Dilli Chalo!

Back in campus it was now a life of true seniors as we moved into the 3^rd year. We moved to the New hostel, each had his own single room, could have our pick of freshers as they arrived and various positions of responsibility opened up like captains of all games teams except the Athletics, cultural, student body etc. Many of us had to take the responsibility of the organizing committees for various events. The system had chosen the 3^rd year to load lots of these which was fun as the final year made people caught up with studies, preparations to plan to go abroad/ higher studies etc. but I thought it was more about letting the final year be relaxed to enjoy without having to take organizations responsibilities. So this year (84-85) was the next most eventful one after 74-75.

Prof Marwaha, chandan, Indranil, Sundar, Rajiv

Early in the year a couple of our batch mates got caught for ragging and rustication orders were given. This triggered a student protest, the first one was witnessing and I think it was the first ISM was seeing in a long time. The director Prof. Marwah was a tough administrator was firm on his decision. There was call for a strike, gheraoing in the admin block, police got called in, took students courting arrest in vans and dropped them off near the railway station (didn’t book them). It was unfortunate but we faced it. It tested our conscience that time about who to support, what to support etc. but the main thing was about giving them a chance with a punishment and I think we had to give up protests, get things back to normal and much later they commuted it to suspension from rustication. 

4x100 relay - Tamang, Kujur, Bubna (RIP), Sundar

At studies, we got into our subjects of specialization which was mining engg (for me), mining machinery and petroleum etc. It got interesting as mining is a mix of many faculties civil, mechanical, electrical were all very important components of engineering applied to mining both underground and above ground (open cast mines). Mining is a duel with nature above or below ground and was about facing the vagaries of nature as one tries to selectively use its resources. It therefore was full of uncertainties, limitation of what resources available, had disruptive things in process like using explosives and all calling for a constant eye on safety. A lot of learning also was led by case studies and learnings from past disasters. We were trained to think on our feet, spot things amiss and manage with whatever resources at hand – we had to be JUGADU to excel in mining. Professors Ghose, S P Banerjee, Ahuja, Srivastav , Chabbra, Kejriwal were either academics who worked closely with Industry on some modern projects or had extensive industrial experience and taught us. I got supported by the RK Lal scholarship for year3 & amp;4 which was good @ 375 per
month which covered a lot of expenses.

Sanjiv, me, volley ball @ survey camp

We we had the survey camp in the winter holidays where we had to camp outside in a colliery area outside Dhanbad, stay in tents, use stars (pole star) and constellations (belt of orion, saptarishis etc.) to map coordinates, survey an area above ground, survey and area below ground in the colliery and marry them on the map – a huge task. It was really cold in winter and handled the Tacheometers and precision equipment especially at night, with wind chill trying to focus was wow.

The year saw the assassination of Indira Gandhi and our director and a couple of professors were Sikhs and the campus was under threat. Remarkably the students rallied to put in teams that  kept round the clock vigil to support the police in protecting attacks in the campus by rioters. Around the same time was the World Mining Congress beign held in Delhi from Nov 19, intended to be a function inaugurated by Indira Gandhi that was not to be. But few of us led by Sanjiv were keen to see if we can participate and Prof Ghose was one of the core team members. We lobbied to see if there could be official sanction to our participation but that was ruled out. We kept pestering Prof. Ghose but he said he cannot but said something like if I see you outside I will see if I can whisk you. That was enough and Sanjiv, Unni, I and Pramath took the plunge, which was worth it. Thanks to

Long jump 

Sanjiv our stay at Delhi was taken care of at GK2 and on the day before congress we landed waiting to catch Prof Ghose and he true to his word put us in as volunteers reporting to one Col Kohli. We got to see how such an international event was run at Vigyan Bhavan – seminars, panel discussions, language translation transcripts, girls as ushers from LSR etc. free food, bottled Golden Eagle Mineral water (was the only mineral water in bottles like beer bottles). For the evenings we got passes for cultural programs to see stalwarts like Yamini, Mallika, Amjad Ali khan etc. performing dance & music. A very memorable experience and then we got a load of the Seminar material which we did little with but the experience of an international event, its organization by the government machinery, Delhi recovering from 1984 riots ( it was sad to see the level of damage, burning and arson that had taken place), Pragathi Maidan – all very memorable. The whole act of Dilli Chalo taught us that if determined and want to get something, risk is an essential companion and has to be taken!

This year also saw our year excel in sports.  I think we won a number of the sports events and we

Tug of war Sanjay Arvind, Atul's our anchor

were fortunate to have one Chakraborty studying Geophysics who had photography as his hobby and would click photographs for a number of events and caught some real action moments of hurdles, relay, tug of war etc. Tug of war was really a highlight, the biggest risk being the anchor of the losing team being dragged for a distance in the enthusiasm invariably getting bruised. A few records were broken this year by Jamwal and I think i set the record for 110m hurdles in that year at ISM.

family vacation to cauvery basin .

Satish and I went to Neyveli for summer training, closer home. It was also around this time that we had our last family vacation (parents, Ram, Anandhi and Sandhya) as after that studies and work kept pulling away. It was a trip to Trichy, Tanjore, Nagercoil etc by road experiencing the Chola legacy and river Cauvery. Periya koil of Tanjore – great architecture and the Cauvery basin and its paddy fields ruffling with breeze – divine!! On the way back there was heavy rain and the wiper was not effecitve in the Amby and then the driver stopped got a cigarette opened it rubbed it on the windshield and let the wiper run and amazingly the wiper became far more effective - something about surface tension and makign the windshield non-greasy. Ram successfully completed his CA in his first attempt topping the Coimbatore chapter what a transformational and remarkable achievement for someone who hated maths, wanted to study medicine, got stifled by reservation and took this as a challenge.

My tryst with art continued and encouraged by friends also got into designing logos for Scolomin Saturnalia, East Zone Youth Festival, Diamond Jubilee of ISM etc. I am still searching to see where these are in the archives and hopefully will find soon and update. But two of my masterpieces of art are still around one with my parents and another closer home with Vidya. Art is governed by moods and inspirations and I don’t think I got into such a mode later.

... miles to go before I sleep...

portrait in candle light