COLLEGE DAYS -MEMORIES REVIVED.

While settling down on retirement in the middle of the year in 2000, the one thing I wanted to do was to try and contact my old college mates of the late 50s and early 60s.I had my graduatioon at Malabar Christian College, Calicut during 1957-60 and post graduation at Guruvayurappan College, Calicut, during 1960-62. But, to my great disappointment, I found the gap of about 4 decades too lengthy a period to pick-up the broken threads and to catch up.Immediately after the college days we all had gone out in different directions in pursit of our careers . Letters being the one and almost the only means of communication we soon lost track of each other. I envy the present generation who can now be in contact with each other any time anywhere.

Well, all my efforts to know the whereabouts of my classmates were not fruitful except for getting vague and obsolete information about some of them which did not serve the purpose. I tried some of the friendship sites like Orkut,Facebook, Alumni, Classmates etc.but without fruitful results as I found details of students of years before 1980 are rare. My sense of disappointment was deepening with newspaper reports of local colleges and my own former colleges where old students of different batches of graduates and post graduates were conducting 'get together,' for them and their families. It was then that Sundaram my old family friend, schoolmate, collegemate and classmate in the post graduate course in Economics at Guruvayurappan College, Calicut (1960-62)suddenly called me over telephone from Chennai after more than 25 years without any contact with each other.It was a great feeling to talk to him on the new year eve and to revive memories especially about our college days, friends and old life at Calicut, the long rides on our bicycles and the long walks on the beach road and the long hours spent on the beach with other friends, and so on and so on. Sundaram who had been in the advertising field continues to be so as director of an advertising firm. He and his family including grandchildren are all well settled in Chennai.

Sundaram had recently got the telephone number of Pushpa (P.K.Pushpa, now Mrs. Pushpa Natraj) another of our classmates at Guruvayurappan College. She and her family are settled down at Hyderabad. I surprised her with a call to Hyderabad as it was for the first time, 48 years after our college days, that we were talking to each other. Myself, Sundaram, Pushpa and a couple of others were close classmates with Sundaram and Pushpa planning and taking the lead in all our extra-curricular activities.In those days the post graduate students of the college were considered to be a serious no nonsense type of fellows who spent their time only in the class room or in the library and they always carried huge volumes of books.(many presumed, they seldom read those books!) They never wasted time on the atheletic fields or on games. They never mingled with the students of the graduate and undergraduate classes. But our group of about 20 students wanted to be different from the old much to the discomfort of the Head of the Department.While we spent sometime regularly in the library we were never burdened with books! We could mingle with other students and thoroughly enjoyed the crowded bus ride to the college, situated on a hilltop, on the special college trips of V.N.P.Motors and Rajalakshmi Motor Service. For the first time a student from the post graduate class ,viz.,Henry Manohar, our classmate, was elected as the college chairman, with all of us actively participating in the election campaign. Padmanabhan played for the college football team and was considered for selection to the University team. Kunhi kannan was inin the college Volley ball team and, if I remember correctly, was in the University team also.Pushpa and Sundaram were very popular in the college and known to all. We organised several 'get together ' functions and picnics for all of us.The college had a beautiful sprawling campus in picuresque surroundings where we could roam about freely. The college has since changed its name to Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College. I am told that the old buildings are all still in tact. The administrative building where we had our classes and the library where we had spent a lot of time are still there. A few statues have also been erected on the campus.To me the two years at the Guruvayurappan College were the best years in my college life! When the M.A. results were announced we were happy that our batch did not suffer in comparison with the past results.

When I contacted Pushpa over telephone it was revealed that she was planning a visit to this place with her family as her husband hailed from here.Sundaram also decided to make a trip to this side as his wife is from North Malabar. Pushpa, her husband and son arrived in the first week of January and I met them along with my wife. We had a long chat with them. His son, who was with her, is working in USA. Her 2nd son,who had not accompanied her, is working in Gurgaon. We spent a long time reviving memories of our college days. The beauty was that we could remember even small and trivial but joyful moments inspite of the lapse of 48 years. The regret was our failure to contact each other eventhough she had spent a few years at Calicut itself in the late 60s where I too worked till the beginning of 1970,and that in the late 90s I was not aware of her presence in Hyderabad eventhough I visited Hyderabad at least twice a month!! In Hyderabad I used to visit an old friend of mine in Vivekananda Colony. And it is now known that Pushpa is staying nearby and the families met regularly!!

Sundarams arrived on the 10th January but a get together of the three families did not materialise owing to the death of Sri Natraj's sister in between.. But we all could meet and could pick up a few broken threads to the delight of all. We parted with the promise of not losing the thread any more.

The year 2011 appears to be good for coming into contact with old friends as we have already made a good beginning. But where are the others in our group?Where is Karunakaran Nambiar? Where is Purushothaman who, when last known , was in Calcutta? Where is Padmanabhan who was in Gwalior Rayons,Mavoor?Where is Varkey? Where is Keshava Bhat? I understand Diana and Devi are at Calicut and Saramma in Kottayam District. But where is Uma, the intelligent looking and khadi wearing, of the group? I had met Namboothiri in 1980 when he was the Prof. of Economics at Nehru College, Kanjangad and in fact, we had, along with our families, undertaken a picnic tour of Chimeni and Kayyur Villages in the company of Vazhunnavar, our collegemate, and his family.

Well, in the early 90s, when I was working at Calicut, I could meet Harry (Major Henry Manohar)who had settled down at Calicut after retiring early from the army. We used to meet often. But it did not last long as I was transferred out of Calicut and before long I was confronted with the news of his demise !!

To be able to remember nostalgically even minute details of our younger days, at the sametime being forgetful of things of the recent past is, some say, a sure sign of ageing and of being a sentimentalist. So what?

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Professor M.P. Sreedharan-A Great Teacher

The Centenary Celebrations of Malabar Christian College, Calicut, my Alma Mater, had started this year. A meeting of the old students of the college convened by the Old Students' Association (O.S.A) was fixed to be held on the 27Th December. Though I had decided to attend the meeting, I was, on that morning, hesitating to travel the distance of about 75 kms.to reach Calicut. It was then that my wife showed me an article, in the Mathrubhumi Sunday supplement, on Prof. M.P. Sreedharan, former professor of History and Political Science at Malabar Christian College, on his 10th death anniversary which fell on the 27th December. The article was by Dr. M.G. S. Narayanan, the well known historian and a friend of Prof. Sreedharan.
Memories of my days at Malabar Christian College(1956-60) and memories about Prof.Sreedharan came flashing and flooded my mind. Keeping everything aside and shaking off my hesitation, I rushed to Calicut to see my old college and friends as I thought that the best way to offer my tributes to this great teacher on his death anniversary was to visit the institution he served with eminence where I also had the good fortune of being his student.
Even before joining the college in the academic year1956-57, as a student of M.C.C.High school, I had seen Prof.Sreedharan(just Sreedharan master for his innumerable students ,friends and colleagues), during the various activities of the college and the combined anniversary day of the college and the high school. We also used to see him playing tennis at the college tennis court.He used to be active on the college foot ball and the hockey grounds also. He was a hero to all of us.
When I joined the degree class in 1957 I became his student. Sreedharan Master, fair, handsome, not very tall but well built, always well dressed in a suit or with the shirt neatly tucked in and sporting a tie, with a smiling quizzical face and with thick black hair on the head neatly combed was an epitome of vigour, action and health. For the students he was not only a teacher of high calibre but also a true sportsman and a friend who always played with them and led them in the various sports and games activities for which the college gave a lot of importance. Whenever difficult problems cropped up, the management, staff community and the students looked to Sreedharan master as the trouble shooter for Sreedharan master's intervention always resulted in the problem getting solved to the satisfaction of all. Such was his reputation and standing among all in the college. Hailing from Mahe, a former French colony in India, he was well versed in French. It was he who took efforts and formed the N.C.C. wing at the college and he was in charge of the NCC wing for some time.
He was a strict disciplinarian and a 'no nonsense' teacher when once he entered the class room. We, the students of the Economics group,used to look forward to his classes in political science, a subsidiary subject for us. His rich sonorous voice, commanding personality, firm delivery of English,and the conviction with which he talked to us about Plato, Aristotle, Marx, Engels and on political theories made his classes profound and interesting. His lectures on Rights, Liberty, Sovereignty and Democracy and the Utilitarian Theory of Jeremy Bentham still echo in my memory.It was from Sreedharan Master that I first heard the famous quotation, "your liberty ends where my nose begins". When once he came out of the class room he became the usual friendly affectionate self ,mingling freely with us. In the evenings he joined with the students on the football ground for a serious and robust session of foot ball. In short all that a student longed to see in a teacher was there in abundance in Sreedharan Master, a gentleman to the core.
I left Christian College in 1960 and joined another local college for my post graduation but I used to meet Sreedharan Master often and visited his house on the 'Cannannore road' a couple of times. He always used to enquire about my job and my family etc. I left Calicut in 1970 and after about two decades came back at the local branch of S.B.I. A few days after my arrival I was delightfully surprised to see Sreedharan master entering my cabin with his usual smile and extended hand. I stood up, gripped his hand and offered him a chair. Even after he was seated I continued to stand in reverence ,unable to sit in front of him, till he waved me to sit just as he did in the class room long back.We talked for a few minutes about the college, former teachers and students of my days. Before he left I politely asked him as to what I could do for him at the bank. He said he had already finished his transactions and was on his way out. Of course, I should have known that there was no need for me to help as all the staff members were either his students or their relatives and whenever he visited the branch they vied with each other to expedite his banking transactions. He used to come to my cabin to shake hands with me whenever he visited the branch.
I left Calicut again in 1992 and did not meet him thereafter. I came to know about his demise days later after the event in 1999 when the Mathrubhumi daily reached me by post at Vijayawada (A.P.)
The O.S.A.'s get together went off well. The college is celebrating its centenary. The campus has retained the old grandeur. But more buildings have come up cramping the campus area. The football ground and the hockey ground are still there; so too the tennis court which lacks maintenance.Our old ball badminton court is now tiled and kept in good condition but used for conducting events. Several changes have come about in the layout; departments have changed locations. Sitting in the Main Hall(now named Dr.Muller's hall) , where the meeting was held, I read the inscription, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom' which is still there on the wall behind the stage. To me everything seemed to be the same as of old. I went around the buildings and to the classroom where Prof Sreedharan used to take classes for us. The same old tables are still there in fairly good condition. I met a number of old college mates sharing memories. Before leaving I stood in the front portico for sometime gazing at the football ground. The gentle old campus breeze caressed me to a trance. I left with a heart full of gratitude for the institution and its old teachers to whom I am indebted to for whatever I could achieve in life.