Poetry

 Attempt at putting to verse, my experiences at various places-

School

Burning the midnight candle at school,

But also playing cricket and all

Were my wonderful teen years 

That I spent at Ramanthapur

College of Engineering

Osmania was awesome on the whole

Hau, aisa campsich nahi milta bol

Ate a lot of bun omelettes and Sambar

But also explored the theatres with my bus pass

MBA

The band of Bannerghattans was a cool lot

and writing for Mural, I learnt a lot

The yearbook captured the years well

And I regret nothing at all

Ph.D.

Clemson had lakes and blue skies

And a student crowd from near and far

Driving on highways to Hollywood, and watching the colours of Fall

Those were dreamy days, Advisor, Budweiser et al

Hyderabad Public School

This was HPS Ramanthapur, which I attended from 1972 till 1977, first at its temporary campus in Punjagutta, and then at its permanent location. I learnt many things here, starting from looking after myself -it was residential. Getting by on limited rations apart from the mess food, and the compulsory physical activity kept me healthy and disciplined. Study hours were also fixed, but so were the sports timings. As I played cricket, we actually played a lot on Sundays too. On the rare occasions that we were allowed to go out, I remember seeing some films like Sholay and Shareef Badmash, and Guns of Navarone in the excellent theatres at Hyderabad...lots more came later at Osmania engineering college!



Also, the debates, quizzes and library which was well-stocked, kept us engaged. I was reading the news (usually the sports news, because I could also cover our own matches), and that stood me in good stead when I became a reporter who wrote about sports at IIM Bangalore while doing my MBA a few years later. We also had an early exposure to the photography lab, and this got strengthened with a similar lab in college later.

Writing happened on a regular basis after I reached IIM B, and editing a magazine and year book there was an experience I will never forget!

Band Baaja Baaraat

Sometimes I go to weddings- my classmate from (Osmania) engineering college provided me with an opportunity in Pune, when his daughter got married the other day. Nice occasion to catch up with friends and their families. Mini-reunion of sorts.

My occasional golfing partner Venugopal Reddy is on the extreme right. We played at the Delhi Golf Club a few times while he was there. He was with Indian Railways for a long time. The bride's father in orange headgear, is an Engineer with Engineers India. Another friend, Krishnamurthy, is with Powergrid Corporation. All successful and about to retire, while my work life is extended on account of retirement age being 65 for faculty..how I envy them!

Eating Places

I think for me, the top of the pops are the Irani chai joints, because of memories associated with them, from engineering college days. They were usually non-descript places with names like Hilton, Ramser, Lighthouse; small and just tolerably clean, with a crowd of people of every description. But they all had a warmth which the best of restaurants find difficulty in giving you. The food selection wasn't great- an Osmania biscuit, a bun-omelette, or a mirchi bajji- a delicacy for gourmet eaters fond of fiery stuff. But we spent hours at some of these joints, sometimes discussing dreams of going to the U.S., but mostly the last Bollywood movie or something more down to earth. The waiter-boy's cries of "do chai la" still rings in my ears, after decades.

The coffee cafes probably serve the same function today, but wifi has intruded to make them more tech-oriented, and maybe conversation-less in some cases. They are definitely posher, cleaner, and still limited in eats they offer. I have spent a few hours talking to people at some CCDs (particularly one on Brigade Road, Bangalore- Anupriya, Shafique, Zargar were some of the people I yapped with). Another pleasant place I remember is Coco's in Hyderabad where Nikita and Ritika were with us-it has the feel of a Goa shack (in Jubilee Hills). And in Bangalore again, a Vietnamese place where I met Shweta, Coconut Grove where I met Saumya, or Church Street Social where Shafique, Pallavi and I socialised. In Mumbai, some pleasant conversations happened In Chili's where Divya Singh was involved, and a mall food joint in R Mall where Bhagyalakshmi and I met. Not to forget Sanjeev Kapoor's Yellow Chilli, where Garima Shah was on the other side of the table.

In Belgium, of all places, we had landed in a Lebanese restaurant, and the waiters served us with a lot of warmth when they learnt we were from India-I think this was 1987, when four of us were doing a Eurail trip. One or two ordinary Greek restaurants in Athens were also very nice and warm.

Brands I Grew Up With

As a user, the first brand I recognised was Philips, most likely. Our radio was Philips, though Murphy was probably around at the time too. The next one that I became aware of was Colgate, which had a dominant market share, followed by Binaca and Forhans.

When I had to wash clothes in the hostel, it was always the blue Rin detergent bar that would be the preferred choice. The restaurant brand was the Hilton (not THAT Hilton) cafe at the corner of Osmania University campus. (there was a branded women's college called Andhra Mahila Sabha pretty close by, and I was aware of that too).

We had a club branded as Yellandu Club in the mining towns we lived in, and I spent a lot of  time playing Badminton or swimming there. Theraja is a great author brand in Electrical engineering, and we worshipped him.

Among the Hyderabadi hotels, Kamat and Taj Mahal were the most frequented for their south Indian meals, followed by Alpha or Garden for their biryanis. The theatre brands were awesome in Hyderabad, with Ramakrishna 70mm being the pick of the lot, till Maheswari and Santosh came in. Royal in Koti was also a good theatre. Sangeet was very good for English movies, with an upmarket crowd.

My first camera was a Pentax, though I learnt photography on a German folding camera my parents had.

Cars- I drove a Datsun, a Ford Granada (huge) and a Subaru while in the U.S., and a Premier Padmini and a Maruti 800 before moving on to an Esteem later (still drive it).

Campus Masti

The pics here have something in common, and that is, they are from campuses that I spent quite some time on. Osmania University, Hyderabad, IIM Bangalore and Clemson University, as a student of engineering, MBA and PhD in Management, respectively.

At OU, we had a Hilton cafe, an Irani joint serving chai and samosa, bun-omelettes and other yummy things. This was the only Hilton we knew in those days.

At IIMB, we had grounds but no sports equipment. So we innovated, and played Frisbee Footer, because we had a frisbee. Similar to Rugby, you passed the frisbee, and scored goals.

At Clemson, the football was played on a much larger scale- in an 80,000 capacity stadium called Death Valley. And we were spectators. It was a colourful affair, and the ambience was infectious even to those who did not understand the game.