23,24 August, 1997 (Sat, Sun)
Until I reached the Platform where our train to Trichy stood, I was not sure that Sathyapal (Pal, from now onwards) was going to make it for Version '97. Umasuthan (Uma) and Yogesh (Yogi) joined as the train left at 7.35 PM. (punctually, for a change)
The journey was uneventful except for Pal having an uncomfortable sleep in the side upper berth and two foreigners (ladies) in our coach, (now don't let your imagination run wild, okay!) disturbing our slumber as they waited to disembark at Kulithalai (a place 30 min before Trichy).
At 5 AM we were in Trichy Jn. and took a local bus to the bus stand nearby. (The bus tkt rates are the same as they were when I first came to REC in July 94!) We boarded a Tanjore-bound bus. Whether the bus was bad or the road (or both, as I believe), we had a bumpy ride to REC (the speed was not less than 50 kmph, nevertheless!)
We awoke the sleeping CCC member (and Day batch class rep) Nathan, established our dominion in Room #94 and soon got ready for the day ahead. A few Juniors paid visits(!) and we generally got to know what was happening in the campus.
Version '97 had got off the previous day. We reached the Admin block at 8 AM. But where was the Reception? We found it inside the Barn. The new Princy (from PSG Tech) had raised objections, it seems! He also saw to it that there was no T-shirt for this Version. (Considering the quality of last year's T-shirt, I suppose that was okay!) We went straight to the business aspect of things (i.e. having breakfast : the traditional 'B' Mess pongal vadai kesari stuff) but we'd hardly begun when the PR Committee Chairman Manoj announced that I was to Judge some "Mock Press" event! (The third judge hadn't turned up!) Needless to say, it was a bolt out of the blue.
But this was after Somasekar (my ex-classmate and present Junior) introduced two guys as his subjus to me and Pal. Only when Pal asked them when they joined we all realised that they were delegates from some college! Uma had his share of the fun when a hyperju asked him for his personal details assuming Uma was one of them.
Lest I give them the slip, a PR Committee member (Ranadheer Reddy) didn't leave my side until I'd made my way to A2 where the event was to be held. Fortunately the third judge had come and I was spared the ordeal of having to make a "mockery" of the Mock Press! (But worse was to follow!)
In Mock Press, participants have to personify some famous (or infamous) characters and face questions from judges and audience. The judges were good, so were the questions, but the same couldn't be said of the participants. M.F. Hussain, Shoba De, T.N. Seshan, Imran Khan, Rabri Devi (for those who don't know, the wife of Laloo Prasad Yadav, and CM of Bihar), etc. came and faced the "Press".
The next item was a Seminar on "Internet" - which is the theme of Version '97. A Senior Manager from BHEL started from Arpa and went through ftp, telnet, etc. and concluded with firewalls and security. But he seemed out of touch with a few things happening in the industry and Pal intervened for one of the audience questions. That was enough for the organisers to arrange for Pal to take the next day's seminar!
Sathyam had given Rs.26k for Version '97 and one of their reps hung about the Venue. They came in the afternoon for placements, conducted GD that day and interview the next day.
The Release 1 of Echoes made good reading and Krishna Mahadevan (KMD) thrust the release 2 into my hands before disappearing. It contained some controversial references about CCC and I heard, it was confiscated (but I've a copy!) besides leading to some tension over whether lunch would be served at all!
S.P. Suresh (SP) had turned up the previous day itself, partly to enjoy HT ma'am's hospitality and partly to further his vocation as the "romantic sanyasi". SP finds someone "interesting" in each batch (I don't have to tell who all, right!) and he'd no problems finding one in the latest batch which had joined a few days back! (Details on request!)
Murali, Johny and Siva had come from Madras and when Damian visited the campus and so did Ramesh Prabhu (Gun) , it made up the entire alumni presence. US has indeed changed Damian. His jeans and T-shirt attire attracted several second (and third) looks!
"Challenge the Deep Blue" event was interesting inasmuch as it was the only place, besides software contest, where computers figured. Meduri had played a major role automating the event, even going to the extent of writing crash recovery routines (considering the frequency of power/system failures)! In contrast, the Reception package couldn't be made use of, as Barn had no provision for connecting a computer to the network. Folks at Reception had to write out manually hundreds of lists/forms.
We found nothing interesting happening post-lunch, viz-a-viz the prospect of a siesta and while Pal made the prospect a reality, I indulged in the next best vocation - doling out free advices to a few guys in the hostel.
Back we went to the Ad Block and checked out the Systems Design event. We found that the audience were not to ask any questions and that shortened our presence there. Mr. Krubakaran (Kripps) was a Judge for "Case Maze" event and we caught him after that. The 15 min conversation we had with Kripps was the highlight of the day.. It was so interesting that I quote a few statements of Kripps.
"I enjoyed teaching Pal's batch. 15-16 girls used to attend my class and 4-5 boys. In the front bench, Pravina, Chitra and Lakshmi sat, eager and enthu, with a "thirst for knowledge". Suma Hariharan and co sat in the next row, and I was really interested in knowing what messages they passed in writing to each other. A few others like Preethi sat in the last row, as if enjoying the afternoon breeze in the seashore, generally causing harm to none!
The only time I had the rapt attention of the full class was when I gave them the question papers of the cycle test which I would be holding the next day and told I was going to tell the answers to the questions now!
As for your batch (pointing to SP), that Gnana Geetha used to offer some "kadala mittai" telling "en chithappavukku oru kadala mittai kadai irukku saar" (my uncle has got a "kadala mittai" shop) and why, Gita Ramanathan (pointing to Pal) always used to come with sweets after a visit home."
This conversation made further Version events for the day uneventful and Pal having made up his mind not to leave Trichy without having a Nut Corner in Seakings, we left to fulfill his wish. I could join as I just escaped being a judge for the software contest finals, leaving it into the more competent hands of Siva. (No bad feelings maan!)
After Nut Corner, myself and Pal paid a visit to Sharmilee's house. Though there was no power and it was dark, Pal made no mistakes en route telling it was their home away from home in Trichy. I thoroughly enjoyed Pal's conversation with Sharmilee's mom where his limited Tamil vocabulary was stretched to its fullest extent! I didn't have to do much interpretation.
We returned to the campus in time for dinner. The Junior girls (esp Venita) wanted to have dinner with Pal and Pal didn't let them down. A Music Troupe performed after dinner and it was not long before we were transformed into RECTians from ex-RECTians. Pal led the rest of us in dancing to the good ole Tamil beats. (I know you are wondering what dance I'd have done!)
The 1st day's informals had our junior girls putting up a dance drama (Sathyavan-Savithri or something) - a "costly" miss(!) (from the photographs I saw!) But I couldn't help comparing the junior girls' dance to Mahesh's musical performance: a permanent programme for any MCA event! Anyway I'd a preview of the Version souvenir which I found to be very good.
We were back in the Hostel by midnight and Day 2 of Version was over.
Come morning, and there was Ramky knocking on my door. I was to be a panelist for the "Catch the Word" event. (By coincidence HP was sponsoring the event!) Anyone who has any idea of the event knows the danger associated with being in the Panel. But having wriggled out twice yesterday, I'd no such chance today and at 8 AM I was in Barn. But true to RECTian standards, the event didn't get off without being an hour late!
Being a judge has its merits in the form of a cool drink and a memento (a nice one : a bolt of lightning over a web placed on a stand) and capable fellow panelists made my task easy.
Now it was Pal's turn. Uma had found him in the morning browsing, not the Net, but a couple of books for his seminar on Internet. His seminar was quite informative though I feel it went above the head of many!
I bunked the Tech Quiz finals indulging in our traditional pastime (c'mon, I don't have to mention what!) The prospects of firing audience questions in the "Specialist" event made us return to A2 after lunch. But the participants were disappointing and so were the judges. (no offence to SP, who was one of the judges) We still managed to "expose" a couple of the competitors.
Pepsi had given around 1000 bottles for free and the stall recorded brisk sales all through Version, what with the alumni treating their juniors and being treated by them, and the sales reached a feverish pitch when the price was reduced towards the end and the Sathyam placement results came in.
As in previous years Version had its protagonists too. Yogi met a few subjus (II MCAs) going for the movie "Gupt" even as Stress Interview and valedictory was going on. I found many juniors relaxing in their rooms and being generally uninterested in the proceedings. The placements (or the lack of it) also reflected on Version participation. It was strange to see Preplacement talks being held simultaneously with version events and some organisers attending interviews even as some participants underwent stress interviews!
It was also surprising to see many final years doing work generally done by second years, like Shailaja, manning (to be precise, "womanning"!) the Reception, or Anu, writing certificates, and missing the action elsewhere! As for VP, it was as if the whole Management show was running over her head, for she was hardly still for more than a minute at any place. Obviously, there were complaints from her "fans" (don't ask who!) that they didn't get enough time to spend with her. (Are you reading this, VP?)
Unsurprisingly enough, Yogi emerged the favourite of all batches of MCAs, (read girls) giving treats to many, talking to almost everybody and even singing for some (Honest! I can give details with his permission!) He felt terribly reluctant to leave the campus, parting his favourites with a heavy heart. Uma was equally strong in this department, even befriending many of the female delegates. On my part I made modest efforts to keep up with my classmates though not with much success!
It was 5 PM and time for the last and premier event of Version - the Systems Analyst Stress Interview. Venky, an MBA from RECT has turned up on invitation by a special person(!) to be one of the judges. (Now, Venky is more interested in MCAs than many of the MCAs themselves and he and SP have the same weakness - I don't have to tell you what!) HT ma'am was supposed to be the other judge but backed out. That was a "distressing" news for me - now I'd to be the other judge for the event! (Serious! I'm not joking!)
Now, a stress interview is worse than being ragged and not having enjoyed my ragging time in the least and not having ragged any one, I felt I was a misfit for the show. But what the hell? There was no alternative and I don't know who felt more stress, whether the participants or me!
Since we were close friends, I could work in tandem with Venky which made things easier, and friendly tips from Uma and SP meant the stress interview was conducted to the satisfaction of all!
The Dean (one Dr.Arumugham) was witness to the show and was the Chief Guest for the Valedictory. According to Pal, he was not very happy with the Stress Interview event, and barely managed to restrain himself from commenting in his address! FYI, a girl turned out to be the winner of Systems Analyst (possibly for the first time in Version) (No no! You are thinking who else could me and Venky declare as the winner! She was a popular choice of all!)
We found there were certificates even for clearing some rounds of some events (Shama my junior told they might have printed excess certificates!) and Pondicherry Engineering College won the overall trophy. At this juncture let me remark that the standard of competition was abysmally low, compounded by the absence of colleges like IMT, Anna Univ, HCU, REC Calicut etc. who turned up in previous Versions. (It seems only 4 Colleges turned up from outside Tamil Nadu out of 20 odd)
The time was now 9 PM and having had dinner (ha ha! the famous sambar rice-curd rice combination) and bid all good bye, we caught the next Trichy-bound bus from REC. We'd booked tkts in a not-so-famous travels and found the seats uncomfortable. But the bus which left Trichy at 10.45 reached B'lore by 5.15, the driver breaking all speed records, at our expense!
It was great to be back in the campus. The Juniors did a terrific job indeed beset as they were by problems aplenty, internal and external. The subjus contributed much to the success of version too. It was nice to get a chance to meet the hyperjus. While I shall cherish memories of my visit, I wonder whether they will.