After my schooling and college at Don Bosco and Ruia College in Matunga, I was lucky to get into IIT Bombay with a decent enough rank to get admission into Chemical Engineering, which usually was the first discipline to get filled up. It was an awesome experience sharing the same class room with some brilliant and outstanding toppers like Manguexa Wagle, Shyam Dighe and Cawas Cooper. Manguexa was the Gold Medallist from our 1974 batch. Simplicity, humility were some of the common attributes of these toppers in my class. I, on the other hand, had to work really hard and to cope up with the relative average rating in my Chemical Engineering Batch
I enjoyed my stint in Hostel 3 during the 5 years. I recall the initial ragging at the hands of some of the seniors, having to parade out in the rains and with buckets of water splashed on a team of freshers which included me. The ragging was an acclimatisation process, not injurious, ending up with getting introduced and becoming familiar with the seniors who eventually turned into helpful friends and guides.
I also enjoyed playing carrom regularly, became more skilled by observing the sharp angular cuts of carrom champions like Maudgal (from Metallurgy) and Apte (one batch senior, Mechanical). It was fun and good pastime and stress reliever.
Another memory is regular meals in Mess C, enjoying the cordiality of the mess staff, one of whom I recall was a Bengali. I remember the Dry Dinner Days with soups and delicious sandwiches. During some weekends I used to forego going home and pleasantly remember my dad and mom coming all the way from our home in Dadar with delicious food. It allowed me to enjoy my mom’s cooked food in the hostel.
Nitish Thakor, my dear wing mate, used to be my neighbour in the hostel wing many years. It was a pleasant experience entering his room and seeing him sleeping and snoring with eyes wide open with a book in his hand. Rajaram used to be in the other neighbouring room for some of the years. It was fun seeing Naresh Jotwani (the gold medalist of 1973 batch) playing football on his own, alone, in the hostel compound while all his friends and batch mates were busy preparing for the tests, confined in their hostel rooms. I have pleasant memories of the bonding and camaraderie amongst my hostel and wing mates on many outdoor trips, visiting the Vehar Lake for a swim, visiting the Y-Point market and so on. Another memory is of maneuvering the public telephone booth in our hostel, ingeniously manipulating the lever to make phone calls without inserting coins. These are some of the old sweet memories that come back to me. The strength of the bonding continues in our weekly Zoom meets with friends across the globe and the experience on the Cordell Cruise trip in January 2023.
IIT Bombay 1974 Reunion 