Andhra University Engineering College 1965-68
Before joining Engineering in Vizag, I had an interview in Chennai at M.I.T. which had an excellent reputation for Diploma courses which were considered better than degrees at other colleges. A product of this MIT was A.L.Iqbal uncle who became GM of Bhilai Steel Plant and later GM of Coromandel Fertilizers, Vizag.
Dad accompanied me to Chennai for the interview. He wanted to meet S.V.Rangarao, an actor, who was his class fellow and close friend for support at MIT. We reached his house and met his wife as S.V.Rangarao was in Singapore for a film shoot. Mrs. Rangarao asked their Secretary to accompany us to MIT and see if my candidature can be recommended. Finally I did not get a seat here. There were a group of seniors sitting near the main entrance and they called me over and just asked me my name and where I am coming from. It was a prelude to ragging at a later stage.
S.V. Rangarao used to visit dad at home in Guntur. Once when he tried to come at 5 p.m., huge crowds prevented him entering our lane. So he planned a visit at 12 midnight which went unnoticed. Ammi woke us up to meet him. He spent an hour gossiping with dad and he asked me what I was studying. He asked me if I act in plays. I said I was not into dramas. He said it is better to follow other careers. He used to call Dad “Badru” and they were close. They were roommates for three years in Kakinada College.
Dad took me to the Mount Road and Marina Beech. To end the day, dad and I went over to Buhari Hotel (Bukhari is spelt and pronounced Buhari in Chennai) and had Biryani which came with a boiled egg on top.
While we were waiting for the selection in AU Engineering College, I had a serious discussion with dad which was rather historic. I was already serious about pursuing English literature as my profession and ending up as an English Professor. My dad was looking at me as an Engineer (I don’t know why I didn’t look like a doctor). When I mentioned that I would like to do MA (English), he said that’s not an attractive career. Even mentioning my preference in one sentence was hard for me as it was going against dad’s wishes. This was the only time I had such direct and serious kind of discussion with dad.
Strange are the ways of Allah. Eventually I fulfilled dad’s wish by qualifying as a Civil Engineer while I spent maximum time in the University Library reading English classics and Literature, shelf by shelf, author by author, thus vicariously fulfilling my desire. Soon after my Engineering degree, I had applied for Probationary Officer (Management Trainee) in SBI which were coveted posts. I had also applied for IRSE and was planning to appear for IAS. Among 120,000 candidates who appeared for SBI written examination, 110 were called for interview and 14 were selected for 1968 batch. Al Hamdulillah, I was selected along with M.A. Ahmed, who became my best friend leading to the marriage of his brother Aleem with my sister, Shammi. So finally, I was destined neither to be an Engineer nor an English Professor but ended up becoming a Banker as per Allah’s plan.
My ragging experience when I joined Engineering College was very mild. We Andhras are a mild breed, I think and we cannot compare with the violent and aggressive ragging methods of some other colleges. There was no ragging at all in the college. Whatever mild stuff I faced was at the hostel. We in the three year course were already B.Sc. graduates and looked like seniors. A few seniors called me over one evening and asked my name and demanded that I sing a song for them. Having never given any kind of audition before, I thought of some current favorites and sang the first two lines of Dil Deke Dekho and the guys said, stop stop and let me go!! When it was our turn next year to rag juniors, I never took any part in it. Overall I would say the ragging was very mild and can be forgiven.
Indian Army started sending a few Army Officers to acquire Engineering qualifications and we had two class fellows. One was Lt D.N.Sharma and the other was a tall Sardar Lt. S.S.Gill. Both were very professional and friendly, more so with me as I could speak Hindi well. The guys who were into ragging never imagined what lay in wait for them. A small group knocked on the door of Gill to try and rag him. He was 6'2'' in height and he opened the door and stood holding the two sides of the door and in his right hand was a big Khukhri. You can imagine the group melting away very fast!! We are in touch with D.N.Sharma who retired as Lt. Col via our Alumni group but there is no news of Gill.
On the hostel terrace
University life was interesting. I made lot of good friends. I stayed in sixth block hostel. My close companions were Mumtaz and Mynuddin (Ajmeeri) who were cousins from Akividu. Other friends were Turab Hussian, YVVL Prasad, among others. Sixth block was the newer and more spacious hostel, twice as big as the other five blocks. This hostel was Non-vegetarian for the first and third year and was vegetarian in the second year. When we insisted that chicken should be Halal, they said they could not get a Muslim Imam to slaughter chicken numbering around 50-60 thrice a week. We innocently offered our services. The job fell to me and Mumtaz as Mynuddin and Turab pulled out. After two days of this massacre, we could not eat the curry. So we put some pressure on the hostel cooks to hire an Imam from a local masjid to do the honors and we were happy just eating chicken and never offered to do any slaughter.
Anjaneya Varma (late) sitting extreme left, Mumtaz sitting on extreme rght, Ajmeeri (late) standing second left and me next to him.
A few tricks were successful in making the hostel food palatable. Our lunch curries during the vegetarian year were not that tasty. One fine day, our lab work got delayed and we arrived for lunch at closing time of 2 pm. The cook said they finished the tasteless curry and requested us to wait for ten minutes and he will get something. To our pleasant surprise, he brought us hot and spicy French fries and we had a good time. We tried this a few times and the cooks were cooperative but not always.
Ammi used to give me specially packed tins (Glaxo) with Khara-poosa (saltish vermicelli), Khajoor (sweet home-made cookies) and Avagaya pickle. I used to share with Mumtaz and Mynuddin but news used to spread to other hostel mates and they used to hang around and finish the big tins within a few days.
Once every term, the hostel held a special dinner where we could invite our friends /relatives. The special dish was Chicken Biryani and sweets etc. and food was served on the terrace. I had invited Madaruddin Khalsab a few times and he enjoyed the dinner with paan and State Express cigarettes.
Every Sunday we used to go in a group of 3-4 to Leela Mahal hanging on to the footboard of city buses. After booking tickets for an English movie, we used to go for a quick Masala or Rava Dosa at Chadaga’s and come back late to the hostel. They were enjoyable weekends. There were no lock-outs in the hostel those days.
I found a bookshop in town which sells used books at affordable prices for students. I used to visit this place once a month and pick up some nice books, classics, poetry collections etc.
My habit as regards books and reading was to encourage others to borrow books and read my recommendations. I either tell them to keep the book or return after reading if it was some book that I wanted to keep. During my three years at the University, I must have lent 50 books but I wanted to track down 10 of them which were precious to me. I wrote an interesting poem pleading friends to return before I left the University and pasted to on the canteen entrance. The poem started with “Neither lender nor borrower be”. Amazingly I got more appreciation for the poem than real results. (Got six books back)
My study plan was simple. Attend all the classes regularly and do the assignments fast. Devote nights till 1 am to read books of all kinds- History, biography, bestsellers, classics etc. Be a bookworm at the library and read hundreds of books from the English literature section and never visit the Engineering side of the library. We used to get 15 days for preparation for the final exams which used to stretch to 15-20 days with gaps in between papers and lab work. I used to study only during these preparation holidays. Night study needed a dose of hot mirchi bajjis and tea at the university canteen which was open till late and was crowded during prep holidays. The pressure was a great excuse to start smoking and my smoking companion was Mynuddin. I never needed mirchi bajjis or tea to read novels till 1 am every day.
Al Hamdulillah, this simple plan of mine worked very well as I scored high distinction marks and ended up third in our batch. The go-to person for helping in difficult mathematical problems was V.R.Murthy who was always ready to help, sitting in an easy chair. He is now a Professor of Aerospace Engineering in Syracuse University in USA. Murthy has authored a biography of Savithri, the legendary Telugu actress.
In our final term, we were taken on a tour of North India for two weeks by a special bogie which used to be attached to different trains and parked on a siding at the railway stations for the duration of our local trip. We covered Bhakra Nangal Dam, Hirakud Dam, Chandigarh for engineering knowledge. The tourist attractions we covered were Nainital, Hardwar and Delhi. Two incidents stand out in memory.
My dad was Deputy Superintendent of Central Excise at Hyderabad and he used to write letters to main stations where we were expected as per program. He wrote an Inland letter care of the Station Master, New Delhi and I duly received it from the Letter Box. It was a normal welfare letter. After a few hours, two Delhi wallahs came asking for me by name and my class fellows showed me where I am. We were planning to go out in an hour or so after everyone got ready. The two guys introduced themselves as Officials of Central Excise at Delhi and said they were asked by my dad to help us with anything we need. They slowly led us to foreign goods like Transistor radios, watches seized and auctioned by central Excise and they said they can get us stuff at staff rates. My class fellows who were with me showed great interest and two of them asked for a transistor and a watch. They gave money and the two guys said they will be back next day and give us the stuff. I was a passive listener. My dad’s letter did not mention anything of this nature. As you would guess, they did not turn up next day and we went to the station Master who told us this was a normal confidence trick as they got information from reading letters. The Inland letter was easy to read without opening the flaps.
The other incident was in Chandigarh from where we were to visit Shimla for a day’s visit. We had reserved a deluxe bus of Punjab Transport which we were to board at the Main Bus Depot at 9 am. By the time our group of 50 ambled along and arrived at 9.15 am, the bus had waited and cancelled. Our Team Leader, a Lecturer, went to the Depot Manager to say we were ready to go, the Manager (a Sardar) said there was no margin for latecomers and our group bus was cancelled and they could refund only 50% of the amount paid. We all left shame-faced and learnt a good lesson in punctuality. And the Shimla plan was called off.
Dilshad apa was in her Final year Medicine in Andhra Medical College and I met her and her sister Mahrukh along with Moin bhai and we all went to see Dolphin’s nose hills. Dr. Nayeem was a friend who was son of Dr. Deen. Dr. Deen was a leading Dentist of Vizag and sometime Congress MLA and a friend of my dad. He used to come to Hostel to play Table Tennis.
Madaruddin Khalsab was posted in Vizag as Asst Conservator of Forests and lived close to the University. I was close to Alia khalajan and Khalsab and used to visit them often on weekends for their company and for the excellent home-cooked food prepared by Khalajan. If I didn’t go for some time, Khalsab used to come to pick me up or send his driver. He took me for a few camping trips to forest areas like Chinta Palli, Araku Valley etc., which were enjoyable. On one trip, he brought Janab M.A.Aziz, retired Deputy Collector with us. Collector saab, as he was called, was very religious and excelled in Telugu and English and he was Imam of a small masjid in a thatched hut which later grew to be a pakka building. He used to discuss Prophet’s life and other religious topics intermixed with some funny stories form his life as Dy Collector.
A major incident happened during my first year of Engineering (1966). Alia Khalajan was married this year and Maqbool mama was posted in Kovvur and he had a big trunk full of wedding sarees of Alia Khalajan. As I was travelling from Hyderabad by train to Vizag, I was asked to take the trunk and hand over to Alia Khalajan in Vizag. The trunk was loaded into the train by coolies and as it was very heavy, they put it down near the exit door of the compartment. I was busy reading my novel sitting in the packed compartment and glance at the trunk now and then. I saw a frail old lady, may be 65-70 years old, sitting on top of the trunk and I thought it was nothing to worry about. The train stopped at Anakapalli station and there was lot of movement of passengers getting in and out. As the train pulled out of the station, I did not see the old lady neither did I see the trunk. I searched all over the compartment and after consulting with fellow passengers, did not pull the chain but waited to report the matter to Railway police at Vizag as it was the next stop and was only 45 min from Anakapalli. Khalsab came to the station to receive me and was rather shocked at the theft. The Police told us that there were some notorious gangs which operate in Anakapalli area and their Modus Operandi is to use old ladies to spot good stuff and as the other side of Anakapalli station has many rice fields, they unload the trunk in a few seconds and vanish into the fields. Police under pressure from Khalsab undertook investigation but failed to find the culprits. I was not directly blamed but innuendos were regularly made about my reading habit which resulted in this loss. I did feel guilty for a long time. Even Maqbool mama was blamed for entrusting a valuable trunk to a young 18 year old like me. During the rest of my life, specially during my Gulf stint, I made sure to bring good sarees for Alia Khalajan. Maybe this was better. Who wears wedding finery in normal life except that they are packed and kept hidden in the wardrobe?
BE Graduation
I was sent an urgent message one day to come and see Khalsab. I rushed to the house to find lot of people at the house and a number of official Government cars. Khalsab was a very honest officer and it was a rarity in departments like Forest. Some forest contractors who specialize in illegal felling of trees were caught by Khalsaab and he was not pliable like others to withdraw cases. After failing to bribe him, they chose to send a group of goondas to attack him at dead of night. Alia khalajan was in the family way. The goondas had thick wooden logs which they poked through the collapsible gates and hurt him on his head which was bleeding and I could see blood on the walls. Alia Khalajan even in her advanced stage of pregnancy came to protect him but the goondas poked the sticks into her belly. After seeing the blood, the goondas ran away. Police were called in. The Collector who was also resident of the colony came to see him. He was taken to the hospital and bandaged and released the same day.
Summer holidays during these three years were very enjoyable as I was staying in a hostel for the first time and going back home to Ammi and her tasty food was so enjoyable. Marriages in the family were mostly held during summer holidays and so I could catch up with a few marriages. My visits home were to Hyderabad, Warangal and Sirpur Kagaznagar where dad was posted at that time.
An incident about my dad is worth writing about. When he was posted to Warangal, Gold Control Order was in full force and individuals were not supposed to hold jewelry beyond certain weight. This was due to Chinese war and its effects on the economy. Dad was heading the Enforcement Team. He raided a Doctor’s house on intelligence received. The party did not find anything but dad heard flushing noise from a bathroom upstairs. He took one of the staff to investigate and suspected some jewelry was hidden in the commode. Staff was reluctant to put his hand inside. Dad unhesitatingly put his hand in the trap, which was anyway flushed a while ago and got a big bag full of jewelry. This raid was sensational and appeared in the newspapers as the .Doctor was well known in town.
