Chp 209. A walk down Coimbatore lane

A few minutes ago, my Bangalore ex-roomie and very close friend Amos sent me this news article.

NDTV.com | India's small town space heroes

Behind India's first moon mission are the hundreds of scientists who toiled to make it a success. What stands out is that many of the heroes of Chandrayaan are not from the much hyped IITs but from regional engineering institutions in small towns.

For instance the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore is known for its contribution to science and technology for the last 63 years. PSG College of Technology, again in Coimbatore has been imparting quality education since last 57 years.

PSG Tech is the college I graduated from, and GCET is Amos’ college!

We both felt extremely proud, even though we didn’t contribute anything towards India’s grand success But still, nobody can take our pride away.

Memories of Coimbatore immediately rushed back.

Of cheap transportation and strict college rules. Of college dress code (no round collar tee-shirts for men and no jeans for women) to powerless Student Union body as compared to North India (our SU declared a strike once, and the entire SU body was suspended for a month! No such demonstration took place again after that.)



Of cheap movie tickets (balcony seat at an English theatre was just 30 bucks) to 5-rupees-front-row seat ticket at a shady Shakeela film theatre (where one could even light up a cigarette inside!)

Of amazingggg South Indian delicacies of different variety (trust me, you can’t just call it "South Indian" dish because each region has its own specialty) to cheap road-side "standing bars" (situated behind every wine-shop where one could stand and slowly finish one’s drink. The more advanced standing-bars even have a person frying omlettes with other snacks like kadalai and muruku.)

Of eating one’s lunch on a banana leaf with assorted "curry" to go with the rice like dal, sambar, rasam, more (diluted salted dhai) and podhi + ghee, to joining different "mess" around our college (we shifted from mallu mess to chettinad mess, where the aunties treated us as their own sons and cooked the best lunch ever!)

Of crappy hostel food (the idlis at our Tech hostel was so hard that they were called "Tech bomb" because apparently you could kill somebody if you threw the idlis at them!) and joining North Indian mess (which didn’t last long because all we ever get was chappatis) and finally settling down for our hostel Rwandan mess (ah those exchange students from Rwanda had the best soup! Other Indians were not allowed to join the mess but since there were just 2-3 of us from the North-east they gave us special permission! )

Of strict college rules when it comes to relationships (yeah a guy and a girl talking to each other was prohibited frowned upon!) and cheap mobile phone tariff rates (free talk time from 7pm to 7am, so nearly every hot blooded male would be talking to their classmates staying in the girl’s hostel for hours and hours.)

Of last minute revision before an exam (walking from the hostel to the college campus and reading a particular chapter for the first time!) to finding the opportunity to walk along with a female classmate towards the college (hence ending up talking to her and not reading that chapter you’ve never even read once before).

Of arrears and back-papers and strangely forming a bond with guys of other engineering branches who happened to be present for every arrear exams that you attempted!

Of bumpy night-bus trips from Madurai to Erode to Namakkal to Nagapattinam to Kottayam (K) trying to win all the basketball tournaments that were conducted, to a memorable 1 point victory over Indian Bank (the reigning Indian club Champion back then!)



Of talking about "sight", "matter" and "scene" with my tam classmates, who were the sweetest bunch of people I had ever known, to teasing a classmate just because a girl borrowed his note-book!

Of guys visiting cyber cafes with girlfriends because those were the "hot-spots"...


Of running around in lungi and enjoying the "freedom", to dancing in tam style and having great fun.

Of earning the infamous nickname – "Tam-Zo"

Of having a North Indian girlfriend and the few North Indians in our college threatening to "break my bones" if we didn’t call off our relationship , and of my south Indian friends coming to my aid every time there was a fight...

Of shouting and hurling abuses right in front of each others’ faces during a "fight" but never quite actually hitting each other! (lots of daaaaiiiiii’s and okaaaaaalaaa but never a punch or slap, which is too hilarious for a Mizo onlooker)

Of my dear tam friends teaching me cuss words in tamil, and of them becoming so happy and entertained when I could finally abuse their mothers in their own language (if you really think about it, it is hilarious!)

Of excitedly dressing up and going to a "happening" college party (which usually meant there were 200 guys and 5 girls present) to the extremely nice cops who usually gave us warnings whenever they caught us drunk.

Of jumping into a crowded bus and paying for my friends while proudly telling the bus conductor the amount in tamil, and of the bus conductor always confirming the amount back by using his fingers to denote if I have said the correct amount or not

Of our extremely close-knitted "Peacepipe" Gang (that was the name of our gang. Why we call ourselves peacepipe? – Go figure )

Of watching the latest Tamil blockbuster release with my classmates and genuinely enjoying it!

Of the racial abuses that were almost 100% absent!!!! (I swear!)

Of friendship, simplicity and consummate honesty among friends.

Of the coffee-wallas who were present at every street corner.

Of Tamil hospitality.


Ah… I miss you Coimbatore!!! PSG, you truly roxxxx!!!!!

If you find this post funny or from one of those enginerring colleges in Coimbatore, please feel free to digg this post!