20 Back in REC Campus at the mercy of friends

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 they become eligible for a family quarters after getting married. Because of this rule, many of my seniors who had just got married a few months back was allotted these quarters while we  with one or two kids  had to wait as we were  juniors.

We  had a senior faculty in our Department  Sri. H .Ganesh, from Thiruvananthapuram who had returned from USA after completing his MS and could  not continue  his studies for PhD  as he had to return due to some family problems. He was also allotted a D type quarters, which was just opposite REC Canteen on the side of the road leading to the residential area, very conveniently located because of the proximity to REC Canteen, State Bank  Pay Office (not a full branch then), Post Office and Shopping Complex.  He was staying there with his mother and wife whom he had married recently.  

Just as a digression, an incident Mr. Ganesh Sir  told us. While he was staying with his mother alone in the campus,  there was an occasion in which his elderly mother had to travel all alone to  TVM  by  the  Kannur TVM Deluxe   bus in the night. As he had some official engagement he could not accompany her. The ticket was booked and all arrangements were made. He was worried only about one thing. That he told her “Amma, I have made all arrangements for your comfort during the travel  except for one thing, that is relieving yourself on the way”. As we all know how our KSRTC bus station  toilets are   kept then and even now and how difficult it is for a lady to relieve herself  while travelling, he was really worried. His mother said “ Don’t worry  child, that I have already taken care  of that. I have not even taken a sip of water since morning today. So, you don’t have to worry about that.” 

As I approached Mr.Ganesh for temporarily allowing me to stay in his   quarters exchanging the room  in the  Faculty house, he  graciously  put his things  in one  of the  two bed rooms and  allowed me to stay with  my family. Since the quarters was right on the road side, there was few advantages and few disadvantages too. Our children were hardly 4 years and 2.5 years and for them one way to spend time was watching the vehicles in the road. The traffic on Calicut Mokkam road was heavy then and even now, our kids used to sit on the window sill and watch the vehicular traffic.

One of our colleagues once remarked, the quarters in REC campus are constructed   on two basic theories. One was  the ‘pit theory’ and another ‘back to front’ theory. Most of the quarters will fall into these two categories. The quarters constructed as per the pit theory were  built  in pits  made  by cutting the soil and removing it to form a pit. In the other category, the back side of one quarter will be in the front side of another. The quarters where we moved in belonged to the first theory, pit theory, as considerable amount of soil was removed to make the plinth level a few feet above the road. There was a steep cutting on the back side of the quarters.  But for this slight inconvenience, it was a good place to stay with a slide and play ground just behind for children to play and the milk booth where milk used to be brought and unloaded from Calicut and empty containers taken back.

However, more problems were coming up. After a few months, my wife had a fever that lasted for more than 6 days. In addition, she had some loose motion as well. Our college doctor Dr.P.C.George   was a retired DMO  from Kerala Health Services and he was a very kind and fatherly figure to all of us. He examined my wife and said. “This looks like a mild form of typhoid, we call it para-typhoid.  Moreover, according to our practice, any fever that lasts for more than 5-6 days we treat as typhoid only. If you  want, you can take  her to the  Calicut  Medical College or any private  hospital in town, but the treatment  for this is standard. We, in our college  health centre can take care  of her. You can decide for yourself”. As I was alone in the house with two small kids, these words were very soothing and divine in my ears. We had full faith in the doctor and I decided not to take her to any hospital. With some part time maid servants and occasionally bringing food from the canteen, we managed for about 15days while she was under treatment. Dr.George  used to come  to our house  morning and evening and found that she is responding to the treatment properly. (More  about  our dear doctor  later ).