Revisiting college days

From the albums

This picture of the final year students of civil engineering, from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) at KR Circle, was taken in 1967. The occasion was our ‘Hostel Day’ which was celebrated in all its grandeur.

    A host of sports, cultural and other activities were completely planned and performed by the students themselves.

We were privileged and honoured to have with us BD Jatti, the then Food Minister and VK Gokak, vice-chancellor of Bangalore University, as our chief guests. They are also seen in the picture.

Most of us in this picture were 21 years old. I was particularly happy on this day because I had bagged the first place in English debate competition. We were a small group of students in the class and we were indeed a close bunch.

    BV Ramachandra Reddy was a close friend and it is he who lent me the coat that I am wearing. It wasn’t compulsory to wear a coat but he was kind enough to lend me one.

    Our lecturer, professor BT Laxman, who taught us the subject on concrete engineering socialised with us all and was open to clearing all the doubts and questions that we would have. He later went to the US. I fondly recall another classmate and close friend PM Narayana Gowda who was also from the same place as I was in Kolar. He passed away in 1998 in a road accident.

 I also vividly remember D Lingaiah who also went on to become a very good engineer. K Kalaiah was a Mysurean and was adept at speaking and writing in English, Kannada and Telugu with equal felicity.

The three of us — PM Narayana Gowda, BV Ramachandra Reddy and myself - would always hang around together. Every Saturday, we would head out to watch a Telugu movie and sometimes go to the Prabath Talkies to watch a Hindi movie. Those days in Prabath Talkies,  the ticket for a Hindi movie was only half the price. The three of us were fond of actor

A Nageswara Rao in Telugu films and Dr Rajkumar in Kannada films. We never missed the films of these two actors.

We had a very good canteen in the hostel and every Sunday we would get crispy, delicious ‘masala dosa.’ So, we would make it a point to be at the hostel on Sunday to have the ‘masala dosa’. The food prepared in the canteen was wholesome, hygienic and fresh. Because of this , we were never prompted to eat out. My days in college bring back a flood of memories. Most of us are well passed 60 years now. Some of them in the picture are no more. I am still in touch with some of my classmates. I still recall how we used to sit down and talk about a variety of issues for hours together.

After college, I worked in the irrigation department and retired 11 years ago. I am currently a consultant with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).  Unlike today, which is a computer-driven world, we didn’t have computers in college and believed in personal, face-to-face relations. We used to help each other in times of need and we never knew what it was like to get stressed back then. We were always there for each other. Those days will never return but it has left behind memories for a lifetime.

B Gundappa
(As told to Nina C George)
(B Gundappa can be reached on 9663111226.)