CALICUTCITY:Calicut as a City

Name the city that has a " heart made of Water". It must be Calicut also called Kozhikode in the vernacular and now the official name of the city. The "Heart of Water" refers to the Mananchira found at the center of the city. Chira in malayalam refers to a temple pond. It is possible that there was a prominent temple close to this Chira in the ages bygone and also could have been the seat of the palaces of the Zamorin. One of the Zamorins' immolated himself in the fire he set to the palace fearing dis-honour in the hands of Hyder Ali who was progressively ravaging this part of the world and subjugating the populace and sometimes conducting public circumcisions. The maurading army of the Mysore sultans could have demolished the temple en-route on their entry to Calicut is a possibility.

There are no traces of many of the ancient edicts anywhere in the vicinity today barring this pond which merrily basks in glory in modern Calicut left untouched by the generations and a mute witness to many a happennings and a huge maze of vehicles that circumscribe it today from large vehicles to cars to two wheelers and auto-rickshaws not to be left behind. There is a park adjacent to this pond where few revellers could be seen in the evenings and on a closer look among the trees and plants is a statue of the stalwart of Calicut of modern times "Krishna Menon" gazing in a direction but cornered for all practical purposes and needs to be made conspicious. Very early morning reflections by the water in the pond of the street lights that adorn this place is a treat to watch.

Calicut was called calecot by the Arabs who descended here for trading for many centuries and have praise for this place mentioning that there was no theft of goods and merchandise that was left at this place and the ships were very safe. Tax was collected at the port and they describe it as a friendly city. Many of these travellers found the coast of the Arabian sea a lucrative proposition for trading starting from manjarur-the modern Mangalore and progressing southwards buying and selling goods on their way during which they encounter Elimali-the modern day ezhimala; Cannanore for which the arabs had their own name and to Calecot to Cochin and possible to the coast of Ceylon and back. Elimali or Ezhimala for them was a natural port because their ships were protected from winds by mountain ranges that jet into the sea. Historical books say so and I am yet to verify this fact.

The people of Calicut to me were not an unfriendly lot like in many cities I have visited ;and guide you with integrity when in a fix. You see scores of people dressed in white mundu and shirt across the length and breadth of Calicut. Buses these days have become jam-packed unlike during earlier times and Malayalam is the language largely spoken but a good section of the populace comprehend English and hindi. At some points in Calicut you see traffic jams these days. Calicut grew in leap and bounds after the international airport came up at Karipur some thirty kilometers from the city. The weather is largely sultry during a large part of the year and it rains heavily during monsoon.

Vasco Da Gama landed at a place called Kappad some 18 kilometers to the north of Calicut in 1498 with fellow sailors and a fleet thus officially Europeans gaining access and entry to this place. There were many conflicts between the Zamorins of Calicit and the Portuguese. Not much of Portuguese remanants can be seen at this place today but they are an unerasable factor in the history of Calicut. Subscequent events and the lack of tolerance on the part of the Portuguese across various issues possibly made it impossible for them to gain a long term foot hold at Calicut and with the advent of other europeans gradually drifted to other pastures. I have myself not visited the kappad beach and this beach needs to be marketed as a tourist spot as it has an important footprint in history. The portuguese government of today can also partake in some small way to make this spot a heritage site and coduct some event here on an yearly basis to commemorate the landing of Vasco Da Gama. It is possible that a good section of people at Calicut have not visited this site and not an encouraging phenomenon. Historical antipathy of the people of Calicut towards the Portuguese could be the reason but it is time that such animosities be buried at once by the modern world for a better future.

Calicut has a beach which is around four kilometes from manachira pond and a pleasant place to watch the evening sunset from among many people who make a regular visit here every evening. The beach is clean and well oriented for the public. There are some restaurants in the vicinity and a well maintained road called the beach road that runs alongside the beach. There is sufficient parking space here and the beach road by itself is not a prime road line and is largely devoid of heavy traffic. It is important to note that another semi-port exists even today near calicut called Beypore port and is a place even to this day mini ships are designed and built using wood from coconut palms that are chopped down for this purpose.It is beleived that this tradition could be many centuries old and exists even to this day. But these places need to be devoloped and the access to them augmented. Beypore beach must be some eight kilometers to the south of Calicut beach.

Cannanore; Trichur and Wayanad are places close to Calicut and each of these places enjoy merit for their own reasons. Calicut has a government bus stand which is small by modern standards on mavoor road around half a kilometer and walking distance from Mananchira.(The private bus stand is also close by). You find buses to almost every place from this small bus stand including chennai and pondicherry. There is a football stadium at Calicut towards the end of M M Ali road where international level foot ball matches were held in 1986 and also Ranji trophy cricket matches were held. Important educational institutions at Calicut are the NIT Calicut; IIM Calicut and the Medical College Calicut. New private educational institutions have burgeoned at this place of late.

Lodging at Calicut can be an important issue and travellers must make it a point to search for a good lodging facility. The lodging facility near the bus stand are below par but there are good hotels at the other spreads of the city.Auto drivers can be banked upon for a focussed search which would lead one to a decent place. Food is clean and hygenic at most places and the general costs are much lower than at many cities. Rachna Shah I A S a celebrated women I A S officer from Delhi was the Collector here for some time and remember speaking to her over the telephone on some issue and found her very receptive ,polite and responsive.

Rachna Shah

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Our Final Year Project at NIT(REC)-Calicut

The final year project at REC was a special learning experience. We were divided into batches of four and were matched against 12 projects and was an issue of chance. My batch mates were Narayan Kumar Anantha; Sudansu Mohan Jena; Srirangam Rangarajan Sampath ( S R Sampath) and myself P.O.Subash. We got the project "Data Processing using Electronic Spreadsheet and Data base in Electrical Engineering" and so did another batch of girls only two names I recollect in Chitra Sukumar and Sheela Furtado. Dr. S Thiruvengadam the then head of the department and Dr. K P Mohandas were the guides. Dr. Vekataramani was also involved in the planning of the projects. REC of out times had many senior faculty with many years of academic experience.

 

We had an year to do this work and were assigned the lab in the first floor of the Departmental Building and had fairly free access to this facility. It must be pointed out that REC had a mainframe computer during this period ; we were working on a PC using the software Super Calc 2 (SC2). Our project is basically based on a paper written in Electrical Engineering by Nuttaki D Rao of some American University. We were so PC illiterate that most of the time we were searching the keys on the key board but improved very fast.

 

Something about the software SC2. It was a very user-friendly DOS based Spreadsheet software and one of the best I have worked on. I liked the simplicity of the software and the ease with which it operated. Even during that time there were many Spreadsheet softwares in the market like Visicalc . These softwares gave way to Lotus 123 and eventually to Microsoft Excel which we use today.

 

It must be pointed that we had two parts in the project; one with Supercalc -the spreadsheet software and the other with Dbase III. I think I made valuable contribution during the project and enjoyed the march from the hostels to the labs at odd hours planning and doing some work related to the project. Switching on the PC and waiting for it to boot and seeing the cursor was with baited breath. I discovered during the project that I liked working to sitting in the class rooms or writing examinations. You can be creative at work and not in the other two settings.

 I must thank the Dept for having given us this oppurtunity to work on a PC earlier on and creating a comfort level with the PC. The project report we made is still lying somewhere in my house. Making the report was pure team work which we batch mates enjoyed in the room of Sudansumohan Jena in the E hostel. Sometimes the work would stretch upto 3 AM and in the thick of the mid-night we used to go to Hamza's hotel in Kettangal for omlette and tea.The night was deathly quiet and Kettangal  looked  forlorn.

 

The Mysore City

The city of Mysore cannot be ignored in any discussion about Bangalore.Mysore and its environs have been a hot bed of history for several centuries. Bangalore can be said to be a derivative city of Mysore as Bangalore emerged from Mysore in many ways.

The center of action of the bygone era focuses on the egg shaped island of Srirangapattana around fourteen kilometers from Mysore. The cauvery splits at a point up-stream into two rivulets and merges again six kilometers down –stream forming the island of Sriranga pattana. By the very nature of the place it must have held strategic importance as it gives natural insulation against enemies and could have been a prime point in the running of administration. The importance of this place must have further accentuated by the Ranganatha temple within the fort and the river Cauvery being seen as sacred by many communities.

mysore palace

The Vijayanagar empire ruled over the entire of Southern India for several centuries and had a viceroy stationed at Srirangapattana. I think the Vijayanagar kings must have had some role in building the fort at this place and the construction of the Ranganatha temple. By the first half of the 17th century the Vijayanagar empire began to totter and finally loose control of its dominions and about the same time the Wodeyars attack the Viceroy of the Vijayanagar empire stationed at Srirangapattana and become the rulers. This must be not later than 1650 and many of the Nayaks or chieftains of the Vijayanagar empire began to assert themselves and take privy control of the kingdoms over which they were caretakers.

There was relative peace at Srirangapattana for about a century thereafter and the newly formed fiefdom shared many characteristics of the Vijayanagar Kingdom from which it emerged. Dasara celebrations were held year after year at the place where the Daria Daulat palace stands today and the kingdom must have been wealthy by many standards.The problem faced by the Wodeyars were attacks by other sinister forces around and largely the Marattas. Marattas always demamded a huge tribute from the vanquished and the Wodeyars also were in such situations trying to mobilize large sums to satiate the invaders bringing people like Hyder Ali a noted warrior of the Wodeyars into prominence.In events resembling a modern day coup aided by fortuitous circumstances Hyder Ali imprisons the Wodeyars and becomes de-facto ruler of Sri-Rangapattana. Hyder Ali must have imprisoned the Wodeyars in iron cages as had been his practice. Again the Marratas in various forms and shapes deter the designs of growth of Hyder Ali . Hyder attacked Malabar to largely loot the wealthy kingdoms as he had to pay a large tribute to the Marattas losing to them in Shimoga. Hyder Ali gets into conflict with the British as he controlled the key sea ports in Malabar and they were possibly taxed boiling over into a full fledged conflict over time. This era ends in 1799 with the British taking control of srirangapattana and restoring the Wodeyars back into the saddle of power under the overall supervision of a Regent. General Arthur Wellesley decides to make Daria Daulat palace as his home where he stayed for a couple of years. For the Wodeyars Srirangapattana had changed irreversibly and the place had brought misery to them and for few other reasons decide to relocate to Mysore which is around eight miles from Srirangapattana. Malaria was rampant in Srirangapattana because of the mosquitoes in the cauvery basins and the place was deserted for all practical purposes by the British later . Thus is born MYSORE as is known to the modern man and a city that began to steadily rise in importance there after owing to the synergy between the British and the Wodeyars. Much of prosperity in this belt can be traced to this synergy and thus emergred an important corridor in southern India in the fiorm of Madras-Bangalore-Mysore-Ootacamund also called Ooty and also note that barring Ooty which is difficult to access due to its rocky terrains the other three cities are complementary to each other and became a hub of activity both administrative and technical. Mysore actually means Mahishasurana Ooru largely referring to the large statue of Mahishasura upon the Chamundi hill. It must be noted that on being handed back the Kingdom by the British to the Wodeyars which must to have come to pass by the involvement of Gen Arthur Wellesley the Wodeyar queen made a thankful statement in “ As long as the Sun and the Moon exist we would be indebted to you…….” reflecting largely the difficult circumstances the Wodeyars had been for few decades.

Mysore is a mother city for Bangalore. After independence the erection of the Vidhana Soudha and its splendour surpassed any structure in the city of Mysore thereby increasing the technical importance of Bangalore and putting Mysore in the Shade. But the city of Bangalore will share aplenty the largely derived heritage of Mysore and its tryst with history during various periods. Also note that Mysore city is called Birmingham of India.

I have had a special fascination for Mysore. It was a natural destination for an excursion for any student studying in Bangalore. I have visited the palace many times and fondly remember trying to touch the golden throne of the king as a school student only to be reprimanded by the palace security staff and let off as being a small boy incapable of malice. Mysore is a transit point for anyone trying to reach Calicut where I studied for some time and I have enjoyed the nocturnal view of the Mysore palace in the still backdrop of a motionless night. I used to wake up suddenly fro my sleep in the bus when I faintly heard the word Mysore only to have a glance of the palace only to fade back top sleep immediately thereafter.

A guide to any one trying to visit Mysore both for education and entertainment. There are scores of people who visit this city from around the world. There are bacially four places which many visit in Mysore over a 12 hour interval. They are the Mysore Zoo; The Mysore Palace;The Chamundi Hill and The Krishna Rajendra Sagar(KRS) also called the Brindavan Gardens.

Saying you start at 10:00 Am the Zoo would be the right place to visit and it takes around two hours to see the zoo. Break for a good lunch that preferably should be pre-ordained and should take an hour and a half. Reach the palace aroung 2:00 post noon and the palace can be seen in an hour. For the more devout visit the temple near the palace. Exit the palace premises around 3:30 for a drive uphill to the Chamundi hill which must take half an hour. Spend an hour at this place and also visit the temple upon the hill. On descending the hill there are few points which give an amazing view of Mysore city and stop over for a few minutes at these place to take a full view which is truly arresting. Assuning you exit the foot of the hills at 6:00 PM it is a hour and a half drive to KRS. Spend an hour at this place or more. At 9:00 turn your steps back to your place of stay in Mysore and the entire venture should take about 12 hours and a truly worthy one that will longlast in anyone's memory for years to come.

Television Comes to REC (NIT) Calicut

Television came to REC CALICUT on 16th June 1984.What a historic event. Most of us had not seen TV till then. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister and one of her major acheivements was in launching TV broadcast stations all over the country in quick succession. The common rooms of all the hostels got a 20inch Keltron TV and one of the first institutions in Calicut to have this luxury.

I beleive the strike of 1983 would have never happenned in the first place had there been TV's in the campus as students would have been busy watching them with little or no time to participate in events that precipitate a crisis.

TV changed our lives in many ways. There was education as much as entertainment. Almost around the same time Siddharth Basu came out with his quiz contests "Quiz Time" with colleges from around the country participating in them and was a avidly watched program adding to education and increased awareness. Chitrhaar on thursdays;Humlog;Lucy Show;Sorry;Nukkad; Yeh Jo hai Zindagi;Jewel in the Crown; Ek Do Theen Char; Mickey Mouse ; Cricket and soccer matches were many of the broadcasts that had some spell on the student crowd. The Common Room where the TV was kept was open upto 10:00 in the night. Chitrahaar drew the maximum crowd. Amitabh Bachchan movies not to be left behind.

One of the key world event of our times was the 1984 Benson and Hedges cricket tourney in Australia where India emerged winners and was of continued interest for all. Every match had the hostels spell-bound and euphoria when Krishnamma Chari Srikkanth or Sandeep Patil hit a four when only one run was needed to win. I think this was one tourney where India gave consistent cricketing performance only losing the inaguaral match against Australia. Ravi Shastri emerged Champion of Champions but for once.

Note that there was only one channel in operation at that time namely DD-1 and there was no scope to switch channels. I dont know what is up today and the cable network must have made in-roads into the campus.Another notable event of our times was the news telecast on the 31st of October 1984 about the assasination of the Prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Shri Rajiv Gandhi taking over as the PM. Miss Shrivastav used to be the most favourite anchor among the students on DD and many would come just to hear her speak and smile. Programming on DD was good at that time with a good combination of educative programs and entertainment. james bond

The Dual Heritage and identity crisis of an NIT (REC) Product

REC products of the bygone era have a dual heritage or a bifurcated lineage. The institute that has sponsored them and the institute where they study. This has been a source of confusion to many, peers, employers and in-laws in that order.The inter-state quota has to be explained and much of the truth about the situation gets drowned in the deliberations and explanations.

 

I wanted to study at KREC but could not get a seat of the state quota and got Calicut on the inter-state quota. Possibly the happiest day of my life should be collecting the admission order from KREC now called NIT-K meaning National Institute of Technology - karnataka at Surathkal near Mangalore for admission to NIT Calicut. Sometimes and quite often I visit NIT-K may be as a subconcious thanksgiving for having given me a seat. My brother and father had accompanied me during the admission process to NIT K and we stayed at Vasanth Vihar hotel on K S Rao road in Mangalore. I will compare these two NIT's in another write-up. Note that both these places Calicut and Mangalore are almost equi-distant from Bangalore and to my experience travelling to Calicut is a more enchanting experience considering the travel is through the steepest part of the Western Ghats and the Bandipur forests. Calicut is not very far from Ooty and must be around 5 hours by bus and many of my friends used to visit ooty when the attractions of calicut become surfiet.

 

Though may not be relevant but still it would be consistent to mention that there are three approach roads to NIT Calicut from Calicut city. The one through nadakavu into the wayanad road and into kunnamangalam and then to chathamangalam where the institute is located. All government buses take this route.To get on to this route turn left from mavoor road at Baby Memorial Hospital. Yet another route and possibly the shortest is through medical college-karanthur-kunnamangalam and NIT. Most private vehicles take this route. The most circuitous one is through mavoor but you get to enjoy the rustic beauty of Calicut as you take this route but a highly time consuming one. The beauty of Calicut is the many hills that surround the place and sadly so many of these hills are being tonsured of their natural flora a phenomenon that must be contained. IIM K has come upon one such hill and the view from IIM K is truly breath-taking.

The social population at an REC (NIT) of our days was truly heterogenous with a uneven scatter of students from across the country and creates some kind of a culture shock for a sizable duration of time and students do take some time to adjust in. Some of them do not have this problem but in the shadow lies such a scenario. The students from the local state always have an advantage in that they get a large posse of students from their like -minded domain and so do people from the hindi belt . Take the case of a student from Assam studying at a south indian NIT who finds himself in a minority and a huge challenge ahead of him to acclamatize with the collective. This can sometimes be painful for some time but becomes a treasure in the form of a unique experience of having tided over a cultural gap. This kind of transitions and transformations are what make REC products truly different and unique from students from any other institution. This is what makes an REC product priceless in many social contexts. REC concept must have truly contributed to national integration AND KEEPING IN VIEW THE DIVERSE BACK GROUND FROM WHICH THEY EMERGE MUST BE preferred for SOME TECHNICAL AND NON TECHNICAL assignments of the government.

I think to a large extent a REC product must be allowed to retain the identity of the sponsoring institution alongside the institution where he had presented himself. This can put many a ambiguity in perspective. This means he successfully combines to purposeful use his dual lineage. For an instance a student who has graduated from Durgapur on being sponsored from Silichar could project himself prima facie as a Silichar-Durgapur product and the identity of the REC that sponsored him must be removed from the background and projected upfront without delay to settle with urgency the dual nature of his nurturing. I also feel from experience that REC products must be given and tried at managerial positions rightaway on their exit from their institute and not to while away in functional jobs at the outset as a sizable amount of maturity and toughening being inbuilt by default by the nature of the circumstances through which he has emerged. Some law of this nature must have been enlisted in the NIT act atleast or else some injustice of a serious nature is meted out inadvertently on these products and their unique capacities not harnessed and made futile.

I have visited personally only three rec's in my life. Calicut and Surathkal out of purpose and REC Nagpur out of spite. REC Nagpur or MVNIT as it is called now is almost in the heart of nagpur as against the other two which are away from the mainstay. However I have visited almost all the NIT's on the web post internet era and have atleast an inkling of what a particular institute looks like thanks to the internet. May these institutes blossom and so must its products and all blessings and priveleges that are directly and indirectly due may accrue upon them aplenty is one of my fervent wishes and all the trials and tribulations through which a NIT product passes to which I was a personal subject and witness may not go into waste but bear fruit for himself and the community. On having passed through an NIT I have a solemn feeling which I carry every day the pride which is uniquely ours of having got a kind of education that is truly unique, different and special and the joy of an ever complete education not yearning for any more leave alone the Harvard Business School.

 

Cinema Halls near NIT (REC) Calicut

There were many cinema halls near REC Calicut of our times and this was one of our unplanned entertainments meaning that the decision to see a movie was taken at the spur of the moment. We had an audio-visual club which was fairly active and I have seen many classics thanks to the A-V club as it was called. Madhumathi, Sadma, Tootsie, Double trouble; Super snooper;Masoom to name a few. One end of the auditorium had a screen and the hall was well designed with an enclosure for the projectors. The lady folk were seated on the dias and for the men folk the chairs were strewn all around and one could make oneself comfortable on a chair and position himself to his convenience any where in the hall. The auditorium would work in a reverse format when movies were screened. Rarely in the auditorium when the audio works the video wouldnt and vice-versa and the A-V club was sometimes called the Audio or Visual club.

Malayalam movies were a hot favourite among many for obvious reasons and though the hindi crowd didnt understand the language an iota were regular visitors for these movies and were more restless when the posters of these movies were stuck on college walls and trees. The malayalam movie that created the maximum ado was Uthpathi . I couldnt see this movie but have only heard of its attractions. My class mate Manjeet Singh Rekhi who rarely saw any movie also seemed highly excited the day after he saw the movie and was going around explaining the scenes sometimes hugging and clasping a fellow student venting extreme emotions.

The cenima halls around NIT -Calicut were as follows in the order of increasing distance. Dhanya talkies near Kettangal, Sindhu theatre in Kunnamangalam and another talkies in Kunnamangalam whose name I forget and another talkies in Mavoor and a theatre in Mukkom. Kunnamangalam is 07 kilometers from the institute and Mavoor and Mukkom must be around 10 kilometers. Dhanya talkies was walkable from REC and had maximum visitors from REC mostly for the second show. I have been weaned by many a friend to see a movie at Dhanya though seeing a movie was simply not on the agenda- just for the sake of company. I was on my way from kattangal where I went to purchase something only to be coerced by some and before long I found myself in Dhanya talkies with many batchmates and friends. Abdullah, Raftaar, Great Gambler; Thiruvilayadal and not to mention many malayalam movies were seen by me here. Actually I loose count but there were many. I cannot forget the movie killungatha changallagal- the first movie five of us who were staying at B315 saw and from then on started the saga of visiting Dhanya talkies. The mood was jolly and when you are in rome be a roman. I fully patook the gaeity at REC and pity people who could not revel in it for their own reasons. I beleive we should not loose any oppurtunity to laugh and be merry especially when life and heavens presents such circumstances to the exclusion of other concerns. To that extent I feel a sense of contentment when I look back to my days spent at this place that I did precisely what one should be doing under such unfettered and joyous environment. Such a situation would never present itself again in life is a reality and there are no regrets in having made merry for once in a place that largely presented the ground for the same and any shortcoming so resultimg could be ammended.

The best part of seing a movie at Dhanya talkies is the walking back to the hostels in the moon lit night. It was a very splendid feel with hardly any one on the road barring a few of us occassionally breaking into peels of laughter that rented the air. Most of the Indian languages could be heard from Bengali to Oriya to Assamese not to mention Hindi. The discussions revolved around the scenes in the movie. P V K Mohan from Bombay was there when we saw Abdullah. Friday evenings were the ideal time to visit Dhanya theatre as Saturday and Sunday were holidays and the friday night used to be an open night. After seeing the movie at Dhanya theatre the night is simply not over as some of us would assemble at the mini canteen again discussing many things over cups of tea upto 2 AM. (The tea at Mini-Canteen was special ;quickly manufactured in a dramatized set of sequences -filled slightly more than half full into a cleaned glass tumbler with few ants big and small on the surface which has to be carefully done away with and had a rare and differing taste on every occassion but was almost an addiction for many. Some of the students clubbed it with a cigarette and were not to be disturbed enjoying the deep enlightenment of the combination).The discussions would range from assignments to be submitted , lab records to be written and sometimes into philosophy and life not to mention the attractive species of the institute. As a matter of procedure no discussions of any kind are complete without the attractive species (female students or the opposite sex )of the institute being a subject with various kinds of nick names discussed and given to the more flamboyant in an instant flow of creativity.

I have seen Amar Akbar Anthony; Majboor; malayalam movie kinnaram etc at Sindhu theatre in Kunnamngalam. IIM-K students must be visiting this theatre more frequently now because it is only a stone throw away from it. After seeing a movie one evening my room mate Giri and myself had walked the entire 7 kilometrs to college just for the fun of it. Sindhu theatre was a full fledged theatre and not a talkies. I have seen the movie nakakshathangal in the talkies in Kunnamangalam. Note that the bus stop in Kunnamangalam came up in 1984 prior to which there was no full fledged bus stop. Every time I travel on this road I take a quick glace of the Sindhu theatre and it is still very much there hale and hearty as usual. We could not hoot and howl in Sindhu theate as we did in Dhanya talkies because we were simply not in our core territory. There were instances in Dhanya theatre where the ongoing movie was stopped for some particular scene to be re-shown with some of the students making menacing gestures threatening to break a few chairs if their desires were not obliged and the manager of the dhanya talkies had no other go but to recast the reels. This was the sway we had on Dhanya theatre. It was for all practical purposes our private theatre or takies what ever one would like to call it. The movies had parallel dialogues and commentories from students that were more enchanting than the dialogues of the movies itself. In one movie the hero averred to the heroine " come to me " as I have cleared 24 paper and got a BA and Martin my senior sitting in the rear commented vociferously that the had just finished the final exam thereby completing almost 58 papers to his count and that he was a better suit for the heroine. This was the uncontrolled free- for -all inside the talkies. There was a country arrack outlet near the talkies and the less temperant of the lot had a stomach full before they entered the talkies and their mannerisms and mood governed by the spirit with some of them shamelessly vomitted the extra that was forced down their throats within the talkies creating a scene. Lady students visited the talkies only for the afternoon show secretly sneaking in and sneaking out without a flutter and knew very well the conscequences of a publicised visit. They visited the talkies in large bands and carefully negotiating the road to the talkies that ran along side the hostels and the men made merry catching their glance from the hostels and making a list of all of them they could identify from far.

Waqt ke shehzade; Blue Lagoon were movies I saw at Abhilash theatre in Mukkom the first one in 1983 and the latter in 1985. I saw the movie Andha Kanoon in the talkies in Mavoor with my batch mate Gautham Balram Hendre.

These are the tents and theatres around REC that formed a part of our lives and the narration was about what happenned at them. Crown theate and Blue Diamond were two theatres frequently visited in Calicut town. Blue Diamond came up some where in 1984 and I have seen Ardh sathya and Akhri rastha here not to mention the scores of english movies seen at Crown theatre.

In retrospect I feel the authorities of the institute must not let film posters to be stuck within the campus as in the ultimate analysis it sets a downward precedent. Educational institutions must be isolated and insulated from environmental noises of any kind for the process of education to progress in its sanctity and students must land up invariably reading journals and text books of the subjects that they study or else they simply land up being a Roman in Rome which may not be their designated trajectory.

The Strike at NIT Calicut of 11 Nov 1983

There was a strike or student unrest at REC-Calicut in november 1983 . How can I forget this event ? It was the first time I was witness to such an incident in the first place and was a mute witness to the happenings all around with no power to change the course of events which were not to my approval to say the least. But this event has had far reaching consequences on NIT-Calicut and the student populace.

Dr. S U Pillai had just taken over as the Principal and our batch was in the third semester and classes had just begun and the junior batch had joined and some of my batch mates were booked in a ragging case and suspended for an year ,which was not taken kindly by our batch which expressed solidarity with the suspended students ;some of them who claimed to be innocent and with the principal on the other side with an iron fist to stamp out this menace called ragging in any form however miniscule. This was a stand-off and a compromise seemed unforthcoming and elusive. The date was 08 of November 1983.

The hostels wore a look of a nation at war with several parleys and meetings among various students and student bodies and some of them using the oppurtunity to visit the ladies hostels to discuss the matter and get an opinion of the women folk as a matter of tradition and some of them over did it visiting the ladies hostel more than a dozen times sometimes at odd hours. But there is a serious problem at hand and every one understood the gravity of the situation and the seriousnes attatched in not letting their brotheren down in their hour of crisis.

Mr. Bopaiah Chowdhury a softspoken gentleman being the leader of the union suddenly found himself catapulted to centre stage and was in a confusion as to what should be done and could feel the push and pull from all directions. Should there be a strike or shouldnt there be one ? Many of us did not know what a strike meant in the first place and possibly the mild mannered leader of the union too didnt ;who seemed to me a very studious lad suddenly forced into pretending to be a political strategist. By 12 in the night it was decided that students would go on a strike.

The hostels of NIT at that time had a special facility in a public address system. Speakers were tied to trees with a control room in the C hostel with a microphone ; a grammaphone and an amplifier. They were traditionally used to play songs and music every evening for about an hour with a signature tune played at the onset and the end of the one hour duration. Any one passing the way would register a song he would like to hear which was played. The formula followed was three malayalam songs followed by two hindi songs and a song in any other language.

On this night suddenly the signature tune was played at mid-night and there was pin drop silence in every quarter. The mood was as if a newly sworn in prime minister was going to address the nation. The leader of the union made it official and passed his decree and announced that there would be a strike with effect from the moment until the orders of suspension were not withdrawn.For all practical purposes it meant no attending classes.

9 th and 10th of November 1983 went without any incident with columns of students walking through the various corridors shouting slogans most of them directed at the Principal. But there was an important happenning on the 10th afternoon with police entering the campus for the first time and whisking away some students who had the principal in a gherao. Things began to get more murkier complicated and serious. I was given special instructions from home not to fish in troubled waters and would simply not be a party to obstructive activities.

The above event triggered hostilities even further. On the 11 th of November 1983 students as usual were in a procession with the Principal in the middle floor of the Departmental Building surrounded by a cauldron of police. Some aggressive students of the lot tried to attack the principal and order was given for a lathi charge and hell was let loose. I was standing near the library and could view the lathi charge and I rushed into the A hostel and therafter to my room in the B hostel. I could see pitched battles between students and the police from my room. News paper reporters sensed trouble and reached the place going around taking photographs of injured students in the lathi charge. Some of the injured were being carried to the hostels and being interviewed. Many of them had a good number of their bones broken and could barely walk having felt the intensity of kerala police in full fury.

The local police handed over the case to the CRPF whose vehicles encircled REC Calicut. The time must have been around 2:00 in the afternoon announcing on the microphone asking students to vacate the hostels within an hour. I was in the mess and on return found my room locked. When I went about searching for my room mates one of them happenned to open up a small part of the door dislogding the plywood making just enough space for a person to enter and exit. I entered through this crevice and collected all the immediate possessions that would be needed and proceeded to the bus stop and so did many in the hostels.

Students went haywire with many of them not knowing where to proceed. I had a local guardian in Capt. K T Sreenivasan and there I went. Captain asked me what transpired. He contacted the CI of Medical college police station Mr. Vijayaraghavan and introduced me to him and told me not to bother . On the 12th of November 1983 in the morning my father landed up at the place and was glad to see that I was secure. The same day with my father I revisited to hostels to collect my remaining belongings from my room making way through the crevice and exiting through it.

The institute remained closed for about a month and a half and reopened in january 1984 the movie Manchali of Sanjeev Kumar shown on the first day of our return. Note that all the students convicted did not have therir suspensions withdrawn but had to undergo the sentence.

Such incidents should never form the part of any education process. They must be prevented . Students must always be monitored and disciplined in preventive ways so that they do not lead to awkward situations which would need defanitive solutions and bringing the police to maintain order should be the least of the prerogatives at any cost