studied at Maharani’s College right from pre-university. In those days, the PU course was of one year duration and was attached to the degree college. Most of us nursed the ambition to pursue medicine after our BSc degree and only a few of our friends were successful in getting into the medical profession.

From among the ones seated below, only two belonged to our BSc group — Geetha and T S Vijayalakshmi. Shobha’s sister Shaila pursued BA from Maharani’s College. Geethamani and Vijaya are sisters who were in the same class but in different sections.

Graduation day was a wonderful farewell event for all of us, as it marked the end of our academic journey at the bachelor’s level. The event was marked by a cultural festival filled with fun and frolic. The college used to host a grand tea party on such occasions  catered by the famous Prakash Cafe serving mouthwatering sweets and hot savouries. Then there was a light music concert by the famous Mysore Ananthaswamy and party which was an added attraction.

Maharani’s was one of the reputed government women’s colleges in Bengaluru in the 60s and 70s. It was known for nurturing certain ideals and sensibilities besides upholding academic standards. The mere fact that during this period, Maharani’s College used to generate a rich pool of science graduates who later on made a career in medical and allied fields, was an obvious reflection of the academic standards that prevailed in the college. The college largely served girls from conservative middle and upper middle-class families. Both arts and science courses were offered under the same roof with English as the medium of instruction.

For most of us, however, the language for interaction with friends was Kannada, as majority of us came from Kannada speaking homes. We were quite regular to college and also serious in studies. We never bunked classes to go out to eat at a hotel or to watch a movie, even though there were a number of cinemas and hotels in the nearby Gandhi Nagar/Majestic area. Once in a while, we watched a movie in a nearby theatre and that would be a lovely outing for all of us. As we came from single income families with more than one of our siblings studying in school/college, thrift was built into our habits and we valued and honoured the same.

Girls who lived in the neighbourhood and surrounding areas like Gandhi Nagar, Kumara Park and Seshadripuram walked to college daily. However, some of us living in faraway places like Chamarajpet, Gandhi Bazaar, Vyalikaval and Malleswaram used the BTS bus for our daily commute. Very few of us used to come cycling to college and girls driving cars and two-wheelers was a rarity.  Generally, we used to follow a uniform like a sari or half-sari. There were no backpacks to hold our books and other accessories. Rather, we used to carry a heavy load of books, a steel lunch box perhaps and a purse, all clutched in our hands. We found pleasure in small and simple things.

Geethamani and C M Usha joined Bangalore Medical College (BMC) after BSc and successfully completed MBBS and MD in pathology. Incidentally, Geethamani’s sister Vijaya had also secured admission for a medical course in BMC during that year. However, her parents got her married immediately after graduation and she settled down as a homemaker. Geethamani joined KIMS Medical College in Bengaluru as a lecturer and retired from the same college as a professor and head of the pathology department. She continues to be active post retirement and is presently associated with Global Medical College in Bengaluru. After marriage, C M Usha went to the US for further studies and is now permanently settled there.

Jalaja, after her marriage, also moved there and worked as a practising manager for vascular surgeons. Meera worked for a while  in a school and then settled as a homemaker. Shobha too took up the teaching profession after doing her BEd and is now retired. Geetha joined the state government and worked in various capacities until her retirement as joint secretary, government of Karnataka.

I pursued my postgraduation from Bangalore University and obtained a PhD degree in education from the University of Mysore. I chose a career in research and worked at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, until my retirement as a professor and head of the Centre for Human Resource Development. I am still active in research and presently work as a research consultant. The group lost contact with both Chandrika and T S Vijayalakshmi.

As some of us continued to live in Bengaluru, we have remained well-connected till date. Our recent get-together (which included a few other friends too) was great fun as we reminisced about our college days. We left with a promise to keep in touch and meet soon again with a hope for good health and happiness for everyone.

(The author can be reached at [e-mail])