An Encounter with the Monkey

            Childhood is age of craziness. It’s of no doubt that not even one would have stopped himself/herself from doing at least one crazy or stupid thing. This post is one such stupid or crazy thing which I did that finally ended me at a hospital.

             This incident occurred when I was in my kinder garden class at Chinmaya Vidhyalaya, Coimbatore. Usually I had my class getting ended up by afternoon itself, reaching home I used to have a great meal and sleep happily (A care free age with just enjoyment round the clock). Getting up by 6pm and not having a burden of home works to be done I used to finish it soon and get ready for the Temple, a regular habit then. I and my mom visiting the temple would pay a visit to my grandparent’s home (Mom’s Parents) which was in the same locality too. During weekends I used to be full time at my grandparent’s home. They are the best if you would ask me.

            Once during a visit they had planned of taking me to a nearby Lord Hanuman’s Temple situated in our locality. Even from a kid I always had a special liking towards Lord Hanuman. More over during those days (i.e. year 1995) there weren’t much of entertainment as of these days. So visiting temple itself was a great outing for me. As dusk was creping we entered the temple and luckily there wasn’t much crowd. Finishing prayers and receiving the holy theertham (Holy Water) and Thulasi we were about to leave. It was then that I noticed a monkey been tied up to a pillar inside the temple. There were few devotes who were offering fruits to that monkey. Curiosity has stopped whom as to stop me and so I dragged my grandparents towards it.

           Since we didn’t have any fruits to offer my grandfather suggested let’s move on but I stood there protesting not to move from there. So to satisfy me my grandpa gave few coins to offer to the monkey. With a great smile on my face I neared it, extended my hand with coin. The next minute I was shouting with pain. Actually what happened was I approached the monkey with the intention of giving the coin but the monkey thought that I was actually coming to snatch the fruits from it. So to protect it the monkey scratched my hand with its sharp nails. Throughout the way to hospital I was crying nonstop. I was given a Tetanus injection which made me to cry even further. It took so long for the scar to disappear.

Even today on visiting the temple I used to get a small smile on seeing the spot where the Monkey was tied, though it’s not alive now.    

Unexpected Meeting

2^nd Semester

              It was a bright Tuesday morning and we had our Engineering Mathematics-II class the very first hour. In the previous semester we had a very nice staff handling Maths but this semester he was such a stupid. I wondered how he rose to the designation of Assistant Professor. Actually his name was Mr.Balamurugan. I guess I am right with his name. So coming back to the Maths hour taking place, this Asst Prof was blabbering out and as usual we were taking notes of it.

               Around 9.30am a lab assistant from the Physics dept had come to collect the attendance sheet from the class. There used to be columns of benches in our class. I and the rest of the hostel mates used to occupy the last three rows of bench in the middle column. As the lab assistant was noting down the absentees, one of my close friend and my colleague at HCL too Mr. Karthik was busy repairing out his pen and by mistake as he blew air out of the pen’s lid it made a mild whistle sound. The lab assistant heard it and suspiciously was looking at our row of guys. But we didn’t show even the slightest anxiousness nor did Karthik have the slightest amount of fear on his face. Before leaving the class lab assistant asked who had blew the whistle in the class and even then we didn’t bother to mind him. With a furious face he left the class and we were enjoying the moment.

             The first hour ended and the second hour started. It was the Basic Civil & Mechanical Engineering class. During the first apart from the department to which we belong we were taught the basics of all the other departments. Civil and Mechanical subjects were handled by different staffs. We were lucky to have Mr. Vijayakumar, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Dept as our staff. It’s hard to find such persons especially at SaiRam Engg College. He was a class apart from other staffs. While on the contradictory we had the Civil Dept HOD handling the civil paper. So on that day it was civil class going on and we guys as usual were enjoying the class. Nearly 20 min were there for the class to get over but we found the lab assistant entering our class again.

              He went directly to the staff taking class, spoke few words and turned towards us. He signalled the Last 2 rows to come out. I was one among it and wondering the reason why he has called we moved out of the class. Outside he asked us to meet Balu Sir (A very Interesting character hardly to forget throughout my life). On hearing his name itself everyone started having a sick feeling within us. Slowly as we walked towards his office in the ground floor we decided that whatever be the treatment we should never betray our friend. So reaching his room we were standing quietly. The lab assistant too came and he informed Balu sir about us. After some time an office assistant came and called Karthik alone inside. We were all craning our necks through the window to see what is happening inside. Little later Karthik came out and told that Balu knew that it would have been me and he warned me not to do so in future. We were all confused about how Balu found the culprit correctly. Later Karthik informed us that Balu was also hailing from his place and while induction itself his dad has asked Balu to keep an eye on his son. Hearing it we were laughing uncontrollably and moved towards the class.

             Suddenly an idea stuck to one of my friend. He informed everyone to remove their ID cards and keep it within your pocket. We will create a scene in the class like Balu sir had collected our ID cards and later we will reveal the truth. Accepting to his plan we removed our ID’s and entered the class. As expected we received the reaction from our classmates. The Civil HOD was also scolding us saying “you are in your 1^st year and don’t act as if you are in your final year”. We didn’t even bother to listen what that HOD was shouting and went straight to our places and sat.

An unexpected meet with Balu was fun though we escaped of getting nice slaps from him.

Note: At SaiRam Engg College our ID cards are like visiting foreign nation with our Passport. Once your passport is lost then the following days after it you would be under a hell of problems. So as long as it is safe around your neck it means you are in the safe zone.

The Buffet

             This post is once again on one of the sweet memories of my college life. When we entered the 2^nd year we quiet found lot of changes in the Hostel. It was only two floors before and now the third floor was being constructed. We were shocked to find uninterrupted water supply. The canteen contract was given to a new group, as a result the menu got changed. Finally a lot number of new coin operated phone were put up which means guys need not wait so long to romance with their girlfriends. Mobile phones were banned inside Sai Ram campus and so we had coin operated phone to ring up to our families. But its quiet common to see guys using just one or two coin to speak to their home and nearly 30-40 coins for their girlfriends. After all it’s the only way of communicating with girls in that strict campus, so I don’t blame them but actually feel pity for them.

            Coming back, as I mentioned before the canteen contract was handed over to a different caters. On one Saturday after returning back from our evening play of Volleyball we found a huge crowd at the entrance. Over hearing the discussion of the crowd we came to know that it’s going to be a buffet dinner tonight. Adding to our excitement was that buffet served both Vegetarian & Non-Vegetarian food. We thought that If there was one who was studying during the first study hour then for sure he might be an idiot, because the entire hostel was discussing about the buffet. Though usually during the study hours there would be much silence, on that day it was completely filled with the discussions coming from each and every room. Even the security and the warden couldn’t control us.

7.30 pm

            All the other days at this time only few from the hostel move towards the canteen. We IT guys always start by 7.45 because we could find the canteen less crowded at that time. But on that day once the bell rang at 7.30 every one ran towards the canteen. We didn’t understand why people were running like this. As our room was in the third floor we were watching it from the veranda. At 7.45 we left to the canteen and approaching it we were shocked to see the scene there. There was a huge line continuing even out of the canteen. It was the line for Non-Vegetarian Buffet. The Vegetarian was served at a different place and we found it completely empty with a total of around 50 boys. Cursing the management for not making the canteen much bigger we stood in the line. 10 min later we were almost near to our destination. We found Balu sir instructing the serving man to put extra chicken piece. Seeing the scene it started mouth watering for every one of us. Visualizing that scene makes me mouth watering even now. Among us Karthik’s favorite was Chicken Biriyani. I and Sreenivas were discussing about having how many rounds of food. We collected our plate and started tasting every items present. The menu was Tomato Soup, Gulab Jamun, Naan, Chicken Biriyani, Chicken gravy, Salad, Ice cream, Banana. Meanwhile a good news started spreading throughout the canteen. It was that Balu sir has cancelled the second study hour which we usually have it after dinner. This was such a great treat for all of us. Going in for more rounds we were enjoying it every time and since few of the servers at the canteen are friend of us we IT guys get extra chicken or gulab jamun or even the ice cream. Finishing our great feast we came out of the canteen only by around 9.15 pm. Even then there were lots still having their food back.

Note: You may even feel weird about us after reading all the above lines but to be honest at SaiRam finding such delicious food is rare. Only occasionally we get such food. Rest of the days there were even few who skipped either breakfast or lunch or dinner or all the above.

            So returning back to hostel and also the study being cancelled it was a great enjoyment for us. In the veranda we IT guys along with Mech, EEE and E&I had a long chat only to know that the time was 10pm. Saturday night 10pm is the time which is eagerly awaited by almost half of the hostelers apart from this buffet, because from 10pm till next day dawn we are allowed to watch any number of films. Continuing the chat we moved towards the TV hall and started enjoying the movie.     

            Though I have visited a number of buffets, this kind of buffet can be hardly found and cherished in my later days.