Happy Alumni Meet!!

It’s almost after two years of our first Alumni meeting (Bapatla Agricultural College: 1962-66 batch), we met again in Hyderabad on last Friday at Hotel Jubilee ridge. Courtesy—the initiative and the untiring labour of Mr Ramachandra Rao, Mr Ajaykumar and Dr Veerabhadra Rao…. 

The meet started with the breakfast… nice idly though not steaming… was something like back in the hostel. With chutney, karappodi and so on… followed by coffee … Yeah coffee was good… 

So, being once again amidst old friends, it simply became an emotional event… At once it sparked nostalgia… I think everyone went down the memory lane to experience those golden days of their emerging adulthood at Bapatla.… Slowly started chit-chatting with friends/roommates to relive those wonderful moments after decades… 

Mike in hand, as Mr Ramachandra Rao went on calling names, old faces presented themselves to the gallery, and here and there one has to struggle a bit to match the grey-haired wrinkled faces with the young faces of the early 1960s… 

Nevertheless, memories are after all what we all cling to … and this meet brought out those lost moments … indeed they swarmed all over.. While the ladies were sharing their own Covid-related experiences in the domestic chores among themselves, their husbands were sharing the worldly experiences that they have faced after stepping out of college. 

But everyone, taking a walk down the corridors of nostalgia, recalled the past events of those four years’ stay in Bapatla gleefully. Psychology says that if you are friends for more than five years, then you are not just friends… indeed, become a family. And when it comes to staying for four years in the same campus, both day and night, with the same folks, then it certainly becomes something more than all these descriptions. Now, when such people meet after so many years, so many funny events of those years at once erupt like a volcano and nostalgia plays its own trick: it makes us laugh crazily recalling all of that lived in the campus and also cry….of course, silently or even openly.

We yearn to go back to those happy days, for we feel very blessed to have such wonderful experiences at the campus. And Alumni meet, be it in the campus or outside of it, simply refreshes all those memories. And I am no exception to this sensitivity.

Suddenly my mind, taking a virtual tour along the main artery of the College— surrounded by lush greenery, with well-trimmed Acalypha siamensis hedges on either side of the road, multi-whorled moonbeam flowers, Gaillardia, Cosmos, etc., displaying dazzling colours: white and rose-pink, yellow and pale orange, magenta and purple on one side, and woody-stemmed evergreen creepers, Petrea volubilis with drooping flower clusters of blue delightfully swinging in the air on the other-side—that connects the main gate to that magnificent old building of massive granite stones with its long corridors adorned by gothic arches, my mind looked for those favourite hangout spots—pavilion steps, basketball court, the sandpit abutting it—around which I spent many evenings with my roommate, and a few others chatting about all sundry under the Sun. It was so much fun to silently revisit those memories.

As I was ruminating over those sweet memories, suddenly a man draped in blue and white striped shirt over a matching pant slowly walked in. I could place him with no difficulty: Mr Prasad Rao from Rajahmundry. Seeing him, my hope to locate the whereabouts of my roommate swelled-up, for he too hails from Rajahmundry.

As he finished exchanging pleasantries with the active guys, I went to him and introduced myself as Murty. Sensing his difficulty to place me, as I narrated his visit to Godavari station at the middle of night with my roommate, Mr Rai to greet me when I was going to Kalyani University by 38 Dn Howrah express, their travelling with me up to Rajhamundry station chit chatting in the 3-tier sleeper… he at once exclaimed, “Ha! Radha Krishna”. Then, I enquired about my roommate. He was also clue-less, indeed expressed his exasperation at his not being able to trace his whereabouts.

At that point, we were all hurried up for lunch. Then he enquired about a batch-mate who he found often hanging around me … I mentioned a few names, but he said, “No Radha krishna, when you two stand together, it was such a contrast…I cannot forget it…” Then, as somebody with a plate in hand and munching a chicken leg, chipped in to have a dialogue with Mr Prasad, I just moved to the buffet counter to help myself with a refill.

After lunch, as everyone had reassembled in the hall, Mr Ramachandra Rao invited participants to share their experiences with the gallery. Of all that, the takeaway for me was the narration of Mr Prasad Rao. Taking the mike Mr Prasad Rao started talking slowly and feebly, which in itself caught my attention: 

“Right from early days, I have no great respect for Bhakti. I was, of course, going to the temple, but it was more as a ritual. Never took it seriously. Not looked at with the usually associated reverence and sraddha. 

I was posted to a tribal belt as an Agricultural Officer. I am the eldest in the family. I have two sisters and two brothers. My parents were teachers. A new pastor came to our area. He was telling that God won’t approve of filthy mouth and craving for things that are not one’s own, I have not paid much attention to him. 

One day he asked me to observe fasting and come in the evening for prayer. Thinking fasting and my office work won’t go together, I haven’t heeded his advice. However, in the evening I went with my family for the prayer. The pastor conducted it till late into the night. We returned home. That night I could not sleep. As though somebody is narrating, I am hearing all the sins committed by me. I cried uncontrollably. I told my wife, ‘how Prabhu will pardon me?’ 

Thereafter, I had spent many such sleepless nights. On one such sleepless night, I saw a big chart listing all the sins committed by me. I could not believe it. But it is there right in front of my eyes. I accepted it. Next day onwards, I never used language of bad taste, nor did I commit any sin. 

I am not saying all this to show off as though I am great. I only felt like sharing my past with my old friends, thinking they are no less than my family. Ever since I am living in peace and spent my free time in the service of Prabhu. I have two children and they are well settled. Prabhu has taken care of my family.” 

What an incredible clarity! And what an act of courage! I only heard in novels/cinemas protagonists confessing in a church to a pastor that too often with a veil in-between. But this is amazing! Nothing in between the penitent and the others in the hall—everything was thrown bare open. I simply stared at him in admiration. Amen… 

As the evening advanced,  the event came to an end with Mr Ramachandra Rao et al thanking the alumni for making it happen despite the pandemic. Some 0f the friends thanked Mr Ramachandra Rao, Mr Ajaykumar and Dr Veerabhadra Rao profusely for all the trouble they have taken in arranging the meet and wished for the next meeting at the college campus, while a few others wished for it in Visakhapatnam/Vijayawada, etc. 

In the meanwhile, the hotel fellow hurried us to take tea/coffee over a bite of Punugulu/biscuits. Finally, every one left the hall relishing the fun-filled day, or, should I say .... again with a heavy heart.

 **

Photos: Top to bottom - Mr Pappu Ramachandra Rao, Mr M Ajaya Kumar & Dr M.Veerabhadra Rao