My College Buddies
THE DREADED TRIO BOND
We did not have any friendships in PSG Tech but we had "BONDS". There were various bonds depending on Native place, language, project groups, style of operation etc. I am proud that I was part of the peculiar bond called the trio bond. Me, Alagappan and Kannan were the dreaded trio among the Mechanical hostel mates. Our kingdom was very limited inside the small confines of our hostel room. Outside the hostel we were toothless tigers or Sachinless Indian team. We wove a magic wand and made all our class mates to sing to our tunes. Our favourites include 'Thandu' Dharma, 'Captain Elango' and 'Bothukkan' Jerose.
Our modus operandi was to play silly practical jokes on gullible class mates. Ex, we fooled almost the entire class and Bothukkan in particular about a "TRIO Shipping Co." which would pay 25K pm and we had prepared some tough fluid mechanics questions for them. Unfortunately, our heist could not last long as the bully of our class 'karukaruppan' Amar came up with the right answer(whatever he said would be the right answer). KABALI was another of our favourites. KABALI is the art of thrashing people by covering them with a bed sheet. Unfortunately, the proponents of KABALI got hit more # of times than the victims. The best time for KABALI is nights whenpower goes off and Study hols tea time.
Alagappan(Suupi): Alagappan is my closest chum in college and we did almost everything together, right from our paper, Summer training and final project. Alagappa and me share common thoughts and we were a great pair. After College, when Alags moved to Madras, my Amma said," From now on, Weekends will never be the same". Alags has the grudge that I was the guy who spoiled the innocent Alagappan but truly we got spoilt together. Now, he is a Software Engineer with INFOSYS. Another Naraynamurthy in the making. Alags has a peculiar feature. His shoe size is 8 for the right leg and 9" for the left leg.
Kannan(Puttan): Puttan completes the trio and he is the Cheif of our bond. The prime mover of great ideas to con people, puttan is a delight to watch in full flow. Deeply religious and attached to his parents, Puttan will have sudden lapses. He would go into his own world making life miserable to others. Particularly dangerous on days he goes to temples, when he comes up with sudden resolutions which will drive you crazy. Puttan is notorious for pulling out nicknames out of the air. He was my colleague in Ashok Leyland where we continued our schemes terribly missing Alags. Now Puttan is in his MBA program in BIM.
THE BLOWER BOND:
The modus operandi of the " Blowers " as the name suggests is to blow things out of proportion with the ultimate aim of conning our class mates. Me and Sridhar make the blower bond. The Trio and Blowers normally work in synergy often ending in devastation of the hostel mates.
Sridhar(Sri):
Sri and me also share some weird habits. We love to watch movies. We do not mind if the movie is good or bad. Our favourites include dubbed Suresh Gopi and Chiranjeevi movies. We take some pretty stupid resolutions like wearing a chappal to school till we get a job etc. Me and Sri are also addicted to playing cards. Our buddies include ' Kulla' Sekar, 'Korai' Ahilan,
'Bavani' Karthi, 'Maadu' Yoga and the inimitable 'Karukku' Sundaram. We spend the whole Sunday playing cards. Sri and me became close only in the final year during our weekly get together at GEM or SKP and we have been close ever since. Our other favourite pastimes include 'Vetti Manga' - Chattering w/o purpose, watching live Second Division cricket played in our hostel grounds.
Sri becomes a completely different guy when exams approach or when he has a job to be done. He transforms into a possesed man(Veriyan) till he finishes the job. He is the guy who inspired me to pursue Masters abroad. He is about to graduate from Clemson University and will join ABAQUS a FEA company in August 2000. Besto Sri