RECMemories.blogspot.com

The period from 1975 – 78 was a very difficult time in REC Calicut, for teaching staff, nonteaching staff and students. Small problems which could be solved as and when it occurs took gigantic shape over the years partly due to the rigidity of the administration and partly due to the callous dealing of these. Most of the problems associated with students were connected with ragging, now accepted as a social evil. Once upon a time, REC was notorious for ragging. The students in REC were coming from different states with different cultural backgrounds. Many of them must have been staying outside their house for the first time. Totally new people coupled with totally new environment and even unfamiliar food make these adolescent children homesick and tense. In addition, the troubles brought on them by seemingly harmless ragging by the seniors were enough to upset their balance. Ragging starts in simple harmless mode as just familiarization with the seniors but some times there were

While going for higher studies from REC Calicut whether with pay or on loss of pay, employees had to sign a bond to serve the institution for a period equal to the duration of the course. Duration of the M.Tech course was   two years. I had   taken   leave on loss of pay for 8 months for   completing my course, however   I also had   to sign a bond   for 2 years.   As I had slowly realised the problems in REC, I was    seriously thinking of leaving REC without losing the opportunity to do further higher studies. Accordingly, I had started applying for jobs outside the college. Applications to good institutions had to be sent through proper channel with a further undertaking the conditions of the bond already signed will be followed.   My attempts started with a few jobs advertised by Union Public Service   Commission(UPSC) and few other   jobs in public sector and research and development institutions. Somehow, none of them clicked. One of the applications sent was to a post as

         Life in campuses are quite convenient as residents can get all their requirements met without much trouble. REC Campus was no exception. There was a Bank, a Post Office, a shopping complex with a grocery store, ration shop and   the   most essential one, a hospital. In a place like Chathamangalam, this was essential. Occasionally, some items not available   inside the campus may be available   in Kattangal   or Panchayat. There was no medical shop nearby, so we had to go to Kunnamagalam, 7 KMs away or Mokkam   8 KMs away to purchase   medicines not available   in our health centre. For residents with small children   all these   were a blessing. Going to the town Kozhikode was required only for purchasing some new clothes during festive occasions or for seeing some   latest movies. Very few had their own vehicles and others had to resort to the public conveyances. Fortunately plenty of private   buses and a limited number   of state transport buses   were plying even tho

Calicut Regional Engineering College (CREC)   started functioning in   1961 as one of the   very few    institutions of higher education in the   Northern part of Kerala. CREC   was the 9 th REC to be started   in India. Sri.Pattom Thanupillai, the Chief Minister of Kerala then, appointed Prof.Rajaraman, Principal of Government Engineering   College as   the Special Officer   for taking the initial steps for setting up the college. The college started functioning in the building of the   Govt. Polytechnic   at West Hill, Calicut. Later   Prof.M.V. Kesava Rao   was appointed as Principal. It was in 1963 that the college started functioning   in the   campus at   Chathamangalam, 22 KMs from the Calicut   town. The campus was spread over 120 hectares   in area and to start there were only three branches Civil, Electrical and Mechanical with 40 students   each. Prof.K.M.Bahauddin   became the Principal in 1968 and continued till 1981. Subsequently Prof.P.K.Charlu was appointed as Pro

When   I joined in REC   Calicut in 1969,   our Head   of the Department   was Prof.P.K.Charlu and   Dr.P.S.Srinivasan was the second in command. Both were from Tamil Nadu but totally different in demeanour. Many people were of the opinion that Prof.Charlu was too casual in his approach to departmental administration, but I have my own first-hand experience of how he can do things very seriously if required. He was staying in the Calicut city in a rented house and was travelling   to the   campus and back by college   bus. So, he was very particular to complete all official work    by   4.35 PM,   the time at which the college   bus leaves the campus. Before he leaves the office, his peon will take his bag to the college bus and keep it on his regular seat. This will make sure that bus will not leave without him. Even if he was presiding over the departmental meeting or hostel committee meeting as Chief Warden discussing important matters, as soon as he sees the watch indicating  

REC Calicut Campus is spread over almost 400 acres and nearly 500 or more families were staying in the campus even in the 70s. Number of residents including teaching, nonteaching staff and students were more than 2000 at that time itself. We have a small health centre for immediate attention to the health problems of the residents. Two doctors, two nurses, a pharmacist and an attender were available as staff members. 5 beds were available for inpatients in our mini-hospital. One of the doctors, designated as Resident Medical Officer used to stay in the campus. RMO is supposed to attend to any case emergency round the clock. Most of the common medicines were available and if medicines are to be bought from outside, medical reimbursement of the expenses were available, if it is purchased with prescription of the medical officers. If the patient requires specialised help or hospitalization, the doctors used to send the patient to Calicut Medical College in the college vehicle, if a

So, we    were back in the REC campus after our life outside the campus for 8 long months in the house   owned by Guruvayoorappan Pilla. I was allotted a room in Faculty House constructed exclusively for bachelors, facing the valley. It was the 4 th room from the North    on the ground floor , Room No 4 , which was   my only place to stay in the campus for the next   few years. It was a spacious room with a double cot, attached bath room and a sit out facing the valley where you could spend hours watching   mother nature. A few rooms on the   first floor were   reserved   for college guests, including one special room    for the Chairman Board of Governors.   There was a mess attached where the guests and bachelors could take food. Almost simultaneously, 8 D type quarters were also getting ready facing the Calicut Mukkam road. But these quarters were allotted to other seniors in the waiting list as the criterion was the date   of joining   the college , not the date on which th

On return from I.I.T.Madras after   higher studies, accommodation problems were acute once again. As we are not supposed to retain the quarters while we are away from the campus for more than a few months, we had to surrender the F-type quarters we got with great difficulty before leaving for Madras. No vacant quarters were available and chances of getting one in the near future was very bleak on our return. The only way to bring my family was to find out some place to stay outside the campus. As mentioned earlier Chathamangalam was   effectively a   chatha(dead) mangalam outside the REC campus. Very few houses outside were available for rent. Even among those available, either water will not be available or sanitation facilities will be also very poor. The typical Malabar   houses with a room upstairs were mostly made with laterite and mud and very few   concrete houses with proper ceiling were   available. In Kattangal, a few line-buildings were available for students. But acc