Nine boys. A dust storm. And an Oasis.

L Suresh

The Pilani Pilgrims Nine boys. A dust storm. And an Oasis.

The Pilani Pilgrims Nine boys. A dust storm. And an Oasis.

L Suresh

Notion Press 5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600 005 First Published by Notion Press 2014 Copyright © L Suresh 2014 All Rights Reserved. ISBN: 978-93-84381-76-9 This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher disclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidences either are the product of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead and actual events is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

In memory of: Ashwin (‘86 batch) Rajagopal (‘86 batch) Anoop Singh Sahni (‘87 batch) Bala (‘87 batch) DBD (‘87 batch) Leuna Harkawat (‘87 batch) Seshadri (‘87 batch) Ashish Virmani (‘88 batch) Krishna Mohan (‘88 batch) Vamsi Krishna (‘88 batch) Jacob Jose (‘89 batch) Kaivee (‘89 batch) and others… You made the campus a better place with your presence.

Foreword

When was the first time I met Suresh? I think it was sometime between the age of ten and twelve. I think I ran into him when he was visiting a mutual friend who lived in the flat below mine. But ask Suresh when he met me, and he’ll tell you that I was wearing a blue striped shirt (or maybe one with red checks), and that I looked right past him (or maybe I didn’t) and that it was only on the second meeting (or maybe the fifth) that we exchanged our first words to each other. It’s not that he remembers things. It’s more that he never forgets anything. One of the surest ways to feel inadequate is to be seated beside Suresh when he says “Remember when...” and launches into the anecdote with an astounding wealth of detail. I’ve been there many times. This aching love for all things past – if there’s no word for it, then one demands to be coined instantly: sureshism – is something you’ll encounter over and over in this book. It’s Suresh’s past. It’s your past. It’s my past. It’s the past of everyone who went to BITS. It’s the past of everyone who didn’t go to BITS, but still went to a college with a hostel, little knowing that the four or five years ahead will become the bar that all future experiences will have to clear (and few will). Nominally, this is fiction. If this were a movie, you’d find, at the end, this disclaimer: “All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” But I dare you to reach the end without finding yourself, or someone you know, in at least one of these pages. What is it about college life that makes it so unforgettable? It’s the bookends, really. On one side, there’s the time you spend in school, where concerned parents (from their point of view; you may want to use the word “annoying”) are always breathing down your neck. You’re not your own person. You’re on a leash. On the other side, you have life waiting – you have to think about a job, money, you have to grow up. In between these deserts of what you are forced to do and what you have to do comes this oasis where your parents give you money and yet are not in the picture – could anything be better? Yes. When you finally settle in and find your friends. This is the story of a few such friends. And it’s the story of Pilani, a godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere that somehow is more

Foreword  vii

memorable to many of us than the places we were born and brought up in. C’not. Shikanji. Paneer Maggi. Shiv Ganga. Audi. Music Nite. MB. These are almost talismanic words, capable of evoking a smile wherever we are. But that’s just the surface of BITSian life. The core is always about the boys and girls who, by some random throw of destiny’s die, become your family. As in all families, there is love, there is strife, there are expectations, there is disappointment – but at the end of the day, these are people you keep coming back to. And later in life, the memories you make with them somehow end up being fresher than most of the other memories you make. And one cold night, when you’re nursing a drink somewhere, hit by a bout of well, sureshism, these memories, these people are what you’ll reach for to bring you back. In a sense, we’re all Pilani pilgrims. Baradwaj Rangan (Baddy) 88A1PS248 Writer. Blogger. National Award-winning film critic. Author of Conversations with Mani Ratnam. BITSian.

From the author

How many lacha sessions have you been a part of - after passing out - where someone has brought up the topic of BITS being ‘a world by itself ’? (I’ve lost count.) On the face of it, BITSians are supposed to lead similar lives on campus. They are pretty sacked out through the year and come alive during Oasis. They are better known by the department they are a part of, than by the course they are pursuing. But scratch the surface and what appeared to be a homogeneous stretch of desert sand suddenly reveals a mosaic of infinite designs. There are the nerds who’ve never been to Sky. There are the geeks who’ve never allowed themselves to be separated from the tech labs. There are the dudes who’ve spent more time in rehearsals than in class. There are the sacked out creatures who’ve never stepped out of their rooms, except to write an occasional test. And there are the mysterious ones, who are heard of, but never seen. That’s the reason why the ‘oneworld’ description is perhaps too generic. In reality, BITS comprises several worlds that coexist in the same space and time. So how does one touch several thousand BITSians, each part of a different world, each from a different era, each living a life different from the rest, with one story? I gave up after a few migraines and decided to focus on what I had to say instead. Passion, friendship, nostalgia – these are the three faces of BITS that I’ve discovered over the years. And these are the foundations on which the book is based as it attempts to transport you to the epicentre, to the very heart of BITS, where you can find an emotional connect that brings back all those memories that you cherish. Each day in BITS was a journey for us –the best part was, it was a new experience each time we undertook it. We were constantly discovering new things, about the place, about ourselves and about our final destination. As we look back, we realise that the journey was so incredible that some of us still relive it - time and again - in our minds. Guess that’s what makes BITS the Promised Land and all of us, the Pilani Pilgrims. L Suresh

Acknowledgements

To Biju, Deepak, Dharu, Manesh, Rahul, Ram, Shashank and Subbu – the book would not have been possible without you guys. To Mukund and Baddy, my pillars of strength few others would take greater pride in a friend’s progress than you would. To Anu Hasan, for inspiring me with your boundless energy levels. To Niru, for putting up with me through these tough months. To all my friends who have offered me unconditional love and support. To BITS – my alma mater, my birth place. You gave me wings, you showed me the skies, you planted in my head a dream that I could fly.

We are mere journeymen, planting seeds for someone else to harvest. - Wallace Thurman 

It was a journey like no other, to a different era, to a different world. It was an excuse for men to turn boys. It was an occasion to live out a dream. It was a ticket to revisit a life already lived. It was a passage to the past. It was an opportunity to meet the future. Nine of us embarked on one such journey, to paradise. When we got there, there was exhilaration, nostalgia, high energy and above all, an overwhelming feeling of familiarity. We were home. This was where we had spent our youth. This was where we began the search for our future. Some of us found our calling. To the rest, it just didn’t matter. The journey sufficed.

Contents

BOOK 1 1.

The end of a journey

3

2.

Paradise calling – book your tickets!

4

3.

Let’s make our own road…

7

4.

Ooh, it’s getting hot…

9

5.

Things to do, places to see…

11

6.

‘High’ way to heaven…

16

7.

Packers & Movers Inc.

21

8.

The countdown

23 BOOK 2

1.

Here we go again…

30

2.

Plaani, Plaani, Plaani…

31

3.

Paradise – 175 kms ahead

33

4.

A man called Joe

37

5.

The first letter

42

6.

Ek plate sam…

47

7.

Only fifty bucks…

52

8.

Can I rag your son?

55

9.

Water, water, everywhere…

57

10. A matter of luck

59

11. Do not disturb

61

12. Taking a crash course

62

13. How come Pilani?

64

14. Lying under the stars

66

xiv  Contents

15. A room with a phew!

68

16. Nothing fresh about it

69

17. Going on a freeze

72

18. Playing to the gallery

76

19. Who invented the zero?

79

20. FPM, MNB, OMG!!!

82

21. A train to the future

87

22. Hearing from Gabbar

89

23. Little bits of India

91

24. Time for a treat

94

25. A complete mess

98

26. Here comes the bus

105

27. The Nine Social Animals

107

28. The SOC-9 Slam Book

109

29. Holy Holi!

113

30. Alpha… what?

116

31. Duel over, dual begins…

121

32. A class apart

123

33. Getting to know Joe

131

34. A chip off the old block?

133

35. By the book

135

36. A three-way tussle?

138

37. The sky’s green

139

38. No biz like the food biz

142

39. Home - away from home?

154

40. Which way to Jaipur?

156

41. P.S: I love P.S

160

42. Just winging it

162

43. Normal’s boring

165

Contents  xv

44. A train to the Taj

167

45. Ta-ta, teens

170

46. Take back your job

173

47. The Desert Tribe

177

48. Reading into emotions

183

49. A mirage come true

185

50. Stop Press!

190

51. Digging deep for a Swoosh

193

52. Sorry, I’m in Sarvi

195

53. Poor PR, straight DTC

198

54. Gruel – and a gruelling sem

200

55. WTH, it’s a GKW

203

56. Stopped in its tracks

205

57. When wings turned wards

207

58. Thunder and lightning

210

59. Three done, two to go

212

60. The last frontier

214

61. Common rooms, uncommon rooms

215

62. Remember that incident?

227

63. The unreserved quota

234

64. Booking an entire train

237

65. Getting carried away

239

66. High on life

242

67. The winner takes it all

250

68. Taking memories back home

261

69. Of rockets and silver screens

265

70. Legend of the make-up king

269

71. Diving into Diu

276

72. The stopover

283

Some journeys take you back to where you began… Nine guys – the Pilani Pilgrims - take off on their first reunion trip to BITS Pilani, 18 years after they have passed out. However, only one of them knows that there’s a hidden agenda in this desert safari… Hours before Maitreyee starts off on her 32-hour train journey to become a BITSian, she discovers a secret that has remained hidden in her family for the past two decades - a book with letters written to her Mom by a man named Joe. Who was Joe? Where did he vanish all of a sudden? Why do the nine guys choose hot, hot July to have a reunion on campus? What is the hidden motive behind their meeting? How does Maitreyee come to terms with her unexpected discovery? A treasure chest of memories is opened as a series of mails sweeps everyone off their feet and takes them on an unforgettable journey to the land where the past is going to come face to face with the future. As for the answers to the questions above, they can be found at the place where it all began - BITS Pilani.

“To take something that is close to your heart and to entwine it with something that is part of your very DNA – that’s storytelling at its most honest form. This is what Suresh has done with The Pilani Pilgrims. As you embark on this refreshing narrative, you cannot help but relive the past and look at it with wonder,nostalgia…and an undeniable sense of wistfulness. It’s never too late to be a teenager… but if you don’t subscribe to that theory, your next best bet would be to pick up this book and allow it to transport you to when you were. - Anu Hasan actor, singer, model, TV personality, entrepreneur and a BITSian to the core

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