55 For examination work at Thrissur with “gadis*”
In the seventies and eighties, there were only three
engineering colleges under Calicut
university. Other than REC Calicut, Govt Engineering College Thrissur and N.S.S.
College of Engg at Palakkad. Kannur. I used to regularly go as External Examiner
to these colleges whenever I was appointed. Since I was staying in the campus,
I could leave my young children and wife without any problem as it was safe.
This way I could meet new people and
make extra money even if it is paid after two years or more. For poor teachers like me, this was
the only additional source of income.
At Thrissur, we had to stay in
a hotel as REC employees were not considered as Govt employees in Kerala,
we could not get accommodation in the Govt guest house. Stay in a hotel, breakfast
and dinner in Pathans’ or Indian Coffee house, lunch in a small hotel called
‘Little Star’ near the college. Little star was the only ‘five star’ hotel available
nearby. Since I had the habit of waking up early, regular visit to
Vadakkunnathan and Paramekkaav
Bhagavathy and a round walk in
the Swaraj round was also included in
the daily routine. If I am too much bored in the evening an occasional movie
in one of the theatres etc was an added entertaintment.(Remember no TV
in hotels at that time)
When I was posted as examiner
at Thrissur, the most enjoyable thing was the bus journey from Thrissur
municipal stand to the college by bus going to Cheroor. As the examination is
to start at 9AM, I preferred to travel by 830AM bus. This private bus will be
terribly crowded with small venders who come to the market to buy vegetables.
Somehow, I used to squeeze in between the vegetable vendors and their baskets.
Occasionally I may get a seat, but otherwise I will stand for about 20 minutes
trip to the college. The most interesting part was the dialogue in typical
Thrissur slang between the cleaner(kili), conductor and passengers. Dialogues
like “ Enthoottaanedaa shavee” ( what is it you bloody guy?”, “ Valyamma angadu maari ninnootee,
ktaangal kerikkottee?”) “Grandma, please
move a bit, let the kids also get in” etc used to be the dialogue between them.
When I return home, I used entertain my children with these little dialogues to
hear them laugh out of their heart. If
the examination is for 3-4 days, it will not be boring, but more than that it
will not be enjoyable.
I remember many of my friends in the Govt College
Thrissur. Prathapachandran Nair,M .S.N Potti, Abdul Khader, Dinakaran, Ahammed Koya, E
Chandrasekharan who did his PhD with me
were all good friends and fellow examiners on different occasions. Teachers
whom I have taught in REC like, Jose Mathew, his wife Mercy, Lovely
and others like Agnisharman Nampoothiri, Indira teacher,
Padmanabhan Nambiar etc were nice
company there. Recently, after retirement from NITC, once or twice I went for giving a few lecturers on ‘Quality of Research
‘ for a short term course on Research Methodology
when Dr.Indiradevi , our student was the Principal of the college. I have
contacts with a few of them still ,like
Dr Prathapachandran Nair. Many of them are no more including my PhD student Dr
E Chandrasekharan, my M Tech student Jose Mathew, Dinakaran, Potti Sir etc One
interesting character was
one Jose who joined the college
as laboratory assistant who progressively took his Diploma and Degree in
Engineering by part-time study and became a lecturer in GCE, Thrissur. Sri. Chandrasekharan had done
some work under Potti Sir, which he wanted to continue under Calicut University. Dr.Sreeramkumar and
myself were the official guides in Calicut University. He got his degree in normal time. He had also graciously
attended my son’s wedding at Guruvayur and blessed the children in person. But unfortunately he died of a heart attack. Jose Mathew, our REC
student also breathed his last recently.
A few tears for the dear departed souls and wish that their families will be
able to bear the loss and move ahead.
Among these, the two senior most were
Profs. Abdulkhader and
M.S.N.Potti. Both of them were
doing PhD in I.I.T.Kharagpur when I
attended a summer school there. Both were interesting characters with
Abdulkhader sir having a very good sense of humour. At that time, there was
only one train going to Kerala from Kolkatta via Kharagpur which reached
Kharagpur at 2AM. Kharagpur was not a
safe place after 9PM, especially for persons from outside the state. Therefore,
Khader Sir used to reach the railway station by 8PM. I asked him “Sir, what
will you do in the station till 2AM?”. He was sure in his answer: “ I rarely
get bored as I will be
watching the people moving in the station, passengers coming out
and trying to board trains at the
station. Some of them may be young couples recently married, then I will think
about their future plans for building a family. If it is a very old couple, I
will try to guess where they are going, to meet their son working in a
different place and how he and his family will receive them or if they are
going to their daughters, how the grandchildren will greet them. If it is a
lonely old woman, I will think whether she has someone to take care of her.
Etc. There are infinite number of possibilities, I never get bored”. Is it not a very convenient way to spend time?
I have a habit of being
punctual on almost all occasions, particularly when I am attending duty.
Unfortunately, I am one among the few who will be present as usual. At Thrissur, at that time, very often I was
the first person to reach the laboratory where the practical examination is
being conducted except some of the candidates taking the examination. The
Assistant to Examiner will come next running and the Internal Examiner will be
the last, also briskly walking in. We can understand a lady lecturer coming in
late after sending her children to school, attending to her husband’s needs
etc, but even gentlemen teachers used to be very casual in keeping up the
time. I am sure that when they see me
there sitting in the lab when they come must have thought ‘this guy has no
other work and come in the early morning
and sitting here’. Of course, it was true, as I was staying in a lodge and get
up early, I could reach here before the scheduled start of the examination. The
interesting thing is that even the students were taking it in their stride and
none of them were worried that their start of the examination is delayed.
Sometimes the morning examination used to start only at 930 instead of 9AM, but
students used to complete their work in
time and so nobody had any complaint whatsoever. Maybe I am the only person who
felt like that because of my habit. This was the story years back and hopefully
things may be far better nowadays.
“shavee” is used
for an idiot
See other slangs and their meaning in the attached picture (in Malayalam
only) from a face book page
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