OUR LIFE TOGETHER AT MANAVALA NAGAR

GTs...GTs??.... I guess it may be a bit confusing - GT is the abbreviation of Graduate Trainee. We were the fresh graduates of 1997 who got recruited as GTs at Hindustan Motors, Tiruvallur. For one year, we had the grandest time anyone can have. It was fun time - be it at the office or home. "Home" was at Manavala Nagar - a couple of kilometers away from the factory. The 10 of us were provided with two cozy independent houses there - the Old GT house the New GT house. The members were:

Old GT House    :    Deepak, Harsha, Kicha, Sathya and Sriram

New GT House  :     Ajay, Irfan, Vivek and VB.

No, no, your count is perfectly right. Only 9. Where is the 10th - Mandai? Well, of the 365 days we spent together, he was there at Manavala Nagar for a total of maybe 10 days. He just could not stay without his Gopikas - ever willing to shower their wealth on him.

A page out of the GT life diary .......

I was a member of the old house - and it was the house which was ever full of life. At about midnigth, you walked down the main road at Manavala Nagar and found one house all lit up, that would be the Old GT House. The lights rarely went off before 1 or so. Shrieks and loud arguments could be heard right through the night. The house had a fairly big lawn and a small ground outside on which the daily cricket matches would be played. Deepak, Kicha, Sriram,Sathya,VB and Vivek would be the regular players, with Harsha being the nuisance spectator pelting stones at fielders from the top. I remember that Sathya is credited with scoring the first 50 in GT Cricket !!! We are youngsters and with such hoggers that we have - Sriram, Sathya, Harsha and the ever hungry Kicha- regular snacks were a must. This was satiated by the daily purchase of vegetable puffs by one of the group (usually Sriram or Sathya). After the cricket was over - well into the evening - the puffs would be shared and amidst cricketing arguments, the eatables would vanish in a flash. 7.30 was our dinner time - the time when Harsha would finish his bath and come wearing the whitest possible kurta pyjamas, while the rest would trudge in rags.

Dinner was not a very scrumptious affair, just a matter of filling our stomach. The choices were not very wide open - a couple of "potti" hotels. We had experimented with a cook-arrangement but had to dispense when the guy kept hiking his prices uninterruptedly. But, we enjoyed it all- the dinners as well. I don't know- but we developed a special liking for that food. Was it the taste of eating together ? I don't know - but I guess I look forward to a dosai at Aiyannar or Radhakrishna rather than at Saravan Bhavan !!! After dinner, the desserts - soft drinks and ice-creams. Mind you, its an "and" there and not an "or". Kicha used to gobble some 3-4 ice creams at a time an then would look around if anyone else needed any help with theirs !!! Then back home - and inevitably a wild argument would commmmence- all provoked by Sriram. He loved them-the arguments I mean- and would get into heated discussions with Deepak and Kicha. Sathya by that time would be off to Dream land while Harsha would sit staring at the three people arguing not knowing what was going on - and after a few minutes would head for bed himself. Till 1 or 2, the TV would be on - the guys watching some stupid movies especially on Gemini TV!! We are all fans of Krishna, NTR etc.(sarcasm here mind you).