4th December 2000! That was the day everything started!
It was a fine Monday morning! Painavu, the capital city(?) of Idukki district witnessed probably one of the biggest crowd it had seen in the near past. Painavu is a remote village which was mainly occupied by some very few government offices and mostly quarters of government servants. There were only a few shops there obviously because the population was that much only. Whatever it may be, this small village, let me say, was truly like a hill top station, very beautiful and at the same time calm and cool. Also, it was almost like in the middle of a dense forest.
It was in this location that the Kerala government decided to start a new Engineering College in 2000, probably the only engineering college completely under government sector that was started that year. It was like fulfilling the long term wish of the people of that place and they were excited too about the opportunities they are going to get. To them, it was a means for their livelihood, and for the students and their families, it is going to be defining their careers and future.
It was winter season, I guess, so was pretty cold even when there was sun. Parents and students from across the state gathered on that day for the admission to the college. It was almost a busy day for the college authorities, but everyone must have felt the freshness because of the cool atmosphere.
It was probably in November that we had the allotment session and it was during that session that I also came to know about my allotment to this college, GEC, Painavu. In order to have a better understanding, we thought to pay a visit to the place just to get familiar with the route and the place. With this plan, my father and I decided to visit the college. Being from Ernakulam, precisely Vazhakkala (near Kakkanad), we decided to catch one of the early morning buses. We have lot of buses going to Idukki these days, and most of them are going to Idukki, Kattappana, Kumali, Nedumkandam, etc. Pournami was the main bus service, but we had MMS also going via Vazhakkala. We had been seeing these Idukki buses passing by for many years by now and my parents wanted to visit that place one day. Surprisingly, I got admissions to a college in the same place. Everybody was happy!
So it was the day of our trip to Idukki. We went to Vazhakkala junction early morning, may be by around 3am-3:30am, and got MMS that arrived at Vazhakkala by around 3:45am. It was a nice trip enjoying the early morning fresh cool air, and as always, I easily slipped into a sound sleep. My father was just beside me, watching and enjoying the ride.
The bus arrived at Cheruthoni by around 7:45am. It passed by places like Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam, Meriamangalam, Karimban, and Thadiyampaadu to reach there. Probably these are the only places I can remember, mostly because I was sleeping throughout the journeys in all my travels to Idukki, during these 3 to 4 years. And it is obvious that our sleeps get disrupted by the long stops in the bus stands, which could be the reason why I had seen at least these places I mentioned. Thanks to those bus services... :)
It is now morning and we should get fresh, and have something before we move to the college. So we tried to find a hotel in Cheruthoni and found one. I forgot the name of the hotel, but it was opposite to the then Federal Bank branch in Cheruthoni. Since we are travelling and this is a new place for us, anybody would prefer to have vegetarian food. We must have had Appam and Vegetable curry. Also, we found time to befriend with the hotel persons. I still remember some of their faces.
Soon after that, we moved to the bus stop to go to Painavu. Being a high range place, there were more jeep services than the bus services. Among bus services, we had private as well as KSRTC (the so called 'Aana vandi'). We caught a bus or a jeep, I don't exactly remember, but it must have been a bus. Finally we landed at our destination, Painavu.
I don't remember the first scene, but we went to the college to see the building and I still remember that scene! An old building made of stones being modified to make it the new engineering college! We were dumbstruck! Is this my college? But I don't know the reason, but we recided to cancel my higher options. May be, it is the location, the climate, and the overall ambience that made us feel like that is the right decision. And I did like that...
To my wonder, I found 3 familair faces! All three of them were known to me since my childhood, meaning from my lower primary school itself and one of them was with me till tenth! They were Ambily, Sruthi, and Faisal. But it was probably after long 10 years that I was seeing Ambily and Sruthi. Also, I was meeting Faisal (who joined Electrical) after a couple of years, although he was staying in a nearby locality. By then I felt a little comfort because at least there are a couple faces familiar to me. I could never imagine whom all I was going to meet! :)
I don't remember much further about that joining day, but the days to come were more interesting than that day, which I realized only later. I hope my friends will have a lot of stories to remember about that day, so don't forget to share those. I am sure, it would help in bringing those smiles back to the faces of many of us. :)
It was a fine Monday morning! Painavu, the capital city(?) of Idukki district witnessed probably one of the biggest crowd it had seen in the near past. Painavu is a remote village which was mainly occupied by some very few government offices and mostly quarters of government servants. There were only a few shops there obviously because the population was that much only. Whatever it may be, this small village, let me say, was truly like a hill top station, very beautiful and at the same time calm and cool. Also, it was almost like in the middle of a dense forest.
It was in this location that the Kerala government decided to start a new Engineering College in 2000, probably the only engineering college completely under government sector that was started that year. It was like fulfilling the long term wish of the people of that place and they were excited too about the opportunities they are going to get. To them, it was a means for their livelihood, and for the students and their families, it is going to be defining their careers and future.
It was winter season, I guess, so was pretty cold even when there was sun. Parents and students from across the state gathered on that day for the admission to the college. It was almost a busy day for the college authorities, but everyone must have felt the freshness because of the cool atmosphere.
It was probably in November that we had the allotment session and it was during that session that I also came to know about my allotment to this college, GEC, Painavu. In order to have a better understanding, we thought to pay a visit to the place just to get familiar with the route and the place. With this plan, my father and I decided to visit the college. Being from Ernakulam, precisely Vazhakkala (near Kakkanad), we decided to catch one of the early morning buses. We have lot of buses going to Idukki these days, and most of them are going to Idukki, Kattappana, Kumali, Nedumkandam, etc. Pournami was the main bus service, but we had MMS also going via Vazhakkala. We had been seeing these Idukki buses passing by for many years by now and my parents wanted to visit that place one day. Surprisingly, I got admissions to a college in the same place. Everybody was happy!
So it was the day of our trip to Idukki. We went to Vazhakkala junction early morning, may be by around 3am-3:30am, and got MMS that arrived at Vazhakkala by around 3:45am. It was a nice trip enjoying the early morning fresh cool air, and as always, I easily slipped into a sound sleep. My father was just beside me, watching and enjoying the ride.
The bus arrived at Cheruthoni by around 7:45am. It passed by places like Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam, Meriamangalam, Karimban, and Thadiyampaadu to reach there. Probably these are the only places I can remember, mostly because I was sleeping throughout the journeys in all my travels to Idukki, during these 3 to 4 years. And it is obvious that our sleeps get disrupted by the long stops in the bus stands, which could be the reason why I had seen at least these places I mentioned. Thanks to those bus services... :)
It is now morning and we should get fresh, and have something before we move to the college. So we tried to find a hotel in Cheruthoni and found one. I forgot the name of the hotel, but it was opposite to the then Federal Bank branch in Cheruthoni. Since we are travelling and this is a new place for us, anybody would prefer to have vegetarian food. We must have had Appam and Vegetable curry. Also, we found time to befriend with the hotel persons. I still remember some of their faces.
Soon after that, we moved to the bus stop to go to Painavu. Being a high range place, there were more jeep services than the bus services. Among bus services, we had private as well as KSRTC (the so called 'Aana vandi'). We caught a bus or a jeep, I don't exactly remember, but it must have been a bus. Finally we landed at our destination, Painavu.
I don't remember the first scene, but we went to the college to see the building and I still remember that scene! An old building made of stones being modified to make it the new engineering college! We were dumbstruck! Is this my college? But I don't know the reason, but we recided to cancel my higher options. May be, it is the location, the climate, and the overall ambience that made us feel like that is the right decision. And I did like that...
To my wonder, I found 3 familair faces! All three of them were known to me since my childhood, meaning from my lower primary school itself and one of them was with me till tenth! They were Ambily, Sruthi, and Faisal. But it was probably after long 10 years that I was seeing Ambily and Sruthi. Also, I was meeting Faisal (who joined Electrical) after a couple of years, although he was staying in a nearby locality. By then I felt a little comfort because at least there are a couple faces familiar to me. I could never imagine whom all I was going to meet! :)
I don't remember much further about that joining day, but the days to come were more interesting than that day, which I realized only later. I hope my friends will have a lot of stories to remember about that day, so don't forget to share those. I am sure, it would help in bringing those smiles back to the faces of many of us. :)
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നന്ദിയുണ്ട് ട്ടോ! :)