VIT - Visitor In Transit

This morning i was reclining into my sofa watching the evergreen melodies of MS Viswanathan in Jaya TV's - Then Kinnam.

Daddy suggested that I should go back to my Alma Mater and catch up with my profs. I swore that nobody was going to remember me there as i was a total recluse at college. But Daddy insisted that there was going to be that one prof who was never going to forget me....yeah..he was quite right when he said that..i slumped back in to nostalgia..

Mostly everybody enjoys their college life. even more their hostel life. first time out of home, discovering their liberty, having fun with new friends..the list is endless..and I was an abnormal child..to me exception has always been the rule..if my engg life seemed like a theoretical joke..this MBA life so far has been a practical joke.......

I have very vague memories of my engg life. Infact, only two pictures flash thro when i try and think of those days..one is the train journeys between Katpadi and chennai. The other is the subject of this post.

It was the year of the freshman. The first year sure had so many subjects . worst of them in my opinion being basic civil engg. the best of them was easily engineering drawing. well to provide a caveat right here, I din exactly understand let alone master ED, but it gave me the lone memory of my college days.

The memory of Prof. Singaravelu, the Asst. HOD, Mech Dept.

We did not meet in the classroom for the first time. He was my hostel warden. The first weekend, I had argued enough that I have to go home every weekend and staying out in the hostel on saturdays and sundays was just impossible. He let me go. There were other cranky wardens who swore that nobody was to leave the hostel premisses. Thus begain my first journey which would go on for another four years..

So there he was in our first ED class. he had a hard look at me, the guy who was the most craziest guy about spending time at home. I was wary of him. He looked like a villain smiling at me as though he wqs ready to seek revenge..I was a child in my first year. (trust me, many ppl in my class now, still tell me i am a child at heart :-)..so i was reasonably unsure about his intentions

I was a kind of a split personality.coward and couurageous at the same time. While I wanted to be in the safe custody of my parents during weekends, I was willing to take on my prof even if i was warned of my absence from classes.

The positioning of the ED class was one of strategy. There were two classes in a week. One on friday afti and other on mon afti. Now I learnt very soon that I was never going to improve at ED and decide to do away wth ED classes where we had to sit and practise the drawings. I decided to attend the first two classses of every new chap when the prof will teach us teh basics on how to get the concept onto the drawing. I could then cut that friday off midway, midday and catch the afti express to madras. and if i was going to be bored to get up on monday ( kovai starts at 6.15 AM, which meant i had to leave home by 5AM), I was again ditching monday's class as well.

The strategy for the ED had been promptly worked out. and put into prqctice as well. All was fine until one day, the prof came to my drawing table. He was a bit serious and sternly asked me why i was not attending his classes. He said i needed min attendance to even give the exam. He told me that if i continued my tactics, he was going to talk to daddy. I was not amused one bit and just smiled away. and cut the next two classes as well.

The next class we had a face off {:))}!!!! He was furious but still controlled himself. He told me that he was going to talk to daddy for sure. I was a bit over confident..and gave him my home no without even him asking for it..He said he will call up for sure..Yet another gimmick i thought..

I was wrong..

That week's saturday..i was watching songs in sun tv and the like. a phone call came. i lifted. and a voice thundered.."Prof Singaravelu here..give the fone to ur daddy"! excuse me..i was not expecting this..blame my over confidence..

I meekly surrendered the fone to daddy. They talked for 10 mins. Daddy told me that the prof was not apparently worried abt my ED skills as much he worried abt my damn poor atendance. I decided to accept daddy's advice to attend the rest of the classes. all for attendance sake. ED was a forgone conclusion for me.

I attended all the classes for the next one month. some even on saturdays. I was not spending enough time at home. Finally daddy told me that he missed me, and asked me to bunk the monday's class coz i had attended saturdays class. So i again bunked the following class.

Now the prof really went crazy. he called me aside and asked me whether i was bunking on my own or my father was abetting my actions..i could only smile..i dare not tell him. I managed to scrape thro the univ exam . the next 3 years did not see much of interaction between us.

Finally it was my convocation. I saw the prof standing beside his students - shd be atleast 15 of them in front of the main building. As I wished him..He placed his arms around my shoulder and introduced me to his students " You must have known only abt visiting profs, but i introduce to you, the visiting student of VIT - GOD only knows how he cleared the ED paper after barely attending my classes. All the best Aravindan" He wore a big smile on his face. Basically he had damaged my reputation in front of my juniors - but i liked the term he coined for me - visiting student of VIT.

A compliment to cherish for the rest of my life....anybody disagrees??