Bananas in Bulk!

Jan 10, 2024. Bulkagram 24, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I finished my Pre-University Exams in 1965, the choice of what to study next was the family decision to take. Those days teenagers were not used to saying ‘Bro!’ and becoming rappers, youtubers or adolescent LinkedIn gurus but went with what Amma and Appa said about what our future should be.  Luckily our independence was not challenged by this control mode because erudition was a choice between studying to be an engineer or a doctor. If a family had more than one child, the selection would be based on a tic-tac-toe between doctor-engineer-doctor-engineer and so on. My sister won “doctor” and I was left with “engineer” which was really OK with me as I usually think I am dying if I have a cold.

And so it was that I applied for an engineering seat in Tamil Nadu. The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) was the authority to allot seats. There were no entrance tests and selection was based on marks and interview luck- or so I thought. There was a mandatory medical examination prior to the interview. The first check was that of my weight which stood at all of 37 kg. The next thing I knew,  my application was rejected due to my being “underweight”, the qualifying weight being 40kg.

I was staying with my aunt in Chennai at that time and returned home seatless. Needless to say there was general panic and my father in Guwahati was duly informed. He had just taken up a new job at Guwahati from Coimbatore where he was the  Chief Pilot Instructor of The Coimbatore Flying Club. He had taught some of Coimbatore’s industry bigwigs flying and so had some clout with them. As luck would have it, some of these bigwigs were on the Management Committee of the Govt College of Technology (GCT) in Coimbatore and apparently had a Management quota of seats of which one was promptly allotted to me. So off I went to Coimbatore and joined GCT in the hostel. Things were now settled- or so I thought. About 45 days into being a fresher (and being ragged too) I was asked to meet the Principal. He called me in and gently informed me that my seat was cancelled and that I was to pack up and leave. Turned out that the “underweight” report was the culprit. Since I was found underweight by the DTE in Chennai, I was not eligible for any seat in any TN Govt college anywhere, Management seat or not….Now what?

I packed my stuff and went to our family friends’ home in Coimbatore. It was once again a gloom and doom scene. That was when I remembered that I had gotten admission into Regional Engineering  College (REC) at Trichy but the letter and telegram of admission were nowhere around. Nevertheless the lady of the house stitched my trouser pocket with some money and I boarded the next bus to Trichy!

I landed at REC the next morning and after cajoling the hostel warden into allowing me to freshen up I went boldly up to the Principal Mr P S Mani Sundaram’s first floor room. With the bravado of a 17 year old I breathlessly rattled off my plight  to him. Princi, as Prof Mani Sundaram was known, apparently saw potential in me and told me to wait outside his room. Soon I was called by the office assistant to a room on the ground floor. I walked in to be greeted by a small and wizened old Prof C K Ramakrishan, Professor of Chemistry. On his table was a bunch of bananas and a couple of bottles of water.

Without much ado Prof Ramakrishan plucked 3 bananas out and asked me to eat them. I was wondering what was happening and looked askance at him. He smiled and just said “please eat”. After the 3 bananas he gave me a full bottle of water which I drank. He pulled me aside and weighed me on a scale. It showed 38.5kg.  I had to eat a couple of more bananas and drink more water until  I reached the mandated 40kg, primarily contributed by about 6- 8 bananas and 3-4 bottles of water.

 I had now passed the mandatory medical exam!  Both of us then went up to Princi’s room. Prof Ramakrishan told him that I had passed the medical exam.

 Princi then said ” you are admitted” and so I spent the next 5 years in the Pearl Hostel of the erstwhile Regional Engineering College Tiruchirapalli.

Looking back, my years at REC have defined the engineer I am today, and instilled in me the drive to start Scorpio!

Strange are the ways of life….

B Velan 

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