Dr. S. M. Goel
COLLEGE EDUCATION
MY MOTTOS:
1. Kill the time, time will kill you.
2. Fix the aim very high & try to achieve it
INTRODUCTION: - General college education was taken only in one college 'D.A.V College Ambala city in Haryana during the year 1958-1960. I took admission in two years course 'F. Sc.' (Non-Medical group) during July1958 & passed out in 1960 in first class securing 434 marks out of 650. I stayed in Vidyarthi Bhawan. During first year my room mate was Mr.Lachhman Dass from Shahbad Markanda & during 2nd year a gentleman whose name I do not remember.
Worth remembering contacts / incidences were:-
A. Teachers:
1. Shri L. C. Dhawan: principal very affectionate & loving towards students.
2. Dr. D. R. Khanna for physics. A very philosophical & learned teacher
3a. Shri N. K. Aggarwal - once again for physics. With shri Aggarwal I developed three tier relationship. He was my teacher. Later this relationship became so intense that he turned out to be like my elder brother when we both were working in Kurukshetra. Actually, when I saw him in Kurukshetra (suddenly & unexpectedly) after a gap of about seven years, both of us were very much surprised. He was working in University College as physics professor & I was working in Regional Engineering College Kurukshetra as Lecturer. For his wife ( unfortunately she is no more), I coined the nick name in fun as Ladaki Bhabhi.
b. His younger brother was my class fellow.
c. His another still younger brother was my student.
4. Dr. Vidyasagar & Shri P. K. Bansal for Mathematics:
5. Shri Megh Raj & shri B.K. Jain for English: A thought absorbing teaching
6. Shri Om Parkash Vidyalankar for Hindi. He edited my first story in Hindi
7. Shri R. S. Bhatnagar for Chemistry: Thorough Gentleman
8. Col. Bhola Nath: A Colonel in Indian National Army of our hero of Indian war of Independence Subhash Chander Bose.
B. Class fellows: - Class fellows whomm I still remember either being my class fellows in Engineering or in contact presently or with some significant relationship are:
1. Lachhman Dass 2. Satpal Panjrath, 3. Satish Kalra, 4. M.S. Yadav, 5. Jagdish (Junglee) 6. Bhagirath & 7. K. K. Bhatia, 8. Balram Arya
There are many things to remember but few instances worth quoting are;
1. LOVING GUIDANCE BY THE PRINCIPAL:
It was the paper of Mathematics during the final University Examination of 12th year. I got confused & whichever question I was attempting was getting wrong. I was just getting up & asking for extra sheet. During this very exercise, the principal, being the chief Superintendent of Examination, came in & observed my nervousness. He immediately asked the invigilator to give me the sheet & came to me in person. By putting his loving hand on my back he consoled me & asked me to take a little rest in the form of sleep & promised to wake me up later if necessary. I did the same. Although I lost few minutes but this counseling helped me I retrieved my confidence & attempted the paper pretty well. Had he not turned up or advised me ,probably I would not have gone to the Engineering College.
2. MEETING WITH SHRI 'HAR KISHEN SINGH SURJIT CPI LEADER' : During those days i.e. 1958 - 59, I was busy with my studies at midnight. Mostly the students had gone to sleep. Even my room mate had slept in some other room. Suddenly I saw a Sikh gentle man with untied Kesh standing at the window of my room. He asked for water. I got afraid but still I opened the door & gave him the water to drink. He sat on my bed & started relaxing. I went out & asked my roommate to come. On our return we found him fast asleep on the bed. We bolted the room from outside & went to some other room to sleep. In the morning when we returned after refreshing we found him sitting & staring outside through window. We became friendly with him & allowed him to get refreshed & breakfast etc. Then we tried to coax him to know about him. At that stage he informed us under the promise of keeping mum for another 30 mts. or so about his identity & gave the reason for his absconding as that his party is banned & police is after him. I don't know whether this gentleman, now being the kingmaker, will ever recognize me or even remember this episode.
3. OTHERS: Other instances are as follows: -
a. GUESS FOR ESSAY IN ENGLISH. The paper was English B at the Final University Examination , April 1960. A day before we were supposed to prepare for the paper. One of my friend Mr. M.S. Yadav a B.Sc student & later my class fellow in Engineering & myself sat together to discuss. There we tumbled over an old essay 'City noises at midnight' & discussed the same thoroughly. As luck would have it, next day the same essay was there in the Examination. What a coincidence? I attempted the same.
b.. HOW TO STUDY: In fist terminal i.e. December 1958, I (467 / 650) lost the first position in the class to Mr. K. K. Bhatia (470 / 650) by three marks. But this infused me with a desire to work hard to attain first position. I started reading day & night & using help books & guides. However during April 1959 Exam. I lost my position badly. I started working still hard. A stage came when I did not sleep for two nights & continued studying every time possible. And lo! I lost even Ist class during December 1959 Exam. My teachers called me & tried to diagnose the reasons for all this. They advised me to forget guides / help books completely & read only & only the Text books. The time available was short but the stakes were very high. I as an obedient student did it & got the result with 434 / 650 marks. I was able to get admission in all the three reputed colleges in the state i.e. Guru Nanak engineering. college Ludhiana, Thapar Institute of Technology, Patiala & Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh. With obvious reasons I preferred the last one i.e. Chandigarh
c. INITIATION TO BHANGRA:. Mr. Kabul Singh, a B.Sc student initiated me to Bhangra with a first winner's prize of one bottle of 'wine' for winning the competition held by Rotary Club Ambala.. I did not share it.
d. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: - I developed taste in enacting stage skits, competing in debates & writing stories & poetry
e. GENERAL: - I found overall the staff helpful & considerate towards students. One gentleman who was managing a bookshop outside the gate of the college was was very nice & always volunteered to help the students.
f. VALUE OF MONEY: - In 1958 the value of Money so good that when the hostel caterer increased the rate one meal from 6 annas to 6 1/4 annas we all went on strike. At that time One rupee was worth 16 annas.
g. BAD EVENT TO REMEMBER: - Student union was demanding something. OOne teacher advised to the contrary. He was questioned rudely by the union office bearer & was slapped on the face before the bookshop in full public view. No body was bold enough to protest.
